162 5.12
Kylan Laframboise was a reasonably popular character, mainly because he probably had the most development throughout the story. This isn't saying too much, to be honest, but even a small spoonful of sugar can sweeten the pot.
Originally, he appeared closed off and very hateful to everyone. Kylan especially disdains and goes out of his way to bully the female lead Jessica Fang, finding her especially repulsive to the eye. In fact, he could be considered one of the main tormentors to her when she first entered St Lailah's academy.
It was only when Jessica saved him midway through the story from being beaten by some vampires did he finally start to change his tune.
Kylan was not a vampire hunter, nor was he from a rich and prestigious background. In fact, it could be said, if it wasn't for his surprisingly high intellect, strange physique of being naturally more physically capable, and aggressively fierce temperament, his status would be much worse than Jessica's.
Because he entered the school thanks to his sister- a turned vampire and favoured mistress to a very high ranking noble, Count Vericus.
During his time as Alaric, Jia Hyson has never seen Count Vericus, but he did have the memory of meeting him. And all he can say is… if he didn't have a thing against cheating, he would climb up that strict and taciturn daddy and eat him up like a fucking koala to a eucalyptus.
The man was even in charge of vampiric law enforcement in America. That meant he could totally be into discipline. Prison play. Stern mature prison warden, flirtatious and calculating serial killer. Handcuffs. Whip. Agh. Jia Hyson was a little excited just imagining it.
Bebe: ಠ_ಠ 'You have serious problems.'
Jia Hyson: 'Why are you complaining? This is fairly tame ah.'
Bebe: 'Bebe knows…. Bebe just wanted to temporarily live in a world where this was considered serious.'
Jia Hyson: '…' 눈_눈
Kylan, in the story, did not describe too much, but essentially the reason for his high animosity toward Jessica was that she reminded him of his sister. Which was fair. Both were humans who hooked up with high ranking vampires who had some sort of marital promise that they didn't uphold. Count Vericus had a wife, and Prince Damien, like all male leads with high status, had a fiancee.
For vampires, open marriages were not an eye-opening subject matter. They lived so long that it was normal to become bored with their spouses. Some couples will agree to have a year of open marriage every decade, some will maintain an open marriage of sex partners only, and some possessive ones will add a clause they had to share each time a new person is introduced into the relationship… there were many different ways it was handled; as long as they reached an understanding, it was considered okay.
However, who knew what Kylan's sister did, she actually had managed to get Count Vericus to break off his marriage with his wife and establish herself as the main wife of the Vericus family, shocking and outraging many people. It was an absolute scandal.
His elder sister had become a vampire, but Kylan, who had been ashamed, shocked, and also still processing the fact vampires were real, vehemently denied being turned. This was also a bit of a slap in the face for the Vericus family, as they didn't want him or his sister there at all, but at the same time, they were offended by such vehement rejection over entering their family and vampirism.
The scene wasn't explained in detail, but given Kylan's previous scenes with Jessica where he was being a fucking little bitch, most people with brains, Jia Hyson included, could determine that Kylan probably did not handle any of it well. Which is somewhat understandable. Finding out your sister is a home-wrecker and a gold-digger when you're a teenager full of hormonal and emotional imbalances is pretty rough.
Not to mention, given the teenager's conditioner now, it seems the rebellious streak started before the incident.
Because everything was told from Kylan's point of view, Jia Hyson isn't sure of the complete accuracy of his story.
As a vampire in such a high-status noble family, he knew a little bit more about St Lailah's Academy system. St Lailah's was an objectively very amazing school. You needed more than money to get in, and for humans, the enrolment exams were even more strict. Even if Kylan was smart, his EQ and general attitude were very bad. He would've definitely failed the formal interview without any backer.
A turned vampire couldn't do much, or really anything at all, but Count Vericus was another matter. This alone proved that no matter how unsightly the relationship was, the Count's feelings for the mistress must be extremely good to shove in such a bad-tempered human into the prestigious academy at the risk of his reputation.
Of course, there was the matter of Kylan's strange physique, which was a bit suspicious, but it was more a dropped plot point that went nowhere. Kylan's physique became a big plot hole that many criticised to only serve in making the teenager a more capable supporting male lead throughout the book.
