Chapter One

Night Out

Privacy.

The lack of it made it seem impossible for the famous kidnap victim, Kerry Nowicki, to seek any closure and progress in life. She soon found herself shrinking away from society, wanting to get away from all the questions, the reminders of what seemed so surreal to her now. She was constantly surrounded by the swarm of heartless media, who were relentless in trying to expose her story. But all their efforts were in vain. No one would know the truth behind what really happened between Michel and Kerry. They would only know the story of Ethan Bryne, the normal college student who met a tragic end. Kerry was used to reciting her false accountings countless times, and for a while, they seemed to help her forget or at least preoccupied her thoughts. At times, she even believed her own lies.

Long after the incident, Kerry's stories stayed consistent while her memories went into turmoil. She spent long nights second guessing what really happened, if it even happened. Michel's face started to fade away and she tried so desperately to hold onto his image.

Eventually the Kerry/Ethan story died down, people started to forget, and soon it became old news. After two years, it was as if the whole ordeal never happened. Even so, Kerry spent that period of her life staring at the blank walls of her room. The solitude became maddening. With nothing to preoccupy her, Kerry found herself yearning for the attention she once despised. Most importantly she wanted……no, needed anything that would fill the hollow cavity she felt devouring her.

This downward progression continued for months until she finally had enough. After two years it was time to put her past behind her, locked it away into her unconsciousness and make room for a brighter future.

She chose this path after all…it was her own doing with no one else to blame….she chose life over eternal darkness.


"Dad, I gotta go alright? I love you too…mmhmm…bye." With a sigh she dropped her cellphone into a small clutch. She didn't even acknowledge the mocking laughter of her friends next to her. At this point, she was used to their immaturity.

Kerry hugged herself in an attempt to fight the cold wind. Her small hands rubbed against her bare arms in an attempt to create friction. This ended in failure. She actually made herself colder in the process.

It was 11:00PM, Kerry, and her friends Tori, Alex, and Mei stood outside near the front of the newest and supposedly hottest club in the area. She could hear the muffled sounds and thuds of the loud bass from the music inside. Her adrenaline raced with excited, she had never been here before and from the reliable feedback, she knew she wouldn't be disappointed.

"Wherrreee yoooou going this time Keeeewwweeeey?!" Her friend, Tori, was making weird baby faces as she reached over Kerry's shoulder to try and pinch her cheeks.

"Don't talk to me like I'm 2 years old. I told him I was sleeping over Mei's house," She deftly dodged the pinch and smacked the offending limb out of the way. Tori rubbed her hand, with a smug grin.

"You better hope he doesn't call my parents." Mei warned. "If I get in trouble because of you, you're all dying tonight."

"Yeah…" Kerry said plainly. They all burst out laughing.

"I think my dad knows I'm lying but he trusts me enough to not bother confronting me about it. It's like, as long as I'm not in jail or pregnant, he's fine." Kerry's smile faded. It wasn't always this way with her dad. He used to be insanely strict with her before the accident two years ago. Kerry figured the reason he was so lenient was because he didn't want his daughter to fall back into the slump of depression. She could tell he was wary every time she left the house by the way he asked her questions. It was never a, "Where're you going Kerry? Chloe's house? Okay! Be careful!" it was more like a, "Are you SURE you're only going to Chloe's house? Nowhere else? If anything happens you call me at once okay? Promise me you will."

Kerry's dad also did not completely trust her friends Tori and Alex, although he was fine with Mei. Quite honestly, she didn't blame him. They were 99.9% of the reasons she found herself in questionable situations. However, she was thankful to them because they helped her get back on her feet during a dark time in her life, as well as introduce her to her love of clubbing.

That night Kerry was wearing a fitting, black dress with sleeves that fell off her shoulders. She liked it because it emphasized and exposed her natural curves, shoulders, and collarbone area. The dress had a small golden belt that wrapped elegantly around the upper waist, and the bottom was high enough to be deviously attractive by showing off her legs. Her feet were clad in black gladiator sandals with straps that wrapped up to below the knees. She kept her make-up simple and her hair was pulled messily up with several gold pins and clips. Altogether she looked bold while maintaining class. Her friends were wearing equally daring outfits appropriate for the event.

"Pfft! I don't think so. Your dad doesn't notice anything else in the world now that he has Joanne, especially the small details." This time her other friend Alex was talking.

