actually not too sure about this chapter, but i was just sure i wanted the rest of the members to meet little seungwannie. ah, also, i have received a few questions regarding wannie's size and age, and i have dedicated a page (see chapter named 'pointers') to answering these questions as best i can. thanks! :)

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“Hold still Wannie-ah!”
 

The bedroom was filled with sounds of elation, as a vampiress was trying her absolute best to get an overly excited Seungwan dressed. The rather cliché but nonetheless adorable black hoodie with a tiny, brown Jindo puppy Joohyun had embroidered onto the plush fabric was slightly too big for the girl, but as any mother would say: you’ll grow into it.
 

“Wannie, look!” she exclaimed, lifting the huge hood off Seungwan’s head and pointing at the embroidery through the mirror, “you’re one of those! Mummy got the Jindo one for you. Do you like it, baby?”
 

A lopsided grin was all the response she needed, ruffling the girl’s hair and giving them both a once over in the full length mirror before motioning for the living room.
 

“When they will be here?” Joohyun looked down to see her little heart-squeeze tugging at her sleeve.
 

“Soon, don’t worry. Be a good girl and help mummy get drinks prepared?”
 

The vampiress melted when she saw the puppy’s eyes form happy little crescent moons all the way through the hallway to the kitchen.
 

…
 

It was a couple weeks ago, and Joohyun had been winding down after a long day of looking after Seungwan when she’d gotten the call. She should’ve expected it really, but she immediately cursed her one-track mind, smacking herself in the forehead when she saw who it was on the caller id.
 

“Hello? Unnie, hello?”
 

Joohyun softened at the voice over the receiver.
 

“Yes, Seulgi-ah,” she replied, a slight guilt tinging her tone, “how’re you and the girls?”
 

She heard a scoff and muffled voices in the distance. Seemed like it was a good time.
 

“We’re fine unnie, how’re you, more to the point…”
 

Uh oh, Joohyun cringed at the thought, this can’t go well. It wasn’t like I was never going to tell them…
 

“Yeah!” Yerim boomed in the background, “you’ve missed like four hunts now! Where have you been? Do you have a girlfriend, unnie?”
 

Oh gosh, the hunts, right!
 

Joohyun may have been more of a lone hunter and a lone vampiress in general, but she had a handful of vampire friends so close she could call them family. They’d organise small group hunts every now and again, outside of normal meetups and hangouts. As much as Joohyun liked going solo, she always looked forward to being able to hunt with her best friends and little sisters. The guilt of essentially ignoring her other family, being so caught up in the newest addition, ate away at her conscience. She’d definitely meant to tell them, but it had just slipped her mind, and a part of her thought it best to wait till Seungwan was more grown and comfortably settled in before introducing several new faces. Especially since they very often, just like her little puppy, could get just a bit too overexcited.
 

But the older woman had to laugh at that last question.
 

A girlfriend? No, Yerim, unnie has something far, far better.
 

“Well guys…”
 

There was a slight pause before the vampiress summoned up the breath to both apologise and explain herself in one go.
 

“I’m sorry I’ve been distant, it really wasn’t on purpose, I love and miss you all a lot. But I’ve had a lot on my plate recently… you see… I was on a hunt and I-”
 

The woman choked on her words before continuing.
 

“I may have caught a little hybrid puppy… well not, ‘caught’ per se, I’d say more the circumstances of the night happened to lure our hear-”
 

“Unnie, you’re rambling again, just spit it out,” Sooyoung exasperatedly interjected, earning chuffs of endearment from the other two.
 

They’d suspected something was up with their poor unnie when they hadn’t been asked over to Joohyun’s in over two months now, when they’d usually be round there at least once a week.
 

“A-and I didn’t feed… I… I kept her instead. She’s living with me…”
 

Joohyun had to pause to pull the phone away from her ear to check the call hadn’t just cut off because of the indefinite silence on the other end.
 

Nope, they were still on the line.
 

“G-guys? I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner, I was going to, trust me! It was just so much to take in at the same time… I still can’t believe I did it sometimes, but I definitely want to get you guys acquainted,” she apologised fervently, worried that she had upset her precious dongsaengs with the sudden news.
 

“You wanna say something or…?”
 

Joohyun exhaled a breath she didn’t even realise she was holding till all three girls broke the silence at once.
 

“You… have… a… PUPPY?!”
 

“Unnie, why didn’t you tell us?! Oh my god when can we meet her? Is she cute? How old is she?”
 

“How long ago did you find her? What hybrid is she?”
 

Gentle, relieved chuckles left Joohyun’s lips. It felt like everyone on earth was speaking at once, all equally as eager to get answers to their pressing questions.
 

“Don’t worry guys,” she giggled reassuringly, “Come over this weekend and I’ll catch you up on everything.”
 

Agreements and plans were made the fastest they’ve ever been made before and it was settled.
 

Wannie-ah, get ready for a hell of a lot of love.
 

…
 

“What’s this mummy?” a curious Seungwan inquired, peering into the bulging packet of crimson fitted snugly into her palms, “it’s so red?”
 

Joohyun hummed and turned around, slightly unsure of what to say when she caught sight of her pup inspecting the prepacked blood bags she’d laid out on the table in preparation for the other three vampiressess.
 

“Uh, honey that’s juice,” she spoke tentatively, carefully reaching out to prise it out of the girl’s grip.
 

Despite the hint of awkwardness, Seungwan’s innocent eyes lit up at ‘juice’.
 

“Wah! Can Wannie try some?”
 

