Melanie blinked her eyes before closing them, and when she opened them, her black eyes reflected Simon's reflection in them. His words had caught her off guard, and she used both her hands and pushed him so that he could get away from her.

  "I think it would be better for you to stop your jokes unless you want to find yourself with a wooden stake pierced through your heart," she warned him with her eyebrows furrowing while she stared at him.

  Simon blinked back at her, his head tilting to the side, and he said, "Joke? Who is joking? I am being serious. Fall for me now."

  At Simon's words, Melanie rolled her eyes, and she asked him, "Did you hit your head somewhere while on your way here?"

  "No, I was struck by the cupid," grinned Simon.

  There was no way Simon was being serious right now, thought Melanie to herself. When she rewinded what he had just said a few seconds ago, his words sent shivers down her spine, and it raised goosebumps on her skin. She shook her head and started to walk away from the vampire, but Simon was quick to catch up to her side.

  "Seriously, that was the worst reaction I have ever received until now," remarked Simon, slipping his hands into his pockets while his eyes were set on Melanie.

  Melanie hugged herself, rubbing her hands on her arms, and she said, "If reaction is what you are looking for, I will give you one which is worse than the slap that took place in the lunchroom. Please stop fooling around with me. I have other things to do."

  "Fooling around? That was what you were doing with Conner," commented Simon, and Melanie gritted her teeth. Before she could retort to it, he continued, "Now now, don't be mean. What I meant to say was that, you have pointlessly spent your time harboring feelings for a person who didn't even know about it until I had to point it out. How pitiful is that?"

  If there was one thing that Melanie had realised, it was that Simon Wallace was shameless. And the senior boy held no concern at all for her feelings, and he didn't care if he embarrassed her or not.

  "Are you still mad at me?" he poked her for a response.

  "I don't know what game you are playing this time, but I don't want to be part of it, and I don't care," said Melanie, increasing the pace of her walk and for a second, Simon fell behind, but soon he caught up to her side.

  "Tell me that you have forgiven me," said Simon, and Melanie grumbled something incoherent under her breath. "Hm? What was that? You forgive me?"

  "Over my dead body," her nose flared at the audacity of this shameless vampire.

  Simon clicked his tongue, and he shook his head before he said, "What did I say about you being dead. I usually prefer people alive rather than them being dead, unless they are going to turn to my meal."

  As Melanie walked in front of him, she noticed some of the students turned to look at them, and she didn't have to hear to know what they were speaking about. Considering how she had slapped Simon in front of everyone, people looked at them with curious glances.

  "You have the nerve to ask me for forgiveness," retorted Melanie. "Unless you want to be murdered by my hand today. Stop following me."

  "Hard pass. I am not leaving you until I know you have forgiven me from your heart," he stressed the word heart, and when Melanie turned to look at him, Simon offered her a bright smile. "You know, you should be thanking me. Instead of staying in the same puddle, you can now freely move on. Unless…… you are telling me you are a masochist who enjoys the pain of seeing the person you love with someone else or still thinking about his previous girlfriend. So when are you planning to fall for me?"

  "It will be my worst nightmare."

  But then, what was happening now was nothing less than a nightmare. Because of Simon, her friendship with Conner had been put into jeopardy. This was one of the reasons why she hadn't confessed her feelings to Conner. It wasn't the fear of rejection but the worry that things would change between her and her best friend.

  "Darling I might appear as a nightmare, but don't you agree that there's a certain thrill to it," Simon tried to convince Melanie, who gave him a look.

  "Thanks to you things between Conner and me have turned awkward," Melanie reminded the vampire, who gave her a nod.

  "Doesn't that mean that the bond between you two wasn't as strong as you thought it to be?" Simon tried to mix things up, even though he knew Conner hadn't cooped himself in his dorm because of Melanie. "I mean…… compared to him, I am a much better person. I came straight to you to check how you are doing."

  Melanie started to cough, and Simon's eyes slightly narrowed while the smile still plastered on his face. She said,

  "You must have come to create more problems in my life."

  "Your life before me was like food without salt. I am that cheese on the pizza, flavourful—"

  "Which isn't healthy," Melanie interrupted Simon's words. She stopped walking, knowing they were gathering too much attention from the fellow students. She turned around, starting to walk in the direction where she had come from.

  Simon gave her a perplexed look, "Where are you going? We aren't done talking."

  "I am. I have nothing more to say to you. So just leave me alone," came Melanie's frustrated words. She just wanted to stay alone for a while and think and get some time for herself in peace, which was not possible with Simon hovering around her like a housefly.

  "Melanie!"

