Chapter 6

After dropping her off in front of her campus building, Stephen immediately left her without saying a word. Even though the man promised to explain everything in the car. For a moment, she saw Stephen's face, who was so worried, that she tried to not mind Stephen's attitude.

She took a deep breath, tidying her belongings on the table. Her smartphone which she changed to vibrate mode so as not to disturb her concentration when she was in class vibrated several times, indicating an incoming call. She paused the activity of tidying up her things, reached for her smartphone which was to her right side, pressed the green button when she saw the name on her smartphone screen.

"Hello, Sis," she said, clutching her smartphone to her left shoulder while she went back to tidying up her things. "What's wrong? It's rare for you to call me at this time."

“I didn't bother you, right? Still in class?" asked her older sister—Febrina Darren. Her ears had heard several people talking behind her sister's back, talking about things she did not understand much other than product marketing. Febrina never told her where she worked, so she could only guess her occupation.  What was clear, Febrina worked in the neighbour town, Summerstone city, which was a two-hour drive from Waterford city.

"Just finished my class. If I still had a class, why should I answer your call?"

"That's right," her sister laughed softly. A woman spoke to Febrina, so her sister held on to the call for a few minutes, before speaking to her again. “I know, this sounds a little absurd, but somehow I don't feel good since this morning, so I'm calling you. Afraid if anything happened to you. Because you know,  I'm not there. You're fine, right?"

Her hand stopped moving. She was silent. Febrina's intuition was as usual, so strong and always hit the spot that it terrified her. Should she tell her  about those incidents from earlier? Not. She did not want to trouble her sister. Febrina would have left her job right away if she had said it. It would have been tiring for Febrina if she told her what she had just experienced this morning. Better kept the information to herself for now.

"Yes, I'm doing okay. You are worried too much, Sis," she said again, once all her belongings were in the bag. Her right hand was now taking over her left shoulder, holding her smartphone. "How about you?"

"Me? Always good, relax. Next month I get a week off, so I'm going to go back to visit you."

"Oh."

"Just oh? You don't miss your sister?"

"Of course I miss you, Sis," she replied, quickly. Then she was silent for a moment. Should she tell about the nightmare she had last night?

"Is there anything you want to talk about?"

Febrina's question hit the spot. She closed the zipper of her bag while biting her lower lip. It seemed that she did not have any choice but to tell her sister. Maybe her sister could help her.

"Sis?"

"Hm?"

"I ..."

There was another voice from where Febrina was, and asked her to stop for a moment, talking to the coworker while she waited. It seemed this was not the right time to talk about her nightmare. Febrina seemed busy. It was not good to disturb her sister's time now.

"Hello? Vero? What were you trying to say? "

"No. Nothing," she said, shaking her head softly, even though she knew that her older sister could not see her. "I just remembered that I have an assignment to collect today, so I have to end the call now, OK?"

"Oh. Okay then. I'm really busy, but if there's anything, all you need to do is just call me. Syuuutt ~ I will definitely go straight to your place! Understand? You are still my top priority."

"Yes, I understand. I'm fine, really," she explained. How could she tell her sister that she had just been chased by a group of vampires? Her sister would have thought she was crazy, then lectured her for hours and told her to stop watching the TV series Shadowhunters or something similar on Netflix. Or the worse, her sister would stop the Netflix membership service—the worst thing she should avoid the most.

“Take care of yourself, Vero. I love you."

"I love you too, Sis."

Feelings of guilt enveloped her because she had to lie to her sister. She pressed the red button, then turned off her smartphone screen. Stuffing her smartphone into the front pocket of her bag.

Someone suddenly tapped her shoulder hard, causing her to reflexively grip that hand.

“How many times do I have to tell you, Bianca!? Stop touching my shoulder!" she snapped, releasing her grip on Bianca. The woman held her hand that was slightly flushed from her grip earlier, pretended to moan in pain, then sat down next to her. "Where's Erna?"

"At home. There's a dating simulation game launching today and she wants to be the first one to play it, so you know, the rest," Bianca shrugged. “Rather than that, I'm more curious about you. How was your date yesterday? Did you meet Karl Smith? What was the person look like?"

"Date? I just ate lunch with Karl, then went home. He is a nice person, fun, although at first I was a little intimidated by his aura."

"Only that? Nothing more?"

She nodded. Her eyes looked around. When she saw that there was only the two of them left in the room, she leaned towards Bianca. "Can I ask you something?"

"What?" Bianca leaned forward too.

"Are you ... a vampire?"

The woman's eyes widened, looking in shock for a moment, before pulling herself together. She had seen the colour of Bianca's irises turn red for a moment before finally turning back to brown, which made her shudder a little. "Laurent told you?"

She nodded. "Yes. Is it true?"

