Both of us walked back to the barstool and sat back in silence before the bartender brought us a few drinks. I took a sip and sighed. That fight was intense, and I was still shaken. I couldn’t forget the look in Vampire’s eyes when he was fighting those two men. It almost felt as if that man had turned into a demon who was taking revenge against those people who had hurt his family.
My throat went dry at that thought as I drank a full glass of wine. Just then, I heard his voice that had a touch of nervousness.
“Did I scare you?”
I shook my head, but I couldn’t find myself to turn my head toward him anymore. Whenever I was reminded by his angry face, my heartbeat would rise rapidly. I pursed my lips and tried to hide my blushing face. His expression had suddenly made me forget the entire world, and the fact that he had gotten angry with me made it even worse!
I simply wanted to dig a hole and hide inside it forever!
But who knew that Vampire didn’t want to leave me alone today?
“You look shaken….” Vampire paused and said with a touch of regret in his voice, “I really did scare you. I shouldn’t have fought with those guys.”
“That’s fine.” I squealed and drank another glass before the bartender poured more in my glass. “You did good. They deserved it.”
I didn’t even realize what I was talking about anymore. When Vampire heard my shaky voice filled with nervousness, he chuckled in amusement. “They deserved it for sure. They shouldn’t have touched you. You’re my bottomline.”
My eyes widened at that and I drank another glass of wine. How much did I drink today? I didn’t even remember carefully. I pressed my lips in a thin line and took a few deep breaths to calm myself, but the fact that I drank three glasses of wine made it even worse. My cheeks already had a touch of blush that had risen due to wine. I felt tipsy.
And I didn’t even know why this guy said those words! Hadn’t I told him that I wouldn’t date him anymore? But no matter how much I wanted to blame this guy, I couldn’t because I was also in the wrong. Why did I have to fall for him? Now my heart couldn’t stand it anymore when I saw his angry face that could send a chill down the spine of anyone but me. I only felt my heartbeat rising.
I shook my head. No! I shouldn’t think about it anymore! I had a husband at home! That reminded me, I had to head back. I drank the last glass of wine before I could get completely drunk and said, “I should go back.”
For a moment, I couldn’t hear a single word from Vampire. I didn’t know whether he was angry or disappointed after hearing my words. But after a while, I heard him sighing as he said, “Okay. Today’s fight might have scared you. we’ll talk while walking back to the bridge.”
I instantly nodded, but somewhere in the corner of my heart, I felt sad because I didn’t really want to go back alone and leave Vampire’s company. It was almost as if I was deliberately forcing myself to go in the opposite direction to the flow of the river. I was choking my heart to death while ignoring a man as good as Vampire.
Even thinking about it made me feel even more depressed. I forced myself to get up from the barstool and took a deep breath. “Let’s go then.” I said and put the money on the bar before heading toward the door. I couldn’t look back at Vampire. If I did, I wouldn’t be able to stop myself from hugging him.
Vampire seemed to feel that my mood wasn’t good. So he stayed a little distance away from me, walking behind. After a while of walking on the street, he suddenly said, “I have news.”
My ears perked up at that. I knew that Vampire had called me here to talk about something important, but I didn’t expect to hear those words out of the blue. I had thought that he had called me taking work as an excuse. In my heart, I subconsciously wanted him to use work as an excuse to see me every once in a while. Otherwise, I would probably become a living dead at home with a heart beating in my chest.
“Just say it.” I uttered those words with a lifeless tone.
Vampire sighed behind me and shook his head before his hands passed through his hair. “Well…. You do remember I was working on finding a producer for your novel, right?”
I frowned and stopped all of a sudden. Why did he say that today?
Don’t tell me….
My eyes widened. Was he able to find a producer so fast?! I turned back to face him in shock. “You found a producer?!”
The ambiguous and depressed atmosphere around us instantly disappeared when I started talking about it. It seemed that all we needed was a change of topic that would bring us back like before.
When he saw my expression, he smiled and stuffed his hands in his pockets. “Yup. Of course, the line was long for that producer, but I managed to make him agree to buy your work. In fact, he liked the fact that you wrote about contemporary romance rather than fantasy, which has become a norm these days. He wanted a change, and your story seemed a good option to him.”
My heart thudded inside my chest seeing his happy expression. I pursed my lips and averted my eyes before glancing at his face again. “Tell me everything!”
Vampire chuckled with a hint of amusement in his voice. His shoulders relaxed as he took out his hands and brushed fingers through his hair. Just then, I noticed traces of blood on his knuckles. I frowned and took his hand without thinking. “This….”
He snatched his hand back and scratched the back of his neck. “It’s…. Okay, let’s start from the beginning.” Then he came over to me and gestured to me to walk ahead. I nodded and followed him, continuing to listen to his words. “Earlier when I approached those people, they were already considering my rival’s author and weren’t even ready to give me a chance.”
Even though I knew what he was talking about was a serious business, I couldn’t focus on it wholeheartedly. My eyes were stuck at the reddish spot on his knuckles. Finally, when I couldn’t take it anymore, I grabbed his hands.
He was stunned and said, “What are you….”
“Shh… you have got an injury. Let me deal with this first.” I didn’t even care about the fact that a producer had chosen me. All the thoughts of excitement and nervousness flew out of my head when I saw Vampire’s injured hand. How could I let him stay like that? Even Vampire was silent for a moment, watching me fix his hand with a first-aid kit that I had carried in my purse.
After I was done, I glanced at him awkwardly and said, “Now you can tell me.”
Vampire averted his eyes and seemed as if he was hiding a lot of emotions before he opened his mouth. “I fought with them, and had meetings. You remember how busy I was a while ago, right? That was because I had to attend endless meetings with them and explain to them about the story. They even did marketing evaluation and were happy with the results. So they offered us 100, 000 USD. So here I am now, telling you the good news!”
I stared at him with widened eyes when I heard his words. Would I really be able to earn that much?! I felt like I had just daydreamed about this, and I pinched my arms. “Ouch! This isn’t a dream? I will earn that much money?!”
Vampire suppressed his smile and nodded.
I covered my mouth in shock. “We have to celebrate!”