“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 can make your 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 about every country 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.”

He pauses and looks at me. “What the hell is ‘brekky’?”

I laugh. “Breakfast. The soup works as a breakfast meal as well. With rice. Very filling and comforting with this colder weather settling in.”

We both take a moment to fill our respective bowls and small plates, and once we’re comfortably digging in, Jun breaks the silence. “Your father taught you how to do this?”

“Yup.”

“Does he know you’re here? In Japan?”

“He does. I don’t know if it’s because I’m closer, but he’s been calling me a little more lately. Like, once a week. Usually it’s once a month. Always asking about my health.”

“That’s nice,” Jun says, taking a spoonful of rice and dipping it into the galbitang broth. Perfectly done. “Maybe he’ll want to see you?”

I sigh. “I don’t know. He told me his mother is ill recently, and that he has to do a lot to help her. I don’t think he’d have the time to meet up with me.”

“Did you tell him you’re a vampire?”

I scoff, shaking my head. “God no. He doesn’t even know that I’m bisexual.”

“You’re not bisexual, Jae. You just love. We don’t think of ourselves in those strict terms. Your sexuality exists on a broad spectrum that you’re free to explore.”

“Tosh. That works fine for you, but it took me my entire youth to accept that label. Don’t try and take it away from me now. It’s mine.”

Junichi chuckles at this. “Have it your way.”

“I will.” I lift my chin, smirking.

If I truly had things my way, we’d make love tonight after we finished dinner. Since that can’t happen (apparently), I have another idea. It isn’t until we’ve talked more, finished dinner and cleaned up the kitchen that I express it.

The music has been playing low this entire time. Junichi is wiping up the counter when I’m standing in the open living room space. The moon is full tonight, so even though it’s dark, the sky shines in a deep, warm blue, with moonlight spilling through the glass walls at the back of the house. I turn to look at him, smiling. “Dance with me?”

He freezes in his wiping motion and looks up at me. I’m a clown giving him anxiety again. “What?”

“You heard me. Show me how. I know the basic step because of YouTube.”

He falls back into the counter and covers his face with his palm. “Dios mío…”

“I’m not awful, I swear.” I grin, realizing I’m this pasty half-English bloke and how I must look to him right now. “I can move my hips fairly well.”

Junichi lowers his hand from his face, his black eyes shining and one eyebrow raised. “Oh, I am fully aware of how well you move your hips.”

“Cheeky sod…” I turn my nose up, smiling. “Alright then, come on. Chop chop.”

When he actually stands straight and swaggers around the kitchen counter and toward me, my heart jumps up into my throat. I’m excited. I’m probably coming into this overconfidently, but I really think I can do it because of all the videos I watched. Just like when you sit on the sofa eating crisps, watching Olympian-level gymnasts miss their landing, and think, “Jesus, what’ve you been training for all these years? I might as well get out there.”

He’s standing in front of me and lifts his left arm. Instinctively, I clasp his hand with my right as he places his right hand at my waist. I put my free hand on his shoulder, and I can’t stop grinning. “See?”

“We haven’t even started moving.”

“I got this.”

“What’s the step, Jae?”

“Bachata? Side-together-side tap.”

“That simple?”

“Yup.” I nod. The song playing now is slower, as luck would have it. I set my shoulders back. “I’m ready.”

“Let’s just make sure you can stay on beat first. Don’t worry about your hips, alright?”