Vampire Nightlife

So what happened was Lukas waking up in someone else's bed—Chaerin's, who was currently snuggling up to him.

It was a sweet moment and Lukas could almost detect the fragrance in her hair until his eyes bulged.

"What time is it?" Lukas saw the notification and broke into a cold sweat. "I'm late!"

"Mmmm, stay with me." Chaerin's arm tugged across his torso and tried to pull him down, but Lukas awkwardly kissed her forehead and apologized.

There were a lot of things to apologize for—but if he never got to his workplace in the first place, then he'd never even get a chance.

Once Lukas arrived at his workplace, he was almost prepared for armageddon—the last days, but instead, he would come across a nervous Lily whose eyes widened when she saw him.

Lily threw her arms around his neck and the two nearly dropped into the floor.

"Lukas! I was so worried." Lily said.

"You... you were?" Lukas was positive that he should be facing the wrath of Lily, but instead, here she was, nearly in tears and almost seemed like she couldn't get enough of him.

"I... I didn't mean to hurt her. I tried to look for the hospital—but you guys weren't there at all." Lily rambled through her words.

"Hey, hey—it's alright. She's okay." Lukas said in a reassuring tone. So that was why Lily was concerned—it was true that she accidentally injured Chaerin in such a way that a hospital really did seem like the only place for her to go.

"Are you sure?" Lily asked. "I... even though she may have attacked me, I—I shouldn't have hurt her still. It's wrong. Besides... she only did it because of her feelings for you? Do you know her, Lukas? You know her, right? How else would she have fallen for you."

Ah. This was the hard part.

"Well, the place that I'm living in... it belongs to her family."

"Oh, she's your landlady." Lily blinked and folded her hands together, finally pulling away from him. "I... I suppose she suddenly became infatuated with you, didn't she? And yet despite all of that, you've still helped her—that's so kind of you, Lukas. I'm afraid that she was stalking you, stalking us—and that's..."

"I already took care of her, don't worry." Lukas said and nearly bit down on his own tongue.

"You did? How?"

"I... talked with her." With their bodies.

"You turned her down?" Lily said. She sighed softly and looked around the hallway that was still being repaired. "Poor girl... misplaced love and feelings. She probably hasn't gotten the chance to find real love yet, so I feel sorry for her. Even though she became extremely upset with me—do you think I could visit her?"

"I don't think that's a good idea." Lukas said.

"...You're right. Of course, it wouldn't do her any good to suddenly see me—the love rival that she thinks I am." Lily twiddled her thumbs. "I want to recompense her though. Even if her healing ability might be good enough to not need the hospital—the injury was still grave, wasn't it?"

Lukas realized that Lily didn't see him sharing his blood with Chaerin so he didn't say anything.

He hadn't felt any guilt last night—only the heat of his loins had made him function back then, but now... there was an awkwardness and rigidness in his movement. He couldn't quite look her in the eye and break her heart.

Which was funny, because for all intents and purposes, Lukas had actually planned to do something like this in-game—to have all of the women falling madly in love with him. After all, it was a game.

But now it wasn't quite a game.

Lukas had ignored the implications for a while now, only giving it the bare minimum of thought and attention—but this was really his new life and he needed to make it right.

"Lukas... I know that this doesn't seem like a good time, but don't you think that this is also a chance for you to meet my family?"

"Huh?" Lukas didn't understand her way of thinking.

"After this small hurdle in our relationship, we're much stronger than ever," Lily smiled and grabbed his hands, squeezing it in her own. "So don't you think that it's finally the proper time to meet my family? I would love to introduce you as my boyfriend."

"Oh..." Lukas looked at the face of Lily and then slowly nodded his head and faked a smile. "Sounds like high time I did."

"Yay! I'll call and say that we'll be having an extra person for dinner tonight. I'm so happy!" Lily's face brightened up immensely, the guilt from having attacked and injured Chaerin seemed to have faded away and instead she basked in the glow of the next step in their relationship.

Lukas didn't quite know what to feel—it almost seemed like Lily was insisting on a narrative for herself, but what other conclusion could she make?

Lily was too good for him and only thought of the best from out of him—she deserved the truth.

And yet once again, self-preservation made his tongue go numb.

All Lukas had to do was make sure that his time with Chaerin didn't happen again, after all. Consider it as a dumb mistake and never make any mention of it again and he'd be good.

"Lukas, let's get back to work now—I apologize for jumping all these questions first thing in the morning. You must have been exhausted too."

"It's fine, I'm just happy to be by your side." Lukas managed a smile and pulled Lily close, he gave her a kiss on the forehead before the two of them started their day at work.

Somehow, the hours moved quickly and before he knew it, the day was finally over—the hours designated for working reached its end and it was finally time for him to meet the family.

Lukas did not expect the entourage and he didn't expect the largest house either.

Lily Tenebris was rich all this time?!