*Knock,Knock*..." Come in." A deep voice sounded behind the wooden door. A tall boy with dark brown hair entered the dark, messy room and bowed to the man sitting in front of him. His expression was rather annoyed and the dark shadows under his eyes were displaying his lack of sleep. " Good morning, Father." " It's morning already? Well, time does flew by fast." He chuckled bitterly and looked up at his son. " Did you find anything about her?" " I did." The older man eyed him suspiciously but waited until the boy finished reporting. " We found her house in a Forest near a Town. But..." " But, what?" The boy sighed and continued. " The house was empty as we found it and the spell that it was under before, was broken. We searched the whole Forest and the Town but found nothing. But the people in the Town were under a spell and behaved rather strange... I think that she's back, Father." The man who was quite listening, was now obviously shocked about the turn of actions that happened. " Are you sure about it?" " Yes. The citizen had black eyes. Someone used black magic on them. And the only one that is capable of doing so is-" " I know. Don't say this name, please." The boy nodded in understanding. " Thank you for your hard work, son. And tell your friends my greetings as well. You may leave." The boy bowed again and exited the room. The man stood up and opened a drawer from an antique looking cabinet and took out a picture frame. " So you're finally back?" He asked looking at the picture as the flooding memories caused a few tears to roll down his face. " Why did it have to be like that?"

I was washing the dishes from our dinner and enjoyed a small conversation with Kyungsoo. It'd been three days since Xiumin and I... Well, you know. But as much as I have been enjoying it back then, it is now just impossible to be near him nor think about him without blushing and getting a panic attack. My emotions were outer control and I just don't know what to think anymore. The talk with Sooyeon-shi made me understand the whole Mate think better and I actually excepted it, more or less, but that night, the Kiss!... I really don't know what o do with myself anymore. I've been ignoring him since then and I fell really bad for that but every time I see him, my mind goes blank. And the others didn't make this situation any better with them teasing Xiumin. Good for me that Kyungsoo is there for me when I need to escape them or Xiumin and he is always listening to me and we have our " conversation", meaning me complaining about everything to him, like we now do. But he is seemingly enjoying this as he sometimes laughs and gives me encouraging words and because of this I got comfortable around him and we somehow became friends, what makes me really happy considering my ability to never make friends because of my personality. I'm grateful that I found my first friend in him. " Why are smiling?" I looked up from the dishes and smiled at Kyungsoo. " Nothing, Soo. I'm just thinking." " He blushed slightly at the nickname I gave him yesterday. " Well, it seems to be something good, then." We smiled at each other and continued working in the kitchen.

It was getting late so I went upstairs to get ready for bed. As I entered, I sighed as I remembered that I'll be sleeping alone tonight. Lily was staying over night at Yeri-shi's place because she couldn't stop playing with Inguk, her new best friend as she claimed, and her "oppa" as he is older than her by a few months. They came the day after what happened with Xiumin and it was nice seeing Inguk in his Human form. The two of them grew in this short time so close that it really surprised me as she actually asked me if she could spend the night over at their house. After hours of her begging me, I had to say yes and it was worth seeing her that happy. But right now I kinda regretted it. Since we've been her, she never left my side for longer than half an hour but now she'll be gone for a whole night! I tried not to think that much about it and went into the bathroom and got ready for bed. As I walked out, I went straight to bed as the lights were already out. I laid down on the heavenly bed and closed my eyes. I tried to make myself comfortable and turned to the other side, just to be greeted by a hoarse voice. " Have trouble sleeping?" I opened my eyes, ready to scream at whoever the intruder was but to my surprise, I was met with golden eyes looking straight into mine. I felt my heartbeat increasing and I suddenly didn't feel the need to scream as a weird feeling of safety rushed through me. I opened my mouth but couldn't get anything out, as always when I'm near him. But this is the first time since our kiss that we've been that close... and together laying in one bed... ok this is not ok, absolutely not ok!! " W-What are you doing here?" Yeah, I stuttered, again. Why does he have this influence on me? He smiled brightly and my cheek with his thumb. I bet that my face dangerously red by now but I'm glad that it was dark. " I missed you.... You were ignoring me since we kissed and I'm sorry if it made you uncomfortable but please, don't ever ignore me like that. You won't know but being away from you even for a second is unbearable for me." His words really surprised me and made me feel an, until now, unknown warmth. It felt strange hearing these words from him, the werewolf boy that has claimed me as his mate the second he saw me. But something in his eyes made me believe him. Not only his eyes but also his actions toward me, like he would always be around me, watch me. Even if I avoided him the past three days, I haven't missed his stares towards me. He'd be always somewhere near me, but respecting my decision on having space between us and staying away from me. As I thought back at what Sooyeon-shi said about werewolves feelings over their mate, I felt suddenly guilty, about ignoring him, his feelings like that. " I'm sorry." Xiumin looked surprised at me but smiled and embraced me in his strong arms, pressing me against his (bare) chest. " Don't be. I'm glad that I can hold you in my arms like that. Let's sleep, ok." I stiffened at his sudden action, but soon started to relax in his arms and let myself be lulled by his body heat to sleep. 

