Chapter Text
Silence becomes their best friend for a while; no one speaks up. Soobin really wants to, though. But the lump in his throat doesn’t allow him to do so—he feels disturbed. He just couldn’t tell what is going on right now.
“Bri… Bride?” Soobin unconsciously repeats Vincent’s word.
“Yes, bride.” Vincent grins, looking amused. “You’re going to live here and get treated very well. But in return, you have to let Daniel and Terry suck your blood,” he takes a breath before continuing, “In short, you'll become our blood sack.” He finishes as he begins to introduce the twins that have been standing on each side of his throne. Soobin only frowns the moment the blue haired male bows toward him with his hand nearby his chest—it’s like he’s talking to someone with a higher position when in fact, Soobin is probably nothing but a commoner in their mind.
“Greetings, I am Daniel,” he says and Soobin definitely couldn’t take his eyes away from him. “I am the son of King Vincent, I have been looking forward to meet you, Choi Soobin.” Soobin’s heart beats faster every word uttered, cheeks getting heated up slowly.
This feels wrong, Soobin thinks. He isn’t supposed to feel his chest thumping loud like now. He just got abducted! This isn’t the right time to be fascinated by a vampire’s—that’s what they said—charm. Soobin really needs to get his things together.
As Soobin is figuring out how to not be flustered at times like this, the male on the other side does the same thing as the blue haired male, whom Soobin acknowledges as Daniel. The male is shorter than Daniel, yet it doesn’t stop Soobin from getting chills by his presence.
“Greetings, I am Terry, the other half of Daniel.” Soobin is no doubt mesmerized by the male’s way of behaving. “I could not express just how grateful we are to meet someone as beautiful as you,” Terry continues with a soft smile and glances at Daniel, as if they are having a telepathy for the next thing they will do.
“It is such an honor for us to meet you like this, Choi Soobin,” The two standing males say in unity.
It leaves Soobin speechless, obviously. The way they introduced themselves is out of this world—it's like he is in a fictional world like the ones in those novels he loves to read. Or is it because of the royalty concept? Soobin couldn't really finds it out as soon as he snaps out of his thought.
“This doesn’t make any sense!” Soobin yells. “‘Bride’!? Are you nuts!? I’m a guy!” He swears with the whole of his body that he is very much embarrassed because, heck, he’s not a woman! So why would they label him as a bride?
“And I don't think that's how the concept of a bride wor—”
“It works like that for us,” Vincent cuts in. “Human brides are supposed to devote their life for us, the Vampires, and obey what we say,” his eyes are now focusing on Soobin's bigger ones. “No matter what their gender is, we'd still call them 'bride'.”
The cold tone has Soobin stiffened. Gulping, he braces himself to ask Vincent, “Wha, what if I don’t want to be the so called Human Bride...?”
Vincent shrugs. “We'll just kill you. Right now, and right here,” he replies without hesitation. “A vow is a vow after all, and you have to pay for what your great grandmother did.”
No choice is left for Soobin. He couldn’t find any reason to deny if he has to sacrifice his life.
“...Fi, fine…” Soobin acknowledges he’s defeated already. “I’ll stay as you wish, Your Highness.”
“Marvelous.”
.
Soobin is later escorted to his room with the brown haired male who kept holding him back from escaping earlier. Vincent had told him to go to his room escorted by this male beside him who is probably one of the butlers here.
If Soobin is allowed to be honest, he’s still scared. He’s in a vampire’s environment, for Pete’s sake. The atmosphere around him is basically screaming and howling hideous. Also, he’s really worried with those who are close with him. They must be wondering where Soobin went. His friends, his family, Seokjin…
Wait, Seokjin?
“Hold on, wasn't I with Seokjin ssaem—”
“You meant your crush?”
Soobin spontaneously turns his head to the source of the voice, which turns out to be from the butler.
“Wha, what—”
“I've noticed that, you know. I've been watching your family this whole time,” he says. “You always have that kind of heart eyes when you're with him, which is also the reason why I chose to shapeshift as him because I know you couldn’t resist him.”
Soobin’s eyes are widened once he hears that. “So it was you!? Where's the real Seokjin ssaem then!?”
“Now, Soobin ssi, you might want to lower down your voice. You're in a castle at the moment.” The Butler smiles, but his tone was like venom. “And about that, don't worry. He's probably still sleeping in the infirmary, I only made him fall asleep. He should be awake in one hour.”
Soobin stares at the other male in disbelief, not knowing that they have arrived in the room already. Soobin was all grumbling inside until the Butler speaks up again.
“We have arrived, Soobin ssi,” Soobin lifts his head only to be met with a huge room when the Butler opens the door. “This is going to be your own room from now on.”
Soobin isn’t surprised if his jaw is dropping on to the floor. This is way beyond his expectation! The room is very big. The room has red and black tone. They have a king-sized bed decorated with four meshed curtain on each corner, complementing the elegant image with the black carved headboard of his bed. As Soobin gets inside he notices the sight of jet black crow symbol he's been seeing since the first time he sets foot in here is carved too above the headboard with its dark feather and red eyes. The rose patterned wallpaper is everywhere, fitting the dark red sheet of the bed—it refreshes Soobin’s eyes.
