3rd POV

"Principal Lee!" Maya called out to the head of the academy as she and her friends followed her after they had tried to stop but ended up watching Park Soobin running back inside the school.

"Maya-ssi? What's wrong?" Principal Lee asked as she excused herself from some of the professors and looked at the young girl then at her adopted daughter, Bora.

Maya took a deep breath in and answered, "Keni was left behind as we all got out, and Soobin ran back inside to find her!"

The young Principal's face turned pale at the bad news and instantly called for Sungkyung and Bomin, who ran over right away.

"Principal Lee, you called. Is there something-" Bomin was cut off when an explosion was heard from the south side of the academy.

"Sungkyung-ssi, your sister is still inside and so is Mr. Park," Principal Lee explained quickly. "We need every Vampire who can control the water element and make sure that the fire doesn't spread to the other parts of the school. Do you understand me?"

The eldest daughter of the Lee Clan started to worry and panic after hearing about her adopted sister. But with Bomin's help, she calmed down right away and called for the other Vampires who just like her can manipulate the water element. Right away, they all gathered around by the south side of the academy, and in less than a minute a big amount of water appeared from the nearby lake and Sungkyung led the younger Vampires in putting the fire down. 

But something was keeping the fire alive and whatever method Sungkyung tried, the fire was spreading faster and faster to the other parts of the school.

=========================

"You were adopted?" Keni asked in surprise. "I thought... I thought that not many families would take in a half-vampire and half-angel into their family..."

"My mother thought the same thing, too," Yeji replied back with a soft, sad smile. "But her best friend, Song Wooyeon, willingly said that she'd take care of me."

Keni bit her bottom lip and nodded her head. Then she slowly said, "If you don't mind me asking... Who is your biological mother?"

Yeji was going to answer but something stopped her. She furrowed her eyebrows and worry crept up inside of her as she felt the coldness in the Spirit Realm disappearing.

Then she looks at the young Guardian and spoke up, "Keni, I promise to answer all of your questions, but right now, we have to get you out of here."

"What? But what about the heirloom?" Keni looked around the bedroom and noticed that there were not that many of Vivien's belongings. She only saw an opened suitcase with a couple of folded clothes in it, and a book on top of the bedside table. Then she muttered under her breath in disappointment, "It's not in here..."

"Keni, please, we have to go now," Yeji pushes on as she felt a warm feeling.

But Keni didn't want to go. "No, wait. I can't leave. I... I have to find the heirloom!"

"We can do it another time, Keni! Please, you have to go now!" Yeji exclaimed as the warm feeling became hot like a sunny day in summer.

"I am not leaving until I get some answers!"

"Answers to what?"

Keni looked at her older friend and held back her tears as she said, "Answers to your death. I need to know who killed you, unnie."

"K-killed me?" Yeji stuttered, making Keni look at her in confusion.

"Unnie...  You don't know?" She asked and Yeji just stared at her as if she's processing what Keni had just said. Then the young Guardian continued on, "Yeji unnie, you were murdered at the back of the school inside the Dark Forest."

Then Keni felt the hot air around her and in a blink of an eye, she was out of the Spirit Realm and back in the Mundane Realm. She longer saw  Yeji inside the bedroom, but she started to worry when she realized how much she was sweating and figured that the fire had spread to the other parts of the school. She hurriedly ran to the locked door, but when she touched the doorknob she pulled her hand back and hissed in pain due to how hot the doorknob was.

Okay... Let's just go back into the Spirit Realm and go through the door like before...

Keni did what she did but when she opened her eyes, she was still in her realm.

"Great, I'm stuck here," she whispered under her breath as she took her sweater off and tied it around her waist.

But then...

Meow...

Keni turned around and saw a white cat floating in the air. She took a step towards it and realized that it's an Animal Spirit.

"You look familiar-" but she stopped in mid-sentence and smiled, "Wait, you were that little kitten from before, right?"

Meow~

Then just when Keni was going to pet it, the Animal Spirit disappeared and Keni felt the Soulmate Connection. It was pulling her back to the door and then she heard Soobin's voice.

