Work Text:
“Bro, you’re staring again.”
Danielle blinks and turns her head to face Hanni, who is smirking at her with a mischievous glint in her eyes. “Was I?”
“You’re not very good at hiding things,” Hanni teases her. Their newest roommate, Minji Kim, is currently talking on the phone in Korean. Danielle can only make out half of the conversation, but the topic of conversation seems to be about laundry.
“I just can’t help it,” Danielle sighs, darting her eyes away from Minji and down at the dining room table that she and Hanni bought from Ikea a few months ago. How could she not stare at Minji? With her sharp jawline, a side profile to die for as well as a perfect nose shape. Everything about Minji is perfect. There’s no way that a human being can possess this type of beauty.
“Just tell her, man.” Hanni urges.
“Nope, I’m taking this to my grave.” Danielle teases.
Just then, Minji hovers over them, leaning against the dining table. “Guys, I’m going to the laundromat down the street… I’ll be back.” Before the two can say anything, she grabs her purse, along with a duffle bag of clothes that need to be washed and heads out.
“Why is she so weird?” Hanni says, breaking the silence. “Dani, is she really your type?”
Danielle giggles. “It’s just something about her.”
“And you really don’t want to tell her?”
“I don’t want to make things weird, Hanni.” Danielle shakes her head. Too many crushes on friends have ruined her experience with admitting her feelings. Danielle wears her heart on her sleeve most of the time, but this is the one time that she’s keeping it to herself. She would hate to make things more awkward than they already are.
“Suit yourself,” Hanni shrugs as she stands up and yawns. “I’m going to take a nap before work later, have fun figuring out your love life.” She teases as she heads towards their shared bedroom.
Danielle buries her head in her hands. This is the first time she’s truly had to contain her feelings and she’s not sure how she’s going to navigate this.
Danielle surprised her parents when she announced that she would forgo college and take a gap year. She felt like she wasn’t ready for college and just wanted to work and enjoy her life. They blame Hanni, her best friend, for influencing her in this decision, but Hanni isn’t the one to blame. Danielle doesn’t want to burden herself with the stress of academics for another four years. She’ll face it when she’s ready and now is not the time.
Independence is another thing Danielle wants to explore. She’s always been a good daughter and never rebelled, a very stark contrast from her best friend, but seeing how Hanni was able to get her own place and live by herself, Danielle wanted that taste of freedom too. The odds seemed to be in her favour when Hanni asked her to be her roommate since there was enough room for two people. Initially, it was exciting to move in with her best friend, but the movies and TV shows make it look better than reality. There is never a dull moment living with Hanni, though.
On the days when their work schedules line up and they happen to have the same days off, they usually stay home and binge-watch Netflix shows together or occasionally, invite people from their high school that they keep in touch with and have a small kickback. But really, their days are uneventful and uninteresting, filled with work and the occasional overtime or picking up extra shifts just to have some more cash. They’ve established a good routine and Danielle loves the independence despite the added responsibilities. She’d take the transit all the way to her parents’ house just to do laundry to avoid going to the laundromat and get free meals, where she also gets leftovers so she and Hanni can get through the week.
Things were going well until they got a letter from their landlord that the rent was going up by a considerable amount in the fall. When it came down to her and Hanni to try and budget with the new rent amount in mind, it wouldn’t be enough for just the two of them to pay, so Hanni put out an ad for a third roommate, despite technically only having two bedrooms. Danielle opted to do the interviews since Hanni was too shy to do so. To their surprise, there were many that applied, but Danielle did copious note-taking and would tell Hanni about them afterwards. Long nights were spent with a few cans of beer shared between the two of them as they sorted out a potential third roommate. They had three, colour-coded folders sorted out on their dining room table: ‘Absolutely Not’ (red), ‘Maybe’ (yellow) and ‘The One’ (green). There wasn’t any in the green folder until Minji showed up.
From the initial interview, Minji stood out among all of them. Danielle felt intimidated by her at first, by her cold stare, but she had a kind smile and talked a lot about cleaning and how she loved to organize.
(“So… are you a fan of the Marie Kondo method?” Danielle had asked her with a small smile.
Minji had just blinked at her, confused. “Who?”
“You know…” Danielle gestured towards the air, hoping Minji would get the reference. “The lady that talks about ‘sparking joy’ when it comes to organizing?”
“I don’t know who that is,” Minji says in an apologetic tone.
“That’s fine, it’s not a requirement… I just thought you knew because you said you like to organize. That’s all.” Danielle had smiled at her after jotting a few notes down in her notebook full of sunflower stickers.)
Despite Minji not knowing who Marie Kondo was, she made it to the second round of interviews. Danielle wasn’t sure what she was doing, but she knew that Hanni would have to sit down and talk to Minji herself as well. Hanni and Minji got along with their obsession for bread and fast forward a few months later, Minji is living with them. She turned their apartment into a more organized and much cleaner apartment. Danielle and Hanni can’t even be annoyed. Their third roommate is very caring, asking if they ate and if they didn’t, she’d whip up some Korean dishes that Hanni hasn’t tried yet or one that Danielle hasn’t eaten in a very long time. It saves them money on takeout, which consists of Hakka Chinese food or jerk chicken most of the time.
However, there is something about Minji that Danielle and Hanni have discussed amongst themselves. While Danielle rejects the idea of being on any social media platforms, she definitely is in the loop when it comes to trends and songs because she hears it from Hanni or her coworkers, however, Minji has no clue at all. Sometimes, Minji is fascinated with technology. Danielle can’t say much because sometimes technology is confusing, but she feels like she knows enough to help her parents but someone like Minji? It’s quite strange. The way she carries herself is regal as if she stepped out of a time machine and somehow ended up in the present. But then again, there are a lot of people who have old souls—Danielle being one of them—but she attributes that to being raised by older parents.
Hanni’s manager had called her on her day off, asking if she wanted to work since someone called in sick. Usually, Hanni refuses but tonight, she decided to, leaving Minji and Danielle alone. It’s not that big of a deal, since Minji keeps to herself or she invites her younger cousin, Hyein, over.
Danielle is watching the evening news on TV. She feels a bit geriatric doing this, but she likes keeping up with what’s going on around her, it gives her something to talk about, especially with her coworkers. The door to Minji’s bedroom opens and Danielle jumps, startled at the squeaking of the door hinges. She makes a note to spray WD-40 on them or ask Minji if she can sometimes.
