It’s Tuesday night. I’m sitting in front of my laptop, trying to send an email about the proposal to Junichi. According to Risa, he’s in Europe for the next two weeks. You’d think he would have mentioned that.
“I worry, alright?” Cyrus says. “You and your weird vampire obsession. Japan is rife with them. I’m terrified you’ll let one of them drain you and leave you in the gutter.”
“I’m not obsessed. I’m not some fanboy—”
“Right. You’re a professional fanboy. Doctor Fanboy.”
“Piss off, Cy. Is this why you called me? To start an argument?” I hate it when he does this—picks at me about vampires, even though he knows why I am the way I am.
“No,” he says, his voice finally softening. “I worry, alright? Pip does too. She just asked me when’s the last time I spoke with you, and I couldn’t remember. Don’t let more than a week go by, Jae. Please?”
I’m massaging my forehead with my fingers. Why can’t he just say that without all the other bullshit? “Fine. I’ll do better.” Cyrus and my dad are like the only family I have. Mum died when I was in secondary school. Dad stayed with me and saw me through my A-levels before he moved back to Korea. I went off to university in Oxford, and it didn’t make sense for him to stay in a cottage in Bristol alone. We agreed.
His family is not very fond of me, although I’ve never met them. I suppose, technically, they’re my family too. They hated my mum because Dad defied his mother when they got married and moved to England. Apparently, my grandmother was totally against all of it. Now that Mum is gone, the animosity from that situation has been transferred directly to me, it seems. I try not to think about it too much—that I have grandparents, an aunt and cousins I’ve never met. Maybe never will. Mum was raised in the foster system, so no reliable family history there.
We talk fairly often, me and Dad. He always wants to know how I’m feeling, like he’s genuinely concerned for my health. I’m not welcome in his family’s house. He apologizes to me for that. I haven’t seen him in person since I was twenty-one. That was when I finished undergrad and he flew back to England for the ceremony. He also paid off the cottage in Bristol and signed it over to me so that I would always have a place to go. It’s my home, but I have renters there now. It’s a quaint, neat little house that my mum picked out before her health went completely downhill.
The cottage makes me a bit sad though, so I don’t stay there.
“What are you doing?” Cyrus asks, finally calm.
“I’m working on a proposal, and I need to email the hospital director about something.”
“A proposal for…? See, I don’t even know what’s happening in your life anymore.”
I grin. “If you shut up, I’ll tell you. It’s a program to help same-sex vampire couples have kids.”
“Sorry I asked.”
“Tosser.”
“Have you been dating?” Cyrus asks. “I mean normies. Humans. Don’t tell me about your dodgy vampire banging.”
“I hate you.”
“You love me. Pip says hi.”
“Hello, Pippa.” I sigh. Pippa is Cyrus’s very blonde, blue-eyed, pixie-like fiancée. Growing up, Cy and I spent so much time together that his little sister used to joke that we were gay. I didn’t mind because… well, I was, wasn’t I? Sort of. I hadn’t quite figured myself out yet. But Cy hated it, and so did his parents. When Cy got engaged to Pippa before I left, his parents weren’t thrilled over her blonde-hair, blue-eyed-ness, but I suspect they were grateful about her female-ness.
I once told Cy that the two of them sound like a children’s book about a boy and his dog who solve mysteries. Cyrus and Pip: Something’s Fishy at the Beach or Cyrus and Pip at the Fair: Disappearing Clowns are no Joke. He didn’t think that was very funny.
“Can we catch up this weekend?” I ask. “I need to finish this email before I lose my train of thought.”
“Promise?” Cyrus says.
“I promise. Cheers.”
“Later.”
I hang up and exhale a deep breath. Cyrus has been stressing me the hell out ever since I moved to Japan. We’ve been around each other almost constantly since we were tweens. It’s like I’m trying to gently detach the umbilical cord and he is not having it. He was very against me moving here, saying I didn’t know anyone and it was too far away. He’s about to be married and start a new life. I honestly have no desire to be his and Pip’s third wheel.
I read over the email in front of me one more time.
To: takayamajunichi@giannagraciamedical.org
Subject: Proposal Questions
Hello, Junichi,
I hope you’re enjoying your trip. I have two more questions regarding the proposal details:
1. In addition to data on bloodlines and ranking, should we also collect biographical components? Such as interests and hobbies.
2. Can you give me a range as far as what it might cost to launch a new hospital program? How much have other programs cost in the past? I’d like to estimate a budget.
Cheers,
Jae Davies
Staring at my name, I wonder if I should put “M.D., PhD” behind it, or if I should sign it “Doctor Davies,” since that’s what he usually calls me.
I remove my last name and hit send. Sighing, I sit back. It’s obscenely late and I should probably try to sleep, but my body has been wired lately. I’m about to stand when my email notification pings. I look at the screen, and Junichi has already emailed me back.
From: Takayama Junichi
Subject: Re: Proposal Questions
Hello, Doctor Davies,