Bianca let out a long sigh. "Yeah. Sorry, I didn't mean to hide, but this isn't something easy to— "

"I know. Chill. I'm just asking. It's just …"

"What?"

"There were a few vampires who came to my apartment today."

Bianca's expression turned blue. "Targeting you? How did you know they were vampires?"

"Stephen said to me earlier. Anyway, I'm pretty sure they're not the type to talk easily."

Bianca muttered softly, looking worried. "I will ask my men to investigate it. There's no way they could enter that easily into my family's territory if not from among my own family. There must be a misunderstanding, or whatever. You've been under my family's protection all this time, so don't worry. Okay?"

"Protection of your family?" she asked, confused. "Since when?"

"Since I became friends with you, of course. Your sister left you with me when she got a job where she is now, remember?"

"Well, but that was ..." Veronica was silent for a moment. "Don't tell me my sister already knew about your identity as a vampire?"

Bianca immediately waved her hand in the air. "Absolutely not. Your sister probably didn't mean anything else when she asked me, but I took it seriously. Want me to take you home?"

She narrowed her eyes. “And that reminds me of one thing. Where are your girlfriends?"

“I cancelled all my schedules with my girlfriends for you, Vero. How is it? Are you touched by my action?"

"Try saying that to Erna. Maybe she will be touched."

"Really? Maybe I should consider it in the future…”

It seemed that Bianca took her words seriously, as the woman was now furrowing her eyebrows while muttering to herself. Makes her even more clueless to her friend. Why did Bianca always look enthusiastic when it came to Erna? It felt weird.

Could it be ...

She'd better just ask now, while Erna was not there.

“Bianca? I know this might be a sensitive topic for you, but…"

"Hm?" Bianca turned to her.  "Spill it out, it's okay."

"Do you ... like Erna?"

The question was hit the spot because the woman froze instantly. Bianca's face turned red and looked away from Veronica. She could not help but grin at Bianca's unexpected reaction. "Am I right?"

“Damn…,” said the woman, half whispering as she buried her face, which was still blushing, on the table. "How did you know?"

"No wonder. I've been suspicious for a long time, but I've always had doubts. That's why I ask now," she said again. "When did you start to like Erna?"

“I-I don't know. I don't know myself either," Bianca looked up a little, rubbing the nape of her neck, trying to hide how nervous she was now. The self-confidence that Bianca had always displayed in front of everyone had collapsed in an instant. "Don't tell Erna, please."

"I won't. Your secret is safe with me," she winked, then returned to a serious face. “Your offer to take me home earlier is still valid, right? Because I'm worried that those people are still there."

"Of course," replied Bianca. The woman was silent for a moment, seemed to be sniffing something, then rolled her eyes. “Ah, I think the offer is no longer valid. Try going out now."

"Go out? Now?"

Bianca nodded. Reluctantly, she got up from the chair she was sitting on, walked out of her classroom.

"Hello, Miss Darren."

She was surprised to find the figure of Stephen standing beside her, waving his hand, smiling a smile that could stop her world for a few seconds. She turned back to looked at Bianca, who was no longer in the room. Where was that woman? Did she leave? Very fast.

“Karl just called me earlier. Asking me to take you to his house today."

Her excitement turned to annoyance when the man mentioned Karl's name. "Now?"

"Yes. And for the time being, you stay at Karl's house until the problem is resolved. No problem, right?"

Stephen's question was clearly not a question, but a statement. "Yes."

"Good girl," Stephen raised his hand, was about to rub Veronica's head, but he did not do that in the end. The man invited her to walk ahead of her, and she accepted it half-heartedly because she was still annoyed.

"Oh, I have one more thing to say now, Nikki." Stephen was already walking beside her, pausing for a moment as they reached the front door of her current campus building. "Karl is a good person, so he can take care of you better than I am."

Stephen's words seemed to ask her not to like the man who was walking beside her at this time. Her feet stopped walking, looked at Stephen who also stopped, looked at her full of confusion.

"Why?"

The man raised an eyebrow. "Yes?"

"Your words earlier. I don't like it."

Stephen paused for a moment, then stuck his hands into the pockets of the black synthetic leather jacket. “I'm just telling the truth. Which part do you dislike?"

"All of them."

"Oh."

Those were the only words that escaped the man's thin lips before the man walked ahead of her towards the parking area. Once they got to the front of the car, Stephen did not immediately open the car door.

"Nikki?"

She pretended not to pay attention to the man, still annoyed.

"Are you angry?"

She remained silent. The man took a deep breath, rested his hands on the roof of his car, leaned closer to Veronica. “I told you at the beginning of our meeting, right? It would be better if you didn't like me. You will thank me in the future."

After saying that, the man walked away from her. Opened the car door without saying a word.

***