Flames | NCT

Chapter 17

"Are you alright?" Jisung asked his friend who was beginning to look a little green.

They had finished chasing down the vampire, returning back to the human town.

"You look like you're about to hurl." Jimin pointed out.

Chenle stayed silent, glancing at the faerie beside him. After exchanging looks, Naeun turns towards them.

"I think I'm going to take Chenle back first." Naeun told them.

"Alright." Jisung said, shoving his hands in his pockets. He had a good feeling that his friends were up to something, especially when Chenle gave him a wink before leaving.

"Jisung, look!" Jimin exclaimed, pointing at the costume parade that started in the middle of the streets. Jisung couldn't help but smile.

"Come on, let's go." Jisung said, taking her hand, the two of them making their way to the parade.

...

Taeil was lost in thought as he sat there on the bench, looking at his phone, Sejung and Jungwoo carving pumpkins in front of him.

He recalled his earlier conversation with Seungmin.

...

Taeil walked into the large office at the Academy, just to see Seungmin already inside, sitting across his desk.

"Hello Mr. Headmaster." Seungmin said, a huge grin on his face.

"What do you want?" Taeil asked, running his fingers through his hair. Judging by the mischievous look on the vampire's face, Taeil could tell that the male was up to no good.

"Why don't you date?" Seungmin asked.

Great, here we go again.

"I don't have time. Look at all the work I have to do." Taeil said, motioning to the stack of folders on his desk. Seungmin waved his hand.

"Eh, Taeyong had the same thing when he was dating my sister."

"Yeah, and see how that ended up." Taeil murmured. Seungmin just rolled his eyes.

"Look, we all know that Yoora's been liking you since we were still students and you liked her too. So man up and just take her out to a small date and maybe you'll like it." Seungmin said, patting his friend's shoulder.

"I definitely won't like it." Taeil said, crossing his arms.

"Just try." Seungmin begged, with puppy-dog eyes.

...

Taeil had a bad feeling in his gut, and being a siren with the sight definitely didn't help. Taeil closed his eyes, taking a deep breath.

Just try.

Taeil opened his eyes again, giving in to Seungmin's words as he texted the sprite and for the first time in his life, ignored his gut feeling.

...

Jisung couldn't help but smile as he saw how happy the girl beside him was.

"I used to come here with my parents all the time." Jimin said as they began to walk away from the finished parade. "My adopted ones."

"Must be nice." Jisung told her. "My parents would be looking over my shoulder like a hawk, making sure I wouldn't leave the village with other kitsune kids on Halloween."

He watched a Jimin let out a small laugh. "I highly doubt you would anyways, you're too much of a goody two shoes." Jimin said, ruffling Jisung's hair.