“Hey,” Minji says, giving her a small wave as she walks over to the couch. “Mind if I sit here?” She always asks as if she doesn’t live here, and despite the many reminders from her and Hanni, Minji still asks.
“Yeah, of course.” Danielle nods. “Go ahead.”
Minji mumbles a ‘thanks’ and decides to sit cross-legged on the couch, which causes her knee to brush against Danielle’s thigh slightly.
From her peripheral vision, Danielle notices how… pale Minji looks. Her eye bags look more apparent and she looks exhausted. She doesn’t ask because perhaps work can be busy. Minji hasn’t shared much about her job with them and the only thing Danielle knows is that she is an EMT and that her hours are all over the place. The fluctuating hours could also make anyone tired but obviously, she’s off today.
Minji clears her throat before speaking. “So, I’m gonna be going out tonight. Don’t chain lock the door.”
“No worries.” Danielle smiles but it fades quickly when Minji suddenly stands up. “Where are you going?”
“To nap,” Minji yawns. “I’m tired.”
Minji shuts her bedroom door and Danielle sits there, confused.
“Maybe she’s seeing someone,” Haerin states, looking over at Danielle who is sitting behind the 7-Eleven counter. Danielle, obviously, doesn’t work here, but Haerin’s manager is laid-back enough to let Danielle or Hanni visit whenever Haerin is on shift.
“I mean, she’s been living with us for a while, you’d think she’d be comfortable enough to tell us everything.”
Haerin scoffs. “She doesn’t have to,” she looks up from her phone briefly. “You think I tell you and Hanni everything?”
“I mean… I would hope so.” Danielle feels a bit betrayed. They’ve been friends for so long and Danielle was the one that included Haerin into the fold back in high school. Haerin is a high school senior, but still! “Have you made any new friends since I graduated?”
“I’ve been hanging out with Eunchae more,” Haerin shrugs. “She’s pretty cool. Oh, and your roommate’s cousin, Hyein.”
“Hey,” an older man smacks his hand on the counter. “I’ve been standing here for five minutes.”
Haerin turns to the man and doesn’t even apologize. “Have a nice day,” she says to him dryly as he grabs his things and grumbles out of the store. If only Danielle could be as carefree as her friend can be. “You wanna grab some bubble tea?” She asks Danielle.
“Aren’t you still on the clock?” Danielle raises an eyebrow.
“Eh, it’s not that busy here.” Haerin shrugs and puts the ‘Be Back Later’ sign up on the counter.
“What’s the other sign?” Danielle points to a laminated sheet that, unmistakably, has Haerin’s handwriting all over it.
“Oh, this one is instructions for self-checkout.”
“But there’s no self-checkout here.” Danielle points out.
“Well, there’s about to be one.”
When Danielle comes home from work, Hanni is awake. She’s eating some leftovers that Minji had made.
“Hey, how was work last night?” Danielle asks, taking off her shoes and her jacket.
“It was busy,” Hanni calls out as Danielle settles in at home. She does her routine of washing her face and changing out of her uniform into a simple t-shirt and sweatpants. “It was somebody’s birthday and their friend kept buying shots for everyone.”
“Oh gosh, it must have been loud.” Danielle puts her hair up into space buns before walking out to the kitchen. There’s still some leftover kimchi fried rice, so she helps herself to a serving, heats up her food in the microwave and joins Hanni.
“Yeah, it was.” Hanni sighs. “I hate birthdays, even though people tip well, it’s just too much.” She leans back into the dining chair and crosses her arms. “Did you hear the news?”
“Bro, I was at work all morning.” Danielle reminds her, raising an eyebrow. “What happened?”
“Apparently there was a robbery at the Red Cross down the street,” Hanni shows her the news article from her phone. “All the blood donations went missing.”
Danielle isn’t squeamish, but looking at her kimchi fried rice and how red it is and then talking about blood, makes her gag a bit. “I’m eating, man.”
“Oops,” Hanni covers her mouth to suppress a giggle. “Sorry.”
“Did you see Minji last night?” Danielle asks. “She had told me not to chain lock the door so I don’t know if she came home last night, I didn’t hear anything.”
“I didn’t hear anything either,” Hanni shrugs. “Maybe she did come home and I was already asleep, I don’t know.”
Door hinges squeak and the topic of conversation appears. Minji steps out in all black and is wearing sunglasses. “Hey guys,” she greets them with sleep still evident in her voice.
“Hey,” Danielle and Hanni say in unison.
“Partied hard last night?” Hanni asks.
“You could say that,” Minji chuckles, heading to the fridge to pour herself a glass of milk.
Danielle casts a doubtful look in Hanni’s direction. Minji has told them she’s not into parties, because the rare time that they get invited, they try and get Minji to come along, but she always refuses. Then again, Minji most likely has a circle of friends outside of them, of course.
“You should invite us next time.” Hanni teases.
Minji tilts her sunglasses downward to look at them and smirks. “I don’t think you guys could handle it.”
Hanni is about to open her mouth to reply but Danielle reaches over to grab her hand, trying to tell her to not say anything. Thankfully, Hanni gets the hint and shuts up.
“Anyways,” Minji places her sunglasses back firmly in place. “My head still hurts, I’m going back to bed.” She heads back to her room and shuts her squeaky door, leaving her two roommates to wonder why she’s being so… distant.
The apartment building that they live in is close to so many places. There’s a plaza that is a ten-minute walk from them where they grab their groceries, a bunch of restaurants that vary many different cuisines and a gym that Danielle likes to exercise at. It’s a gym that’s open 24/7, so sometimes Danielle goes in the evening throughout the week when she feels like it. She does a pilates routine that she finds on YouTube and heads home, opting to shower there and take a power nap afterwards.
Tonight is different. Danielle gets startled awake by a loud ‘bang!’ in the kitchen and Minji cursing under her breath. She grabs her phone and squints at the sudden brightness that illuminates the screen. The time flashes to 12:20 AM and Danielle rubs her eyes. She contemplates falling back asleep but something in her compels her to investigate what’s going on in their apartment. Hanni is still at work, so it’s just her and Minji in the apartment. Tossing her blanket away from her body, she gets up from bed, puts her slippers on and tip-toes from her bed. She opens her door slowly—just a crack—to be able to peek through.
Unsurprisingly, all the lights are off with the exception of the kitchen light. Minji looks… different. It’s almost frightening. Minji’s eyes have a needy look in her eyes as she drinks… is that blood? Danielle closes the door—a bit too hard than she intended to—and turns her back against the wall. Her heart is pounding in fear and she shrieks when there’s a knock on her door.