Either way, even if Count Vericus could help Kylan in, that didn't mean he could necessarily protect him in the academy. He threw the angry little fish into the best pond, but while it had good resources, there were also far more rivals and predators at hand as well.
Vampires looked down on him, and many allies of the Vericus and the wife of Count Vericus hated him. Not to mention the Vericus family members themselves. And humans, once they hear he was a poor boy who climbed up because his sister was a successful gold-digging little three*, also distanced themselves from him. It was already considered polite if they gave him a bad attitude.
*Little three (xiao san) is a mistress. The third party.
But a teenager was more sensitive and aware than a child and more unrestrained and easy to provoke than an adult. Neither Kylan nor the other parties involved wanted to make friends, and they continued to repel each other until this point, from dislike to mutual hatred.
After Jessica helps him despite how awful he treated her, Kylan was willing to change and slowly become a loyal dog, maturing under the eyes of the readers and earning a lot of points in their hearts.
However, this loyal dog was currently a beaten mutt, sitting on the floor of a taxi in a very embarrassing state.
*Beep*
"Sorry, I'm pretty busy tonight."
*Beep*
"This number is unavailable at this moment-"
*Beep*
"Uh, I don't think we're that close, sorry."
*Beep*
"Kylan? Whose that?"
Jia Hyson: '…'
As the number of numbers Jia Hyson dialled grew bigger, Kylan's face became gloomier and gloomier. There was no way Jia Hyson didn't feel awkward as the young man's perception of his friendship and his self-esteem took blow after blow, indirectly due to his actions. This was probably worse than encouraging someone to throw a party only for nobody to show up. After all, at least the host of the party hadn't been beaten until not even their mothers couldn't recognise them.
Jia Hyson couldn't bear it, and even the taxi driver, who had a bit of a nosy temperament, also couldn't bear it. By the sixth rejected call, the driver had put up the glass partition, making Kylan flush in embarrassment.
He was poor; his negative, blunt temperament and his intellect made it difficult to make friends with most of his classmates, and maybe also because of arrogance and lack of self-awareness, he most likely offended a lot of people. In the end, he ended up hanging around with an unsavoury crowd, feeling only the rebels understand his mindset.
However, clearly, it seems the people he treated as friends did not take him to heart.
Jia Hyson felt sympathetic and sorry for Kylan, such a thing would really send a person into depression, it was no wonder his personality became so abrasive in the future. At the same time though, he also couldn't help but be a bit disdainful. After all, he had always had a good sense of measure, EQ and wit, so making friends and creating good impressions. Jia Hyson only had trouble maintaining friendships, and that was only because he grew bored and didn't like investing his emotional energy to so many people, especially when he deemed them both boring and useless.
So looking at this young man who couldn't even secure a single good brother, there was a natural sense of condescension and pity born from a sense of superiority. Humans were social animals, it was fine if you didn't like to socialise, but if you don't even have the basic abilities of a social animal unless you are greatly talented in another area or born with gold in your mouth, life will not treat you well.
Jia Hyson was pragmatic and only gave kindness when he felt kind. But in the face of incapability and stubborn stupidity, he was too lazy to give a good face. The current Kylan was messy, dirty, and didn't seem so useful. Even if Jia Hyson gave him a comforting smile, his heart was full of calculations, weighing if it was really worth the effort of making friends.
Kylan's main benefit was the fact he should be handsome under his current slovenly appearance, and there was some weight to the fact he would be an important supporting character. However, both were not very vital things to help further Jia Hyson's interests; the only thing that made Jia Hyson truly reluctant was the other's silver eyes.
It was a little irritating to be so unwilling because of something like this. But after so many worlds and meeting different shard holders who he developed high levels of affection for, it would be inevitable there will be an emotional association to seeing another shard holder. Jia Hyson could only reluctantly admit to himself that he might always be partial to them despite his intentions to treat them as separate individuals.
Still, he was a little resistant at heart with this new budding self-awareness, and even subconsciously wanted to do things to deny it like kick Kylan out of the cab and drive off. As a fickle man who was given an infinite amount of opportunities thanks to the Beta System how could he always be coaxed to hang onto one tree* every time?
*Monogamous, always sticking with the same choice.
Swallowing down his small but growing dissatisfaction to look over at a later time, Jia Hyson puts on a pleasant and serene smile and looks at Kylan with an encouraging look, "Is there anyone else?"
