15. Odel's Turmoil

Adrian, a senior who is so smart and friendly, helped a lot with Odel's group project today. Even though her three fiancés, who always caused trouble, kept following her, Adrian didn't seem to care about their presence. At the end of the day, he even gave her his phone number so she could reach out if she needed help.

"Help?"

The word lingered in Odel's mind all day. She felt that Adrian was indirectly offering to help her deal with her three vampire fiancés.

"Does he know?" Odel muttered in her room.

Back at the apartment, Odel went straight to her room. She didn't even talk to her three fiancés and was more engrossed in fiddling with her phone.

"Luckily, Baron provided me with a phone, but could he be tapping it? Doesn't Baron know everything?" Odel murmured, feeling hesitant to save Adrian's number.

Instead of saving Adrian's number to her phone memory, she opted to tuck the piece of paper at the bottom of a pile of books.

"Safe!"

Odel lay down again, staring at the ceiling of her room while contemplating a clever way to escape from the vampires. But before she could think, someone knocked on her door.

"Odel, my love! I need your help!" called Daffin.

"Yes, dear Odel! Come out. Why are you in your room? It's not even bedtime yet!" Emilio chimed in.

"Leave me alone!" Odel replied from inside the room.

Silence! The two vampire men stopped making noise outside her room, but not long after, Clayton called her name loudly.

"Odel! Daffin and Emilio are messing around in the kitchen! I think they're about to blow up the house!" Clayton reported.

Panicking, Odel jumped out of bed. She quickly opened the door, only to be hit by the smell of burning and thick smoke billowing from the direction of the kitchen.

"What's going on?!" she shouted, half-running toward the kitchen.

The scene she found left her speechless. Emilio and Daffin stood near the stove, each wearing pot lids on their heads like battle helmets, dodging tiny oil explosions from a large pan in front of them.

"Don't panic, Odel! We're cooking something special for you!" Emilio declared loudly, trying to compete with the crackling sound of boiling oil.

"Cooking? Are you making chemical weapons?!" Odel yelled, covering her nose and mouth with her arms to block the acrid burnt smell.

Daffin turned to her, his eyes full of confidence even though he looked ridiculous with the pot lid on his head. "No, this is a special surprise for you, my beloved fiancée!" he said, stirring something in the pan that looked more like a magical potion than food.

Clayton stood near the kitchen door, watching the scene with his signature deadpan expression. "I warned them, but they wouldn't listen," he said before his body suddenly turned into black smoke and disappeared.

"Clayton! Hey, you can't just leave me with this mess!" Odel yelled in frustration, but of course, Clayton didn't respond.

Reluctantly, Odel stepped closer to the kitchen, turned off the stove, and opened all the windows to let in fresh air.

"Oops, it seems you're overreacting!" Emilio replied.

"We just wanted to prove that we could cook too."

"You call this cooking? Don't ever try this again!" Odel snapped, trying to figure out what was going on.

"What exactly are you cooking?" she asked, trying to hold back her nausea at the sight of the messy ingredients scattered across the kitchen counter.

"We're making a signature vampire family dish, but with a modern twist just for you, our favorite human!" Daffin proudly announced.

"A modern twist? What do you mean?" asked Odel.

"Look at this!" Emilio lifted a plate containing something that looked like pudding with a purplish-green hue, uneven texture, and an indescribable smell.

"What is this?" Odel asked in horror.

"We call it 'Tropical Blood Pudding'! We mixed synthetic blood with coconut milk, dragon fruit, and a bit of chili to give it a unique spicy kick," Emilio explained with a broad smile.

"And this," added Daffin, showing another plate containing small balls that looked like meat but were bright red, "is 'Lava Meatballs'! We used hot blood sauce as the filling, so when you bite into it, the sauce will explode in your mouth!"

Odel could only stare at them with her mouth agape. "You seriously want me to eat this?" she asked in a hoarse voice.

"Of course! We want to show how much we care about you by making this special dish!" Daffin answered enthusiastically.

"And I'm sure you'll love it," Emilio added. "We worked really hard to make it special."

"You've dirtied my kitchen tools with blood, prepared it, and now you're trying to serve it to me! Are you insane? I'm human! Humans don't eat blood!"

"Just try a little; you might like it," Daffin coaxed.

"Noooo!" Odel shouted furiously.

"I may be your fiancée, and maybe I'll marry one of you! But don't ever expect me to become a vampire like you! Clean up all this mess—I want my kitchen spotless!" Odel said angrily.

The girl stormed into her room, grabbed her bag, and headed out.

"Where are you going?" Daffin asked.

"None of your business!"

"But…" Emilio tried to stop her.

"One more thing! I'll go home by myself, so don't you dare follow me!" Odel snapped furiously.

Daffin and Emilio looked dejected as Odel left, slamming the door behind her.

"She's mad. This is all your fault!" Daffin scolded Emilio.

"Hey, it was your idea!" Emilio protested.

Clayton suddenly appeared, sighing as he looked at his two rivals.

"Clean up this mess. I'll keep an eye on her from afar," Clayton said, before disappearing again. 

"Hey, why does he sound so annoying? While we're cleaning up, he's following Odel. That's unfair!" Emilio protested.

"Let him be. Odel doesn't like him either. Besides, she wants to be alone right now; being near her would only worsen her mood," Daffin replied calmly.

That night, in the chilly weather, Odel left the house without even bringing her jacket. She walked on foot, strolling along the pedestrian area and kept going. Her heart was in turmoil; she didn't want to marry a vampire, and she felt the ridiculous agreement involving her was incredibly unfair.

The girl stopped by the edge of a park, staring at the city tower that loomed tall, but tears fell down her cheeks.

"Oh no, she's crying!" Clayton murmured as he watched Odel from afar.