“Danielle?” Minji says from behind the door.
With a shaky hand, Danielle opens the door slowly and can’t help but scream when she sees the sight of Minji and fangs as she turns on the light in her room. In a flash, Minji is suddenly behind her, wrapping one arm around her waist and the other hand covering her mouth to muffle her screams. Minji always feels cold to the touch. Danielle tries to wriggle out of her roommate’s grip. Being murdered by her roommate is not the way she thought she was going to leave this world.
“Dani,” Minji whispers. “Calm down, I can explain.”
Her voice is eerily calm, which makes Danielle anxious, but she relaxes under her grip, stops screaming and slowly turns her head to meet Minji’s eyes and her fangs. She gasps as Minji drops her arms, letting her back away. “Are you…?”
“Yeah,” Minji says. “A vampire.”
It’s all coming together now. “So… that was you that stole all the blood from the Red Cross?”
“Yeah,” Minji shrugs. “I didn’t go to any party last night, I broke into a blood bank and stole a bunch of donations.”
“But… people need that, hospitals need that!” Danielle exclaims.
“So do vampires,” Minji replies, crossing her arms. She steps closer to Danielle and the smaller girl finds herself backed up against the wall again. “I could easily feed off of you and Hanni if I wanted to…”
Danielle shuts her eyes, more out of fear than anything and looks away. It’s only when she feels Minji’s warm breath tickling her neck that she’s involuntarily given her access. “Please don’t,” she whimpers.
“I won’t do that,” Minji reassures her, moving away from her neck. “I would never hurt you or Hanni.”
“That’s reassuring.” Danielle sighs in relief, but she’s still freaked out but then remembers something. “Wait, Minji, do you sparkle in the sun?”
“What?”
“Have you ever seen Twilight? Vampires sparkle in the sun.”
“I don’t.”
“So it is certain vampires?”
“No vampire that I know of sparkles,” Minji raises an eyebrow. “That horrid book series and the movies was the worst representation for us.”
Danielle gasps. “I liked Twilight!”
“Werewolves don’t exist, sorry to burst your bubble,” Minji tells her. Damn, what a way to shatter hopes and dreams. “I don’t want to overwhelm you with so much information, but there is one thing I want you to do.”
“Okay,” Danielle nods hesitantly. “What is it?”
“Don’t tell Hanni about this.”
“Got it,” Danielle says, mimicking a zipper motion over her lips. As Minji exits her room, she sits down on her bed, letting her mind process the events that had just occurred to her.
The discovery that Minji—her roommate, who loves to clean and organize, and sleeps for ten to fifteen hours after a long day of work—is a vampire.
And Danielle can’t tell anyone.
The next few days go by like a blur. Danielle goes to work, heads to the gym, works out, and hangs out with Hanni when their days off line up. The shock of Minji being a vampire has subsided, for the most part.
Tonight, the three of them are on the couch, eating pizza. Minji just got home from work and is telling them about the calls that she went to tonight. Getting a fresh slice of cheese pizza, she grabs a cup of garlic dipping sauce and is about to dip her pizza in it. Danielle gasps and grabs Minji’s wrist. “You can’t eat that!”
“What do you mean she can’t eat that?” Hanni looks over at her, confused.
“She’s… allergic,” Danielle says, looking over at Minji with worried eyes.
Minji wiggles her wrist free from Danielle’s grip and doesn’t break eye contact with her when she dips her pizza slice into the garlic dipping sauce and takes a bite. Danielle watches as she chews and swallows with no reaction. “I’m not allergic,” Minji chuckles.
“Yeah, Dani.” Hanni elbows her ribs. “You know garlic bread is one of her favourites.”
“Right,” Danielle nods, remembering that these two are obsessed with their bread, savoury or sweet.
“Are you okay?” Hanni places her hand on Danielle’s forehead. “Hmm, no fever.”
Danielle swats her hand away. “I’m fine.”
“Let’s get back to the show,” Minji interrupts and tries to bring their attention back to the Netflix show that they’re watching.
Later, Hanni retires to bed early, which leaves Danielle and Minji to wash the dishes. Danielle falls into the role of drying as she watches Minji meticulously scrub each dish (three) clean of any pizza remnants.
“You almost blew it,” Minji glares at Danielle as she hands her a wet plate.
“Sorry,” Danielle blushes, grabbing the plate and wiping dry. “I thought you couldn’t eat garlic.”
“But you’ve seen me eat garlic numerous times before,” Minji chuckles.
Danielle grabs the second plate to dry and puts it away in the cupboard. “Yeah, I know. I just thought… since… you know…”
“I’m not allergic to garlic and crosses don’t work against me.”
“What are your weaknesses, then?”
“If I tell you, I would have to kill you.”
Upon hearing that statement, Danielle almost drops the third plate when Minji hands it to her but Minji manages to catch it.
“I’m just kidding, Dani.”
“That’s not something to joke about,” Danielle frowns as she wipes the last plate dry, places it in the cupboard and shuts it closed. She folds the dish rag in half and hangs it neatly on the oven door handle, then turns around so her back is leaning against the kitchen counter. She crosses her arms and looks over at Minji, who’s mirroring her stance. As she meets her eyes, she can’t help but laugh and bury her face into Minji’s chest.
“What?” Minji asks, laughing softly as well.
“I couldn’t stay serious.” Danielle meets Minji’s eyes again and they’re the familiar, kind brown eyes she’s used to seeing. “So, how do you summon your fangs?”
“It’s just natural, I can’t really explain.” Minji shrugs and closes her mouth for a moment, then opens to reveal that her canines have evolved to much larger fangs.
“Whoa…” Danielle gasps in awe. A part of her wants to touch Minji’s fangs, but she knows it could be sharp and she possibly could cut herself. She looks over at her bedroom door and back at Minji. Hanni won’t be waking up soon, so this is her time to ask. “When did you become a vampire? If you don’t mind me asking.”
Minji’s fangs suddenly turn back into regular canines and a somber expression takes over. She gestures for Danielle to sit on the couch and the smaller girl follows. Looks like it’s going to be a long night, she thinks.
Danielle grabs a pillow and adjusts her sitting position to get comfy. She watches as Minji takes a sip of water from her blue tumbler and has an unreadable expression on her face before she starts.
“What I told you and Hanni is true. I was born in Chuncheon, Korea, but I wasn’t born in 2004. I was actually born in 1932.”