Kylan hesitates. Glancing at this stranger who had patiently gone through all these numbers with him, he felt beyond mortified. While there didn't seem to be any mockery on her behalf but that didn't mean he didn't have any for himself.
In fact Kylan silently wishes there was something in the girl's expression that was wrong, impatience, disgust, anything but this kindness. That way he could at least direct his anger somewhere else instead of himself. Sitting there, with so many good brothers not willing to give him a place to stay for the night, Kylan couldn't help but feel alone and ashamed.
His heart clenches.
There was still one person left.
"The only number I can think of is, XXX XXX XXX, her name is Olivia."
Jia Hyson raises his eyebrow at the name but plays dumb. "Girlfriend?"
Kylan coughs awkwardly. "My sister…"
Giving him a strange expression, Jia Hyson put his attention to dialling in the number.
Kylan, understanding her look, bowed his head and smiled bitterly. He didn't say it at the start because, well, he had been afraid of facing what he already suspects.
"The number you have dialled is now unavailable. Please leave a message after the beep... beep!"
The young man chuckles and sneers, hiding the pain of his heart which once again had fallen from its expectations, "Never mind, I didn't she would come anyway."
Jia Hyson was too lazy to interfere with Kylan's family matters. He pats the teenager's head with some sympathy but his words are very pragmatic, brushing over the awkwardness with the current problem that needed to be addressed, "That's fine. Is there anybody else? Anywhere you can go?"
Silence.
Jia Hyson sighs. Well, there's no point in doing good deeds half-heartedly, and it wasn't like he would suffer too much. Besides, after more or less confirming this young man was most likely a shard, he had some inherent goodwill toward him. "If you're comfortable with it, you can stay with me temporarily. I'll be in Grey City for a few days, so you can use that to rest up and recuperate the best you can."
Kylan's head shot upwards, his bright silver eyes wide with surprise. Jia Hyson's gaze lingers on those eyes for a moment before giving the other a sweet and arrogant smile. "You might as well say yes because I won't take no for an answer ah~"
The teenager stares in a daze at Jia Hyson before quickly bowing his head down, hiding his face with his bangs again.
Kylan pinches his thigh to try quell his excited heart.
Ah, ah, ah! How can someone be so lovely???
"T-thank you." The teenager stutters out. Because of his position, the brightness of his eyes and red face was more or less blocked from view. To Jia Hyson, he seemed even more pitiful.
Jia Hyson sighs and pats the young man's head again. Right now, Kylan is like an abandoned dog who was offered food after a few days of living on the streets. Battered enough after experiencing the hardships alone but not so worn down that he had lost the trust in people that he had when he was a little house puppy. Looking at the attitude, there wasn't even a trace of suspicion or doubt. Really not like Da Gong at all. Really... dumb.
But still, pretty cute ah.
Bebe: 'Asking out of pure curiosity, why do you like idiots so much? Is it because you need a partner to which you could feel intellectually superior to, and you only have this and literal animals as options?'
Jia Hyson: '...Fuck, can you speak more human*!?'
Bebe: 'Sorry Bebe only speaks system. ╮(╯∀╰)╭ If you weren't such a dumbass, you would know that.'
Jia Hyson: (ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻
*Speak human- meaning to speak in more understandable terms essentially. Sometimes said when someone is speaking incomprehensibly, but in this case, can mean to speak kinder (more humanely). But in summary, it's scolding/criticising the other person's way of talking, saying they're not saying human words/have some self-awareness/morality etc.
Ignoring his poisonous system, Jia Hyson continues to pat the teenager's head. It didn't feel good at all since Kylan was dirty, sweaty and had rolled around the street floors. The hair was a bit oily, dry and rough in places. But the act was soothing enough to pass the time.
The person being petted like a dog had gone completely rigid. As if afraid to scare away the girl's touch, Kylan even held his breath the best he could.
It had been a long time since he had been treated so warmly.
The taxi driver was a local, but he was not blackhearted; there were no strange turns or twists to fool the customers into paying a higher fare price, so the drive did not take too long. From the dead and dark streets to a more lively and bright area, Jia Hyson clicks his tongue as he sees the open stores and malls. While not as good as other cities, it was maybe because of that there were many eyeing Grey City as a place of development or a place to flaunt wealth more easily.