"KENI? ARE YOU IN THERE?" Soobin shouted as Keni saw the white cat appeared in the room again.

"You led him here?" She asked it and it meowed for the third time. "Thank you."

Then she replied back to Soobin, "YES, SOOBIN! I'M IN HERE!"

"OKAY! UM, KENI, STEP BACK FROM THE DOOR!" He shouted and Keni moved to the other side of the room then the door busted open.

Soobin ran inside and sighed in relief when seeing that Keni was safe. Right at that moment, Keni didn't care about what she said back at the library. She ran to him and wrapped her arms around his waist. Soobin didn't double think about it. He instantly hugged her back feeling happy and relieved to see her.

"Are you okay?" Keni asked him as she pulled away.

Soobin raised his eyebrow at her and said, "I should be asking you that question. Why did you stay behind and- wait, this is Vivien's room."

The male vampire soon understands what Keni was doing the whole time.

"You are truly crazy for staying behind during a fire emergency," he told her which made Keni softly laughed to herself. "But... I admire your bravery."

Keni blushes at his last words and faked a cough as she took a step back from the tall boy.

"We should head out now. I bet Maya or Jaehyuck had already told Principal Lee that I'm still in here... and that you ran back inside."

====================

"There, there, Jisung," a feminine voice called out. "Why are you being such a worry-rat? I mean, you did such a good job."

"I didn't want any of this, Vivien!" The 18-year-old vampire yelled as he tried to get out of the rope tied around his arms and legs. "You said that you would help me get Keni back!"

Vivien smirked and leaned down a bit to Jisung's height since the male vampire was tied to a wooden chair. "Oh, did I now?" she asked with a mischievous tone.

Jisung had finally had it.

His eyes turned a dark golden color and Vivien took a step back and was shouting at him to stop. But Jisung continued on until the older vampire fainted to the ground.

Jisung's eye color changed back to it's dark brown and he whispered, "Don't ever mess with a Mind Manipulator."

Then he looks around for something sharp but finds nothing. He sighed in frustration as he noticed the fire spreading to the other parts of the school. Then he remembered something that Bomin taught him and Keni a year ago.

"If you ever get kidnapped and woke up tied to a wooden chair, check how the ropes are tied and see if it has any flaws."

"Flaws?" Keni asked as she tried to imagine what kinds of flaws can be seen in rope tying.

Then Jisung showed an image in her mind of how a kidnapper would tie his or her victim to a wooden chair. Keni played it out and surprised Jisung. Then the image disappeared and Jisung saw Keni smiling at him.

"Clever," he mouthed at her as she shrugged and looked back at Bomin who was currently tying Sungkyung to a wooden chair.

Jisung checked at how the rope was tied then he saw the flaw and chuckled. "Tsk tsk, Vivien Kang is terrible at tying ropes," he whispered as he started to work on that the flaw of the rope around his right leg.

After many tries, Jisung's legs were free from the ropes. Then he slowly stood up and checked the area again. 

"If there are no flaws and no sharp objects, then find a pillar that you think can break the wooden chair."

"Can't we just fall backward with the chair?" Jisung asked, remembering this one scene from an action movie he once watched.

Sungkyung rolled her eyes at her younger brother and scolded him, "This isn't like the movies, Jisung."

Jisung stuck his tongue out at her which made Sungkyung even more annoyed.

Then Keni spoke up, "Do we have to hit the wooden chair on the pillar by its side?"

Bomin clasped his hands together with a proud smile. "That's the main way of doing it! Good thinking, Keni!"

Jisung smirked at how well his Guardian-slash-best-friend was doing.

"Hit the side of the wooden chair..." Jisung muttered under his breath as he quickly walked, well more like hopped, to the pillar on the other side of the room. "This wooden chair looks old so it should work."

He took a deep breath in and said, "I can do this," and on three he swiftly moved and hit the wooden chair on the pillar.

The wooden chair broke into pieces and the rope that was tied around his arms fell off of him. Then he looked outside the window and saw the fire was dying down. He sighed in relief but when he was about to leave, he saw something shining from inside Vivien's jacket's pocket. He kneeled down beside the unconscious vampire and took a necklace out of the pocket.