Danielle does the math in her head. “So, you’re actually…”
“...91 years old.” Minji laughs, a little hollowly. “My family was killed during the Korean War and I was the only survivor, but I had really bad injuries… I was taken to the hospital where a nurse said I could live forever. I was in so much pain that I was desperate. I wanted anything to make the pain go away and before I knew it, she bit me.” Minji adjusts the throw pillow behind her back. “Honestly… turning into a vampire is like a severe case of the flu, but there’s no medicine for it. I was getting chills but there’s nothing anyone could do.”
“How did you know you were turned completely?”
“Your senses are more… intense.” Minji chuckles. “The smell of blood is so tempting.”
“They said that in Twilight too,” Danielle teases.
“Yeah, yeah.” Minji rolls her eyes. “Vampires have been living alongside humans for centuries, people just don’t realize. They’re actually protected under the government.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, of course, you can’t find that stuff online. If more people knew vampires existed, we would be persecuted and a whole genocide could happen.”
“How do you guys get your news?” Danielle asks. She’s curious now.
“Word of mouth, nobody has any means to lie.” Minji shrugs. “I know it’s like a game of Telephone, but the right message is conveyed to everyone. It’s hard to believe, but the government completely trusts all of us to help each other. There are consequences if it’s found out that someone is lying.”
Danielle nods, trying to digest all of the information that Minji is telling her. “Do… things move fast in the vampire world?” She’s not sure what to call it.
“Not really, nothing significantly has changed within the last few decades.” Minji shrugs.
“Do you just drink blood? Can you guys drink animal blood?”
“We have an option to drink animal or human blood. We can eat regular food too, but every October, every vampire has to go on a blood-only diet.”
“Why October?”
“Because of Halloween.”
“Is there something significant?” Danielle wonders. There has to be.
Minji gives her a terse smile. “I’m getting tired, Dani. I told you a lot tonight, I don’t want to overwhelm you.”
“But I want to know more!” Danielle pouts.
“Maybe tomorrow,” Minji says, getting up from the couch. “Good night.”
Throughout her shift, all Danielle can think about is learning more about vampires. Not Twilight or any other fictional vampire, but ones like Minji. When she clocks out of work, she quickly says bye to her coworkers and rushes towards the library. She wants to beat the rush hour of high school students and college students alike. Fishing for her library card which she hardly uses, she shows it to the librarian and heads inside.
Navigating through the aisles, everything Danielle can find about vampires is all fictional. She’s not surprised but also figured people had to publish something over the years because they exist. Minji wasn’t over exaggerating. It’s definitely hard to try and learn about real vampires, but Danielle would hate to just assume based on what she’s watched.
(Yes, she and Hanni have read and watched the Twilight series. Ironically, Danielle was on Team Jacob.)
“Danielle?”
Danielle turns her head to see the source of who’s calling her name. She’s greeted by a girl, much taller than her with the shyest smile. “Hyein, hi!” She engulfs the taller girl into a hug and it’s only then that Danielle notices how… cold she is. “How are you?”
“I’ve been good!” Hyein smiles. “I’m just here to do my homework. What are you doing here?”
“Oh,” Danielle chuckles. “I’m looking for books about…” she double-checks her surroundings to see who else is in earshot but she’s in the clear. She feels like she can trust Hyein. “Vampires.” She whispers.
“Like Twilight?” Hyein asks.
“Something like that…” Danielle nods.
“All I can think of is that,” Hyein shrugs, glancing at her math textbook. “Well, let me go find a seat around here to do my homework. Catch you later, Dani!” She waves and practically skips away.
Weird, Danielle thinks. Usually, Hyein would stay and talk with her for a few minutes, but once the topic of vampires came up, she excused herself quickly. Vampires are scary, though, so she can’t even blame Hyein. The idea of them is scary and having one as a roommate is frightening, even though Minji is still her harmless self, the fact that she has the ability to just… kill someone is scary. She hates the fact that Minji jokes about it, too.
Leaving the library, Danielle looks at the storefronts as she walks home. Halloween will be soon and she gasps aloud, stopping in her tracks. She smiles shyly when nearby passersby look at her, wondering what’s going on. An idea pops up in her head as she sees plastic pumpkins on the storefront displays and texts Hanni excitedly. Danielle wants to carve pumpkins and invite everyone over sometime this week.
“You wanna come to this party with us?” Hanni asks. Danielle can hear the conversation from the bathroom, where she’s applying lipstick. She almost drops her YSL lipstick in the sink when she hears Minji’s reply. She wants to go with them.
They arrive at the venue where the party’s taking place. It’s a club and it’s someone’s birthday—a friend that Danielle and Hanni went to high school with—they greet the birthday girl and give her a card which has a $50 pre-paid Visa card inside. Shots are being bought for everyone and Danielle downs a few with Hanni, but she doesn’t want to get drunk tonight. Minji is seated at the corner of the bar, nursing a glass of water, or pretending to, at least. She excuses herself from Hanni and an old classmate to walk over towards their roommate. “You can drink that?”
“Yeah,” Minji nods. “I mean, it’s an option during this month.”
Danielle looks at the piercings on Minji’s ears, where they’re placed, and the amount that she has. Danielle’s only gotten her earlobes pierced and she doesn’t have the greatest pain tolerance. “Do you wanna go outside and get some fresh air?”
“Sure,” Minji smiles at her. A rarity, she hardly sees her roommate smile. They head outside and Danielle is thankful for the cool, autumn air compared to how sticky and warm it is inside the club. “Do you smoke?” Her roommate asks.
“No,” Danielle shakes her head. “I just wanted to… spend time with you.”
“We do that at home,” Minji chuckles. “When our schedules align.”
“We never get time like this,” Danielle gestures to their surroundings. “Outside of the apartment.”
Minji mulls her statement over. “You’re right.” She walks over to the wall to lean her back against and Danielle decides to stand directly in front of her. “What?”
Danielle thinks about what she’s going to say. She lets her feelings speak for herself most of the time but she tries to choose her words carefully. “You know… I went to the library yesterday. I wanted to learn more about you and… you know.” She doesn’t want to say it out loud.
Thankfully, Minji figures out what she’s trying to talk about. “Did you find anything?”
Danielle blushes and looks away in embarrassment. “There were all in the fiction section.” She stiffens as she feels Minji’s cold fingertips against her chin and finds herself face-to-face with her again. “I got curious…”
“About vampires or me?”