"As if your daughter running off with a bunch of turd-brained friends at night…is a small detail." Kerry snorted.

"Suck it up Kerry!" Alex stuck her tongue out obnoxiously, only to give her a quick wink shortly afterward.

Kerry thought about her soon-to- be-step-mom and how her dad never stopped smiling ever since they started dating, "You know, I didn't really like her at first but now I'm glad she's around. She makes Ian and dad so happy, and with all the stuff she does around the house…I swear….she's like Wonder Woman."

"Ooooh….I think you're jealous." Tori giggled.

"Oh yeah….you know it," Kerry's voice dripped sarcasm, "Damn that woman taking all my slave privileges. I'm so jealous SHE gets to wash the dishes, make breakfast/lunch/dinner, and do Ian's every bidding." But in the back of her mind, Kerry secretly did miss being needed around the house.

She quickly shook the thought out of her.

Lots had changed over the years, Kerry had graduated high school and had been accepted into Boston University but decided to take a year break to raise a bit more money, fill out scholarship applications, and to catch up with friends for the wasted years she spent staring blankly at her ceiling.

It was a Saturday night and Tori called earlier that day to see if Kerry was up for clubbing in the city. Kerry eagerly accepted and called her father at work to tell him she'd be sleeping over Mei's house tonight. She overlooked the fact that she promised a week ago to see a new movie with the family. Luckily, her dad had forgotten as well. Of course Ian would remember but he would eventually forgive her.

Kerry could see the entrance as the line moved up. It would only be a few short minutes more until they would be at the doors. It looked as though her toes had the chance of being kept from freezing off.

At this point Tori and Alex were talking about stupid things of little importance while Kerry had occupied herself with bouncing lightly on her feet to try to keep warm. She really hated carrying around a coat to clubs or other places like this because she knew she'd never wear it once she was inside. But if she had known the wait was this damn long, maybe she would have sacrificed the burden just this once. It was freezing! She laughed when she spotted Mei holding an imaginary cigarette in her hand and blowing hot air from her mouth.

"You're so weird!" Kerry laughed.

Tori and Alex stopped talking for a second to stare at Kerry, both were obviously confused. Mei grinned widely over their shoulders from behind and then proceeded to make ridiculous faces at the back of Alex's head.

"What the hell are you laughing about?" Alex stared at her with a raised brow.

"Don't worry about it!" Kerry barely managed those words between her laughter. It resulted in more raised eyebrows, this time, including the random strangers in line around them.

By this time, the girls found themselves at the front of the line. Fumbling through their bags, each took out their IDs and proceeded to the entrance after being approved from the bouncer. Tori shot a flirtatious wink that actually caused a timid reaction from the titan of a bouncer.

"You're so fuckin creepy…"

"Shut up Kerry."

Heaven…okay maybe not. But if Heaven was a crazy techno/rave nightclub with neon laser lights, off-the-wall technology, and complex architectural design and interior. This could definitely qualify.

They followed a dark cave-like entrance that echoed the club music making it sound hollow. The hallway concentrated the sound waves so they could feel the physical beating of the bass throughout their bodies. She loved it. Other than a few blacklights and small neon lights, Kerry had to keep a hand on the side of the rough-textured walls as she made her way shortly to the main room. The ceiling was high and covered in professional light systems that shot out lasers and lights which matched the rhythm of the songs playing. There were high quality speakers installed everywhere along the wall. When the girls looked around, they could see that there were two…no….actually three floors!

Near each corner of the abstractly-shaped room there were narrow staircases that were outlined with tiny-bulb lights. The second floor wrapped along the sides of the entire building and overlooked the dance floor in the center. The dance floor itself was huge and had randomly placed platforms with bars and poles, that several girls were having more than fun dancing on. The third floor had an open box that the DJ was in and directly opposite of him, there was a small area. Kerry could barely see that there were people lounging in it. No visible stairs led to the third floor so she assumed there were most likely some exclusive stairways and rooms elsewhere in the club. 'VIP,' she snorted.

She still wasn't used to any club like this one before. Most of the other clubs she went to played mainstream hip-hop/pop or reggaeton. This was her first time in a rave club but she loved the music, it was something different and new. She jokingly wondered how many of the total population of the club were actually free of any drug abuse. It couldn't be many because the majority of the people she saw looked like their minds were far away from their bodies.

