Vampire Idol Ep 60 Rewrite
Title: Birthday Cake (a.k.a. how Episode 60 should have gone down, if I had my way.)
Pairing: Soohyuk/Minkyung, ninja others
Genre: slight angst, romance
Rating: PG
Summary: No one knows it's Minkyung's birthday, except a certain vampire bodyguard.
So I've been watching this cable sitcom on MBN called Vampire Idol, and fallen in love with the cast and the story, especially the Lee Soohyuk / Kang Minkyung pairing. Unfortunately, it seems that they're forcing the sitcom to an early end at 79 episodes, rather than the initial 120, which is, in the words of Kwang-Prince, HORRIBLE, TERRIBLE!
Anyway, I liked Episode 60, except for the ending, which cleverly wrenched my heart (damn you, writers) and felt the need to alter the ending just to make myself happy. I also wrote this in an attempt to practice writing in the past tense rather than present tense. It wasn't easy! I sincerely doubt anyone will find this, unless there are other Vampire Idol fans out there who like fic too :)
It was still winter, and the wind was bitingly cold against her face as she rubbed her sponge against the windscreen of the car. So much for having a relaxed birthday, Minkyung thought despondently. Then again, there was no reason why she should expect any better, considering she’d only had one day off in the past three years of working part-time job after part-time job.
Her phone rang, and she opened it to reveal her grandmother’s number. Readying her voice into one of cheer, she answered it, glad that at least one person remembered her birthday.
“Of course I’m celebrating my birthday, Grandma.” She lied immediately.
“Do you have friends to celebrate with?”
The kind concern in her grandmother’s voice nearly made her cry. “Yeah, I have lots of friends, don’t worry.”
Soohyuk paused in his steps as his keen ears (though nowhere as attuned as Woobin’s) picked up the conversation. It felt a little like he was always bumping into her when he went out, but in this case it was to be expected, since she actually worked there.
So it was her birthday, Soohyuk mused. She hadn’t exactly told anyone, and with the fuss being made over Oh Woohee’s birthday, he doubted anyone would actually discover it. Except him, it seemed.
He watched as Minkyung’s pretty mouth trembled, clearly on the verge of tears as she pretended to be happy for her grandmother’s sake. Something about her expression elicited a strange sharp pang in his chest. It didn’t seem quite fair that she should be so sad on her birthday, in Soohyuk’s opinion.
--
It was turning out to be quite possibly the worst birthday ever, Minkyung reflected on the way back.
Not only did she nearly cause a car accident, lose her only warm hat, suffer Kwanghee’s wrath and get scolded by the boss, but no one even knew that it was her birthday today. She wasn’t so pathetic as to go and announce it to the rest at home in hope of getting some perfunctory well-wishes.
Kang Minkyung, stop feeling so sorry for yourself! She told herself sternly. Keep working hard, and focus on earning money for Grandpa and Grandma. You can enjoy all the birthdays you want after you’ve become successful!
--
Soohyuk went to the convenience store on the way home, noticing a sign for the cakes they sold. According to what Shin Dongyup had told them, humans celebrated birthdays by putting lit candles on a cake and blowing them out. It seemed rather silly to him - after all, one would require a pretty large cake to hold enough candles for any of the vampires’ birthdays - but it was an integral part of their culture, as Jonghyun had lectured.
He looked at his earnings in the moneybag he carried on him and glanced back at the discounted price on the signboard. Considering that the Prince had already earned enough to buy Woohee suitable gifts, he figured that his Prince wouldn’t begrudge him a small amount to spend on Minkyung’s birthday. And it would make her happy, he rationalized.
He pushed the door open and went into the store.
--
Soohyuk returned to see that Woohee’s surprise party was in full swing, and the birthday girl was actually in a pleasant mood as she spoke to the Prince, who was grinning from ear to ear at the attention.
Soohyuk allowed himself a small smile at his Prince’s happiness, because if Woohee had dared to snub the Prince’s efforts for her birthday, after what he’d suffered in the process of earning money, the vampire bodyguard would have happily bitten her neck off.
But before he could approach Minkyung, she left the room and went upstairs. “Minkyung must be tired from her work today.” Shin Dongyup commented.
“It’s all because Kwanghee-oppa makes too many demands of her!” Minah complained, folding her arms in indignation.
“It’s not his fault he’s so popular and needs her to be a good manager!” Sooyeon retorted in the absent celebrity’s defense.