“Both…?”
“I don’t know,” Minji smirks. “Sometimes you have this look on your face. I see from the corner of my eye.”
“What look?”
“You look like you want to kiss me…”
Danielle gasps quietly. She thought she hid it from Minji well, but clearly, she can’t. “I make it that obvious?”
“No, but I can sense it.” Minji chuckles. “So, what are you going to do?”
Call her cliche, but Danielle can’t lie that it was infatuation from when Minji first moved in with them. Hanni and Haerin are aware of her hopeless crush towards Minji and they’ve been urging her to make a move, but she’s been so shy.
Now, she has a chance.
She doesn’t hesitate this time as Danielle closes the gap between them and kisses Minji. She smiles into the kiss when she feels the taller girl kiss back. Months of wondering, and wanting culminated in this very moment right here. When they both pull away, Danielle giggles and buries her face into Minji’s shoulders. Unsurprisingly, she still feels cold to the touch.
“You’re a good kisser,” Minji states and Danielle isn’t sure if she’s being sarcastic.
“Really?”
“I have no reason to lie,” Minji gives her a small smile. “Let’s get back inside before Hanni looks for us.”
They agree not to tell Hanni at first just because neither of them are in the mood to explain everything to her at the moment. They also just want to enjoy these moments together before being ready to go public with it.
Hanni is at work, so they get the apartment to themselves for the night. Danielle likes that Minji has been more present in the living room and not just holed up in her room. Minji tells her about the crazy calls from work and Danielle does the same, but with the crazy customers that she has to deal with. Aside from that, Danielle is just happy to be nestled in Minji’s embrace as they cuddle on the couch and watch some reality TV show on Netflix. Danielle starts to explain to Minji about the show, but Minji clearly isn’t interested, so they keep it on as background noise as Danielle changes the topic to something else.
“Have you ever dated a human before?” Danielle asks, playing with the ends of Minji’s hair.
“Of course,” Minji scoffs. “It’s never lasted long, though. I never told them that I’m… well, you know.”
“Is it not allowed?”
“I mean, they don’t care if you tell anybody, they just hope that you’re careful with who you’re telling. There are so many half-vampire, half-humans walking around.” Minji explains.
“Do you know any?”
“Personally? No.”
There’s a question that lingers on Danielle’s tongue. She’s not sure if she should ask it, but she decides to. “Do you… ever miss being human?”
Minji freezes as her eyes scan Danielle’s face. “All the time.” She laughs hollowly. “It wasn’t my choice to be like this.”
Danielle nods, wondering what exactly Minji has seen for all her years on Earth so far. She’ll still be here while Danielle and everyone in the world around them grow old and move on. She can’t imagine. “I ran into Hyein at the library too… I didn’t realize how cold she felt.”
There’s an unreadable expression on Minji’s face and Danielle isn’t sure if she should continue. “Oh… yeah. She’s also a vampire.”
At this point, Danielle isn’t surprised. “It makes sense because she acted all weird when I told her I was looking for books about vampires.” Then something clicks in Danielle’s mind. “Did you… turn her?”
Minji doesn’t say anything but just nods. She sits up and Danielle gives her room to do so, but Minji reassures her that she can stay seated in her lap. “I did… I was working at a different hospital a few years ago. She got into a car accident with her parents and everyone died on impact but miraculously, she survived. It was looking bleak, though.” She frowns. “I had a feeling she wasn’t going to make it and she reminded me of my younger sister. I could see it in her eyes that she wanted to still… live so I turned her.”
Letting the story digest, Danielle also asks this: “Is she really your cousin?”
“No, we just say that to make it easier. She kept following me around after I turned her.” Minji chuckles. “I understand because she’s so young and she wasn’t ready for all these… vampire obligations. The people who we say are her aunt and uncle are vampires too. They watch over her like she’s their own kid. I’m trying to make her more independent. I love Hyein like a younger sister but she needs to be out on her own, eventually.”
“I mean… she’s going to look 15 forever, though right?”
“That’s the thing… but people just think she’s really smart for her age and she’s skipped a few grades. She’s in Grade 12 like Haerin, right?”
“Yeah, she is.” Danielle nods. “So are you going to tell me the significance of Halloween for you guys?”
Minji bites her lip, figuring out whether she wants to continue or not but her look softens. “So, on Halloween, every vampire is supposed to kill or turn someone else into one. Hence, the whole blood-only diet situation. The killing thing… I haven’t done that in years but turning someone else, I’ve done it every year. I personally turn someone that I know for a while… but don’t worry, it’s not you.”
That’s reassuring, Danielle thinks, but she’s still not sure. “So Hyein has to do it too?”
“Every vampire does, but we’re going to find someone and turn them together. She’s too scared to do it by herself.”
“I would be too.” Danielle shrugs. She can sense that Minji is getting uncomfortable explaining vampire stuff to her, so she decides to change the subject. “Oh!” She gasps. “I invited everyone else over for pumpkin carving later this week, what do you think?”
Minji sighs. “It’ll be fun… I’m not looking forward to the mess that I’ll have to clean up after.”
Danielle rolls her eyes. “We’re all going to clean up, not just you.”
Despite Minji’s complaints about pumpkin guts everywhere, everyone is working on the finishing touches of their pumpkin carvings. Haerin and Hyein have decided to partner up for this while Hanni decides to pair up with Danielle. Another positive of not living with your parents is being able to do what you want for the most part because her parents and her sister have always turned down pumpkin carving whenever Danielle brought it up. Minji refused to join in the festivities and tasked herself with cleaning and making sure the kitchen was spotless.
(“You know it’s going to be messy, regardless, right?” Hanni had reminded Minji earlier.
“That doesn’t mean I can’t clean up as you guys do this…” Minji gestured toward the then-uncarved pumpkins.
“You’re so lame,” Hanni grumbled and Minji responded with a shrug.)
Haerin and Hyein giggle as they take pictures of the cat carving they did and Danielle smiles at the koala that she and Hanni had carved on theirs, although Danielle did most of the work and Hanni just watched most of the time. Initially, Danielle was planning to buy five pumpkins to carve for each of them, but it seemed like too much work to carry them home, so she got two instead.
“This was really fun!” Hyein grins, admiring her work. “We should do it again next year!”
Everyone except Minji hums in agreement. Danielle can only assume that Minji is already thinking about the mess that will happen again next year. As everyone takes their part in cleaning up the dining room, Danielle brushes her hands against Minji’s every so often when they pass by each other, giving her a small smile. It’s cute to see Minji’s cheeks turn a shade of light pink, but unfortunately, being subtle is a skill that Danielle does not possess.