After all, in cities like Gold city, a brand name bag was as common as vegetables in a market, but in Grey city, it was an unthinkable extravagance to many. If you are a family that is vain and somewhat well off, it is not bad to move to the heart of Grey city and bask in the envy while not compromising their lifestyle too much. One will attract another, and to be honest, there were a few factors, but most astute people could predict that Grey City may be completely revitalised in two decades or so if things go well.
As for the poor families living there? Well, they could get lucky and rise up during the changes, or they'll just get even poorer. It was a bit harsh to say, but if you didn't have the skills and the luck to grasp an opportunity to leave, it's more or less determined the next few generations will continue to live in the slums as well. This was a brainless vampire romance plot, but the economic gap and vicious cycle of poverty were still as prevalent as ever.
Jia Hyson recalls the strip club he used for his character's awakening. Mentally he reminds himself again to send money to them once he sees a post office. There were many cities and many districts. To be honest, the chances of going back to the club before he is deemed a fully independent adult vampire is not high, and by the time he reaches that age, it is hard to say who will still be alive to remember him by then.
Since he had some gratitude and wasn't lacking in money, he sends a letter to the softhearted strip club and bar owner Charlie nearly every time he goes out. Personally, Jia Hyson liked the people well enough, but the connection was not deep, in his opinion. If it was himself, he would give a few letters and gifts and then proceed to neglect the relationship more or less.
But Alaric, at least the character of Alaric Jia Hyson has interpreted, was different. He would cherish this relationship with his heart, so Jia Hyson made sure to do his best to replicate the behaviour. While censoring a few things, he passed on witty anecdotes and small stories, each letter full of care. The writing is neither boring nor perfunctory but intimate and familiar, with not a small amount of money being stuffed inside every time.
It was a bit of a chore, but it grew to be a bit of a habit over time. Who knows, maybe they'll really meet again one day.
The YY hotel in Grey City was probably one of the most gorgeous buildings in the city. It wasn't the most extravagant branch of course, but compared to the other buildings, the amount of money thrown at it was probably a hundred times more. There was a large water fountain in the front, lights everywhere, and valets waiting for any oncoming cars to show off the best customer service. Glancing at it, Jia Hyson simply praised it in his heart. Pretty good-looking ah.
If Jia Hyson was mildly appreciative, Kylan felt like he was in a whole other world. During the rest of the ride, he kept his head down and didn't move, missing most of the passing scenery. Once Jia Hyson stopped petting him, he instinctively lifted his head in vague dissatisfaction only to be immediately blown away by the bright and clean extravagance of the YY Hotel.
It is not like he had not seen the richer areas of Grey City, it was just that Kylan didn't have the confidence to go much further, only seeing at a distance with a sense of awe and envy. When he was a child he and his sister visited once.
What comes to mind of that trip was not the riches and glamour of the wealthy, but the disdainful eyes and sneers. Maybe his sister saw opportunity and beauty, but the young Kylan only felt lower than a particularly dirty bug. Insecure and yearning, he often looked at the skyline and admired the grand buildings, the YY hotel was particularly outstanding to the eye, but he was also ashamed and a little scared.
As the taxi door opens, he sees the handsome, well-dressed bellhop bow respectfully. The bellhop gestures to a small flight of well-lit marble stairs lined with lush pot plants and even more handsome staff waiting. Kylan felt lost. His breath subconsciously picked up, getting faster and more desperate, as if even the air around here disdained to be close to his dirty presence.
Even though he was so old now, Kylan could still feel those gazes from the past imprinted onto his skin. While a logical part of him tried to assure him, it was as if his mind was encased in a fuzzy fog, unable to process things like he could do so easily before, filling him with more anxiety. It was like he could only comprehend the distance between himself and this land of luxury was, abusing his esteem with every new detail supplied to his brain.
The entrance was a revolving door, a thing he had only seen on television before. With a gold rim, and made of glass, it was easy to see with just a look that the decadence outside the hotel could not even compare with the inside. Kylan could see the glass chandeliers, the velvet carpeting, and a beautifully elaborate yellow rose centrepiece that was prettier than anything he's ever seen.
"Hey," Jia Hyson who had stepped out, and walked a few steps, quickly noticed his new mutt hadn't followed behind. A little confused, he turned back and saw Kylan still on the taxi floor, huddled into himself. Seeing the pitiful appearance, silver eyes glazed and timid, Jia Hyson didn't even realise it until he was already squatting in front of the teenager, regardless of his image.
