While we finished breakfast, I got a message from Viktor saying that the people who were coming to fix the door and bring us new sofas would be here soon.

“Is that the man from yesterday?” Ria asked while eating the last piece of pancake.

“Yeah, his name is Viktor.”

“So he’s also a vampire?”

“Yep, he’s the vampire who turned me into one, actually.”

“Oh…” Ria looked at her plate and that’s when I noticed she had a bit of blueberry jam on her cheek.

I softly laughed and used my thumb to wipe the jam off her cheek and licked it off my finger. “Hmm, tasty.”

“You could’ve just told me…” Ria blushed.

“I know.” I smiled. “As for Viktor, he’s pretty nice once you get to know him. He’s very sorry about what happened.”

“What is it like… being a vampire?”

“Having to drink… well, you know what… is pretty annoying at times, although I have started to enjoy the taste…”

“Really? I don’t know if I could ever get used to that.”

“I think becoming a vampire did help with the taste.” I laughed. “Maybe it’s a bit like how cats like the food that has the most nutritional value for them.”

Ria looked at Shima who was still eating from her bowl. “So Rora is a bit like Shima…”

“Perhaps a little. Not a catgirl though.” This made Ria giggle a bit before she looked back over to me.

“Have you ever drunk from a person?”

“Yeah… I actually wanted to talk to you about that…”

“Was it Emma?”

I nodded. “I told her… I had to tell her I was a vampire the day I turned… but I was too scared to tell you so...”

Ria-chan stopped me. “I understand, Rora. I would be scared too...”

“And… there’s this other thing too… Yesterday she actually confessed to me…” I might as well tell her everything, now that I was busy talking about it anyway.

Ria stayed quiet for a moment before she continued. “And how do you feel about that?”

I took a deep breath and let out a sigh. “I’m unsure.” And leant back in my chair. “Honestly, I love Em… but I love you too… and I feel like I should pick… but I can’t.”

“Who decided you should love only one person?” Ria stopped me in my tracks.

“W-what do you mean?”

“Rora, sometimes you are so clueless - you even have a manga about that in your closet.”

“Huh? About what?”

She sighed and ran to my room, coming back shortly after with a manga in her hands. “Here.” Ria handed it over to me and sat down next to me.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“What’s it about?” I started flipping through the pages.

Ria leant over my shoulder and stopped me at a page. “This girl, she’s in love with two people, but she can’t choose between one of them because it would tear her heart apart.”

“So she’s a bit like me?”

Ria nods. “But luckily in the end she manages to get into a loving relationship with both of them.”

“That’s possible?”

“Mhmm. It’s called a polyamorous relationship.”

“Wow.” I stared attentively at the pages.

“So if you want we could try that… if Emma wants to do that too of course…”

My mind was still blown by the sudden realization. “But… but wouldn’t that be unfair towards the two of you?”

She shook her head. “I don’t think it would be… after all I do care about Emma too, and I know she cares for me as well…”

“It sounds hard...”

Ria continued. “I’m not saying it is going to be easy, and it is going to require a lot of communication but… I think it might be worth trying.”

“Mhmm.” I put the manga aside for now. “We should ask what Em thinks when she gets here from school.”

Ria nodded and squeezed my hand. “We’ll make it work.”

I smiled at her and squeezed back without saying anything more.

-If there’s a way for me not to be faced with an impossible decision… It sounds too good to be true.-

“Rora, is it okay if I go take a shower?” Ria asked after we put our plates away.

“Of course, you know how it works, right?”

“I think so.”

“Okay, call me if you need anything.”

“Yes!” She hopped off to the bathroom.

Right when I heard the water of the shower start running, the doorbell rang. “Give me a second!” I called out while I moved the cupboard out of the way. “Sorry for the wait.”

When I opened the door I was met with two tall, muscular looking guys and a third smaller one. The small man took the lead. “Don’t worry about it. Mister Viktor sent us to fix your door.”

“And to handle your new furniture.” The big guys commented in unison.

“Great.” I looked past the men and saw two new sofas standing behind them along with a brand new front door, all still wrapped in plastic. “Come on in.”

“Thank you.” The two guys smiled and walked past me towards the living room while the smaller guy started working on the door.

“Do you want anything to drink?” I addressed all of them.

“That’s very kind of you. But this won’t take long.” The door guy had already managed to get the door off its hinges.

“Wow, that was fast.”

“We are professionals after all.”

I looked in my living room and the big guys had just finished covering up both sofas, probably to hide the blood from public view. They started lifting them up like they weighed nothing. Putting the new sofas in place took even less time.

“That’s that.” The small guy commented again and closed the door. “Here’s a new key and some spares.” He handed me over a set of five keys. “The new lock is quite an upgrade when it comes to pick resistance and general security.”

“Oh, thanks. Do I owe you any money?”

“It was already paid for by Mister Viktor.” The three of them gathered up in front of my door again and waved me goodbye. “Have a nice day.”

“You too.” And just like that, the group of men was gone again. They loaded up the sofas and my former door in their van and off they went, having completed their task in less than five minutes. “Wow.” It all left me quite dazed, but that daze soon disappeared when I saw my new sofas, after I locked the door and walked back into the living room. My previous sofas were nothing special but were comfy nonetheless, but from the look of these you could tell that they were extremely soft, comfy and probably not within my ‘without-a-big-ass-money-coffer-budget’.

“Sparing no expense, huh, Viktor…” I ran my hand over the sofa’s upholstery. “This is some fancy stuff… I do hope it’s a bit cat resistant though.” I looked over at Shima. Shima generally didn’t use furniture as a scratching post, but cats did throw up hairballs once in a while. And it would be a shame to have to throw them away after a small cat accident.

“Wow! New sofas!” Ria walked back into the living room about ten minutes later and hopped into the sofa that I was testing out. “And the door is fixed too!” She crawled up against me, giving me a good whiff of my hair conditioner and shampoo.

“Mhmm. Do you like them?”

“Yeah! They are so soft and a bit bigger, so it’s easier to cuddle! There’s even more space left for Shima too!”

Shima came peeking around the corner of the sofa when she heard her name and quickly jumped on the sofa as well.

“Comfyyyyy.” Ria purred… oh wait, that’s a different story... Ria said while Shima started purring against her belly.

“Want to watch a movie?”

“Yess.”

I handed Ria the remote as she browsed through the available movies, she settled on an old anime movie in the end. In the meantime I’d thrown a blanket over the two of us that I had placed on the sofa beforehand, with Shima nestled underneath against Ria’s chest.