Kerry was eager to dance, but being too caught up in the actually physical features of the club, she wanted to explore more to satisfy her awed curiosity.

"Hey guys!" She had to shout with her hands cupped around her mouth. "Do you wanna check out upstairs? Cause' I'm about to go up there myself!"

Mei who was the closest to Kerry, nodded her head and headed towards the nearest stairs. Alex and Tori on the other hand didn't catch her words over the blaring music.

"What did you say?!" Alex shouted back.

"I said!" Shouting took so much breath, "Do you want to come upstairs?!" She pointed up in emphasis.

"Sur-" Alex whirled around to be dragged off by Tori who was following two fairly attractive guys to the dance floor."

"I guess not?! We'll meet you two up there later I guess!" She shouted with an idiotic grin before getting lost in the massive crowd. Kerry shrugged and turned to follow Mei, who was probably already upstairs by now.

And there she was, as expected, sitting in a small booth area against the wall with comfortable seats and a table. Kerry slide into the booth across from her and grabbed a menu that was sitting there. It was a drink menu.

"Want anything? I'll buy." Kerry offered lightly, "I know you don't really like dancing and I really appreciate you coming with me. Alex and Tori are fun but, sometimes, they're out of control."

Mei laughed genuinely amused, "Eh. It's alright. I need to get off my lazy ass once in a while anyways." She took a menu of her own, "But since you offered…if I'm right, this is gonna be a long night for me so I wanna be drunk before I remember how much I hate the club scene."

"Hey! Hey!" Kerry snatched the menu from her friend's hand, "You are NOT getting drunk tonight, you hear?! And you WILL dance with me or more preferably a guy!"

"So much for feeling sorry for me Kerry." Mei muttered under her breath. "But I guess it's my fault for willingly being dragged along with you whores…ouch!" She bitterly rubbed the red area on her hand where Kerry pinched her. "You know Kerry, I hope you get yourself into a situation where some creepy loser wants to dance and you can't get out of it later tonight."

"Aw, how sweet of you! I love you too!" Kerry put on the most innocent smile she could muster. Looking out of the booth, she silently took in her surroundings. Obviously, the second floor was a lounge and bar area. She tried to avoid staring rudely at the couples ardently showing their public affection for each other. How cute…it was disgusting. She could see across the center to the area that was underneath of the DJ box. That meant the VIP lounge was directly above her. When she peered closer to the activities of the other side, she saw that people were giving some kind of light shows with glow sticks to the booths over there.

She pointed to the other side, "Mei! Let's go over there, I wanna see what that stuff is." They both got up and walked closely along the center railings. They had a perfect view of their two other friends who were currently grinding against different partners.

Mei burst out laughing, "Oh my god, she's so nasty!" Kerry laughed too when she caught the inappropriate gestures Tori was flashing them over her partner's shoulder. She laughed even harder when Tori pointed to her side to reveal the dancing couple she was mocking. The girl wearing a tasteless provocative outfit and was making the biggest attempts to being a dirty dancer with her facial expressions and body actions against, what seemed like, her terrified partner.

Not thinking she could take any more of the ridiculous scene, Kerry and Mei sat in their new booth and decided to order fruity drinks. As they waited, a shirtless man tossing and spinning LED lights and neon glow sticks approached them. Kerry stared in awe at the blurred bright lights and felt stupid when she clapped like a little giddy child. When their drinks arrived the performer moved on to the next booth which left the two girls back to facing each other.

"They're staring at us." Mei said so quietly that Kerry wasn't even sure she had said anything at all.

"What?! Who?!" Kerry looked side to side trying to find the culprits.

"Can you be anymore obvious?!" Mei laughed. "Calm down, look at the third floor across from us. There's a group of guys. When you look, don't be so obvious too. Personally, I think some of them are cute especially the one that was looking at you."

"Huh?" Kerry turned her head slowly to try and peak a glance but found her view blocked by a man's chest. "What the…"

"Hey, I couldn't help notice you two ladies sitting alone here. But I was wondering if any of you two would like to dance?" He wasn't extremely attractive but had a very pleasant appearance to him.

"Yup." Mei stretched, "It's all you Kerry, I'll be here when you finish."

"Oh hell no," Kerry reached across the table and pulled Mei out of her seat with her. "She'd love to dance."