“Oppa, aren’t you going to back me up?” Minah demanded of Jonghyun, who looked a little startled to be pulled into this quarrel.
“No.” The unequivocal response had Minah pouting and tugging on his arm.
“Oh - Woobin’s friend Soohyukkie!” Yubi noticed him standing behind them awkwardly.
He gave a polite half-smile. “Happy Birthday.” He directed to Woohee, who smiled back and nodded.
Prince stared in confusion at his faithful bodyguard walking away from the party. “Mukka- I mean, Soohyuk-ah, where are you going?”
Soohyuk blinked. “I’m going to our room to change my shoes.” He invented, mentally apologizing for lying to his Prince, who merely nodded and turned back to his conversation with Woohee.
--
He didn’t need to see her to know where she was - his sharp sense of smell detected her unique scent from the roof, and he brought the cake up with him. He emerged to see her looking out over the balcony, exhaustion apparent in the slump of her shoulders.
He took the cake out of the cardboard box and lit the candle. Minkyung turned around at the sound, her eyes widening in surprise. “Lee Soohyuk-ssi.”
The tall vampire looked up to see her confused face, with something akin to hope flickering in her eyes. “Happy Birthday.” He said stiffly, holding the cake carefully as he moved towards her.
Minkyung gasped. “How- how did you know it’s my birthday?”
Soohyuk shrugged awkwardly. “I heard you mention it on the phone.” He shifted his weight from one foot to the other, wishing that she would just hurry up and blow out the candle, instead of staring at him like he was some sort of angel or whatever mystical being these humans believed existed outside of their planet.
“I don’t know what to say.” She stuttered, one hand coming up to cover her mouth.
Soohyuk looked at her suspiciously and frowned. “Are you crying?”
Minkyung sniffed and swiped a hand over her eyes hastily. “No, no, I’m not! I’m just…really happy.” And she was, because who would have thought that the handsome young man she was currently crushing on would be celebrating her birthday for her?
Then Soohyuk remembered that there was supposed to be a song. He wasn’t sure if it was the one that Jonghyun and Woobin had been practicing. He grimaced at his ignorance, and she looked at him curiously. “I’m not familiar with the song.”
“The song?” Minkyung’s brows creased for a moment, before she understood what he meant. “Ah, you mean the birthday song. I’ll teach it to you.” Her eyes crinkled as she sang the birthday song to herself, and Soohyuk found himself oddly entranced by her lovely voice.
She closed her eyes to make a wish, and finally leaned forward to blow out the candle, to Soohyuk’s relief. “Thank you so much!” She beamed, and he balanced the cake on the balcony to prepare to cut it.
No sooner had he cut a slice for her when the rest of the cake wobbled and tipped over the balcony. Minkyung cried out in alarm and flung herself over in an attempt to save it. In that split second she realized what a stupid thing that was to do, because she was losing her balance and about to meet the same fate as her birthday cake.
Soohyuk’s eyes widened and with quick reflexes he grabbed her by the waist and yanked her back to safety, almost crushed against his body. Minkyung could hear his racing heartbeat with her head pressed up against his chest, her own going at triple time.
“Are you okay?” He bent down slightly to meet her shocked gaze.
She nodded wordlessly, swallowing a few times before she seemed to regain use of her tongue. “Yeah.” It was kind of hard to think with his perfect features so close to her face and his arm wrapped tightly around her. “Thank you.” She whispered.
Soohyuk let go of her with a strange feeling of reluctance, and Minkyung sighed as she averted her eyes from his. Then an involuntary laugh bubbled out of her. Soohyuk raised a brow. “What is it?”
“I dropped my cake on you.” He looked at the other arm she was pointing to, his hand and jacket sleeve smeared with cream and sponge cake. He was stunned when she swiped some of the cake off his hand and put it into her mouth. “It tastes good.” She offered tentatively, and then grabbed his wrist and pulled him towards the door. “We need to get you cleaned up!”
So the night ended with the two of them cleaning up the smashed cake on the road below, and even as she was scrubbing away with hands chapped from the cold and hard work, Minkyung thought that this was definitely one of the best birthdays she’d ever had.
**
A/N: maybe I'll write more drabbles on Vampire Idol in the future.
DAMN YOU MBN FOR CUTTING SHORT THE FIRST KOREAN SHOW I'VE LOVED SO MUCH I WATCHED IT EVEN WITHOUT SUBTITLES.
