Sweet Nights with A Vampire

Chapter 1: The One I Secretly Loved Has Returned

"Luna, why did you stop eating?"

Nathan Rivers curiously stared at Luna, who sat dazed across the table. "Don't tell me you're this elated just because the broadcaster praised you..."

Luna snapped back to reality, paused for three seconds, then frantically fumbled through her bag for her phone to open the campus website.

A set of photos on the homepage was particularly eye-catching, with views skyrocketing.

Under Nathan Rivers' bewildered gaze, she jumped up without a word and ran out of the cafeteria.

"It is him... it's Xavier Storm, he's... finally back..."

Luna sprinted toward the auditorium where the enrollment ceremony was about to begin, continuously scrolling through the photos on her phone.

Xavier Storm, still exactly as she remembered him.

There he was, composed at the starting line, spirited on the track, more proud than joyful as he crossed the finish line, and elegantly handling the swarm of admiring female fans.

This person... was the object of her secret affection.

After two years, he had finally appeared.

Two years ago.

Luna was still a childlike high school senior then. On her eighteenth birthday, after finishing dinner with family and friends, Xavier Storm called her out.

The night was sparsely populated. The moonlight was gentler than ever.

Under the moonlight, Xavier Storm appeared very quiet, waiting silently at the corner, gazing in Luna's direction. His eyes were dark, his lashes wing-like, his gaze as composed as always.

Luna's heart was beating wildly, the sound thunderous in the quiet night. She could only take deep breaths desperately, walking step by step toward Xavier Storm with a flushed face, not daring to look at him.

Xavier Storm frowned: "Why are you looking down?" Only then did Luna reluctantly raise her head, seeing the teasing glint in Xavier Storm's eyes. Instantly embarrassed and angry, she snatched the cake from his hands and turned to leave.

A soft laugh came from behind.

Luna froze. Xavier Storm... he was laughing. In her memory, he rarely smiled, always maintaining that cold, unapproachable demeanor.

Until yesterday, she and Xavier Storm had maintained a purely neighborly and classmate relationship.

The girls in class all thought highly of Xavier Storm.

Though he rarely paid them any attention, his exceptional athletic ability and extraordinary mathematical prowess made them overlook his cold personality, making him a crucial topic of their gossip. Yet this important figure remained oblivious, maintaining his indifference. In this school, girls most admired the cold, aloof type of boys, especially when Xavier Storm was also athletic.

Thus, a gossip topic emerged: which girl did Xavier Storm like?

The most voted candidate was the class beauty, Lily Li. After all, she was the math representative, always scoring nearly perfect marks right behind Xavier Storm, suggesting they had common interests. She was also pretty and seemed well-matched with Xavier Storm. These two reasons were enough to convince the girls, and besides, who dared to compete with the class beauty?

So Luna, the Literature class representative who was neither pretty nor good at math, slammed Xavier Storm's homework on his desk. Xavier Storm, who had been sleeping with his head down, looked up surprised: "What are you doing?"

Luna looked anywhere but at him: "Dad said your parents won't be home today, so you should come to our house for dinner." Xavier Storm lazily hummed in agreement, watching as Luna stormed off angrily. He then spoke to his deskmate for the first time that week: "What's wrong with her? Did something happen?" His deskmate stammered, looking at today's hot topic: "P-probably... because you were paired up with the class beauty... Luna's jealous... maybe..."

As neighbors from the same complex, Xavier Storm and Luna always walked home together. That day on their way home, Luna kept reading aloud from her book, seemingly deliberately avoiding conversation with Xavier Storm.

Xavier Storm suddenly stopped, taking away the book hiding her face. Before the girl could get angry, Xavier Storm grabbed her slender wrist, his gaze still calm but with a hint of tenderness: "I'm not interested in Lily Li."

Luna looked at Xavier Storm, flustered by his sudden explanation, her face instantly turning red.

Xavier Storm's lips curved into a smile, but his intense gaze made the girl unable to lift her head: "So..."

"It seems... you like me."