“What are you two doing?” Hanni raises an eyebrow at them, which then leads to Hyein and Haerin also looking at them.
“What?” Danielle asks innocently.
“You guys look all… I don’t know.” Hanni narrows her eyes at them as if she’s some detective. She crosses her arms as the two younger girls go back to cleaning, even though there’s nothing left to throw away. “Couple-y.”
“Is that even a word?” Minji mirrors the shorter girl’s stance.
“I think so?”
Thankfully, Hyein decides to make them focus on something else. “Wait, what movie are we watching again?”
“The Nightmare Before Christmas, right?” Haerin says.
“Oh yeah,” Hanni’s eyes light up at the mention of the movie that they’ve been planning to watch. With the five of them together, it doesn’t take long for the conversation to shift to something else.
They all squeeze on the couch as Hanni plays the movie, with a bowl of popcorn and a plate of Pillsbury sugar cookies—the ones with the pumpkin on it—that Danielle had baked earlier. Hyein sits in the middle, which separates Danielle and Minji. Minji ends up sitting beside Hanni and Danielle sits beside Haerin. It’s fine because Danielle practically uses everyone as a human pillow. She’s watched this movie with Haerin and Hanni numerous times, but it still doesn’t get old.
After the movie’s done, Haerin has fallen asleep and Minji and Hyein head to her bedroom. Danielle can only assume it is about family stuff, which understandably, is something they need to talk about in private. She and Hanni are in the kitchen, washing dishes and cleaning up for the nth time tonight.
Danielle has assumed the role of the dish dryer and furrows her brows as Hanni is scrubbing a plate with narrowed eyes. “What?”
“You and Minji…” Hanni attempts to sound menacing. “Are you guys fucking?”
“What?” Danielle’s voice raises a little too loudly for her liking and she cringes mostly because she doesn’t want to disturb Haerin. “What the hell, Hanni?”
“I saw how you guys were looking at each other while we were carving pumpkins,” Hanni whispers loudly. “Did you finally tell her how you feel?”
There’s no point in beating around the bush at this point, but Danielle just smiles coyly. “Something like that.” Her eyes widen when she realizes how Hanni can interpret that. “But get your mind out of the gutter, bro.”
Hanni smirks. “So, I’m right?”
“We’re…” Danielle laughs softly. “We’re figuring out where this goes, I don’t wanna put a label on things and I don’t think she does either at the moment.”
“That’s valid.” Hanni agrees. “I’m glad that you finally had the guts to say something, I thought you were really serious about taking this to your grave.”
“I almost was.”
“Loser,” Hanni teases, sprinkling water from her hands at Danielle, which makes the other girl squeal in surprise. She hopes that Minji is okay with the fact that Hanni is now aware that they’re… sort of dating.
After all, they live under the same roof.
It’s much easier, Danielle finds, now that she’s going public with their group of friends about her and Minji’s relationship. Or is it a situationship? Either way, Danielle is okay with not putting a label on it. They’re still trying to figure it out.
Whether Hanni is present and makes gagging noises or not, Danielle and Minji don’t care. Despite their work schedules, they find time to cuddle on the couch together, watching TV shows but never finishing them because they fall asleep. Danielle likes the fact that Minji can be more of her vampiric self—when Hanni isn’t around—and just… be. It is kind of jarring, though, watching Minji drink blood from her Stanley tumbler and seeing her smile after, her blood-stained teeth sending chills down Danielle’s spine. She knows that Minji won’t do anything to her, she promised her that, but it still frightens her.
It’s like this evening, Minji comes out of her room looking pale. It’s like she’s sick and Danielle gasps softly in worry. The weather in October fluctuates between summer-esque temperatures and the more appropriate, seasonal cooler temperatures. Danielle always takes vitamins throughout the year to ensure that her immune system is strong and she reminds her roommates to do the same, but she can only tell them so many times. “Are you feeling okay?” Danielle asks, instinctively placing her head on Minji’s forehead to check for a fever. She pulls back when she realizes that it’s useless because Minji always feels cold. “What is the average body temperature for a vampire?”
“You know what,” Minji chuckles. “I’ve never actually checked.”
“Do you guys not have doctors?”
Minji looks at her incredulously. “Of course we do, they do the same thing as human doctors do but specialize in vampire issues.”
“What about in the hospitals?”
“You know I work at one, right?” Minji reminds her. “There’s a whole separate section for vampires. Well, in most hospitals at least.”
“So, you’re not sick?” Danielle clarifies.
“Nah,” Minji shakes her head. “I need blood. I gave Hyein most of the stuff that I…” she pauses. “Stole from the Red Cross.”
“Can’t you just have a cheat day?” Danielle is trying to think of a solution. She remembers Minji mentioning that vampires can eat human food as well.
“I can’t,” Minji sighs. “Not this month. October is kind of sacred for us.”
Danielle frowns, taking Minji’s hand and leading her to the living room, more specifically, behind the couch. She has an idea which goes against her fear and is very unorthodox, but perhaps it would work. “Did you…” she laughs to herself because it’s going to sound crazy when she proposes her idea to Minji. “You could feed off me.”
Minji’s eyes widen. “I’ve never done that before but I know other people have.”
“I mean,” Danielle laughs, a little more nervously this time. “There’s a first for everything?”
“I guess,” Minji frowns. She leans in to kiss Danielle and the younger girl relaxes and sighs contently when she pulls away. “Turn around.” She mumbles into Danielle’s ear.
Danielle obliges and holds on to the back of the couch as she feels Minji hug her from behind. She’s tense due to anticipation of what’s about to happen and prays that Minji can control herself. She can’t help but relax in Minji’s embrace when she feels a peck on her cheek. “I’m ready…” she mumbles.
“Just relax,” Minji whispers in her ear. Danielle can feel goosebumps forming. “It’s going to feel like a needle.” Luckily, Danielle doesn’t have a fear of needles but her pain tolerance isn’t the greatest. Minji’s warm breath tickles her neck and she inhales deeply, bracing herself. She feels Minji kisses her neck and she lets out a small moan. She wishes the taller girl would continue doing that but she yelps at the sudden switch up of pain when she feels sharp teeth. Danielle feels like a juicebox and Minji is drinking her from a straw except it hurts. Gripping the back of the couch, Danielle tries to let her mind drift towards something else. Like what she’s going to eat later, the coworkers she’s going to work with tomorrow morning, and what her Halloween costume will be this year.
