Music Recommendation: Hello, Master? - Hong Eun Ji

  —


  Melanie went back to her dorm, locking the doors and double-checking the windows so that her peace wouldn't be disrupted even by mistake. She was exhausted to the point where she wanted to pack her bags and return home.

  On her way to her dorm, she heard the students' whispers that increased, and word had already spread around about how Simon had been begging for her forgiveness when in truth, he was only fooling around.

  "Who the hell even tells someone to fall for something like that. He's such a player," Melanie muttered under her breath while dropping the books on the table and taking a seat so that she could study.

  She wondered how to get rid of Simon so that he wouldn't keep buzzing around her, and the only solution she came up with was her staking him with wood. And even though she tried to concentrate on studying the book in front of her, she couldn't move past more than two pages.

  'People change,' Olivia's voice resonated in her mind.

  As much as she didn't want to think about Simon, she couldn't help herself but wonder what Simon's life must have been like before he had turned into a vampire. The current vampire she knew, he was irritating, someone who easily got on her nerves and someone who held no regard for others.

  A sigh escaped from her lips, and she closed her book.

  Away from the girl's Dormitorium and on the restricted side of the forest, Simon walked in there. He hummed happy music that lifted his spirits while he headed towards the hidden cemetery.

  "Hm?"

  Simon noticed he wasn't the only one who visited the cemetery. In front of one of the graves stood the vampiress headmistress, Eloise Dante, with her hands folded in front of her. There was a bunch of fresh flowers that had been placed on top of the grave.

  Hearing his footsteps, the woman turned and greeted him, "Here to visit your family, Mr. Wallace?"

  "Yes, indeed. Are you here to visit your late husband, Ms. Dante?" questioned Simon, his voice light and his green eyes curiously looking at her. Ms. Dante was an interesting woman who had been allowed to handle the university. Her history was something to think about, as he had heard of how the play that was orchestrated was closely related to her life.

  Ms. Dante gave him a nod, "Yes. It has been a busy time and I thought I should come and visit him."

  "Is it true?" questioned Simon, and the woman gave him a curious yet questioning look on what he was asking her about. "What Piper wrote in the play. Did it really happen just like that?" a mischievous smile came to play on his lips.

  The vampiress pursed her lips as if thinking about the past, and she replied, "Some parts of it."

  "How fascinating. To have such a whirlwind of romance," grinned Simon, but Ms. Dante didn't share the same views about it. He then hinted, "Castiel enjoys your company, and you both are vampires now."

  "We are," replied Ms. Dante, but she didn't continue to speak about her love life. "How is your thirst when it comes to blood?" she questioned him.

  "Perfectly fine, why?" Simon gave her a look as if he was confused. "Are you shifting the subject, Ms. Dante?"

  Ms. Dante's eyes slightly narrowed. Simon had no regard for whom he was speaking to, and he liked to step into everyone's space, poking his nose and wanting to know what was going on in others' lives to feed his curious mind. Brushing away his words, she said,

  "You aren't far from Roman when it comes to consuming blood. The only difference is that I get a count of Roman's blood cans, while yours, you take it from the students." Being the headmistress of Veteris for such a long time now, she had tried to keep track of which vampire or vampiress did what.

  Simon offered a polite smile, a smile that could be unnerving to people who knew him closely.

  "I have been doing very well, Ms. Dante. I am the least problematic student in Veteris. At least when compared to my fellow vampire brothers and sisters," his curious green eyes continued to look at the woman. "Did someone say something?"

  "I know you have been feeding on the humans, one or two sips at a time. Not to mention, last year you nearly killed one of the humans," pointed Ms. Dante, her eyes sharply looking at Simon.

  "And I have been very very careful in handling them. Humans are delicate creatures, and some snap very easily," explained Simon, and he continued, "Humans have always been a food supply to us vampires. That's how nature made it to be, else we wouldn't be feeding on their blood now, would we?"

  "Looks like the four years of your studies in here did no good to you," remarked Ms. Dante, a subtle frown appearing on her forehead. "At this rate I will have to have you repeat another year."

  Simon chuckled, "Oh, I did learn a lot. The importance of balance between humans and vampires. On second thought, I don't mind repeating a year. I think it would be quite interesting to spend an extra year here."

  Ms. Dante internally let out a sigh, not knowing if Simon was joking or if he really intended to study an extra year here. Some of the students were troublesome in Veteris, and truthfully, she couldn't wait for them to graduate.

  "Stay out of trouble, Mr. Wallace," Ms. Dante warned him, and Simon was quick to oblige, nodding his head.

  "I always do that. It is why I am a much less frequent visitor when it comes to the detention room," replied Simon, which was the truth. It was often Roman or Maximus who spent most of their time in the detention room, unlike Simon, who almost had a clean slate and was a rare visitor to the detention room. It was only because he joined the fights with his friends to beat some arrogant students. "But you know, if you really want to keep trouble at bay, you should probably keep an eye on the human students, rather than the vampires. Because that's where trouble stirs."

  "What do you mean?" questioned the vampiress.

  Simon stepped a little closer, walking towards where his family members' grave was present. He said, "I am talking about Conner. He's been having headaches, which appears when the compulsion starts to break."

  "I heard about it from Olivia," Ms. Dante was well aware of the facts and situation. "So far it's only breaking. But I have asked Borrell to go and check on him before the wall of the compulsions completely collapses."

  "Are you going to lock him up in the dungeon?" Simon's eyes brightened, and Ms. Dante's lips set themselves in a thin line.

