Jaejoong shouldn't be here, he knows that, it was engraved in him since the day he can understand A is for apple or B is for banana. The forest is off limits. There is a reason for the 5:30 pm curfew, all humans must be accounted for in their homes and communities before the clock strikes 5:30 but he had to be a prideful idiot to allow his friends into daring him to do this. Go to the forbidden forest walk straight for 10 minutes and comeback without pissing your pants or getting lost. ‘Seriously, who on this goddamned earth value pride over life?’ He asked himself with a little shake of his head, a little voice on the back of his head told him ‘you, jaejoong’.

His breathing is getting hard, from running aimlessly wildly for what he guessed is an hour, he can hear his heart thumping through his ears. This is not going to turn well for him if he can't find his way out quickly. He stops walking for a while and tries to calm his nerves down. Scanning his surroundings for trees he has seen before in his frantic running to find a way out.

The sun is getting too low, giving way for the night sky. He knows he has little to no time before everything goes dark making it impossible to navigate through the forest. After he manages to control his heaving chest, he starts walking forward with slow and measured steps, wrapping his body tighter with the red hoodie he is wearing, hands in the front pocket, it suddenly felt too chill.

Still looking back and around for impending threats that might come. Some type of shape shifter his mother tells him about at night when they are all sitting around at their dinner table, warning her kids on how to look for the signs or if things do get worse and they find themselves in front of said shifters how to call for help to prevent being shredded to pieces. All the warnings seem futile now though he is in the middle of it all at any point any one of the night creatures he grew up being terrified of could jump out of the woods and there is nothing he can do about it other than accepting his horrible fate. The thought elicits a shudder from him. He remembers this is not the time to sabotage himself into a panic attack and be an even easier pray.

He walks for what he felt like another 30 minutes and wanted to sob when he stops face to face with a tree he marked before. Of course, his luck would have him walking in circles. The sky is entirely dark now, the twilight doing nothing to illuminate his path. He can't see 5 feet in front of him. He thought it is time to abandon the find a way out plan,  eyeing the tree in front of him, it is tall enough, it has branches that looked strong and far enough from the ground where he can sit and wait until day break. With a sigh he zipped up his red hoodie and started looking for ways to climb up. He was a hand and a leg up into a hollow of a cut branch when he heard a rustling sound behind him, he turned around immediately to see what it was but he can see nothing.

He waited like that, unmoving for a couple of minutes holding his breath now and then so he can listen more effectively. When nothing surfaces he filed the noise as his terrified brain playing tricks on him and resumes his tree climbing. He was off the ground when he hears the sound again this time it sounded like someone walking on dead dry leaves he definitely didn't imagine it this time. He whipped his head fast to see what it is but it was too late, before he can even contemplate what is happening red glowing eyes came in front of his face and pointy fangs sink into the flesh of his neck, eliciting a sear of pain like jaejoong had never experienced before. He heard a growl that sounded like 'mine' through the fang that are deeply embedded in his neck before everything went to dark.

******

jaejoong wakes up with a groan, his head feeling like it didn't belong on his body. Nausea washes over him when he tries to sit up so he went back down to the mattress he was sleeping on. ‘Wait a minute, mattress? where did that come from?’ the last thing he remembers is being in a forbidden forest with no means of communication device to the outside world, trying to find a way out and when that fails he was planning on spending the night on a tree. So how did he get on a mattress between then and now?

It slowly downed up on him what happened he remembers red glowing eyes and the excruciating pain he felt after wards. In his haze between consciousness and unconsciousness he remembers strong arms holding him up, princess style, and moving. 

He sits up again, too quickly for his liking, nausea and headache forgotten. He scans the room he is in, there is indeed a mattress, the room is made off entirely from wood and there is no window his only source of light is the lamp sitting on a night stand to his left, he couldn’t tell if it was night or day though. To his right there is a huge closet with a mirror on one door, to the far corner he could see a door. He is startled out of his trans by the sudden painful ache coming from the left side of his neck, he follows it with one shaky hand the wound is puffy and throbbing nothing he can’t survive though. He lets out a breath he didn’t remember holding in and decided to go for the door, if he was going to make a run for it might as well be now.

He had one leg on the floor before the bedroom door swung open and a tall man walks in with a glass in his hand. The man had almond shaped eyes, a perfectly straight nose, bow shaped lips and a strong jaw, he oozes an aura of authority and danger. If jaejoong wasn’t scared out of his wits his short circuited teenage brain would tell him this man is hot. Hot like fire. But jaejoong is scared now; no such thoughts can be entertained. He fell back on the mattress unceremoniously. The man just kept walking towards him and stopped when he reaches the night stand putting the glass on top.

Afterwards, he stretched the same hand towards jaejoong’s neck, touching the wound there. He has a sick smile on his face while doing so, like he was proud to see it there, “you look beautiful with my mark,…dear mate” were the words that come out from his mouth next and jaejoong just gapes at him, eyes wide and jaw falling down, it was all jaejoong could do to not flinch or jump away. ‘What?'