Chapter 6: How Not to Handle Jealousy

Ming's POV

I was floating on cloud nine for exactly two days.

Two blissful days of replaying Kamon's words - "someone I actually care about" - over and over in my head like my own personal romantic soundtrack.

Then I saw her.

"Who is that?" I whispered to Ploy as we sat in the campus coffee shop, watching a gorgeous girl with long, silky hair laugh at something Kamon was saying.

Ploy followed my gaze and nearly choked on her iced coffee. "That's Nim. She's in Architecture too."

"Architecture," I repeated flatly, watching as Nim touched Kamon's arm while she talked. "Of course she is."

"Ming, you're staring."

I was more than staring. I was glaring with the intensity of a thousand suns, and I could feel my fangs starting to tingle with something that definitely wasn't romantic attraction.

"She's very... touchy," I observed, as Nim laughed again and leaned closer to Kamon.

"She's always been like that. Very friendly."

"Friendly." The word came out like a growl.

Ploy turned to look at me properly, and her eyes widened. "Ming, your eyes look weird."

"What do you mean weird?"

"Like... darker than usual. And you're gripping your coffee cup really tight."

I looked down and realized I was indeed gripping my ceramic mug hard enough to leave finger indentations. I quickly loosened my supernatural grip before I accidentally crushed it.

"I'm fine," I said through gritted teeth, just as Nim threw her head back and laughed at something else Kamon said.

What could possibly be that funny? Was he secretly a comedian? Had I missed some hidden talent for humor during our scooter maintenance conversations?

"You know," Ploy said carefully, "if you're interested in Kamon, maybe you should actually go talk to him instead of glaring at his friend from across the room."

"She's not his friend. She's clearly flirting with him."

"And you're clearly jealous."

"I am not jealous!" I said loudly enough that several people turned to look at us. "I'm just... observing. For anthropological purposes."

"Right. And I'm sure your anthropological observations have nothing to do with the fact that you look like you want to bite someone."

If only she knew how accurate that statement was.

I watched as Nim said something that made Kamon smile - an actual, genuine smile that reached his eyes. The same kind of smile he'd given me yesterday when he said he cared about me.

My fangs extended slightly.

"Okay, that's it," I said, standing up abruptly. "I'm going over there."

"Ming, wait—"

But I was already marching across the coffee shop with the determination of someone who definitely wasn't thinking clearly. My vampire hearing picked up their conversation as I approached.

"—so then my dad said I should focus more on my studies instead of working so much," Kamon was saying.

"But you need the job, right?" Nim's voice was soft and understanding. "Family situations are complicated."

"Yeah, they are."

I stopped a few feet away, suddenly realizing I had absolutely no plan for this confrontation. What was I supposed to say? "Excuse me, stop flirting with the boy I have a supernatural crush on"?

"Ming?" Kamon looked up and saw me standing there like a statue. "Hi."

"Hi," I said, my voice coming out slightly higher than normal. "I was just... getting coffee. And I saw you. Both of you. Having coffee. Together."

Nim turned to look at me with curious eyes. She was even prettier up close, with perfect skin and the kind of effortless beauty that made normal girls like me feel invisible.

"You must be Ming," she said with a warm smile. "I'm Nim. Kamon was just telling me about how he's been helping you with... mechanical anxiety?"

I shot a look at Kamon, who had the grace to look slightly embarrassed.

"Something like that," I muttered.

"That's so sweet of him to help," Nim continued. "He's always been good at fixing things. Remember when you fixed my laptop last semester?"

My eye twitched. "He fixed your laptop?"

"And my bike chain. And that time my desk drawer got stuck." Nim beamed at Kamon like he was some kind of mechanical hero. "You're so handy with everything."

The jealousy was rising in my chest like a physical thing, hot and sharp and definitely supernatural in nature. I could feel my vampire instincts reacting to what they perceived as a threat to my... what? My crush? My potential territory?

"That's... great," I managed to say. "Very... handy."

Kamon was looking between us with a confused expression, like he could sense the tension but didn't understand where it was coming from.

"Did you want to join us?" he asked politely.

