Jieun quickly opened her eyes when her door flew open with a loud bang, and when she saw her uncle standing in the doorway with a bottle of soju in his hand, she quickly sat up. He looked at her and snarled; “where were you?” Jieun answered “with some friends”. Her uncle straighten up and said; “I thought I clearly said no”. Jieun sighed and said; “you said we couldn’t go to Gangnam, not that I couldn’t do homework at Hannah and Niel’s place.” The last word barely left her lips before he threw the bottle so it shattered against the wall, just beside her head. His eyes glowed a golden yellow as he growled “don’t talk back to me!” Jieun touched her cheek and when she saw blood on her fingers, she jumped out of the bed and yell; “get out! Get out of my room!” but her uncle reacted by hitting her while he roared; “how dare you talk back to me?!” Jieun looked up at him with glowing blue eyes and growled; “I hate you!”

That, however, only made him hit her harder, and again and again while he said; “you hate me? You ought to be grateful. That I wanted to take you in. A bloody bastard! A freak who kills her own mother. If it hadn’t been for you, she wouldn’t have hanged herself!”

Jieun sensed some movement from the corner of her eye, and when she lifted her eyes, she saw Mark standing in the hallway. She stretched an arm towards him and said “oppa, help” but he looked at her coldly with his red eyes and said “why should I?” Jieun gasped, so he snorted and said “you killed my dad.” before he turned and walked away. Jieun tried to reach him while she screamed “no!”

“Jieun”

“Don’t go”

“Jieun-ah”

“Don’t leave me”

“Jieun! Open your eyes!”

Jieun opened her eyes and looked straight into Leo’s worried eyes. They kept eye contact for a moment before she buried her head in his neck and let the tears flow. It had only been a nightmare.

Outside, the lightning bolts lit up the night sky as N ran his fingers through her hair while he quietly said “agi-ah, do you want to tell what you dreamt?” Jieun shook her head, but then said in a soft voice; “not yet”. Dr. Lee nodded and said “it’s okay. No matter what you dreamt, then it was only a dream. It’s over now. Just go back to sleep.” She lifted her head from Leo’s shoulder and nodded with a faint smile, but just then, the sky lit up from a new lightning and Leo could fell how her entire body tensed up, so he protectively her back and whispered “sh, it’s only lightning. It won’t hurt you.” She mumbled “I know” so he tried to pull away, but she tightened her grip on his t-shirt and whispered “don’t, please” He stopped and softly said her name, so she moved back enough to look at his eyes when she said “please stay. Just until I fall asleep.” The seven vampires felt like their hearts were breaking when they saw her tear filled eyes shine bright blue. Dr. Lee managed to catch Leo’s eye and when he gave him a slight nod, Dr. Lee said; “it okay, Eun-ah. Leo’s gonna stay here.” Jieun looked unsure at Leo, so he gave her a gentle smile and said “I will stay. Come on, lay down and try to get some sleep”.

Leo gently pushed her back down as the others left, and wrapped his arms around her. She closed her eyes, and it did not take long before he could hear her breathing even out as she fell asleep, but every time he tried to get up, she would start to whimper. In the end, he sighed, pulled her closer to his chest as he settled better, and said to himself that he would only stay by her side until the thunderstorm was over.

When Jieun woke the next morning, she stretched, but stopped when she opened her eyes and realized that she still lay in Leo’s arms, faces close. He looked like a sleeping angel. He tightened his grip for a second before he slowly opened his eyes and they made eye contact, but before any of them could say or do anything came a “good morning” from the door. Jieun looked up and when she saw N standing in the doorway, she smiled at him, so he smiled back and said; “samchon asked me to tell you that there’s food on the table”. Jieun quickly got out of the bed while she said “good, I’m starving!” and rushed out of the bedroom. When they came down into the kitchen, Jieun quickly sat down between Ravi and Hongbin, so she didn’t have to sit across N or Leo.

When they were done eating, Jieun retreated to a corner of the living room with a book, and the boys let her be alone, believing it was because of the nightmare, but Ken soon noticed the cautious glances she sent the boys over the book’s cover. After having kept an eye on her for a while, he went over to her and softly called her name. A discreet whimper escaped her lips, so he sighed and said “are you okay?” She noticed that he was sitting farther away from her that they normally would do, and that he was not looking directly at her, so she gave him an timid smile and said “yeah, it’s just the wolf reacting to you guys, and then –” she sighed, closed the book and continued “I dreamt about my uncle last night”. He just looked at her for a while, but when he realized she meant the nightmare, he moved next to her, put his arm around her and caringly said “do you want to talk about it?” Jieun nodded and said with a sigh “I dreamt that samchon was beating me” Ken look astounded at her, so she tried to smile while saying “not Dr. Lee” but Ken gave her a look, so she sighed and said “my uncle was really close with my mom, and he has always meant that it was my fault that she died, and he scolded me for the tiniest things. One night when I was 16, he came to my room to yell at me, but he had been drinking and when I started to talk back, he hit me.” A single tear trickled down her cheek as she whispered; “it was doing a thunderstorm. That’s why I hate lightning.”

