The Vampire's Mistress: MYG

3

As I walked out of the cafeteria towards the library, I recall my first encounter with Kim Taehyung. I had lived in this orphanage all my life, so naturally he was the new kid when I saw him. I didn't really see him at first. He was placed here for some reasons which were unknown to the younger me. He wasn't allowed to interact with us and vice versa. All the children whispered about Taehyung being a count's son who came here after his fort was set on fire. He was the only survivor and had no possession or place to live, leading him to our abode. I'll admit that I myself somewhat believed the theory until much later.

I would rather say that my first encounter with him was through music. An unknown melody he played in the music room had me charmed, enchanted. Before I knew it, I was in the aforementioned room in my night dress at midnight, watching a boy playing a tune previously unheard of me on the piano. The room had only one electric light, which barely illuminated the place. All the other instruments in there looked so lonely and shabby in front of the piano, as it was the only one which was ever touched by expert hands, by the hands of the new boy. As he finished with the last note, he looked up to stare at me. The sudden appearance of an audience didn't seem to surprise him much. He just gazed at me, still sitting on the tool in front of the ancient, black piano. And he didn't remove the eye contact until I came out of my daze and slowly found my way back to my bed.

The next day was the first time when all the others first saw the new boy. His sharp features, big eyes with a mole under the left one and shaped limbs even at such a young age left everyone speechless.

But just like most new kids, he decided to plant himself beside me without glancing at the crowd who wanted him to join them at their table, and ate his food silently. From then he would even sit by my side during the classes, the recess, the library time and everywhere. He was a silent being, so I didn't find his presence annoying and let him be.

I find myself in the library already as I was lost in thoughts. This was the place where I discovered the hidden side of the elegant, handsome Kim Taehyung. In the beginning, I thought he couldn't speak. Not just me, everyone thought he was mute. It wasn't until about six months of his arrival that I first heard him talk.

The library was always my favourite place to be. Not just because of the abundance of books, serenity, silence or aesthetics. It was because of one single character who I loved to know everything about. I remember the time when the nanny at the nursery once picked me up by my armpits and raised me up high to inspect me closely. "Oh my!", she exclaimed, "If I hadn't seen you, I would never believe someone could be so similar to any illustration of the book."

Four years old me was confused to hear her, not understanding half of her words. The old lady took me to her small office and brought out something from the shelf by her desk. It was an old book which was wrapped by a brown paper to protect the covers. She skimmed through the yellow pages until she reached almost at the middle of it. I can recall every details of the event so clearly, because it was that special to me. It was then when I first saw him.

A pencil sketch of the man I've adorned forever. One of his sharp cat eye pierced through me making my insides churned. The other eye was concealed under his long strands of coal black hair. His jaws not too sharp but there was no trace of a double chin. His dry lips were like the dead petals. His lean figure with a broad chest was covered in black and white fabric as he was dressed like a royale. He was perfect. No, perfection is something that only suits him, he doesn't need to attend it. I judged the woman's intellect. How could she tell me to have resemblance with such a beautiful entity?

I found the same book in our library a few years later, and naturally, I was enamoured with the drawing like I was at the first glance. I found his name there too, Count Rumford. The name was mouthful, but didn't hold the elegance of the being who is entitled with it.

I spent hours and hours devouring every minute information from the black letters written on the white background, before looking for more in the other aisles.

It was one such evening when I was completely engrossed in looking at the being, who the nanny had told me could be my father if he was real, when Taehyung spoke to me. I wanted solitude but he somehow found me like a leech and sat by me, pushing my lamp closer to see what I was going through.

As he saw it, something in his eyes ignited. He looked much less like a statue than he usually did. "Is that the Count?", he spoke, his deep voice with a grave undertone catching me a little off guard.

I don't answer him. I question him instead, "How do you know him?"

He smirked, I can recall, as innocence and sinfulness played at the corner of his mouth in the yellow hue reflecting on his face from the lamp placed on the desk. "All you need to know is, I always wanted to be like Count Dracula."

I wanted to rectify that it was Rumford, not Dracula, but decided against it, finding the new name more suitable for my father.