“Hey, long time no see!” she initiated excitably.

“Y.. yeah,” I stuttered, feeling awkward since I barely had interaction with people in the last couple of years.

“You ordered?” she asked.

“Yeah, I've ordered. But I didn't order for you. I was reluctant what I ordered wouldn't meet your preference. I hope you're okay with that..” I confessed.

“Yeah, no problem. I'm a meatatarian after all. No one would've guessed that I think,” she chuckled, grabbed the menu in front of her and started swiping here and there.

‘Well, not something you would've predicted,’ I noted mentally.

A different waiter came bringing me the food I ordered. It was a steak. I told the waitress earlier to request the chef to cook it medium-rare, so that the juicy essence of the meat and oil would still have that red gradient, making it look exceedingly tastier.

Just as the waiter placed it on the table, he asked if I wanted him to demonstrate how to properly slice the beef. I nodded and he started slicing it. I might have been holding my appetite the entire time as I drooled over the steak being sliced.

After the whole spectacle, the waiter started to collect the order from my friend. Rather than saying anything, her gaze was still glued on my meal, making the same drooling face like mine, but worse.

“...ryl. Sheryl!” I called her name, snapping her back to reality.

“Oh, yes! Yes?” she flinched, surprised by my sudden calling.

“The waiter is waiting for your order,” I explained.

She switched her gaze between the waiter, the menu, me, and the meal several times. She hesitated for a moment then continued, “Uh.. can you give me an hour? I.. have something to do.”, she begged.

‘One hour?!’, I kept the shock in my mind, making my eyes widen subconsciously.

My insecurity was saying I had no right to hold her. “Yeah, sure, it's okay,” I sighed, gesturing to send away the waiter.

“I'm sorry, I'll be back.”, she said apologetically.

Just like that, I was left alone. I saw her back as she was leaving the venue. Trying to cheer my self, I stabbed the sliced steak using my fork, putting it inside my mouth, hoping the rich flavor would wipe the bitter taste away.

After several bribes into my mouth, I noticed something had been left behind. It was a card, colored in white, camouflaged within the table. I then inspected it for a second, but it's not hard at all to conclude that it was a hotel room key. I knew it would be useless if I were to chase after her, as she would've gone by now, so I decided to just wait for her to return.

15 minutes was more than enough for me to finish dinner. ‘She said an hour, but would she actually return?’ I wondered, couldn't think of anything to do to kill the time. I didn't think I could wait another 45 minutes at a fancy dinner table, alone, while not eating or having anything to occupy myself with.

‘Even if she came back and did not see me, she'll just go back to the hotel.’ Therefore, I chose to brave myself and went to her hotel room to wait there, since I hadn't handed in the gift and had the key with me anyway.

It only took 5 minutes to get to the hotel riding the motorbike I used the whole day. Walking past the lobby, I showed the receptionist the room key as I passed through. There was only one woman, she nodded. Fortunately, the room number was written on the card, so I wouldn't have to be raising suspicion upon asking, that being unnecessary. Not that I were to do any crime or anything, I just disliked being engaged in questioning.

As I anticipated, Sheryl was not here. I stepped into the single room she booked, turning on the lamp. Despite being a single room, the room was surprisingly broad. Amid entering the room, I was welcomed by a cupboard to my right and a bathroom to my left. After the hallway, came the bedroom with a single bed directed to an LED TV hanging on the wall and a desk underneath, accommodating drinks and remotes on top of it. Strangely, though, in a room this big, I found no chair.

However, as I walked further, there was one more additional door to the left of the TV. I took a look inside, not knowing what it actually was, but my best interpretation for it would be something similar to a meeting room, with a knee-high rectangular table in the middle and chairs around it, fitting 4 persons. ‘So that's where they put the chair,’ I assured.

For sitting on the bed would be inappropriate, I ended up sitting in the meeting room.

Unexpectedly, before I even started to get bored, the entrance door clicked. Sheryl was here. But before I showed myself, I heard the sounds of two people. She was with someone else, a guy, and they giggled while entering the room.

‘Has she just left me for something to do and this is it?’ I mumbled in sorrow.

My heart pounded gradually faster as they were getting closer. Didn't know what to do, I hid behind the wall, hoping they wouldn't budge to find out what's in the other room.

The main lamp in the bedroom was turned off, switched to a dimmed warm table lamp. Smooching and sighing noises began to sound. The heavy breath emitted by both of them could be heard as obvious as anyone could imagine. Before I started imagining things, however, I heard a splash sound, continued with an inaudible groan.

Curiosity grew bigger and bigger within me. I braved myself to take a peek. However, the turn of the event held in front of me was what I never once expected in my entire life. Sheryl took a bite right on her companion's jugular vein, draining his blood straight from his brain and letting him pitch to a horrible death.

Crimson squirted all over Sheryl's mouth to her face as she squeezed every drop of the man's blood, draining his body dry. Even the most cannibalistic man who ever lived wouldn't be able to imitate what she had accomplished just now. It, could only possibly have been done.. by a vampire.

Pulling back my head, I shut my mouth rigidly and tried to not make even any slightest sound. I almost brought myself straight into the death door by gasping faintly. Every second that passed by felt like my heart was about to explode and I had no other choice than to wait.

I lost count on how much time had passed. A bump noise that I could only guess be the corpse being dumped sounded. While I had no idea what her intention next, I could only pray.

I sighed in relief when I heard the entrance door was opened then closed, now that she seemed to have left the room. Once I made sure there was no sign of anyone─ living─ in the room, I pushed myself towards the door, only to let my face met with Sheryl's.

“Didn't I tell you to wait?” A wide creepy grin painted on her face full of crimson.