Let’s Date!

Chisaka Kutsuki

Ryota really was a vampire. All the times that left me with questions, the time at the photoshoot he suddenly disappeared within an instant, the time he actually bit a place on my neck, and the glowing eyes. It only made sense. He hid behind a façade, disguising the vampire part of himself as his stage name, but like I was any different; I held up my façade in front of Gina. Ryota saw right through it.

“And if I don’t?”

“I’m a vampire, do you really want to find out what happens if you can’t keep a secret?” he dares me, his eyes begin to glow the deep red again, and he slightly opens his mouth to reveal a pair of real fangs. I know he was supposed to scare me, and it did, but it also made me even more intrigued. This person was my soul-tie, and if soul-ties are fake, then by all means, he should show me his hatred.

“Go ahead, then you ruin any chance with your only soulmate… if that’s even real.”

“It’s not.”

“Well, at least we have that much in common.” I smile, my heart still racing from his closeness, but I had to know more about him. “I don’t need you to teach me about makeup, I can learn on my own, I got myself in that mess anyways.” He smirks and dims the lights of his high-priced vanity.

“Not a damsel-in-distress?”

My lips curve up, turning towards the door and gaze up at his tall figure, a towel still lurking low along his waist, but his chest hidden by a white t-shift, “Not in the slightest, Vampire King.”

“Wait,” Ryota pulls me towards him with one sweep of his hands around my arm, I place my hands on his chest and push him away. He releases me at an instant and steps back, one hand scratching his neck, his expression softening. “What exactly is this ‘soulmate string’?”

“So, you’ve never heard of it?” He shakes his head, and I turn back towards him. “Everyone has a heartstring, or the string of fate, it’s supposed to tell you who your soulmate is… like the one you will spend forever with.”

“You believe in that?”

“I don’t believe that it works, but I have one. And for some reason, mine and yours are connected.”

“Let’s test that theory then…” I watch his face glow in the moonlight above the city, the string of lights from the road flickering, as do Ryota’s red eyes. His silky bed sheets atop a large fancy bed and the smell of rich cologne surround the air around his apartment bedroom reminding me that he was statistically nothing like me.

“Let’s date.” My eyes glisten, and like a reaction, butterflies flutter fast in my chest. “For as long as we aren't in love, you keep my secret and I’ll defend you from the media as my fake makeup artist… but if someone falls in love, the other can expose that person’s secret to as many people as they’d like.”

“That means if you fall for me, I can tell everyone that you’re a real vampire?”

“Yes. And if you fall for me, I can expose you to your friends and to the public that you’re not a real makeup artist.”

I think about the proposal, it would benefit both of us, and I could also prove that the string doesn’t work. I didn’t fully understand why he would want to test the theory though, unlike me, he didn’t even know that soulmate ties were real. For whatever reasons he had, I accepted.

“Fine.” He smiles back at me and places his hand on my waist, leading me to the door of his room. I’d lie to myself if I didn’t acknowledge that this was the closest I’d ever been to any man, and that his hands were dangerously near my skin, enough to send electricity waves through my body. But I wouldn’t let him win without a fight.

I shut the door of my apartment behind myself, sliding down onto the floor. My parents had a toxic relationship, and I knew that. They were soulmates, so I knew the string didn't work. However, a sliver of myself still wondered if Ryota really was my soulmate, or if I was perceiving things wrong.

Perhaps, if he wasn’t, could I truly allow myself to feel these feelings I have for him?