Night Kiss

by E. T. Malinowski

  “What?” Soon-joon’s voice was deadly quiet, not a good sign.

  “Shit,” Cheongul hissed. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

  “Because you all would just worry and try to stop me from going onstage. We all agree our fans deserve the best performance we can give them, no matter what,” Ki-tae said.

  “Not at the expense of your health,” Soon-joon said.

  “So you fed from the tech to heal,” Godaeui said, redirecting the conversation. “Is this Jin-woo dongsaeng the tech?”

  “No,” Ki-tae said. “I had just started when Jin-woo-ya came around the corner and caught me.”

  “He interrupted you feeding?”

  “Yes, after standing there for several moments, he fled deeper into the stadium. I followed him. I don’t know why, other than needing to deal with my slip-up, but I did. I cornered him in the loading docks and… well, I fed from his neck, from his artery,” Ki-tae said quietly.

  “He is human?” she asked.

  “Yes.”

  “There is nothing unique about him?”

  “Well, other than being absolutely beautiful inside and out, no, I wouldn’t say there was anything else unique about him,” Ki-tae said. “Why do you ask?”

  “While bonding is not uncommon, it usually only happens this quickly with someone who has some spiritual blood in them, either fully or small amounts,” Godaeui explained. “That it took place with a full human is not unheard of, just incredibly rare and indicative of a deeper bond. I will need to meet Jin-woo dongsaeng to ascertain if he truly is fully human or not. Then I will know what other options will be available to us.”

  “I’m not sure how we are going to arrange that,” Soon-joon said. “They started postproduction work yesterday.”

  “It is simple, Táozi-chan,” Godaeui said with a chuckle. “I own half of BL Entertainment, remember? It is not unusual for the owner to observe their workers on occasion.”

  “You…. I thought Abeoji owned the company?” Cheongul said as he took a sip of his tea. Ki-tae watched his hand shake as he set the cup down and felt guilty. That was the other reason he didn’t want to tell them what happened. Cheongul would have taken it harder than anyone else. Losing people terrified his oldest brother, especially if the demise was… violent.

  “He owns the other half,” Godaeui said. “We began this company a long time ago. It has had many names but always supported the arts we love so much and the unique and beautiful people who grant us the gift of their creativity. It has gone through many changes, and there are several subsidiary companies all over the world, but the stock is split solely between myself and Táozi.”

  “She is right. It is not uncommon for owners to make surprise visits to their companies,” Soon-joon said with a smile. “As much as you dislike the modern world, you are still involved with it.”

  “I may dislike it, but that does not mean I am so foolish as to not pay attention to it,” she answered. “I have seen more of this world than many of our kind. I have seen dynasties. I have even helped some of them… in both the rise and the fall. It is a fool who ignores the world around them just because they find it distasteful.”

  “Very well,” Soon-joon said, still smiling. “You can accompany us to the studio tomorrow, and I will introduce you to Jin-woo dongsaeng and the others. Ki-tae, your schedule is free, I believe. You will come with us. Now let us finish our tea, and then we can go over the schedule for the next few days.”

  It was several hours before they retired for the evening, and Ki-tae went to shower before bed. He stood under the water, eyes closed, head resting against the tiles. He hadn’t thought about the accident since that day, but the more he did, the more he realized there was a good possibility it wasn’t an accident.

  He had heard the rev of an engine right before the headlights blinded him and he was hit. It wasn’t his first car accident, but it was certainly the first time someone had hit him on purpose. Who was the driver? Why did they want to hurt him? Was his family also in danger? The questions bounced around inside his skull, making it impossible for him to relax.

  He turned off the water and dried off. After throwing on a pair of lounge pants and a white tank top, Ki-tae headed out of his room and to the living room. He sat down at the piano, resting his fingers lightly on the keys. Ki-tae closed his eyes and let his fingers move. The song began slowly, soft and sweet. He let his mind wander, the memories carrying the music. Ki-tae had only the music to soothe him inside. His brothers tried, as did his father, but it was the music that reached deep inside him and eased the pain.