I woke up as the sun shone right on my face and I was forced to turn around, what I couldn't do because of something holding my waist. Oh, right. Xiumin slept with me.... Wait, what?! My eyes were wide open as I remembered what happened before I fell asleep. I started blushing and looked down on a strong arm wrapped around my waist protectively from behind me. I slowly turned around, not wanting to wake him. I was surprised at his face being so close to mine but was mesmerized by his beautiful face. As I was staring at his face for a while, my hand decided to follow my eyes as my fingers softly ran across his face. Starting from his thick eyebrows, to his sharp nose, gently caressing his cute chubby cheeks and finally stopping at his lips. His pink, full lips, that were just screaming to be kissed. I don't know when I started to get these thoughts about him but I didn't care anymore. Seeing him this close, being in his arms felt right. I wanted him to be near me, to hold me, to kiss me. I don't know if this mate thing has also an influence on me, but I just want to have him beside me, all the time. I guess I finally accepted him, as my mate. My werewolf mate. I started smiling and tried hard to hold in my giggle as Xiumin suddenly stirred and his eyes flew open. I felt like a deer caught in flashlights as I tried to not embarrass myself more and stand up but was pushed back down, ending with Xiumin hovering over me. " Good morning, beautiful." He said with his still sleepy voice that send goosebumps down my body. And the fact that we were barely a few inches away. I looked away, my mind starting to go blank again. No, not this time. I took a heavy breath as I looked at him again and with all the courage I gathered up I replied " G-Good morning, Xiumin." Well, it's ok for the start. But it was surely surprising for him as he stared at me like I was an alien, before he broke into a heartwarming smile and bend down to peck my lips. I fixed my gaze on his eyes as he waited for a reaction from me. As I didn't say anything nor move, he slowly bend down again to kiss me. After a while he stopped and checked on me again. I was touched, that he was so caring. I showed him a small smile and slowly closed my eyes. I didn't have to wait long as he captured my lips in a passionate kiss. His hands were caressing my cheeks as mine were laying on his back. I could feel his feelings through the kiss as the longing and desperation that he must've had through the whole time. waiting for me. This was all gone the moment he kissed me. I felt myself responding to the kiss, slowly. This emotions were new to me, but I'll gladly get used to them, if it's Xiumin that teaches me those. I let all my fears and doubts disappear in this kiss. We broke apart as we got out of breath and Xiumin showed me a bright gummy smile that made me giggle. " I love you, Rose." He kissed my temple and rolled over to embrace me once again in his arms. I smiled against his chest. " I love you too, Xiumin." And I'm glad to be your Mate.

Author's Note: Well, long time no see. I'm sorry for not updating so long but I was very busy and still am, but I try updating sooner but I can't promise that it'll be regularly, for now. But I hope you liked the chapter, even if I'm not good at fluff at such, I hope it worked out somehow ^-^ Let me know your thoughts as always and Saranghae <3