His breathing hitched in his throat when he sees the familiar heirloom.

"...You're a Kim?"

=====================

"THERE THEY ARE!" Doyoung shouted as he saw Soobin and Keni walking out of the academy's side doors.

Everyone ran to their aid and the two Soulmates were separated from each other as their own groups of friends surrounded them in worry and relief.

"Are you okay?"

"Did you get hurt?"

"You weren't burnt right?"

"Can you still see?"

"How are your lungs?"

"Can you still make babies?"

Both Soobin and Keni looked at whoever said that and shook their heads at what Joseong had just asked the 18-year-old vampire.

Soobin was then engulfed into a hug by Haruto who had dry tears on his cheeks. 

"Hyung! You're still alive!" The young vampire exclaimed, making Soobin chuckle.

"Ruto, you do know that I can manipulate fire, right?" Soobin asked, making Haruto smile once again.

Then Jaehyuck appeared and was about to scold Jisung for running back inside the burning school, but he saw Bora shaking her head and smiling at him. The 20-year-old Guardian mentally sighed and decided to let this one slide. Then he looked back at Soobin and patted the younger boy's shoulder.

"Don't ever do that again," he said as gently as he can and walked away, leaving Soobin, Haruto, and their group in shock.

"Well, that's a first. He didn't scold you," Hyosung spoke up, making Doyoung chuckle while Jaxon and Joseong simply shivered from the scene.

Then the group of boys all looked over at where Keni and her friends are at. Keni was receiving a group hug from everyone which made it hard for her to breathe.

"Okay, kids, move! My sister can't breathe with everyone hugging her!" Sungkyung exclaimed as she pulled the younger vampires and guardians away from Keni.

Bomin walked over to Soobin as they both watched the two sisters reunite. Then he patted Soobin's back and said, "Thank you for going back inside and getting her. The Oh Family wouldn't like it if they lost their adopted daughter all of a sudden."

Soobin looked at the older Guardian and bowed his head. Then he replied back, "Keni... She means a lot to me. I just couldn't stay behind and wait for someone else to get her."

"I can tell that you like her," Bomin whispered which took Soobin off guard. "But don't worry, I won't tell anyone. I've never seen her so happy before. Even if she doesn't say it, I can see it in her eyes when you're around. Just promise me that when the time comes, when everyone finds out... You won't leave her. Promise me and to the Oh Family that you'll stay by her side."

Soobin looked at Bomin and smiled. "I promise, sunbae-nim."

"Also, you can call me hyung," Bomin added before walking over to his Vampire.

"Dakyung! Sangmin!" Jisung's voice called out from the other side of the lawn.

Everyone nearby all turned their heads to face him. Then his friends ran to his side asking where he was and if he was okay. Jisung shook his head and said something that made Dakyung's face turn pale. Then Dakyung took something from Jisung and used his speed to get to Keni, Maya, and Bora.

"Keni, it was with her this whole time," Dakyung exclaimed as he handed the golden necklace.

The young Guardian took it and her eyes went wide. "The Kim's family heirloom."

Keni looked at her friends and then over at Soobin who overheard what she and Dakyung exchanged. They didn't have to say it out loud anymore because they both were thinking the same thing.

"Vivien Kang is Ruth Kim."

🌼 a/n.

OMFG OMFG OMFG OMFG-

vivien is so dead now AHAHAHAHA. good luck to you, bruh!

I cannot wait to write the next 5 chapters- srsly y'all will feel many mixed emotions thanks to vivien who is actually ruth kim!

And as for Yeji, she doesn't remember how she died? sjksjskjs wuuut-

I'm literally smiling over the fact that I have finally revealed who vivien is. 😂 cuz like I so badly wanna get to the part of Yeji's biological family and how she's related to the Kim's and who her mother is.

Anyways, I hope y'all enjoyed this chappie! It's not yet edited. So if y'all see some typos or grammatical error, I will fix those real soon! Have a good day/night and take care! 🥺🧡