“You may rest now, Soobin ssi.” Soobin sees the Butler bowing to him and throws another smile. “Huening Kamal Kai is my name, but I usually go with Kamal.” He pauses to look at Soobin on the eyes. “If you ever need something from me, please just call that name.”
The sentence is only tossed on to the air hanging. Soobin doesn’t know what to reply and it seems like Kamal understands. The latter turns his body, preparing himself to get out from the room after he said, “Well then, I will be going.”
Soobin is then left alone in the big room, deciding to throw himself on to the bed; giving up. Now that he's alone, he could collect back his thoughts and the previous fears are creeping back to his skin. The fact that he's really far from home now in the middle of nowhere makes him unconsciously clutch the sheet beneath him, with petrified thoughts of being locked forever in this vampire castle.
“Damn it—” His sobs were muffled by the soft bedsheet. The hospitality they offer sure is fantastic, but it still doesn’t convince Soobin enough to stay here. He wants to go back—he wants to meet those who he loves. He’s curious with what the others have prepared for his birthday. Knowing that he couldn’t see them again totally drains him out.
The exhaustion pulls him in to his deep slumber soon.
.
“Soobin? Wake up.”
The first thing Soobin recognizes the moment he opens his eyes is that Terry was trying to wake him up. Soobin is definitely lying if he said he wasn’t surprised—because he is. He is surprised to see Terry woke him up and not Kamal. Isn’t Kamal the butler here?
“A, ah—” To say Soobin got speechless is understandable. “You, Your Highness! I’m so sorry, I thought Kamal would wake me up.” Soobin sits up, hurried. His face becomes red when Terry stares at him in total silence. Then the latter chuckles, ruffling Soobin’s hair afterward. Soobin couldn’t open his mouth, too flustered at the way Terry treats him until he has a question in his mind.
“Why are you the one who woke me up…?”
Terry is found with his brows furrowed. “Am I not allowed to?”
Soobin gets taken aback. “N, no! It’s not like that…”
“I just wanted to do it.” Terry once again chuckles and brings Soobin’s hand for him to kiss, making Soobin’s heart almost jumped.
“So cute.” Soobin doesn’t even know if it actually makes sense that his face gets even redder before the Vampire continues, “Right, you should get up now, Father told us to have our breakfast together with you.”
“M, me?”
“Yes. You’re our bride, remember?”
It was a simple question yet it causes Soobin to blush heavily. The word ‘bride’ sounds so intimate and he is very clueless about what he should do with it. The gentle rub on his fist has successfully gotten him back to the reality.
“You might be terrified with this whole thing but trust me,” Terry speaks up. “We won’t kill you.”
The stern tone and calm voice of Terry is what makes Soobin's heart thumps fast. It isn’t thumping fast because he’s scared. It’s because he finds how caring Terry is.
“I… I understand, Your Highness.” Soobin averts his eyes from Terry’s gaze, cheeks still flushed. “I will take a shower first.”
“I’ll be waiting for you outside then.” Is what Soobin heard the time he takes a towel from the prepared closet in his room.
.
Turns out Terry wasn’t lying. He really did wait for Soobin to finish and Soobin is probably flattered. During the walk to the dining room, they exchanged some talks, which leads Soobin to think that this Terry is way more mature than he seems—even though he keeps linking their arms together like a lost child.
(“Unlike Daniel who is playful, though Daniel is way far from playful when he gets irritated, I’d say that I’m a serious person. I enjoy reading books and some newspaper.”
“Really? A newspaper?” Soobin snickered.
“Yes, I would like to know what’s going on outside this castle.”)
“Good morning, Soobin. How is our hospitality?”
Soobin soon is greeted by Daniel who is already sitting on his chair. Terry lets their linked arms away to allow Soobin goes to his seat besides Daniel, later followed by him sitting next to Soobin.
“It… It’s great.” Soobin smiles sheepishly, making the two vampires stare at each other. Daniel throws a look to Terry for explanation, but only ended up getting a shrug from him.
The awkwardness has come to an end once Vincent has arrived with someone following him—thick lips, wavy dark brown semi-long hair, long lashes and sharp jaw.
“Oh, that’s Ivan, or Van for short, our big brother.” Soobin turns his head toward the voice and sees Daniel is talking to him with a grin. “Just giving you an information.”
Soobin only nods slowly, a bit conflicted on what he should respond as Vincent takes his seat along with Ivan. He feels so small suddenly and it’s ironic because he is, in fact, the tallest one in this dining room. Soobin quickly tries to avoid the sudden negative vibe and shifts his attention to the variety of foods available on the table—well, at least it actually helps him to calm down.
“So… Soobin.” Soobin flinches when Vincent calls him out.
“Y, yes! Your Highness?”
Vincent heaves out a light laugh which doesn’t help Soobin to lessen the heat on his cheeks. Ivan who sits besides Vincent also looks like he’s suppressing his laughter by beaming him a smile.
“Don’t be so stiff, Kid.” Vincent still has an amused expression on his face and manages to resume his sentence, “I’m pretty sure you still can’t believe that Youngsoo—your great grandmother—was a vampire hunter and killed my brother, correct?”
Soobin gulps hard, not saying anything in return. And that is enough reason for Vincent to proceed;
“Shall we talk about her then?”