"Tell me?" Jiwon presses.
As he notices the hesitation on Minseok's face, Jiwon starts to feel guilty, "I mean...only if you want, of course, you don't need to. I just meant that I'd gladly listen to you talk."
Minseok sadly smiles at this, "A couple of years ago-"
"Oh, wow, so you do want to tell me," Jiwon says shocked.
"What? Why shocked? Of course, I do."
"I'm sorry, please do go on."
Minseok shakes his head and smiles afterwards, "So, a couple of years ago, Ms Kim and Raphael fought. I was still...ehm...normal at the time, so I didn't know what it was, I just knew my best friend had a massive fight with his mom.
He even moved out and stayed at mine at the time."
Jiwon nods to tell Minseok to continue, "I hadn't met her or anything, I only knew her due to El's stories about her. One day, I was walking by and this pretty woman stopped me, asking for directions to the city hall."
"Raphael hyung's mom?" Jiwon asks.
"At the time, I didn't know. I saw her again after that time, at the library and later at the fitness center."
"You saw the Bloo- Ms Kim at a gym?" Jiwon interrupts him.
"It gets worse. Ms Kim and I, well, we worked out together, and some more times after that .
She was amazing. Kind, funny, smart, pretty, good at sports."
"You were for real drooling over your best friend's mother?" Jiwon laughs.
"I was not! Let me explain. I was, what? Sixteen? Had a weird home situation and randomly this goddess walked into my life."
"She's not much of a goddess now, is he?" Jiwon says while rolling his eyes.
"I know she isn't. She…she used me, got inside my head. Most-most vampires have some special kind of gift. No one knows how they get it and others don't.
Kim Hyunyoung ajumma could...she can seduce people. Turn them around her finger. Something with pheromones, I don't know.
She used me as a pawn to get to Raphael.
Apparently, Raphael didn't want to be her successor. He hates her way of dealing with stuff and calls his mother a witch among vampires.
I didn't know about it, one day she just pulled up at my house and confronted Raphael. She then, ehm, she bit me, right in front of El's eyes, thought it'd do something.
It did, El got only madder, he left, and took me with him. We went to some council in Europe. They took care of me while I went through my changes and promised us their protection."
"Is that when you met Dorian?" Jiwon asks Minseok.
"Yes, indeed. When we got back, El was of age and no longer needed the council's protection. His...she still has this...I don't know, I just can't-"
"It's okay. That's horrible, Min, I'm so sorry you had to go through that," Jiwon says as he throws himself on Minseok and hugs him tightly.
"But everything's better now, right?" Jiwon smiles, "At least you've got me now."
"That's more than the least."
"Ahem."
The two of them look at the source of the voice. It was the elderly man.
"I'm sorry to interrupt your heartwarming moment. I do have to help with the ceremony in the ballroom, though, if you wanted or needed my help for something, this would be the perfect moment," he tells us, somewhat hinting something.
I was ready to open my mouth and tell him we didn't need his help, but Minseok beat me to it, "We'd love to, thank you."
Minseok gets up, taking Jiwon's hand in his and following the elder up the stairs to the library's second floor.
"Excuse me, what's happening?"
The man opens a door and some kind of secret room opens, inside are a lot of cabinets. In the middle of the room lay a huge book.
The man took place behind the book, "So, where do I start?" He looked at Jiwon, "You, my child, may I know your name?"
"Jiwon, sir," Jiwon tells him.
"Jiwon, dear, if I am not mistaken, which I never am, you are one of our woolly brothers, aren't you?"
"Ehm, yes, sir, I think so?"
"Are you familiar with the concept of 'Blood partners'?"
"Not really, sir?"
"Very well," he says, "Blood Partners are a couple consisting of one of our brothers and a person who cares about them enough to let them feed off them, knowing the consequences, all their life."
Jiwon feels Minseok's hand stiffen around his, "I understand," he says.
"It's comparable to marriage. 'Till death do us part'. Our young brother here and you seem to have..."
Jiwon swallows embarrassedly, "Do you refer to the mating, sir?"
"Yes."
"Yes, we have, sir," Jiwon's ears were burning bright red. Why did the old man need to know all this?
"Very well," he nods to himself, "You see, once a vampire feeds off a werewolf, he won't be able to like animal or human blood. Once a vampire feeds off of their mate, they won't be able to feed off anyone ever again, the blood will burn them alive from the inside."
Jiwon looks shocked at Minseok , "You could have told me?" he whisper-yells.
Minseok only shrugs in response, "If not you, I'd rather burn alive."
Show off.
"I understand what you're saying, sir...I...I do?"
"What?" Minseok and the old man look confused at Jiwon.
"You said it was like a marriage, I don't know!"
Minseok can't help but smile and murmur a soft, "Cute."
"It's an easy procedure," the man explains, "Write your names down in the book, seal it off with a mixed blood sample of the two of you, that's it. The book will know. Till death do you part."
Minseok steps forward and writes his name down, bites his finger after making his fans pop and stamps his thumb down onto the paper.
Jiwon looks at Minseok and feels his heartbeat rising.
"Are you okay?" Minseok asks, seeming worried, "You don't have to! It's up to you."
Jiwon smiles before also popping his fangs and stamping his blood down on top of the sample of Minseok's thumb.
As he writes down his name beneath Minseok's he notices a little detail.
"Then that's done," the doyen says, "May you be blessed."
Minseok tries to hide his smile, but the huge smile plastered on his face as they leave the room can't be hidden.
As they're once again on the first floor of the library Jiwon pulls Minseok into one of the corridors.
"May we be blessed," he says before kissing the boy who was leaning against the book racks.
And as they kissed, Jiwon couldn't erase seven simple words from his retina.
Till death do us part,
Minseok Yoong.