  "Borrell will check on his condition before we decide to place him in the dungeon. But there is a higher probability of him spending his time in the dungeon," responded Ms. Dante because it was better to take precaution before something happened. She then said, "I thought you were friends with the boy."

  "Just out of convenience," chimed Simon, and he tilted his head. "I thought he was a bad husband. Why do you come and visit him with flowers?"

  "You always ask too many questions," pointed Dante, and she asked back, "What about you? You didn't bring any flowers for your family?"

  "I will pluck some that are around," Simon continued to offer his polite smile.

  Before Ms. Dante left the cemetery, her eyes fell on the grave that she was standing in front of, and she then looked back at Simon and said, "I will have Evans re-evaluate all the final year students. The vampires, to make sure we know they are ready to step into the outside world."

  "That would be an excellent idea," replied Simon, and he watched the vampiress walk away from there. "You still are humane as you were before turning into a vampiress, Dante," he murmured under his breath once the woman was out of sight.

  Now alone in the cemetery, Simon turned back to look at the graves of his family members. The graves had been placed on the top right compared to the other graves. He watched the closest graves near him, which were of his parents, the headstones read —'Patrick Wallace' and 'Amber Wallace.'

  "My my look at the amount of dust that you have collected on yourself. Let me get some flowers," Simon spoke to the graves.

  Instead of walking into the forest to pluck out fresh flowers from the bushes or trees, Simon walked around the other graves in the cemetery. When his eyes fell on the dried and withered bouquets of old flowers, he went to them. He picked a few of them before returning to the place where his family's graves were. He placed it on the graves and said,

  "Don't you look lovely now. These dried flowers suit you better than the fresh ones, considering how rotten you were," Simon's voice was calm, and he let out a sigh. "Did you miss me? Probably not, but I sure did miss you guys. I always think about you. Forgive me, for I have been busy with other things, but I know you won't mind. Not that you can even if you want to. Because you are dead."

  Simon took himself to lean his back against one of the graves while he watched the graves of the people who were once related to him by blood. He pulled out a small flask from his pocket, pulling out the lid. He took a sip from it before licking his lips.

  The smile on Simon's lips lowered, and his bright green eyes turned slightly dull.

  Simon's thoughts slowly started to drift to the time of the past when his family was still alive and a few years before it. He could hear the distant voices of his siblings as they laughed while he stood in the dark.

  'Let me out!' came Simon's words as he banged his hands on the dusty wood.

  Remembering that incident, his eyes shifted from his parents' grave, to look at his siblings' grave that was right next to his parents grave. The memory that ran in his mind, he was not older than ten, and a door was continuously banged.

  "Brother! Please!" the young boy's voice was heard from inside the closet, where he had been locked.

  Outside the closet stood three children, who were older than the young boy in age and appearance. Two boys and one girl, who were siblings of the younger boy, who was in the closet.

  "Come on, it is fun!" shouted the eldest brother. "Wasn't it fun when you went and tattletaled to mother on what you saw me doing in the alley? Because of you, I am now grounded!"

  "I didn't do anything, brother Jamison!" the young boy's terrified voice was heard from inside the closet. "Please let me out, I cannot breathe here!"

  "This is not your first time there. A rat like you, should be used to it," replied the boy named Jamison, who was the eldest one out of the four children of the Wallace couple.

  "You should have known better, Simi," came the sister's voice, where she had crossed her arms against her chest. "You're always causing trouble for us. If brother Jamison wasn't grounded, he would have taken me out to shop. You deserve this."

  "Emmie, please let me out," the young boy begged his sister for her help, but she didn't attempt to move from where she stood.

  "Stop banging on the door, or I will drag you to the shed and lock you up in there," threatened Jamison, and he then turned to look at his other two siblings. "I don't want this door to be opened. Do you get it? Scott and Emmie?"

  Scott shared similar features as Jamison with jet black hair, and he was the second child of the Wallace couple. He was two years younger than Jamison while a year older than Emmie, who had blonde hair. While Simon was three years younger than Emmie.

  Emmie shrugged her shoulders and said, "I will go and see if I can go out with mama. I have been wanting to go out to get the hairpins."

  Scott replied to Jamison, "I am least bothered with what this one wants to do. Leave me out of it, and I don't want to be involved." And though he said that, he stepped towards the closet. Placing his hand on the surface of the wood and saying, "Have a good time there, little brother," he stressed the words 'little brother'.

  "You dare try to complain about this to mother or father," came the low, threatening voice of Jamison to young Simon, "I will make sure that you never open your mouth to them."

  The boy who was inside the closet, he lightly tapped on his side of the wood and pleaded, "Please don't leave me here. It won't happen again!" He heard his siblings' footsteps, leaving the room and the door being locked. This only left him in more panic.

  "Brother Jamison? Brother Scott?" He called their name, hoping they were only playing and would let him out soon. "Sister Emmie?" He called his sister, but there was no response.

  He stared at the darkness that surrounded him while listening to his rapid breathing, and he started suffocating.

  The young boy didn't know how many minutes passed, but the more time passed, the more he started to wheeze. He banged his small hands on the wood, shouting, "Please let me out of here! Please!"

  But no one heard the little boy shouting for help, as he had been locked on the above floor, in the room that was at the end.

  With the lack of air, it became more difficult for him to breathe, the bangs on the door reduced, and the young boy's body slowly turned slack and it slid on the bottom of the closet.

  The butler of the Wallace family, who had been walking in the floor, heard a slight disturbance coming from one of the rooms, and walked in the corridor to take a quick look at it.