Chapter Text
In a small town at the top of a mountain, surrounded by a forest, there was a mansion where a man lived. A man who has lived for many, many years. A man who has grown bored of life. As the years go by he has done everything a human can possibly do with the amount of years he has lived. Traveled. Learned everything he could possibly learn. Tried every dish he could think of. Lived every life he could want. He has grown bored, couldn’t think of anything else to do but could not gain the courage to move on to the afterlife. So what does a man like him do with his time since he does not need to work since he has compiled a lot of money, too much money for a single person in his many “lives”...... mope in sadness and boredom in his huge mansion, complain to the only person still in his life, his caretaker.
“Seonghwa!” The man yells from his living room as he watches whatever he could find on the TV. Before he was about to yell his only friend’s name again, he heard footsteps entering the room.
“What could I do for you, Yunho?”The older man asks. Yunho turns around on the couch to look at Seonghwa, looking at him with sad, puppy dog eyes. “My favorite show just ended. What must I do now!!” He said as he dramatically laid down on his couch. Seonghwa just looked at him and laughed. He walked over to his friend and sat down on one of the love seats.
“You could go outside for a bit. Maybe an hour. You haven’t gone out for a while. The only reason you haven’t died is because of me. Without me you would be dust right now. Go walk around the town. The town’s people probably think you died. Show them you haven’t, give them something to gossip about.” Seonghwa said. Yunho thought about it. Seonghwa was right. He hasn’t gone out in over a month. Too busy being woeful.
“But there is nothing to do there. It’s the same thing every time. Nothing changes. I should just go back to the city. At least there things change.” He says, raising from the couch. He walked to the large window in the living room which has a view of the town down below the mountain. Stereotypical right? Seonghwa stays in his seat but turns to look at his friend with worry in his eyes. It has not been the first time Yunho has become bored with life and spent his days depressed but it has been the longest. As time goes by, it gets harder and harder to find new things in life. Nobody tells you the boredom that comes with being immortal and living for so long. Seonghwa says, “Yes, the city is lovely but it would also make it easier for us to get caught. Also, there are not many animals in the city. Just pets, birds and rats. I don’t know about you but I don’t feel like feeding off a rat or a bird.” Yunho turns around. He sighs.
“You are right. As always…. Alright, I will go down. The air sounds nice and it seems like a nice day out. The sun is out.” Yunho walks out the room to get changed for the day out.
Seonghwa goes to turn the TV off and walks to the kitchen to see if they need anything. What people don’t tell you, vampires can still eat human food.
Yunho arrives in town. He walks to the only diner in town. A little place owned by an old nice lady who believes Yunho had a grandfather who used to live in town. A grandfather who could be his twin.
He walks in and he looks around for the owner but doesn’t see her. Yunho and Seonghwa take a seat at a booth. A young lady walks to their table, giving the men a weird look as they have sunglasses on inside. She puts away the weird look and smiles at them.
“Hello fellas, here are your menus, what can I get you to drink?” She says with a giant smile on her face. A smile, a baby would cry too.
“Where is Adelaide?” Yunho asked, looking around again.
The lady had a confused look on her face.”Who?” Yunho internally slapped himself. Not many people know her by her first name here. “Mrs.Moore. I don’t see her. I was hoping to talk to her today.” He says looking back at the waitress. “She is out of town. She went to visit her granddaughter. It’s been a month. How did you not know that already?” The lady gave him a strange look. Seonghwa stepped in, “We apologize. We don’t come down often. We live up in the mountains. Could I get a hot coffee and my friend will have a lemon tea, thank you.” He gives her a smile. The lady writes down the drinks and walks away. Seonghwa turns to his friend who looks displeased with him. “Why did you not tell me Adelaide was out of town?” He gives him a stern look. “It slipped my mind. There was much to do on the day I found out. You would do nothing but walk around like a zombie.” Before Yunho spoke back, the bell rang. He looked back and saw a man. A man he has never seen before. “Who is that?” He turns to Seonghwa. The waitress comes back and sits down their drinks. “Are you ready to order or do you need more time?”She asked. Seonghwa asks for more time. She walks away to attend the young man that walked in.
“I think it’s a new teacher. I don’t know what he teaches or his name but the librarian told me about him last time I came down, she said he moved in a week or so ago. Young, alone, haven’t really interacted with anybody yet.” Seonghwa takes a sip from his coffee when he finishes. Yunho looks back at the man again. He’s tall, about Yunho’s height, he has longish black hair, wearing baggy black jeans, a baggy band shirt, black shoes and jacket. Before Yunho could look away, the man looked at him. He gave him a smile, a small sweet one. Yunho gave a smile back then looked away. He finally opened the menu and looked for what he wanted.
After they finished their meal, Seonghwa left to buy some necessities. Yunho stayed at the diner. He drank his second tea, reading the newspaper that Seonghwa left behind. As he was reading, somebody decided to sit down at his booth, thinking it was Seonghwa, he started talking, “Would it be so bad to get a cat? I haven’t had a cat since I’ve left my family in Korea. I miss that family cat. Grumpy little thing but well, no offense, I want something for comfort that isn’t an old man that was paid to take care of me.” He never puts down the newspaper, just turns the pages.
The person cleared their throat. “My opinion probably is irrelevant but I like cats. They’re good pets.” A voice much deeper than Seonghwa's said. Yunho puts down the newspaper and finally looks at the person in front of him. It was the new teacher, sitting right in front of him, smiling. Why was he sitting in front of Yunho? Yunho looks at him with a confusing look, eyes staring at the strangers, wide. He doesn’t reply. The stranger looks around the diner awkwardly.