  He didn’t know what to do. So far there was no other option for Jin-woo. He cared for Jin-woo, but this bond was…. It was not something he wanted. He wanted a choice, and he wanted Jin-woo to have that choice as well. He didn’t want to take it from him. The music reflected his thoughts, growing darker and more somber. Ki-tae felt the wetness on his face, the tears falling on the backs of his hands.

  “You are troubled,” Godaeui said quietly as she entered the living room. Ki-tae stopped playing. “Please do not stop. Your playing is beautiful.”

  She gracefully lowered herself to the couch, tucking bare feet beneath the skirt of her nightgown. Ki-tae placed his fingers on the keys once more. For the next several moments, the only sound in the room was the music as it poured from inside him. Somehow it seemed right that she was there, listening to him play. Finally he stopped, his hands coming to rest where they had begun.

  “Feel better?” Godaeui asked quietly.

  “Yes, thank you,” he said as he rose and joined her on the couch. “Did I wake you?”

  “No.” Godaeui smiled. “I do not sleep much. I do not need it anymore. It has been quite some time since Táozi-chan and I were last together. I miss him.”

  “He said you chose to withdraw from the world.”

  “I did, for a time. Our world follows a circular path. There are high points and low points. Sometimes those low points show us the darkest side of humanity and others like us, and last for so long we lose hope of the return to light. People, all peoples, are also capable of great good. For a time I lost sight of that and no longer wanted to deal with people. And so I withdrew into my mountain home, only keeping abreast of the barest things, usually through my children, when they permitted. Much has changed since I last walked among humans, but I am nothing if not a quick study,” she said with a wicked grin.

  Ki-tae chuckled, but then his thoughts turned back to Jin-woo. “I don’t want to hurt him.”

  “Once I see him and then the two of you together, I will know what our options are,” Godaeui said. “Given what you have told me, there is a good chance you may not have to.”

  “I don’t want to take his choice away either,” Ki-tae said. “He shouldn’t be punished for my mistake.”

  “Do you truly see us as a punishment?” Godaeui cocked her head to one side, much like a cat.

  “I don’t know how to answer that,” Ki-tae said softly.

  “You have been bound before,” she said suddenly, narrowing her eyes.

  “I… yes.” Ki-tae felt the panic welling up inside of him. He did not like talking about his past.

  “What was done to you was an abomination,” she said quietly. “A twisting of something sacred and special to our kind, done only when there is the deepest love between the Vampire and his or her lover.”

  “I had… nothing of myself.” Ki-tae stared at his hands, watching them shake. He barely registered the shifting of the couch, and then Godaeui wrapped her strong arms around him. He leaned his head on Godaeui’s shoulder, listening to soft humming, a gentle tune he found oddly relaxing.

  “Shhh, young one, be at ease. You are free of him, and he is no more,” she whispered softly. She kept humming and the sound of her voice lulled him to sleep.

  Jin-woo

  JIN-WOO STARED in amazement. When they had come to have their photos taken for the temporary badges, they were given a brief tour. He hadn’
t gotten a good look at the studios they would be working in until now. He stood in the center, turning slowly in a circle. Monitors, speakers, everything down to the custom-made walls for the best sound was top-of-the-line. Clearly BLE spared no expense when it came to any part of their process. The giggling from behind him drew his attention. Jin-woo turned to see Min-su and Jong-in grinning like idiots. He stuck his tongue out at them.

  “You’re like a kid in a candy shop.”

  Ki-tae’s voice was filled with amusement. Jin-woo whipped around to face him, his cheeks straining with the size of his smile. He contained the urge to run at Ki-tae and pounce-hug him… barely. The way Ki-tae’s hands twitched, Jin-woo was pretty sure Ki-tae was resisting a similar urge.

  “Oh geez, you two are making my nose twitch!” Min-su complained. “Again!”

  “Try living with it,” HanYin said quietly, but his eyes were all for Jong-in. “Say ‘Jin-woo-ya’ in his presence and you’re choking on it.”

  “Same with him!” Min-su poked Jin-woo in the side. “That’s for keeping it from me.”

  “Ow, stop it, you evil little thing!” Jin-woo said.