"What?!" Mei looked mortified, "Eff you! I refuse!" She crossed her arms defiantly.

The poor guy looked slightly embarrassed or uncomfortable, "If you don't want to dance, maybe you'll let me buy you a couple of drinks? Personally, I got dragged here by my friends and I don't wanna look like a dork sitting by myself while they're out, humping anything with legs." He sheepishly admitted.

And at that, Mei was taken in a heartbeat. "I'm yours for the rest of tonight." Without a back glance, Mei dragged his arm towards the bar area, he smiled and waved goodbye to Kerry.

Kerry decided to head downstairs to find Tori and Alex on the dance floor. Her eyes flatly gazed at the scene before her. Alex and Tori were on top of one of the platforms dancing like mad women as they held onto the center pole. Tori spotted Kerry and waved her to come forward. Letting out an exasperated sigh she struggled towards them.

Alex and Tori jumped down and met her midway. After clearing herself and mind of any forms of shyness, modestly, and care of her physical appearance, she closed her eyes. Kerry allowed her body and soul to get lost into the wave of beats and melody. Her body swayed in sync with the natural rhythm of the atmosphere. She didn't let the small space and close dancers ruin her flow. A smile teased her lips. She really loved dancing because every time she did, waves of confidence possessed her usually insecure personality. Tori ran off after accepting a dance from a male admirer and so it was just Kerry and Alex. Alex was laughing so loudly with her silly movements and looked up to wave at Mei and her temporary date. They had moved to the railing and were watching them with drinks in their hands.

It was disgustingly hot and humid on the floor and Kerry was smack in the middle of it. Her body twirled and, by pure coincidence, caught a glimpse of a group of guys from the third floor staring down at her with full attention. She slowed her movements down and tried to steal another glance almost stumbling when her eyes connected with ice blue for a split second.

Luckily, she was able to play off her tiny fumble with a roll of her hips but it didn't help her heart pounding at an alarming rate. Kerry's mind throbbed with small flashbacks. She shook her head in surprise when she realized she had stopped dancing. Looking up again, the guys were still there, one even winked at her, all but the one she was looking for. Maybe it was a hallucination and didn't really happen at all...probably that Cosmo. She couldn't hold her drinks well anyways.

From above, Mei sensed something wrong and immediately started heading towards the stairs.

Kerry didn't need this. Not now. Not ever. She wasn't going back to those dark times.

Kerry shook her head 'no' to Mei and gave a reassuring smile. She decided to go sit back down for a bit when she was stopped abruptly by a strong hand that grabbed her from behind.

Every muscle in her body tensed in reaction to the foreign touch. Aggravated by the nerve of whoever just grabbed her so rudely, Kerry whipped around to unleash her fury that turned into complete shock. Venom-laced profanity disappeared from her train of thought as she was left speechless at the man who stood before her. Her eyes focused completely on his face without wavering the slightest bit.

A deep chuckle brought her back to reality. Kerry blinked for the first time in what seemed like ages to her. She suddenly felt extremely embarrassed and rude for her open-mouthed staring. Her cheeks flooded pink. He probably thought her a fool. She tried to turn her face away so he wouldn't see her shame, but his thumb and finger caught her by the chin. In contrast to her thoughts, he refused to be denied a full view of her face.

Gasping at the bold gesture, Kerry tried and failed to pull away from the soft, yet, firm grasp. Defeated, she compromised with keeping her eyes lowered and away from his, he smirked. She felt so stupid and was so sure that he was offended by her excellent display of manners, more so the lack of it. But she couldn't help look, his face…his eyes….

"Dance with me?"

"I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to sta- what?" She mentally hit herself for messing up twice in a row but he laughed again, genuinely amused.

"Dance with me." The commanding tone in his voice made Kerry realize it wasn't a question anymore.

"Please." He added.

Well…at least he was polite about it. Still unsure of her ability to give decent responses, she nodded awkwardly. This time he grinned, obviously very pleased with her answer. He took her hand and led them into the mesh of dancers, not stopping until they were extremely close to the main platform/stage underneath the DJ's room. It was infested with colored lighting that beamed out into the room. Powered by electrical wires, the lights flickered and swarmed the room in sync with the beat of the music. Being so close to them, Kerry's pale skin reflected the colors that the lights flashed.

