Third Vampire Shadows (An Urban Paranormal Romance Novel) by Zhu Hsia

just come out of his mouth. But somehow, the sobbing sound that was starting to irritate him slowly ceased. He looked over at Hyeon Jin , who was now wiping her tears as she blinked at him with an inexplicable expression on her face.
    There was something in the way she looked at him that made him uneasy.
    “Don’t look at me like that. I have no idea what I just said,” Mun Oh confessed.
    Although her eyes were still brimming with tears, she smiled. “But I do. I remember every word.”
    Damn! What did I say? Was it the garlic? No… the vampire marathon? I should’ve just let her cry until sunrise, Mun Oh thought desperately as Hyeon Jin stood up, rubbing her eyes and heading to her room.
    “Wait! I was just…” He stopped as he met her gaze. Her eyes were so full of unspoken pain and sadness that even the great Mun Oh’s cold and apathetic heart ached a bit upon seeing them. He looked away and gave a half shrug before deciding to plop down on the couch and get some sleep.
    After a few minutes he tried to sleep, but his mind was preoccupied with the image of those sad eyes. As much as he wanted to brush it off, he couldn't help but feel sorry for her. He hadn't known that the human girl he despised so much was hurting inside. She wasn't such a cold and heartless person after all.
    •••
    “Still no word from him?” the woman asked.
    “No.”
    “I wonder what’s keeping him,” the woman said again. She turned to the man opposite her. “Do you think I should—”
    “NO,” the man replied even before she could finish, flipping a page of the book in his hand.
    “But I think he’s getting—”
    “Let him be, Min Ah.”
    The woman named Min Ah crossed her arms and sighed heavily.
    “He’s running out of time. You know he needs to be here for the ceremony of the Rule of Thirds. That’s in three weeks—on his birthday,” she argued.
    “I’m sure he knows what he’s doing, so stop worrying,” the man replied nonchalantly, too engrossed in the book he was reading.
    “ JI HYUN ! How can you be so apathetic about our only son?” Min Ah said, causing him to take his eyes away from the book finally.
    Ji Hyun stood up and yawned. He was a lanky man with a handsome face and long, wavy brown hair, strands of hair gracefully falling on his dark eyes. Min Ah was a stunning lady with snow-white skin and a mane of dark hair that reached her waist. Although her eyes were as dark as Mun Oh and Ji Hyun ’s, it was undeniable that she was Ji Sun’s mother. They were like two peas in a pod—same face, same features; even their body size seemed to be exactly the same.
    “Because HE IS our only son. We both know him better than anyone,” Ji Hyun replied. He strode toward the door. “He might be a troublemaker, but he knows how to clean up his own mess.” He took one last look at his wife. “I’m confident that our Mun Oh can handle everything .”
    •••
    “I am NOT wearing that,” Mun Oh said adamantly. They were inside one of the clothing stores along the crowded shopping district in the city.
    Hyeon Jin held up a flowery shirt against a fuming Mun Oh. “Why not? It’s cute. It’ll make you look cute.”
    A couple of high school girls stared at Mun Oh as they passed by, and they started giggling upon seeing the flowery shirt. Mun Oh rolled his eyes and pushed the shirt away. He was being stared at enough already without the ridiculous shirt, mainly because he was slightly overdressed, wearing his tux on a hot, sunny day.
    “Don’t you like to wear normal clothes every once in a while? I mean, do you even wear normal clothes at all?” Hyeon Jin asked, grabbing an orange-and-pink checkered polo shirt and holding it up against him.
    Mun Oh pushed it away before anyone saw him again. “These are not normal clothes. They’re hideous human clothes. I wouldn’t be caught dead wearing that,” he said with a shiver.
    “Uh, hello? There’s such a thing as ‘fashion.’ Besides, it’s better than