  “What are you two talking about? I don’t smell anything except Min-su-ya’s perfume,” Jong-in said, shifting his eyes back and forth nervously.

  “You and I need to have a talk later,” Min-su said quietly.

  “Okay.” Poor Jong-in looked really confused.

  Jin-woo glared at Min-su but said nothing. What could he say? He couldn’t help it if she had an oversensitive nose, and it wasn’t like he could really control his body’s reaction to Ki-tae. He turned to Ki-tae. “What are you doing here? I thought your schedule was pretty full up for the next two weeks.”

  “It was cleared for today,” Ki-tae said. “Soon-joon-nim asked HanYin-a and I to escort a VIP around. She was very interested in you three, so I figured I would see if you were in the middle of something before I brought her over. I didn’t want to interrupt. I hate when people do it to me.”

  “He gets super cranky,” HanYin said with a small smile. Jin-woo could tell he wasn’t comfortable. Was it because of this VIP? It seemed like it. Normally HanYin was all smiles.

  “Kind of like you when someone interrupts a writing spree?” Ki-tae said with a raised eyebrow. HanYin just shrugged. Sadness filled Ki-tae’s eyes, and Jin-woo wanted to make it go away. He just wasn’t sure how, other than to find out what was bothering HanYin. He decided redirection was a better tactic at present.

  “We had an early-morning meeting with Seonsaengnim, otherwise Min-su-ya would have had us here at the crack of dawn,” Jin-woo said.

  “This is a bad thing how?” she said. “The earlier we get here, the more time we have to work before we have to leave for classes. I see nothing wrong with this thought process.”

  “Of course not. It’s your thought process,” Jin-woo said. “I, however, like to sleep in on the mornings when I don’t have a class.”

  “You sleep too much,” she grumbled.

  “I do not.”

  “Do too.”

  “You two act like siblings.” HanYin chuckled. Jin-woo smiled; mission accomplished for the moment.

  “We might as well be,” Min-su said.

  “Siblings are good,” Jong-in said quietly. He was looking down at his feet, the walls, anywhere but at HanYin. Jin-woo sighed inwardly. Those two were going to mess it up if they didn’t take a chance on each other.

  “Why don’t you three get settled, and I’ll go get Soon-joon-nim and our VIP?” Ki-tae said.

  “That works,” Jin-woo said. “See you in a few?”

  “Definitely,” Ki-tae purred.

  “Oh, stop it!” Min-su snapped. “You’re enough to give me cavities.”

  Jin-woo and Ki-tae laughed as they went their separate ways. When they had come in for their badges, they had been given small desks where they would be able to put their things and do some individual work that didn’t have to be done in the studio. Jin-woo liked the setup because his desk was right by the window, and he could glance outside to get a bit of a break when he needed to.

  For the first day, they were organizing the media files. They needed to go through what they had filmed and pull the shots they wanted to use and those they would leave out while Jong-in went over the sound recordings. Right now it was a matter of making sure they had received all the media and were able to access it. It surprised Jin-woo when the director told him they would keep everything they shot, but not everything would be used in the video. Some of it would be used as promotional pieces, and the rest would be used as a behind-the-scenes video. The whole process was so fascinating to him.

  It seemed odd, sometimes, to be here. It would strike him at random moments. He was standing in the headquarters of one of the most successful entertainment companies in South Korea. He was interacting with his favorite idols…. Well, okay, “interacting” had an entirely different meaning when Ki-tae managed to catch him alone, but still, it was something Jin-woo had never dreamed would be possible. He fully expected to be on the bottom rung of the entertainment industry ladder for several years before slowly moving his way upward. This experience only made him more determined to reach this point after he graduated.

  “Oh my God, she is gorgeous,” Min-su whispered from beside him.