Blue. Yellow. Green. Purple. Orange. Red.

He finally stopped and turned around to face her once more. She winced. Immediately after, Kerry felt terribly guilty for her sudden knee-jerk reaction. She smiled apologetically at him. He flashed her a dazzling grin, obviously not phased at all.

"Like what you see?"

"I'm really sorry, I don't mean to… you know?" It was a lame excuse but she was being honest.

"It's alright really," He turned her around and placed his hands on her hips from behind. Despite his offhanded dismissal to the situation, Kerry had a feeling that he was only doing this so she didn't have to face him. He was thinking of her even when she was the horrid one.

Regardless, he pulled her extremely close, reminding her that their position wasn't going to hinder anything else he had intended. Kerry blushed violently and even though he couldn't see her from behind, she was secretly thankful that the lights were seemingly stuck on the color red. Still, she almost felt the arrogant grin he wore in response to her shocked jump against his chest. Kerry had to admit, even though she had stared at his face the entire time, peripheral vision enabled her to note the fine structured body that she now had the privilege to have first-hand contact with.

"As much as I know I'll enjoy any sort of company you'll give me, I think maybe we should start dancing. Otherwise we can get off the dance floor and stand like 'this'…," He was referring to their close proximity, "…somewhere else."

She couldn't help laugh aloud. Literally shrugging, she began to sway as she did before. But this time she made sure to keep consistency in her motion so he could be in sync with her. He was a great partner. Kerry usually didn't like dancing with guys because they either, couldn't keep up and ended up bumping into her awkwardly, or they would be so basic that she found herself yawning.

He was different though. He even added his own renditions to change their flow with a smooth transition. Kerry didn't have to lead at all and even playfully challenged his ability to handle her with more bold movements. Sooner than she would've expected, she was grinning like an idiot, forgetting everything around her except the music and him.

The loud energetic music toned down temporarily to a surprisingly familiar song that had a very relaxing melody with a catchy beat. Along with the music, their playful interaction calmed a bit to allow smooth conversation.

"I'm Leon by the way."

"Kerry."

"It seems I've found my prey tonight."

He said it in barely a whisper meant to be unheard but she had caught it. Her entire body stiffened, and memories violently flooded back. Sensing her alarm, he turned her abruptly to face her to see what was wrong. She didn't wince this time. She stared in horror but everything made sense now.

She was foolish to have let her guard down over the past years. She should've noticed how too easily she felt inclined to him and the strong attraction to him. That would explain his unnatural glowing hazel eyes. But most importantly it explained how the painful gash that marred one side of his face, was suddenly gone and fully healed. As if nothing there existed.

"Surprised?"

"You're a vampire…" She was shocked at her ability to say it so bluntly, to say it at all even. He shook with mocking laughter.

"Is that why you froze up like a corpse?" His tone had a slight bitter undertone.

Kerry remained silent.

"That's all too funny," He gave her a half smile, this time sympathetic, "I feel like those blood-suckers are too popular these days. I'm starting to think we need to get us some of our own exposure. Get a share of the fame, you know?"

Kerry was confused. 'We. Us. Our own.' What did he mean? Was he actually going to try and say he wasn't a vampire? The signs and characteristics were too uncanny for him to attempt to lie to her. Kerry, after all, actually had intimate confrontation with one in the past.

He looked at her and then chuckled lightly, "I'm guessing you're no different from most then eh?"

She still kept silent but she acknowledged him with a shake of her head no.

"Obviously you believe in vampires." It was a statement but there was a hinted question behind its basic meaning.

She shook her head yes.

"What about Lycans?"

All thoughts in her head stopped immediately. There was no way...

"You know…werewolves?"

She didn't know how to respond. This suddenly became too much for her to comprehend, though she felt as though she never understood anything from the beginning.

"Forget it. I can see you aren't taking this too well so let's just make the best of a dying situation." He suggested hopefully.

"Okay." She gave a weak smile. His eyes widened, seriously taken aback by her calmness and agreement towards his compromise.

"Um…wow." He scratched his head in embarrassment, "I sound stupid right now but I really wasn't expecting that to go so well. Whatever though, I'm glad."

"So what made you decide to come down?" She asked. Kerry remembered seeing Leon as one of the guys looking down at her from the third floor. He was the one who winked at her. In her mind she was forcing herself to put aside her recent discovery. Now wasn't the time and place to ponder on such things, she would wait for later when she had a firm grasp of her own head. If there was a later that is.

