"Have you grown accustomed to your class?"

I jumped up from my seat behind the desk and bowed to the principal. I was rarely caught off guard since I had sharp senses that warned me when someone was approaching. Strange how I did not notice her coming in.

"Yes. Thank you very much for giving me this opportunity." I smiled at her.

Her expression stayed calm as she scanned the art room filled with easels and paints, decorated with myriads of paintings from the previous classes.

"Please, just call me Irene. I prefer it casual. We're not too much apart in terms of age."

I chuckled awkwardly. She did look surprisingly young for a principal of an entire school. No wrinkles in sight and her skin was even glowing under the bright lights. So graceful and collected. If I had to be suspicious, I would believe it if she was a vampire. When she came near me, I smelled no blood from her which further added to the thought, but I would not know for sure unless I touched her skin. Her eyes were darker than the average vampire's eye colors, too.

Or did she wear lenses?

"Evie?"

I snapped out of my thoughts and widened my eyes. "Yes?"

She chuckled. "I was just wondering if you needed any help in adjusting? There is one more new teacher in the elementary level and two more in the kindergarten. Maybe getting to know and supporting each other can help."

"Oh. We actually already know each other."

Her eyes widened. "You know every teacher here?"

My eyes widened. "Oh no no. I meant the new teachers!"

"Oh," she laughed. "Well, getting to know other teachers will greatly improve your teaching experience. Everyone is around your age, too."

So I heard. Quite strange that this school collected young people to be teachers. Where did they find these young teachers? Did she like having people around her age here?

"Good luck, Evie. And hope you can join the monthly outing. We can get to know each other more." She smiled very gracefully. If I swung that way, I would have fallen for her.

"Thank you. I will."

After she left, I looked at the clock and there was around an hour left before the school started. Yes, I arrived early to prepare for the class. For someone who only did art as a hobby, teaching was a whole different story. I did some teaching before but it was a different subject.

Since I had time to kill, I decided to go and bully my friends who were probably more confused about teaching than me. Maybe they might need my help.

But just when I turned around a corner, a heavy force collided with me, making me stagger backwards. Me, a vampire, was pushed back?

Not only that, something splashed all over my torso.

Dumbstruck, I immediately looked up and locked eyes with a man who looked just as shocked as me. Or maybe even more.

His eyes, mesmerizing and lovely, suddenly captivated me, making any word or curse that was about to leave my mouth instantly die down. I had never seen such expressive eyes before. Alas, there was never a need to understand such eyes before, never in my life, so I could do nothing but stare. His features were similarly soft. Straight nose, straight full eyebrows, full cheeks and full doll-like lips. But all together, he looked reserved and somehow unapproachable.

My eyes were trailing to his rather big ears that decorated his oval face nicely when he suddenly spoke up in panic with his hands still hovering in the air. Even his voice was soft and mellow and careful.

"I'm so sorry, oh my gosh! I hope I didn't hurt you! Are you alright?"

For a second there, I forgot how strong the collision impact was. What even was this man? Able to push back a vampire like me? A bull? But his build was not bulky, instead he was the lean type under that gray sweatsuit.

I cleared my throat and looked down to find... blood?

Only then had I noticed the familiar red liquid all over my white shirt and the pungent metallic smell that was too strong to not notice.

I looked back at him with a deep frown. "Is this blood?"

He stared at me speechless before his apple's adam bobbed up and down as he swallowed. After breathing in deeply, he shakily said, "Y-Yes, I was delivering blood sample to the science classroom. It's my fault for not being careful, I'm so sorry. Oh god, what should I do... Your clothes are ruined."

As soon as I heard 'blood', I looked away from him, trying to hide my eyes. They would gradually turn crimson, especially when blood was all over me like this. Damn, what a start to the new school year. How could I not notice him?! First the principal, and now this gorgeous man. I had to get a grip.

"It's alright. I have my casual clothes with me," I tried assuring him to escape from there as quickly as possible and get rid of the stench of blood. "Since I'm the art teacher, I can be a little more casual, right?"

"You're the new art teacher?" He sounded surprised.

I kept looking at the floor. "Yes, it's my first day today."

He gasped. "Oh no, because of my stupidity, you..."

"It's alright!" I waved my hands, fake laughing. I was already craving blood to get more energy to act like this. "It's my mistake, too. I didn't look where I was going."

"But it's because of the blood bag I was holding..." he sighed.

I wanted to knock him out and run out of there, or snap my own neck and pass, anything to get out of this prolonged awkwardness. Plus, my eyes should be red by now. Being a vampire was so fun.

"The classes are going to start soon, I should go quickly," I blurted and spun on my heels before basically bolting back to the art classroom.

He called for me but I did not stop and arrived at my desk and grabbed my clothes from my bag. I ran to the bathroom and looked at the mirror. As expected, my eyes were almost fully red. I sighed deeply and started cleaning myself before changing. Still, after I changed, I reeked of blood. Even if it was my food, I did not enjoy the pungent smell.

Trudging back to the classroom, I wrapped the stained clothes in many plastic bags and shoved it deep into my bag. I was about to curse that man when someone knocked on the door.

Confused, I yelled, "Yes?"

The door opened and the said man walked in with a sheepish smile and lips pursed. "I know it's not the best greeting, but I wanted to at least introduce myself and seek forgiveness by paying for the cleaning fee of your clothes."

I stood there, stunned, before breaking into laughter. "It's alright, you don't have to."

"I insist," he said, lips slightly pouting with a guilty expression. His eyes looked a brighter shade of hazel in the lights, round and staring into mine, seeking approval.

I smiled. "Alright. I'll let you know how much it cost after the cleaning."

His lips stretched into the most beautiful smile I had seen, joy bursting from it. "Ah, I'm relieved. Let's get along well. I'm Heeseung. PE teacher."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Evie."

┗━━━━━━༻♔༺━━━━━━┛

Yes, love a first meeting with a little bit of blood 😂

We all know Irene is a vampire wbk