  He looked at her and then turned to see who she was staring at. He caught his breath. He didn’t know a single individual who wouldn’t stare at the woman who walked between Ki-tae and Soon-joon. He didn’t know what anyone else noticed first, but for Jin-woo, it was her eyes. They were so dark as to appear black and seemed as if they had seen many ages and learned much. Her ebony hair, that was the only way to describe it, was swept back from her face and pinned, the rest falling loosely around her. Yet it didn’t make her seem less elegant or less mature. Her makeup and jewelry were understated, used to enhance rather than overpower. The top she wore was a crimson with deep gold trim, and the collar fit snugly around the neck yet was open at the base of the throat, and the edge followed into a diamond shape. The fabric looked embroidered with small golden designs, and it flared out slightly at the hips. She had chosen black slacks, and the heels she wore, in the same shade of crimson, brought her closer to Ki-tae’s height. Who was this woman? She looked elegant, beautiful, and powerful.

  And just a little bit intimidating. Jin-woo was hard-pressed not to think such thoughts. There was no doubt in his mind this was the VIP. Even if Ki-tae and HanYin hadn’t been standing with her, Jin-woo would have known this was not a person to mess with. Then she was standing in front of him, and Jin-woo didn’t know what to say. He mumbled something, he couldn’t exactly say what, and bowed. She lifted his chin with gentle fingers, and he was staring into her eyes.

  She smiled. “You will join me for lunch today.”

  “I would be honored,” Jin-woo said.

  “Perhaps introductions should be made first?” Soon-joon said with a small smile. “Allow me to present Cheong Jin-woo dongsaeng. He and his fellow students, Yi Min-su dongsaeng and Bak Jong-in dongsaeng, are the winners of the first part of our BLE Scholarship and Internship program. Jin-woo dongsaeng, Min-su dongsaeng, Jong-in dongsaeng, this is Lyang ChenBao-nim, owner and president of BL Entertainment.”

  Jin-woo nearly passed out. The owner… the owner of the company.

  “Soon-joon-nim, you’ve overwhelmed the poor boy,” ChenBao said with a soft chuckle. “Shame on you.”

  Jin-woo was jarred back into himself by a gentle caress to his face. He looked to see Ki-tae smiling at him.

  “Breathe,” Ki-tae whispered with a smirk. Jin-woo glared at him but was able to pull himself together.

  “I am disrupting your day,” ChenBao said. “I will let you get back to work but will see you at lunchtime. I look forward to it.”

  “I do as well, Huijang-nim,” Jin-woo said with another bow. Her laugh was musical and a delight to his ears. Jin-woo couldn’t help but smile. It was that kind of laugh. He watched them
walk away, sticking his tongue out at Ki-tae when he looked back and winked at Jin-woo. Then Ki-tae rounded the corner and was out of sight. Jin-woo turned to find Min-su and Jong-in staring at him.

  “What?”

  “You just make an impression wherever you go,” Min-su said. “I’m trying to figure out your secret. I have yet to meet anyone who doesn’t like you.”

  “You haven’t met my aunt,” Jin-woo said quietly as he took his seat.

  “We’d best get settled,” Jong-in said, laying a hand on Jin-woo’s shoulder, and then he went to his own desk.

  Once their on-site advisers came to get them, the day was a blur of activity. He and Min-su had done a good portion of the sorting, each picking which shots they thought were the best. When they were filming, some days seemed so long and others short, but when they looked at the actual footage, it was impressive what they had. At about eleven in the morning, their advisers, Kim Hyung-jun and Li Cheong-bo, both premier production engineers and editors in the field, sat down with them and looked at what they had selected.

  “Hyung-jun-seonbae, are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Cheong-bo asked as he flipped through Min-su’s selections.

  “Definitely,” Hyung-jun said. He turned to Jin-woo and Min-su. “We’re going to split you two up.”

  “What? Why?” Min-su asked, surprise filling her voice before she regained control of herself.

  “It’s not a bad thing,” Cheong-bo said with a laugh. “Sometimes we find enough to really make doing more than one video worthwhile. Given what you two have selected, this is one of those times. Min-su dongsaeng, you focused a lot on the dancing, with just enough of the story shots to convey the concept of the video, so you’re going to work with me on a performance version of ‘Crossing Time’ while Jin-woo dongsaeng and Hyung-jun-seonbae work on the regular version.”

  “Seriously?” Jin-woo asked. He couldn’t stop the smile on his face.