Pairing: Soohyuk/Minkyung, ninja others
Genre: slight angst, romance
Rating: PG
Summary: No one knows it's Minkyung's birthday, except a certain vampire bodyguard.
So I've been watching this cable sitcom on MBN called Vampire Idol, and fallen in love with the cast and the story, especially the Lee Soohyuk / Kang Minkyung pairing. Unfortunately, it seems that they're forcing the sitcom to an early end at 79 episodes, rather than the initial 120, which is, in the words of Kwang-Prince, HORRIBLE, TERRIBLE!
Anyway, I liked Episode 60, except for the ending, which cleverly wrenched my heart (damn you, writers) and felt the need to alter the ending just to make myself happy. I also wrote this in an attempt to practice writing in the past tense rather than present tense. It wasn't easy! I sincerely doubt anyone will find this, unless there are other Vampire Idol fans out there who like fic too :)
It was still winter, and the wind was bitingly cold against her face as she rubbed her sponge against the windscreen of the car. So much for having a relaxed birthday, Minkyung thought despondently. Then again, there was no reason why she should expect any better, considering she’d only had one day off in the past three years of working part-time job after part-time job.
Her phone rang, and she opened it to reveal her grandmother’s number. Readying her voice into one of cheer, she answered it, glad that at least one person remembered her birthday.
“Of course I’m celebrating my birthday, Grandma.” She lied immediately.
“Do you have friends to celebrate with?”
The kind concern in her grandmother’s voice nearly made her cry. “Yeah, I have lots of friends, don’t worry.”
Soohyuk paused in his steps as his keen ears (though nowhere as attuned as Woobin’s) picked up the conversation. It felt a little like he was always bumping into her when he went out, but in this case it was to be expected, since she actually worked there.
So it was her birthday, Soohyuk mused. She hadn’t exactly told anyone, and with the fuss being made over Oh Woohee’s birthday, he doubted anyone would actually discover it. Except him, it seemed.
He watched as Minkyung’s pretty mouth trembled, clearly on the verge of tears as she pretended to be happy for her grandmother’s sake. Something about her expression elicited a strange sharp pang in his chest. It didn’t seem quite fair that she should be so sad on her birthday, in Soohyuk’s opinion.
--
It was turning out to be quite possibly the worst birthday ever, Minkyung reflected on the way back.
Not only did she nearly cause a car accident, lose her only warm hat, suffer Kwanghee’s wrath and get scolded by the boss, but no one even knew that it was her birthday today. She wasn’t so pathetic as to go and announce it to the rest at home in hope of getting some perfunctory well-wishes.
Kang Minkyung, stop feeling so sorry for yourself! She told herself sternly. Keep working hard, and focus on earning money for Grandpa and Grandma. You can enjoy all the birthdays you want after you’ve become successful!
--
Soohyuk went to the convenience store on the way home, noticing a sign for the cakes they sold. According to what Shin Dongyup had told them, humans celebrated birthdays by putting lit candles on a cake and blowing them out. It seemed rather silly to him - after all, one would require a pretty large cake to hold enough candles for any of the vampires’ birthdays - but it was an integral part of their culture, as Jonghyun had lectured.
He looked at his earnings in the moneybag he carried on him and glanced back at the discounted price on the signboard. Considering that the Prince had already earned enough to buy Woohee suitable gifts, he figured that his Prince wouldn’t begrudge him a small amount to spend on Minkyung’s birthday. And it would make her happy, he rationalized.
He pushed the door open and went into the store.
--
Soohyuk returned to see that Woohee’s surprise party was in full swing, and the birthday girl was actually in a pleasant mood as she spoke to the Prince, who was grinning from ear to ear at the attention.
Soohyuk allowed himself a small smile at his Prince’s happiness, because if Woohee had dared to snub the Prince’s efforts for her birthday, after what he’d suffered in the process of earning money, the vampire bodyguard would have happily bitten her neck off.
But before he could approach Minkyung, she left the room and went upstairs. “Minkyung must be tired from her work today.” Shin Dongyup commented.
“It’s all because Kwanghee-oppa makes too many demands of her!” Minah complained, folding her arms in indignation.
“It’s not his fault he’s so popular and needs her to be a good manager!” Sooyeon retorted in the absent celebrity’s defense.
