The Night Belongs to the Moon | Taeyong

23 | A Promise Kept

The winter sun rose higher in the sky to reach the top before starting its descent in West, but Dal-ae's first lesson for the Vampire Ball was nowhere near its end. Since morning Doyoung had kept her busy. The two had gone over the proper way to stand, to sit, and then to rise again from a seated position. She was taught how to walk unescorted, how to wait in case the Lord leaves her side, how to turn her head, where to look and where the gaze should not linger down to the motion of her wrists and the gestures of her fingers. Doyoung spared no detail.

To his surprise, however, Dal-ae was quick to learn, easily wearing the elegance expected of a lady. Her shoulders remained pressed down and her neck stretched high as she walked straight-backed wall to wall in the ballroom, carrying a soothing smile on her pleasant face. Her hands moved with the agility Doyoung expected out of her and her wrists shifted delicately from form to form. She looked so impressive that had she been wearing a formal gown on this late afternoon she would have been indistinguishable from a lady of a rich house.

Doyoung had just finished lecturing her on how to politely turn down a proposal to a dance from a vampire or accept, which he vehemently told her not to do under any circumstance.

'Next, we have,' he began, adjusting his glasses to read from the list in his hand, 'ah, yes! The Feeding Area.'

Dal-ae stood in front of him, patient and poised.

He took off his glasses and said emphatically, 'I cannot express the importance of this rule. Do not wander into the Feeding Area of the vampires. It will be equally lavish and almost identical to a lounge. But you will be able to smell the blood from afar even as a human and on the entrance will be an usher dressed in a red suit. If you see someone dressed in a red suit, trying to bring you in, politely tell them who you are with and they will most likely apologize to you or escort you back to the main floor. Is that understood?'

'Is this really one of the rules in the list?' Dal-ae asked.

'Yes.'

'Are all the other rules from now on this useless?'

'You might want to watch this tone of yours when you go to the ball,' Doyoung remarked, pulling his glasses down.

'And you might want to add better rules to this long list. This is so stupid. Of course, I would know not to wander off into the Feeding Area and even if I did, I can take care of myself,' Dal-ae said.

'You cannot possibly take care of yourself. Except for the humans serving as feeding banks, there will only be vampires at the Ball,' Doyoung said, not unkindly.

'C'mon, don't scare her,' said a voice from the door behind Doyoung. Dal-ae leaned to the right and saw Jaehyun walking inside the ballroom, dressed in a new suit of navy blue. 'It is not that bad, really, the Ball. It's quite fun and the vampires hardly ever feed during the dance,' he said to Dal-ae, walking towards the two.

'I was not scared,' Dal-ae said as greeting.

'I know,' Jaehyun replied.

'What do you want?' Doyoung asked, plainly.

'You,' Jaehyun returned in an instant and Doyoung rolled his eyes so hard that Dal-ae was afraid they would go back inside his skull. Jaehyun looked quite pleased with himself seeing this effect.

'If you want to learn Ball etiquettes,' Jaehyun turned to Dal-ae, 'there is nobody better than me in this realm.'

'Oh really? And how is that?' Doyoung said.

'Is there anyone who has taken more dates to the dance floor and courted more vampires than I have?'

Doyoung scoffed at this.