Before I could answer, Nim's phone buzzed. "Oh no, I have to run! Professor Tanaka wants to see me about my thesis project." She gathered her things quickly and turned to Kamon. "Think about what I said, okay? You don't have to handle everything by yourself."

She squeezed his shoulder - squeezed it! - and then smiled at me. "It was nice meeting you, Ming. Maybe we can all hang out sometime!"

And then she was gone, leaving behind the faint scent of expensive perfume and the memory of her perfectly manicured hand on Kamon's shoulder.

"So," I said, sitting down in the chair she'd vacated, "she seems... nice."

"She is," Kamon said simply. "We've been in the same program since freshman year."

"Right. And she just... comes to you with all her broken things?"

"Sometimes." He was studying my face again with those intense dark eyes. "Is that a problem?"

"No! Why would that be a problem? I just think it's interesting how some people are so... helpless with mechanical things that they need constant assistance."

"Ming, are you okay? You seem tense."

I was more than tense. I was wound tighter than a spring, and my vampire instincts were screaming at me to do something about the perceived threat to my potential mate.

Wait. Potential mate? Where had that thought come from?

"I'm fine," I said, forcing a smile. "Just curious about your... friendship... with Nim."

"We're study partners sometimes. And she's going through some family stuff, so we talk."

Family stuff. Personal conversations. Study sessions. Late-night laptop fixing sessions, probably.

"How nice that she has someone to... talk to," I said, proud of myself for keeping the growl out of my voice.

Kamon leaned forward slightly, and I caught that scent again - motor oil and something uniquely him that made my fangs tingle for entirely different reasons.

"Ming, if you want to know something, you can just ask me directly."

The quiet intensity in his voice made my stomach flip. He was calling me out on my obvious jealousy, but in the gentlest way possible.

"I just..." I took a deep breath. "I guess I was wondering if you and Nim are... more than friends."

"No," he said simply. "We're not."

"Oh." Relief flooded through me so powerfully that I felt dizzy. "Okay. Good. I mean, not good! It would be fine if you were! I just... good."

That tiny smile appeared at the corner of his mouth. "Were you jealous?"

"No! Maybe. A little." I slumped in my chair. "Okay, yes. I was very jealous, and I have no right to be because we're not... I mean, you don't... we haven't..."

"Ming."

"Yeah?"

"I told you yesterday that you're someone I care about. That hasn't changed."

My heart did a little flip. "Really?"

"Really." He paused, seeming to consider his words carefully. "But if you want to know these things, you could just ask instead of glaring at me from across the room."

"I wasn't glaring!"

"You were definitely glaring. Ploy looked concerned for my safety."

I groaned and buried my face in my hands. "I'm terrible at this whole... whatever this is."

"Dating?" he suggested quietly.

I peeked at him through my fingers. "Are we dating?"

"I don't know. Do you want to be?"

The question hung in the air between us, loaded with possibility and terrifying in its simplicity. Did I want to be dating Kamon? The boy who made my vampire instincts go haywire and my carefully controlled life spiral into chaos?

"Yes," I said, the word slipping out before I could overthink it. "I really do."

His smile was soft and genuine and absolutely devastating. "Good. Then we're dating."

"Just like that?"

"Just like that."

I stared at him in amazement. "You make it sound so simple."

"It doesn't have to be complicated, Ming. We like each other. We want to spend time together. Everything else we can figure out as we go."

If only he knew about the supernatural complications we'd definitely have to figure out. But looking at his kind, patient expression, I found myself thinking that maybe - just maybe - we could handle whatever came our way.

"So," I said, trying to sound casual, "what do people do when they're... dating?"

"Well," Kamon said, that tiny smile growing wider, "they usually start with actual dates."

"Right. Dates. I can do dates."

"Tomorrow night? There's a night market near campus. We could get dinner."

A real date. With the boy I'd been crushing on for weeks. The boy who somehow thought I was worth caring about despite my obvious weirdness.

"I'd love that," I said.

"Great. It's a date."

As I walked back to Ploy with a stupid grin on my face, I tried not to think about all the ways my supernatural nature could ruin a perfectly normal evening out.

But for now, I was dating Kamon.

And that felt like the most important thing in the world.

[End of Chapter 6]