“I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable by coming over here. I just wanted to meet the person behind the legend.” He said. Yunho became even more confused. Legend? What legend?
“What legend?” Yunho asked, scared for what the young man would say. Have the town’s people figured out his secret? Do they know what he is?
“About the killer monster that lives in the mansion deep in the mountains. All the kids talked about it, told me a story of how a kid went missing after he went to the mountains and knocked on your door. They say you drink the blood of the innocent. Is it true?” He said with a smile. Yunho let out a sigh of relief. Nobody has found out the truth, just kids spreading stupid urban legends. “No, it is not true. I am just a normal man who likes his solitude. Sorry to disappoint.” Yunho said, returning the smile. The man looks at him, and doesn't say anything for a bit. For a second Yunho swears he saw a look of sadness in the man's face but before he could be sure the look went away. Yunho begins to feel that the man in front of him will find out all his secrets by just staring at him. When Yunho is about to say his goodbyes, the man speaks up.
“I’m Mingi. Mingi Song, I realized I haven't introduced myself properly. I’m the new math teacher at the school. And you are? The kids tell me the legend but not your name.”
Yunho looks at the man, whose name he now knows. He hasn't introduced himself to someone in a while. Not many people know his name in town. Only know him as the man up in the mountain. The man that hardly comes down. The urban legend. He believes introducing himself will cause people to get close, too close. He can’t let people get too close, not just because they will find out his secret and he and Seonghwa will have to move but because if he lets them get close, it will hurt when he ends up losing them which will happen. He wants to get up and walk away, not let the man know his name, not let the man know anything about him and just let him believe the legend the kids tell him. He doesn’t. He stays, not because he feels something special about Mingi. This is not that kind of story, sometimes even immortal ones get lonely and long for human connection. Yunho knows how this will end. Once the years pass and he is supposed to age, he and Seonghwa will move, leaving the man in front him behind. Without any warning or goodbye. A part of Yunho’s brain tells him to forget about the man already and prevent getting close to him but the other part, the part that wants nothing more than to connect with someone that isn’t the man that has been by his side since the beginning of his immoral journey is louder and more driven. Before he can stop himself, he speaks, knowing he will regret what comes next.
“I’m Yunho Jeong. I’m a writer and no I won’t let you read anything I have written.”
Mingi giggles which causes Yunho to smile. The waitress comes around, “Is there anything you fellas want?” She says with her wide creepy smile again. Mingi looks at her, dropping his smile.
“I would like a black coffee please and thank you. Would you like anything Yunho? It’s on me.” Yunho is about to decline when Mingi interrupts him, “I won’t take no as an answer.” Mingi looks at him with the same look he gave him earlier. The look that made Yunho feel he could uncover all his secrets within seconds.
“I’ll take another lemon tea. Thank you.”
The waitress walks away. Mingi pulls out a folder from the bag he had with him that Yunho somehow didn’t notice when he first saw the man. Mingi opens the folder and pulls out a small stack of papers then grabs a pen from his jacket pocket. Yunho watches him as he grades what Yunho assumes are assignments from his students. They just sit there for a couple of minutes. Not speaking a word to each other. About 15 minutes later, the waitress comes back with their drinks. Finally, Mingi looks up.
“So Yunho, how long have you lived here? I know, boring question.” He takes a sip of his coffee. He puts the papers back into the folder and gives Yunho his entire attention.
“I moved here after college but my grandfather used to live here. That’s how I got the house. My grandfather died and my parents were already dead so I inherited everything from him. I wanted to get away from the city, which if I’m being honest, I sometimes miss but this place is better for me.” Mingi doesn’t say anything. He just sips his coffee and keeps his eyes on Yunho. In this moment, Yunho wished he was like the vampires from Twilight so he could read minds but he isn't. He can’t tell what Mingi is thinking. His face is unreadable. Mingi sits his drink down, “Who was that man with you?” He asked. Yunho was stunned with his blunetness.
“He was my grandfather’s caretaker. His family has been working for my family for generations so I didn’t fire him so he’s kind of my caretaker now but I consider him a friend.”
Mingi looks down at his watch. He takes the last sips of his coffee and stands up. “It seems like I must go. The school day is about to start. It was great talking to you, Yunho. Hopefully, I will see you again very soon.” He takes out his wallet and leaves a ten dollar bill. He walks towards the door but before he leaves, he walks back to the table. He takes out a paper and pen and writes something and hands it to Yunho. Yunho grabs it. It’s his number.
“I don’t usually have much to do after work since I don’t really know anybody here yet so if you’re ever free, don’t hesitate to text me.” He says with a smile, a genuine smile. Yunho smiled back and not a fake one. Not the ones he puts on when talking to the town’s people. A real smile. Mingi finally walks out of the diner. Yunho sits in the booth still smiling. Before he knows it, Seonghwa walks back into the diner. He walks to the booth and sits down. Yunho doesn’t look up. He just looks at the paper in his hand. Seonghwa, confused, snaps his fingers in front of his face. Finally, Yunho looks up.
“I see that you are still here. How did you spend the hour that I was gone?” Seonghwa asks. Yunho gets up and gestures for Seonghwa to do the same. They say their goodbyes to the waitress and walk out. On their walk, Yunho says, “I talked to the teacher. I told him my name. He gave me his number. I don’t even have a phone. Do you have a phone?” He stops and turns to Seonghwa. Seonghwa notices the smile on his face. A smile that he hasn’t seen in a while. He doesn’t say anything, just smiles at his friend, feeling relief that finally his friend has escaped the darkness that was taking over him.