“Minji…” Danielle breathes out. “I’m getting dizzy…” She feels the sharp pain suddenly disappear and she manages to turn her head over her shoulder to see Minji wipe her bloody mouth with the back of her hand.
“Sorry,” Minji says apologetically. She pulls Danielle in for a sweet kiss and leads her to the couch. “You have concealer, right?”
“Yeah, why?” Danielle furrows her eyebrows.
“I left a hickey by accident,” Minji laughs nervously. “You’ll need to cover it up.”
“I’ll worry about it later,” Danielle mumbles sleepily as she lays her head in Minji’s lap. “Wake me up when Hanni is almost home.”
If anyone had told Danielle six months ago that she would be a literal walking blood bank to her roommate who’s a vampire, she would never believe them. While Danielle—and Hanni—loved Twilight while they were in high school and up until Minji revealed it to her, she really didn’t think vampires existed.
Nothing has changed in their routine except Hanni is still in the dark about Minji’s vampiric lifestyle and Danielle has been finding herself much more fatigued lately.
“What’s wrong with you?” Haerin asks, looking up from her phone briefly.
“I’ve been so sleepy lately,” Danielle leans against the box of Ruffles chips that Haerin would use to restock the shelves with. “I’m not sure what’s going on with me.”
“Have you been sleeping late?” Haerin wonders.
“You know I keep grandma hours,” Danielle says, which earns a snort of laughter from Haerin.
“That’s true, you sleep the earliest out of everyone and you eat the healthiest out of all of us.” Haerin shrugs. “I don’t know what to tell you, I can’t help you.” She pauses to cash out a customer, who also decides to buy lottery tickets, so it takes a little longer and Haerin sighs in relief when they leave. “Oh yeah, how’s your rom-com going along?”
“What are you talking about?”
“You being hopelessly in love with your roommate, Minji.”
Oh dear, Danielle has been so caught up in the little bubble that she and Minji have been in, along with their work schedules that she hasn’t told everyone else yet. She gives Haerin the biggest grin. “It turns out she likes me back.”
“Whoa, really?” Haerin sounds a little more energetic now. “For how long?”
“Maybe…” Danielle tries to think about how long it’s been. “A few weeks now? Not that long, but we’re not officially girlfriends yet.”
“I see…” Haerin hums. “Are you guys going to make it official soon?”
“I hope so,” Danielle blushes and giggles. All she has to do is wait until the end of October and hopefully, Minji can get off this blood-only diet and resume eating human food or… drinking animal blood. Whatever she has to do to sustain herself, Danielle is here all for it. She feels her eyelids grow heavy and okay, maybe five minutes of shut-eye won’t hurt. Haerin is working anyway and Danielle hopes that, this time, her other best friend won’t spontaneously clock out.
She can feel herself nodding off and is about to fall into a deep sleep until she feels something cold against her hand. Danielle shoots up awake, wondering if it’s Minji, but she’s still at 7-Eleven and Haerin’s on the clock, but she’s hovering over her with a Slurpee. “Figured you could use a little pick me up,” Haerin gives her a small smile. “It’s the Brisk Lemonade flavour, I hope that’s okay.”
“This is fine, thanks.” Danielle sits up and smiles back at her friend, thankful for the cold drink. Maybe that’ll get her out of this foggy exhaustion that she’s been experiencing for the past few days. As she takes the first sip, notes of tartness hit her tongue and keep her awake. This should do, for now.
“Better?”
“Much better,” Danielle hopes it’ll stay that way. “Thanks again, Haerin.”
Days and nights blur in between and before everyone knows it, Halloween is fast approaching. Since it falls on a weekday this year, most of the festivities are happening on the weekends. Minji has decided to dress like her version of a goth girl, with a black skirt, Dr. Martens boots, a white dress shirt and a tie. Hanni is dressed up as Lara Croft, one of her favourite video game characters.
(“Bro, you know this game! You’ve watched me play it before.” Hanni reminded her when Danielle responded with a blank look.)
Haerin wears a Sanrio shirt—more specifically, Keroppi—and reassures everyone that they’ll figure out who she is. It’s the bare minimum, but for as long as Danielle has known Haerin, she’s never fully dressed up for Halloween. Hyein is dressed up as a witch and it’s a cute costume. That’s been Danielle’s default for the past few years but this year, she’s pulled one of Haerin’s numbers and is going as Bella from Twilight, much to Minji’s chagrin.
Also because she’s been too tired these past few weeks to really think of a Halloween costume, so minimal effort is the way to go this year. Danielle found a flannel shirt in her closet that she hardly wore and Dr. Martens boots that she’d only worn a handful of times, so she knew her feet would be hurting later.
The neighbourhood that they live in has Halloween events scattered across the block and a ghost walk. Minji had planned it when she realized everyone had a different idea of what they wanted to do. A compromise was made and everyone is settling for that. It’s unusually warm this time of the year for Halloween and as they walk down the street as a group, Danielle grabs Minji’s hand. She seems tense and then she remembers the obligation that all vampires have to do at the end of October. “Everything okay?”
“Hmm?” Minji looks over at her. “Yeah, everything’s fine.”
“Ooh, there’s a candy apple stall,” Haerin says dryly. “Do you guys want—”
“Me!” Hanni raises her hand and almost hits Danielle in the face. If there’s one thing about Hanni, it’s that this girl is obsessed with apples. Whether it’s the fruit or anything apple-flavoured.
“Hyein, do you want one?”
The tallest girl’s eyes seem to light up, but Danielle catches the stern look that Minji gives her peripheral vision.
“No thanks,” Hyein says, almost pouting.
“You know,” Hanni announces as they all make their way to the candy apple stall. “I wouldn’t mind if we just skip the ghost walk and anything that has to do with haunted houses. We could just buy a bunch of Halloween treats.”
Haerin rolls her eyes. “Let’s not be boring, Hanni.”
“I’m not boring, I’m just—”
Danielle temporarily lets go of Minji’s hand to hold Hanni’s. “I’ll keep you company during the scary parts, yeah?”
“You promise?” Hanni raises an eyebrow.
“Yeah,” Danielle grins.
Danielle doesn’t keep her promise but does get a good laugh out of Hanni’s screams when they enter a haunted house and encounter jumpscares. She has so many videos of Hanni being frightened on her phone and it makes for a good laugh.