“Oppa, aren’t you going to back me up?” Minah demanded of Jonghyun, who looked a little startled to be pulled into this quarrel.
“No.” The unequivocal response had Minah pouting and tugging on his arm.
“Oh - Woobin’s friend Soohyukkie!” Yubi noticed him standing behind them awkwardly.
He gave a polite half-smile. “Happy Birthday.” He directed to Woohee, who smiled back and nodded.
Prince stared in confusion at his faithful bodyguard walking away from the party. “Mukka- I mean, Soohyuk-ah, where are you going?”
Soohyuk blinked. “I’m going to our room to change my shoes.” He invented, mentally apologizing for lying to his Prince, who merely nodded and turned back to his conversation with Woohee.
--
He didn’t need to see her to know where she was - his sharp sense of smell detected her unique scent from the roof, and he brought the cake up with him. He emerged to see her looking out over the balcony, exhaustion apparent in the slump of her shoulders.
He took the cake out of the cardboard box and lit the candle. Minkyung turned around at the sound, her eyes widening in surprise. “Lee Soohyuk-ssi.”
The tall vampire looked up to see her confused face, with something akin to hope flickering in her eyes. “Happy Birthday.” He said stiffly, holding the cake carefully as he moved towards her.
Minkyung gasped. “How- how did you know it’s my birthday?”
Soohyuk shrugged awkwardly. “I heard you mention it on the phone.” He shifted his weight from one foot to the other, wishing that she would just hurry up and blow out the candle, instead of staring at him like he was some sort of angel or whatever mystical being these humans believed existed outside of their planet.
“I don’t know what to say.” She stuttered, one hand coming up to cover her mouth.
Soohyuk looked at her suspiciously and frowned. “Are you crying?”
Minkyung sniffed and swiped a hand over her eyes hastily. “No, no, I’m not! I’m just…really happy.” And she was, because who would have thought that the handsome young man she was currently crushing on would be celebrating her birthday for her?
Then Soohyuk remembered that there was supposed to be a song. He wasn’t sure if it was the one that Jonghyun and Woobin had been practicing. He grimaced at his ignorance, and she looked at him curiously. “I’m not familiar with the song.”
“The song?” Minkyung’s brows creased for a moment, before she understood what he meant. “Ah, you mean the birthday song. I’ll teach it to you.” Her eyes crinkled as she sang the birthday song to herself, and Soohyuk found himself oddly entranced by her lovely voice.
She closed her eyes to make a wish, and finally leaned forward to blow out the candle, to Soohyuk’s relief. “Thank you so much!” She beamed, and he balanced the cake on the balcony to prepare to cut it.
No sooner had he cut a slice for her when the rest of the cake wobbled and tipped over the balcony. Minkyung cried out in alarm and flung herself over in an attempt to save it. In that split second she realized what a stupid thing that was to do, because she was losing her balance and about to meet the same fate as her birthday cake.
Soohyuk’s eyes widened and with quick reflexes he grabbed her by the waist and yanked her back to safety, almost crushed against his body. Minkyung could hear his racing heartbeat with her head pressed up against his chest, her own going at triple time.
“Are you okay?” He bent down slightly to meet her shocked gaze.
She nodded wordlessly, swallowing a few times before she seemed to regain use of her tongue. “Yeah.” It was kind of hard to think with his perfect features so close to her face and his arm wrapped tightly around her. “Thank you.” She whispered.
Soohyuk let go of her with a strange feeling of reluctance, and Minkyung sighed as she averted her eyes from his. Then an involuntary laugh bubbled out of her. Soohyuk raised a brow. “What is it?”
“I dropped my cake on you.” He looked at the other arm she was pointing to, his hand and jacket sleeve smeared with cream and sponge cake. He was stunned when she swiped some of the cake off his hand and put it into her mouth. “It tastes good.” She offered tentatively, and then grabbed his wrist and pulled him towards the door. “We need to get you cleaned up!”
So the night ended with the two of them cleaning up the smashed cake on the road below, and even as she was scrubbing away with hands chapped from the cold and hard work, Minkyung thought that this was definitely one of the best birthdays she’d ever had.
**
A/N: maybe I'll write more drabbles on Vampire Idol in the future.
DAMN YOU MBN FOR CUTTING SHORT THE FIRST KOREAN SHOW I'VE LOVED SO MUCH I WATCHED IT EVEN WITHOUT SUBTITLES.