  Hearing Simon's loud voice, she grit her teeth. She turned on her heels, ready to throw the books that were in her hands at him. But a look of surprise came to her face when she didn't find him in front of her. She looked around, noticing the students staring at her even more openly than before and mutters and murmurs filled around.

  Suddenly someone grabbed her ankles from the ground, and Melanie shrieked in terror as if there was a ghost. But then the ghost was none other than Simon, who had fallen on his knees.

  "What the hell do you think you are doing?!" Melanie demanded with her face turning red. She tried to step away from him, but Simon held her ankles firmly. "Let go of my legs!"

  What was wrong with this vampire! She wanted to stake him right at this instant for continuously trying to embarrass her.

  "All I am asking is for your forgiveness, Mel! I cannot live with the thought that I offended you, when in truth I was only trying to help you," Simon's way of apologizing reminded Melanie of a psychopath. "Won't you forgive me, Mel."

  "I will kill you!" Melanie cursed him in frustration. "L-let me go! People are staring at us, Simon!"

  "No, you are right, I have done wrong by you. I know you want me to apologize," said Simon, and Melanie's face twisted in distress. How did this psychopath get attached to her?

  One day she was walking happily, and suddenly a meteor came and hit her, and that meteor was Simon.

  "I don't need you apologizing to me. Please let go and stand up. Stop being so dramatic," Melanie whispered to him, and she slightly lost her balance before getting it right and not falling with the vampire who was still holding her ankles.

  "But you haven't forgiven me," pointed Simon.

  "I do! I have forgiven you. For heaven's sake!" remarked Melanie, and Simon looked at her.

  "You mean it? Why do I feel like you don't mean it by your heart," Simon gave her a sullen look.

  This asshole! Melanie wanted to shout and scream at him, hoping that she would damage his vampire's ears. In her mind, right now, she stepped on Simon and could hear him scream, only to realize that even in her imagination, she could imagine Simon enjoying her stepping on him.

  She took a deep breath and said, "I forgive you. I am not angry at you, I mean it."

  And Simon suddenly let go of her ankles, and Melanie took two steps away from him. The vampire stood up straight, waving at the students who were around, and he said, "The show is over, there is nothing more to see." The students gave him a look before they walked away from there.

  Melanie quickly started to run away from there, not wanting to stay a second more around him at the expense of her sanity.

  "Careful on your way back! Don't fall where you are not supposed to, just me!" Melanie heard Simon yell from behind, and Melanie's eyes twitched. Maybe the person she would be using her wooden stake on would be this crazy vampire, she thought in her mind.

  Seeing the human girl walk away, Simon couldn't help but chuckle to himself, "How cute."

  One of the female students, who witnessed the little scene caused, walked towards where Simon stood.

  The girl had chestnut wavy hair that had been let down, and one side pushed in front of her shoulder. She wore a skirt and halter top. She asked,

  "Isn't that the girl who slapped you in the lunchroom? What are you doing with her?"

  "I am playing a little game. Why are you poking your short nose in it?" questioned Simon, his gaze shifting away from Melanie and looking at the girl, who was a fellow vampiress.

  "She's below average, not to mention boring. I was just curious when I heard that you were getting involved with a human who seemed like an utter bore," commented the girl, and she stepped closer, placing her hand on Simon's chest. "You have been busy."

  Simon placed his hand on the girl's hand and pushed it away, a polite smile on his lips where he grinned, "So clingy. Especially the kind I hate the most."

  The girl looked slightly hurt, which reflected in her eyes, and she hid it away with a smile, "I am clingy? It is you who is clingy, Simon. Have you forgotten the times you came to me, seeking for my company? We are both the most compatible ones, like soul mates."

  The red-headed boy started to chuckle, "You're making me regret my past actions."

  "Do you deny that we aren't alike, which is why we have always got along with each other? Since the time we were children," said the girl, slightly tipping her chin up while Simon stared at her. "Girls come and go, where you play them, but I have always been that constant. You should stop playing with that human."

  He hummed, nodding his head, "We did get along, but right now you are getting on my last nerve. What we had was nothing but business, and you aren't my girlfriend. So stop being subtle and pointing that we might have something more, when it's been nothing but purely pleasure. Soul mate is nothing but bullshit, Nylah."

  The vampiress named Nylah stared back at Simon, a small smile on her lips, and she said, "You might not believe it, but you know we are the most suited." When she took one step closer to him, Simon took one step back before dusting his shoulder.

  "I have other things to do to kill time. See you around?" said Simon before walking away from there.

  The smile that was there on Nylah's face faltered, and she murmured to herself, "It seems like you have forgotten that it was me, who was next to your side when you were hurt, Simon…… I will see you around."