So because of this stupid, embarrassing, heart-pounding incident from the day before, Luna couldn't even lift her head on her birthday, forgot to take her gift, and rushed away after grabbing the cake.

How could she dare to look at him after being teased by the person she had secretly loved for so long...

She had the intention but lacked the courage.

That night, as Luna lay in bed, joy outweighed embarrassment, with a complex feeling in her heart that she couldn't express or describe.

Well, after all, it was both a secret crush and first love.

But the next day, he didn't come to school.

Luna went to his house to look for him, but no one answered.

A week later, his house was filled with funeral wreaths - his parents had died in an accident. As for what kind of accident it was, no one mentioned it.

Xavier Storm didn't appear during the Memorial Day.

For the two years since then, Xavier Storm had never appeared again.

Now, when Luna reached the auditorium, it was still chaotic. The freshmen were still waiting for the ceremony to begin.

She desperately stood on tiptoe, searching through the crowd, but couldn't even catch a glimpse of Xavier Storm.

A tall senior tapped her shoulder and smiled: "Luna, what's a sophomore doing here?" He was a junior she had met a few times before. Luna nodded in greeting: "Hello, Senior Ethan Sterling. I'm looking for someone."

Without waiting for Ethan Sterling's response, she smacked her forehead: "Senior, you're in the Mathematics department, right? The person I'm looking for is a freshman in your department. Xavier Storm." Ethan Sterling burst out laughing: "You're the eighth girl to ask me today, but I'm afraid you'll be disappointed. He's already left, seems he had something urgent to attend to."

Luna felt a little dejected, but three seconds later she lifted her head again: No matter! Now that we're at the same school, I'm bound to find him.

As Luna's figure slowly disappeared, Xavier Storm quietly entered through the side door, making his way through the playful crowd back to his seat.

Ethan Sterling thoughtfully looked at Xavier Storm, stroking his chin: "Seems like... this Luna is special."

Xavier Storm's gaze remained cold, yet lacked its usual firmness.

At noon, while registering for his library card with other freshmen, his hand unconsciously reached for the newspaper rack.

It was last Saturday's evening paper column. On the last page, in the author's section, there were three small but distinct characters.

Luna.

It appeared to be a fairy tale.

"Recently, the short-eared rabbit has been having strange dreams again, dreaming that her ears grew longer.

In the dream, the long-eared rabbit from before came back. He tugged at his long ears and said: 'We're the same now.' She had been crying about what happened to her ears, but hearing this, she immediately stopped.

She remembered how he used to always be alone, saying he didn't like being with a bunch of short-eared kids.

And she, for some reason, always stuck close to this long-eared rabbit.

They had been together since they were very young, and she had clung to him for many years.

Even though he was proud, she still wanted to stay close to him.

This was probably what love is. Love that couldn't be controlled.

Love without reason.

Of course, sometimes he would find her annoying, embarrassing, too stupid. But wasn't the long-eared one the oddity? Everyone else had short ears.

But what could she do about love? She couldn't hate him or leave him.

Later, the long-eared rabbit suddenly became very popular, because he was already exceptional. What took others a long time to do, he could complete instantly. Everyone said it must be because of his long ears.

The long-eared rabbit still didn't like socializing, but everyone grew to like him more and more.

He was no longer hers alone.

The troubled short-eared rabbit would sometimes think, he was truly outstanding, and someday in the future, she would surely lose him, never to find him again.

Then one day, the proud long-eared rabbit disappeared.

The short-eared one searched for a very long time but still couldn't find him.

Waking from her dream, she touched her short ears, feeling a bit lost.

If someday the long-eared one returns home, she would pounce on him fiercely and forcefully pull those long ears from his head.

And when that day comes, before she could even pounce, the long-eared one would probably mock her again: How are you still so round and chubby?

Now, the short-eared rabbit sits on her bed, seriously thinking about how to get back at him if he returns. But perhaps it will still be a long time before he comes back.

However, being able to remember him is perhaps the only fortunate thing in this long wait."

Xavier Storm closed his eyes.

How long he would need to keep running away, he wasn't sure.

Thunderous applause filled the auditorium as the enrollment ceremony began.