Page 60 of The Awakening

“Meoooow.”

“I know, right? Bloody shame.”

His kitchen is lovely. Sleek stainless-steel appliances, porcelain backsplash with a blue-and-white paisley pattern and dark granite countertops. I open the refrigerator, and there’s literally nothing there but two bright green bunches of spring onions, a pack of beer and some bottled water. “What theactualfuck?” I grab a bunch of the onions and stand straight.

“Meooow.”

* * *

Two hours later,it’s seven thirty and I can tell Junichi is home because Lulú goes padding down the hardwood hall and toward the front door, meowing excitedly. She’s kept me company this entire time, jamming out with me as I cook and we listen to an Aventura and Romeo Santos streaming station. I’m just finishing up as Junichi slowly walks around the corner.

I grin in his direction. “Hiya.”

I am not, but he’s looking at me like I’m wearing a clown costume and clowns make him very nervous. “What’s… going on?” he asks.

“I made dinner.” I lift the hot pot from the hob using both handles, gripping them with two dishcloths that I found. I walk over to the kitchen table, where I’ve already set up the other side dishes. I look over my shoulder at him. “Hope you don’t mind.”

“No… I don’t.” He’s slowly walking forward, still confused. “You cook?”

“I do.”

“And like bachata?”

“More and more,” I say honestly. “After you told me about the music you listened to with your mum, I looked up the names you mentioned on YouTube. I’m kind of stuck with Aventura and slowly branching out—Romeo Santos, Toby Love. I do like that younger bloke that’s popular now… Shit, what’s his name? Ah—Prince Royce? Anyway, I just turned the entertainment system on and you already had it on this channel. I don’t know how to change your channels, so I left it.”

He’s still looking at me as if I’m in a clown costume but he’s getting accustomed to me. I’m a friendly clown that won’t hurt him. “What?” I ask. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Because you’re unbelievable. Like a sponge.”

“I’m a doctor. It’s what I do. Apparently, though, I need to start saying that I’m a ‘vampire doctor.’ I have no clue what that means yet.”

He walks toward the table and stands beside me, examining the spread. “This is incredible. You made it all from scratch?”

I nod. “It’s not hard. I just need to be motivated. I didn’t make the kimchi though. I bought that from the shop.”

He blinks at me. “You canmakeyour own kimchi?”

I shrug. “If I have the time and the resources, sure. We’re having kongnamul muchim, sigeumchi namul…Wait. Do you speak Korean?”

He shakes his head, staring at me like he’s mesmerized. “Nope.”

I don’t know why, but I’m surprised by this. I’ve heard that most ranked vampires speak multiple languages, and with Korea being so close to Japan… “What languages do you speak?”

“English, Japanese, Spanish and French,” Junichi says. “I can understand Cantonese, but I still screw up the intonations when I try to speak it. Do you speak other languages besides English, Japanese and Korean?”

“Nope, that’s all. I can bumble about in basic German. I took it in school.”

“I think three is pretty damn impressive, considering you were raised as a human.”

Raised human. So weird. I shrug. “Bilingual household. And Japanese was self-taught after getting my doctorate.”

“What made you move here? Why Japan? Any major city in Italy would have been closer and has a booming vampire population as well. Los Angeles in America, too.”

I sit down at the table and Junichi sits beside me. I point to the dishes as I explain. “This is seasoned spinach, beansprouts, stir-fried courgette, here’s steamed rice, and the big pot is galbitang—beef short-rib soup. And I guess I’ve always liked Japanese culture, even though the history between Korea and Japan is shitty.”

“The human history between Japan and just abouteverycountry in Asia is shit.” Jun leans over and lifts the top to the pot of soup. “This smells amazing. Can we eat?”

“Yes. Everything is ready. If there’s some left, it’s perfect for some brekky the next morning. You could have some before you leave for the shop.”