"Oh. So you saw me?" He grinned, "Well, I was just scoping around the room for no apparent reason until your two friends caught my eye. Not to be a typical guy but, Jesus! They were torturing every man in this room with the way they worked that pole. But right when I thought I saw everything for the night, you showed up. The way you danced, it wasn't like anyone else. It was like you were in your own world and I'm sure you get this a lot, but you're drop dead gorgeous. I just had to get a taste of the action."

Wow.

"Uh….thank…you….," Was the best response she could muster. She was so confused. Tonight was only getting weirder and weirder.

"Just stating fact." He said. "There's something different about you Kerry, different from all the other girls, and I'm not just saying that either."

"Huh? What do you mean?" She questioned, still confused.

"Out of all the girls I've met in my life, I'm getting this intense vibe from you."

Kerry frowned. Great. Weird auras could be another term for body odor for all Kerry knew.

"Now don't be upset, I meant it in a good way." He added nervously, holding his hands up in peace.

"Leon, you seem like an awesome guy, and I know we decided on keeping things light. But I'm going to have to say that I'm really confused, and scared. I don't know which I am more." Kerry continued when he remained silent.

"Everything that happened tonight….I'm having trouble comprehending. It's not that I don't believe it, it's just…why me? But I feel like I should tell you." She said sheepishly. She turned away, but caught the apologetic look in his hazel eyes.

Well…it was now or never and it was bound to come out sooner or later. He probably knew what she was thinking anyways.

"Yeah, I didn't think we'd be able to put this behind us either." He shrugged.

Suddenly he tensed up, his eyes flickered dangerously. If Kerry wasn't mistaken, she could've sworn he did something not too far from a snarl…like a wolf would.

A werewolf.

"Are you alright?" Kerry asked carefully. He snapped out of his predator-like trance after being reminded of the girl before him.

"Damn...I hate to leave a girl, as beautiful as you, but know it's not my choice." He looked genuinely disappointed.

"What? Not your choice? What are you talking about? Are you leaving?" Kerry asked confused.

"Sorry babe, duty calls. I wish I had more time to beg you for another date though." He grinned like a child.

"You don't have to suck up, if you wanna leave me, just go then. Doesn't matter to me." She said uncaringly, although, deep-down, Kerry was disappointed Leon had to leave.

"It's nothing like that," Leon frowned, "Before I go, I want to know if you'd be interested in a real date sometime. Just say yes or no." He smirked at her shock. "Hey, just 'cause I said I didn't have time to beg doesn't mean I still can't ask you."

"Uh…" She stammered.

"If it's a yes, expect me at your door next Friday at 8PM." He paused for a second and then laughed, "But if it's a no, I'll still be there at 8PM but expect to leave at 9, I'm giving myself an hour to convince you to come out with me."

"Yes?" Kerry didn't even think about her answer, but a response was already out before she could take it back. He laughed at the uncertainty of her voice . But with the options he gave her, she had no choice in the matter.

"See ya Kare!" And he disappeared into the crowd, making his way towards a back hallway near the bathrooms and back exit.

"Kerry!" She looked towards the direction of the shout. It was a very drunk Mei who was holding onto Tori and Alex for support. Kerry pushed through out of the crowd and away from the stage she was next to.

"Oh my god you idiot. I told you not to get drunk!" She took Alex's place under Mei's arm.

"Kerry! Where were you?! We looked everywhere for you!" Tori exclaimed.

"My bad. I got lost." It was a weak excuse.

"Lost? It's a big-ass room with three open floors!" Alex gave her an outraged look which turned into a teasing giggle, "If by lost you mean grinding it up with a hottie, then fine. I approve."

"Mmmmmrrrrgghhhrrmmmm!" Mei's read was rolling side to side.

"Where's her date?" Kerry remembered the guy who shyly approached them earlier.

"He tried to stop her from drinking anymore and she ended up throwing up on his shirt. I'm pretty sure he's still trying to get the smell of vodka and whatever she had for dinner, out of his shirt in the bathroom." Alex hooted with laughter.

"That is so disgusting. Let's just go guys." They all nodded in agreement except for Mei who was nodding because she couldn't help it.

I revised a little. =D