"Eunji." The boy happily skipped towards her, holding a big bouquet of flowers with a huge smile on his face, "Here. It's for you."

"Woah." She gratefully returned the smile, getting hold of the flowers before taking in its scent. It was sweet, tickling her nose in the most gentle way possible, "Thank you so much. What's the special occasion?"

"There's none." He nodded, suddenly bringing her closer to him, "I'm just grateful to be by your side."

Eunji's smile slightly dropped. She put down the bouquet carefully, a sigh leaving her lips, "Heeseung...I-"

"You don't return my feelings. I know." Heeseung quickly cut her off, a bitter taste on his tongue. "And I also know that you aren't over him yet. But I'm just happy to be your..friend, Eunji. These flowers, they..they don't mean anything."

"Thank you." She repeated, her smile slowly returning. The two of them have had this conversation before. A lot of times actually. And it would always end up the same.

How long has it been?

Eunji couldn't help but let herself drop onto her own couch, reminiscing about her painful past.

Heeseung visited her from time to time, but she was still alone mostly. She was now living alone after she had just recently finished school.

Yes, it had been that long.

A few years had gone by, but Eunji was never able to forget it. Maybe it was because of the way how it ended. How messy and tearful the separation was.

She never wanted to end it after all.

Her almost relationship with Jungwon.

Jungwon, the stubborn vampire that left her.

Eunji knew that his heart was already in her hands.

But it was locked close by his insecurities.

By his fears.

By the trauma he grew up with.

She didn't have the key.

Nor did he.

Their relationship was bound to fail from the beginning. But as stubborn and inexperienced as they were, they closed their eyes and held each other's hands tightly, risking it all.

Just for the ground to collapse underneath them.

And while Eunji did bad, Jungwon was doing a lot worse.

Unbelievable! The cold boy that would always push everyone away and was afraid of affection, was the one who was affected the most among the two.

He was the one who initiated the separation!

It was him!

So, how bad could he possibly be doing?

Eunji was full of regrets. Regretting that she didn't have the chance to confess her feelings to him and that she didn't hold onto the boy tighter.

But Jungwon on the other hand, didn't have anything he regretted. At least at first glance.

As terrible as it sounded, it was.

He kept telling himself that it was the right thing he did, till it would start to eat him up from the inside. While his mind managed to convince him, the guilt was taking his heart apart, with remorse and the anger at himself as bystanders.

While Eunji was conscious about the miserable state she was in, Jungwon wasn't. He would pretend to be fine, fooling himself and others, while he had to suffer with the consequences himself.

And there was one thing, he never got to tell her.

Vampires like his kind weren't clever. Their brain was built on simple grounds.

Like his father, Jungwon had only space for one person in his heart. He would fixate on this one person till death would take him down.

And now that he forced himself to leave his person, there was nothing left for him to do, except to suffer.

She just didn't understand. After everything they went through, he still decided to leave her.

Eunji still remembered how numb her body felt after she trudged back to the class' stay after Jungwon had left her.

How red her eyes were and how she immediately started crying again after Youngmin had caught her and pulled her into her arms.

flashback

"You lied! You lied, Youngmin." The girl kept crying and crying, soaking her friend's tshirt, "I couldn't even confess my feelings to him."

"What are you talking about?" Youngmin was confused but tried to comfort Eunji regardless.

"Youngmin, he left me. He gave up on us."

The next moment, Sunghoon confusedly exited his room, looking around as if he was searching for something.

When his gaze stopped at Eunji in Youngmin's arms, he asked them, "Do you guys know where Jungwon went? His stuff is gone."

This caused Eunji to bawl even harder, shaking her head in denial.

Eunji wanted to grow old with him for god's sake!

But he meant it. He actually left.

Even when school started again.

Jungwon was nowhere to be found.

It was as if he disappeared off the face of the earth, vanished. As if he never existed in the first place.

He didn't leave anything behind. His phone number didn't work and even though Eunji knew that very well, she still attempted to reach out to him every single day till she would graduate, hoping that one day he would come back to her.

Not many except for her, Sunghoon and Youngmin noticed his absence since they were the only ones Jungwon had ever interacted with.

And a few girls and boys who were tragically in love with him were also saddened for the first few days of him missing. But they would get over it soon, leaving Eunji alone with her sadness.

The girl cried buckets. Night and day, day and night, there was not a time when she didn't cry. It hurt.

Her body wasn't taking it well.

Knowing how good everything went at first.

How close she was to finally convince his heart.

flashback end

Oh.

She felt a tear dropping on her hand, her eyes widening. She had unconsciously started crying, remembering the past again.

"Eunji." Heeseung's voice was full of worry laced with frustration and irritation.

It was always the same.

"When are you going to leave the past behind?"

"I'm not sure." Her voice was quiet, the weak smile on her lips remained, "I probably should, right?"

"Yes." Heeseung went to pull her into his arms again. "I will help you. I won't ever leave you. Eunji, I promise."

"Thank you, Heeseung. Thank you for everything."

All she could do is thank him.

The girl knew she didn't deserve his kindness, she knew that she was selfish for letting him stay by her side despite being aware of the feelings he had for her.

She hugged the boy back, shaking her head to forget about the past even if it was for just a minute.

She wanted to do this for Heeseung.

For herself.

For him.

Jungwon was her first love.

And he would always be her first love.

Till she took her last breath.

And while Eunji was also Jungwon's first love,

she was his last one at the same time.

But she would never know.

How could she?

He went overseas right after he separated from her.

They never met again