Ken quickly pulled her close and said “it’s okay. You’ve got us now” but when he felt her tense, he let go of her and said with an apologetic smile “sorry, pup. I didn’t mean to scare you” before he got up to go to the others. She yelled “Ya! I’m not a pup!” but then gave him a genuine smile and said “thank you oppa.”

Jieun had just finished her lunch when Dr. Lee placed a smoothie in front of her, and when she looked at him questionably, he smiled and said “drink up. The wolf in you is weakest tonight so you’ll need the blood”. She looked surprised between him and VIXX and said “is that why I can eat nonstop and still fell hungry during new moon?” Dr. Lee nodded while saying “well, sometimes when you feel hungry, it’s because the body need fluids. And since you’re half vampire, then you’re body’s probably missing the things we get from the blood”.

When she had drunk the smoothie, she headed towards Hapjeong-dong, and when she arrived, she was so nervous that it felt as if the smoothie was on the way up. It disappeared though, in favor of a tingling happiness when she saw Hannah, Niel and Changjo wait for her. When they got closer to the uncle’s house though, the nervousness returned, but Changjo said “don’t worry. He’s not gonna hurt you.” while he unconsciously grabbed her hand. Jieun smiled back and reflexively took a step closer, so the two siblings, who walked behind them, gave each other a knowing look; when would they ever admit their feelings?

When they arrived, Jieun went straight to the kitchen where her aunt was making the last preparations with Sunyoung, the mother of Niel and Hannah. When the two women noticed her, they put the food down and came to greet her with big smiles.

When the food was ready, Jieun couldn’t help but smile as they got seated; this was a real Moon dinner, but the smile vanished when her eyes landed on the opposite end of the table, because even though Prima Choi, TOP’s father, was seated at the head of the table and her uncle sat to his right, the seat to his left, TOP’s seat, was empty. CAP, who sat next to Jieun, noticed the change in her mood, so he said in a low voice; “cheer up”. Jieun gave him a faint smile, but Chunji couldn’t resist to add “it not like you’re home anyway.” with a twinkle in his eyes, so she exclaimed; “ya! Oppa~” which made the rest of the young laugh.

Jieun enjoyed their company and tried to ignore her uncle and his alcohol intake, just like she had promised Ken, but when they only had the dessert left, she overheard her aunt in the kitchen saying; “yeobo, don’t” and him giving a slurred answer. Jieun froze and felt the anger grow when the aunt continued; “no! If you do that, then we’re really gonna loose Jieun-ie!” Jieun grabbed her phone, but just then Sooyoung showed up and exclaimed; “Jieun!” before quickly pulling her into the bathroom where she could see her own reflection – and the bright red eyes. Sooyoung sighed and said; “stay here, and try to get them normal!” before she left.

When Jieun was alone, she made a call, and when it was answered she said with a pained voice; “oppa, help!”

When Jieun’s eyes were back to normal, she went back to the others just as a security guard entered, bowed and said; “prima Choi, manim. There are two Wolves at the gate. They claim they’re here to pick up a littermate.” Mr. Choi said; “a littermate? Let them in.” and shortly after stood Mark and Junior before them. When Mark spotted Jieun, he smiled and said in English; “hi, beautiful. Ready?” She nodded with a smile, but when she was about to leave, he uncle snarled; “ya! Kwon Jieun! Where do you think you’re going?!” and tried to grab her arm. Mark instinctively pulled her close with a low growl. Mr. Choi quickly got to his feet with furious green eyes and growled; “how dare you interrupt our dinner, and then growl at us?!” Jieun placed a calming hand on Mark’s arm as Junior quickly stepped up and said; “I apologize. The bond between these two is strong, and Mark is only over-protective.” Hannah noticed the hurt look that Changjo tried to hide, so she took a step forward and said; “uh, Jieun-ah, would you mind introduce us?” with a look that screamed ‘damage-control’. Jieun quickly got it, so she smiled and said; “this is Mark and Junior. I live with them at the moment, because Mark is my brother.”

Mr. Ahn said; “your brother like these boys?” and gestured to Teen Top before saying “or like Daniel and Hannah?” Jieun gave him a smile and said; “like Niel oppa and Hannah unnie.” Just then Mark got a text from JB, so she continued; “we have to go now. Thank you for this time” and bowed to the older wolves before leaving.