The Night Belongs to the Moon | Taeyong

21 | Bleed into the Moonlight

Taeyong entered the main bedroom through the first partition of his chamber to find the room sitting silently in the dark. The window was open and a cold wind had settled itself inside. He closed the window and drew the drapes before lighting a lamp next to the desk. In the bathroom he found the bathtub prepared for him with a fragrant steam rising from the rose-coloured water. Curious, he went to the closet to look for Dal-ae but she was not there as well.

'Dal-ae,' he spoke, not out loud but into the Silver Medium.

On the other end, he heard her startled voice, 'Master, have you arrived?'

He heard a thump of a book. 'Where are you?'

'I am sorry. I was waiting for so long, that I got bored and wandered into your study. I'll be right out,' she said, and Taeyong heard the door sliding open on her end.

'Stay there,' he said.

'Oh?'

'I'll come to you.'

Behind the door of the study Dal-ae stood obediently near the entrance with her hands clasped in front of her and her head bowed down. The moment she heard Taeyong enter she broke into her apology, 'I am so sorry. I had prepared the bath already but you were gone so long. I had to keep adding the hot water. After a while I got bored and wandered up the steps. I know I should have waited but I had never been here before and got curious. I am really sorry, Master. This will never happen again.'

Taeyong listened to her patiently, then smiled and said, 'Do you like reading?'

'Hm?' Dal-ae looked up and her eyes widened at the sight of Taeyong. His white t-shirt clung to his chest and his unclipped overalls hung loose over his front. His arms were bare and wet as the snow melted against his skin with his dark hair falling over his eyes.

'Where were you?' she asked.

But Taeyong walked past her and said, 'Did you find any book interesting here?'

'Oh? Uh, yes, actually,' she replied and retired into the darkness between the shelves before coming back with a green hardbound book.

'Ah, yes! That's one of my favourites too.' Taeyong was leaning against the table with his head to the side.

'It seemed interesting,' she said softly and was about to take the book back to its shelf when Taeyong stopped her, 'Take it with you. You can return it after you have read it.'

He watched her eyes lit up at this and smiled to himself.

'Thank you, Master,' she said, keeping the book on the table. 'Have you read all the books here?'

'Hm, pretty much.'

'Really?'

Taeyong chuckled. 'You are forgetting that I have had centuries worth of time to read.'

'There must be more than a thousand here at least,' she said, walking among the rows of shelves in awe. And while her eyes were fixed on the books, Taeyong's were fixed on her.

The moon was high in the sky now and the night had settled in. Dal-ae stopped in front of the tall window in the centre of the study and looked back at him. Silhouetted against the moonlight, she looked like a dream about to slip away from his hands. He was being pulled by her and before he even realized his legs walked him to her stopping only when he was close enough to see her shining eyes.

'Will you go to the Ball with me?' he said.

'The Ball?'

He nodded. 'The Vampire Ball. It's an annual event. Lots of highly distinguished but also extremely boring vampires engage in mindless chatter every year under the pretence of forwarding alliances.'