Overall, Danielle thinks it was a pretty good night. Haerin is asleep and is using Hanni’s shoulder as her pillow. Hanni is giving Danielle a death glare after tonight’s events but at this point, Danielle knows that the shorter girl is all bark and no bite.
Minji is in the lobby of their building, waiting for her aunt and uncle to pick Hyein up. Danielle looks down at the coffee table and realizes that Hyein has forgotten her phone. Crap. Hopefully, they’re still there. “I’ll be back, Hanni.” Danielle reaches for Hyein’s phone. “Let me give this to Hyein.” She walks down the hallway, gets in the elevator and heads out to the lobby. She’s about to call out Hyein’s name but she and Minji seem to have a quiet… intense look on both of their faces as they conversate. She doesn’t want to interrupt so she attempts to hide behind the plant that obviously does not camouflage her at all.
“...Danielle? Are you sure?” Hyein asks.
“If I had it my way, no. Never. I told her I’d never hurt her but you know we have to do this.” Minji sounds confused, a mixture of sadness and anger.
“Can we not pick someone else?”
“It has to be someone we know,” Minji sighs. “The alternative is… you know.”
“You think she’ll let us?”
“Not at all, but I don’t want to lie to her.” Minji crosses her arms. “But I also can’t just blatantly tell her.”
Danielle steps out from behind the plant and takes a few angry steps towards them. “Tell me what?”
The two look over at her in shock.
“Danielle…” Minji starts but Danielle isn’t going to let her.
“What the hell, Minji?!” She isn’t one to get angry but she feels conflicted and betrayed. “Is this what you wanted to do along?” Sure, she knew about it because Minji told her, but Danielle thought it wouldn’t be her. She didn’t think she’d be the target.
“Danielle…” Minji tries to reach out to her but Danielle backs away. She can’t trust her roommate anymore or even Hyein.
“I can’t believe this…” Danielle points at the two of them. Hot, angry tears ran down her face and she didn’t even realize that she had started crying. On impulse, she tosses Hyein’s phone at the taller girl and runs out of the apartment building and onto the street. She doesn’t want to attract any attention to Minji and Hyein’s situation but she needs to get away from them. From everyone.
Looking back at everything, Danielle should have seen this coming. Essentially becoming a blood bank for Minji perhaps was part of her plan for Danielle to get used to it for the inevitable. Minji has always talked about wanting to be human and being tired of her vampire lifestyle. How guilty she felt about turning Hyein into one. But still… the fact that Danielle was possibly manipulated into being turned into one by Minji and Hyein… hurts her knowing that she considered them friends and something more with Minji.
However, Danielle isn’t the only one hurting.
Minji had left them a letter and some cash in an envelope, which was her share of the rent which would keep them afloat until the end of this year. Her bedroom—that Danielle and Hanni never stepped in—was completely empty when Danielle became brave enough to open it. The door hinges still squeaked when she stepped in and out. She never did spray WD-40 on it like she kept reminding herself to.
Hanni, understandably, is upset too. Minji never changed her mind about allowing Danielle to tell their other roommate about her secret. Hanni had confronted Danielle, confused and upset about what happened that night.
(“Why are you being so vague? What exactly happened?” Hanni had stood up in front of the TV as Danielle sat on the couch. She felt like a child being scolded.
“We got into a big fight…” Danielle frowns.
“About what?”
And this is where Danielle had to remain vague. She couldn’t air Minji’s business about being a vampire, because that would mean bringing Hyein into it too.
“You two have to make up, soon,” Hanni says with finality.)
There’s tension in the apartment. Hanni and Danielle don’t talk as much and while they’ve fought in the past, it has never been like this. They step around like strangers. As if they haven’t been best friends for the past decade.
Haerin comes around too, more often than usual, and while she’s the most reserved one, Danielle can see in her eyes that she’s also sad. She doesn’t see Hyein at school and Eunchae is the only one that keeps her company.
Despite the awkwardness that has engulfed Danielle and Hanni, Danielle doesn’t even move back into the bedroom that Minji once occupied. She keeps it empty in the rare occurrence that Minji comes back.
She has a feeling that she won’t.
The actual day of Halloween rolls by and when the sun sets, nothing happens. Danielle had anticipated Minji and Hyein breaking into the apartment and turning her. She had been so caught up in this odd daydream that the only thing that startled her was kids knocking on the door for trick or treat.
She almost forgot about that too.
Danielle feels so conflicted, feeling betrayed and used but also missing Minji, and Hyein, by extension.
(She feels like Bella in New Moon when Edward and the rest of the Cullen family move away. Bella was struggling when Edward left. Although, Danielle doesn’t think she’s in that sort of state.)
She’s buried herself at work, taking extra shifts and doing overtime whenever a manager or supervisor asks. Danielle also does this so that she has extra money and plus, enough to hopefully cover a third of the rent that Minji used to cover.
Autumn finally comes knocking on the door when the temperature finally drops. It prompts Danielle and Hanni to break out of the space heater to fill their bedroom with warmth. Minji always felt cold, but being wrapped up in her arms always made Danielle feel warm.
Yeah, she misses her.
Trying to get their friendship back on track, Danielle orders pizza from their favourite spot and Haerin is present, to quell any potential arguments, and also because why not invite their other friend over?
Danielle is on her second slice of pineapple pizza and Haerin has a shit-eating grin. She doesn’t smile like this often, so she’s planning something.
“What’s up?” Hanni raises an eyebrow at their cat-like friend.
“Hyein texted me. She had some family issues going on so she had to leave suddenly, but she texted me saying that she’ll be back at school soon.” Haerin’s grin never leaves her face. “I invited her too and Minji.”
Danielle chokes on the piece of pizza and coughs, but luckily, she manages to swallow and it goes down. She grabs her can of Coke Zero and takes a sip, washing away the rest of the pizza to go down. “What?”
“Great!” Hanni claps. “You guys can finally get your shit together.” She points to Danielle.
As if on cue, there’s a knock on the door. Danielle gets up from the dining table, perhaps a little too eagerly. She unlocks and opens the door and there stands Minji and Hyein. She’s still upset at them, of course, but she can’t help but tear up seeing the sight of them. “I missed you,” Danielle mumbles, hugging Minji.
“I missed you too,” Minji whispers, hugging her back.
Danielle can feel Hyein joining them and then Hanni and Haerin. It becomes a group hug and her eyes widen as she processes one thing.
Minji is warm.