Kylan blinks and focuses on him, his forehead shiny with sweat.
"Kylan, right?" Jia Hyson pats the other's head again, much firmer than previously. Jia Hyson could tell this young man was having some sort of attack. While he isn't sure of the trigger, he knew a little bit about how to handle it though he wasn't well versed, admittedly. "Hey, just breathe in and out with me ah. Deep breaths, focus on my hand, it's okay…"
Under the soothing and somewhat familiar voice, Kylan's breath followed the calm instructions and regained some clarity after a minute or so. Jia Hyson was a little surprised at how fast the recovery was. However he wasn't familiar with these sorts of things, and Kylan was a supporting male lead, after all, injury logic didn't really apply too much.
Thinking about it, Jia Hyson finally stops petting him again and puts his hand out to Kylan in a position like asking a dog to shake his paw. "Don't worry, you're safe with me ah~" He smiles and winks playfully.
With the bright lights of the hotel behind Jia Hyson gently illuminating his appearance, Kylan suddenly felt that he was wrong before.
This person in front of him was clearly the prettiest sight he had ever seen.
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A/N:
Hello~ It's been over two weeks, sorry QwQ.
Winter has come and I am like tiny snail that curls inside its shell during the evening. I sleep, no write. _(:3」∠)_
Tbh I was more or less finished last week but stuff happened and some people told me that the style of my story wasn't uh, good. Like a clunky translation. Usually, that doesn't bother me for too long but I think cuz they were translators that I respected it definitely subconsciously bummed me out for a while in retrospect. Essentially because it was an original story I should not put these sayings and things in there since it's not english.
Honestly, I love reading danmei, and I read the translated novels and mtl (but only readable mtl cuz lets be real some are just indecipherable lmao), and I love the how the translation- maybe because of language limitations but still- keep some of the Chinese language, phrases and idioms in there. I think it's fantastic and I learned a lot of different things about the culture since I started reading it, and I just feel it's very colourful language. It really makes the style of Chinese stories unique ya know? You don't really get that vibe in other things.
That's probs why I was so affected that some translators said my choice of including it was bad, and if they were translating it they wouldn't do what I'm doing at all because it isn't true to text and they rather completely exchange it with english terms that mean the same thing. To be honest, I think it's not wrong to change it, but I didn't really like how they said that it was true to text either, after all using the idiom in itself (and slightly editing it to make it fit the sentence better) and explaining it is also very true to text, maybe truer in my opinion.
Honestly, I just asked for confirmation of a Chinese term, and they were helpful and more or less agreed with my definition (it was the 'Speak human*' bit above) but when they found out I was an original they were literally like, 'Why would you even use this term, just say they were being mean'. And they were saying how it doesn't work in English and when I tried to defend myself about adding the Chinese style to it with this term one of them had the AUDACITY to be like 'But... this is an English saying too'. Like bruh, why are you stopping me then istg I was upset af there was a lot of contradiction happening and I was confused and I definitely doubted my writing a lot after ah. Which is a first, cuz I rarely doubt, and this was not fun experience orz
And BY THE WAY, SHOUTOUT TO LOREILI ON MY SERVER WHO I LITERALLY ASKED THE SAME THING AND THEY WERE LIKE 'Speak human? The chinese meaning? Yeah, you're more or less right it's more like (insert stuff).' Like legit all I asked for. Thanks loreili you're awesome, probs nearly singlehandedly stopped me from drinking a whole pot of writing depresso lmao.
This was really a big rant, I kinda wanted to use this for better shit but I think a part of me is still sad and this chapter is like meh, and it kinda shows so I wanted to explain.
I guess all I can say is, that it's harder to cheer up completely when you get negative criticism from people you respect or like, even surrounded by super supporting people (thank you my cute readers~), and that's okay, perfectly normal. We just gotta learn to slowly push it out, especially when you acknowledge that while you have room for improvement you will never always go the direction others want you to go. You can only grow where you want and try to be happy with that.
Also distract yourself with yaoi when your feeling sad. That's literally how I do things lmao :3
I cut up this chapter so 60% of the next chapter is actually sorta done~ Hopefully, it will come soon~ Love ya~