Joohyun almost choked out loud, only just managing to swallow the lump in .
 

“N-no, Wannie,” she said perhaps a little too quickly, noticing Seungwan’s head , confused ears flopping over one another, “this is…uh, very special juice that only adults can drink. It’s not for puppies, okay?”
 

She cooed when she saw soft, chocolate ears droop in acceptance, reaching to briefly roll the deflated thing in her fingers.
 

“Here,” she quipped, lifting the mood as she replaced Seungwan’s empty palms with an orange juice box, “good girls can have orange juice.”
 

Big, brown eyes brightened too easily again as a fluffy tail disappeared round the corner into the now immaculately tidied up living room. The mountain of books and guides were still there, but at least they were in some sort of order rather than in the huge heap they had previously been in. Much less could be said for the multitude of chew toys and toys in general scattered on the floor, making just as much of a mess as the books used to. Joohyun minded it much less, though. It was oddly comforting.
 

Back in the kitchen, the vampiress didn’t even have time to rethink the situation before the familiar sound of her doorbell rang out, sending her rushing to answer the door and eliciting a surprised little yelp from the other room.
 

Joohyun had barely cracked the door open before she was flooded with hugs and affection, something no one else other than the people currently giving it to her knew she enjoyed as much as she did. She smiled as she felt Seulgi’s arms crushing her in her stupidly strong vampire grip, the other two already setting the small gifts and desserts on the kitchen counter ready for later.
 

The vampiress knew the shrill squeals meant that a certain puppy had been discovered by three adoring vampiressess. She almost laughed out loud when she turned into the living room, only to see three girls fighting over who got to hold and pet the puppy next. All while an oblivious Seungwan sat right in the middle of the commotion, adorable as ever with her head cocked and pink tongue lolled out the corner of her grin, panting happily as she looked at her mummy with an expression that seemed to say, ‘these are some weird puppies… but I love them!’
 

Joohyun clicked her tongue as she set the tray of juice and blood bags down on the coffee table, minding to step over the gleefully wagging tail.
 

“Hey,” she tutted, not interfering but keeping a watchful eye, “be gentle you guys, play nice. She’s still young.”
 

This seemed to get the message across and the three eased up, now just petting Seungwan all at once. Her icy grey eyes warmed when she saw her Wannie practically floating on Cloud 9 with all the scratches and pets making her eyelids heavy with the pleasant overstimulation; head and chin scratches, light belly tickles and coos of praise and adoration.
 

Her young mind wasn’t aware euphoria could skyrocket like this, and it blew her out of the water.
 

“She’s so dumb, unnie,” Yerim chided lovingly, faking throwing Seungwan’s toy and tucking her hand behind her back, watching as the puppy glanced around in visible confusion, trying to locate the magically disappearing thing, “it’s adorable.”
 

“Aw, you two have something in common, then,” Joohyun nonchalantly teased back not missing a beat, earning loud hand-over-mouth siren wails from the other two vampiressess, much to Yerim’s shock.
 

They laughed when the youngest blushed brightly, cheeks fluffed out and flustered.
 

The remainder of the evening dissolved into conversation mainly revolving round Seungwan and her very unexpected but very welcomed arrival. The girls just let Joohyun do the talking, listening intently with occasional ‘ooh’s’ and ‘aww’s’ when the recount took a particularly adorable twist or when Joohyun was simply describing one of Seungwan’s endearingly amusing antics. They were caught up in no time, all unanimously agreeing that their unnie had made the right decision in taking this lonely puppy in.
 

“Unnie, Wannie’s so cute we almost forgive you for ignoring us for two months,” Sooyoung joked in between sips of the machine-vended blood bag.
 

The oldest gave an apologetic shrug and the mood was good as laughter filled the expanse. Yerim and Sooyoung went out to get the food from the kitchen out to the living room where Joohyun and Seulgi were arranging the pillows and blankets in preparation for the long overdue movie night. They usually watched horror movies when they were together, but for the sake of a certain someone, made an exception this time to watch an animation instead.
 

The two maknaes returned with trays of various desserts, Seulgi and Joohyun already comfortable on the sofa with Seungwan in between them, cuddling into the eldest’s embrace. Sooyoung and Yerim dragged beanbags and the blankets laid down for them into position before starting the movie.
 

The three other vampiressess were surprisingly engrossed in the plotline, despite insistently professing their distaste for cute animations. Joohyun simply grinned as she observed them glued to the screen, the movie couldn’t possibly have been further from her mind as she proceeded to glance down at the reason for their instant change of heart, no doubt.
 

You did it, Wannie, she said wordlessly to the innocently yawning puppy, you turned these big, bad vampires into big, soft babies.
 

Soon enough, it was well into the early hours of the next morning, none of them noticing the pitch blackness outside until the movie was over. All eyes turned to face the puppy, fast asleep, curled into Joohyun’s lap, tail swishing lazily on Seulgi’s thigh and making her giggle.
 

Her dongsaengs helped her tidy up, making sure to leave as quietly as they could, still fighting over who left the last hushed whisper of how much they loved the new family addition. After they’d left, Joohyun found herself carrying a dead-weight Seungwan up to their bedroom, vigilantly getting her cleaned up and changed into her onesie before tucking her in and pressing the gentlest goodnight kiss on the unconsciously twitching velvet ears.
 

Returning downstairs to do finish the last of the dishes, Joohyun leaned into the sink, letting the cold water run down her hands. She couldn’t help but recount today’s hectically wonderful events, from the meeting of her vampire family to their newest hybrid addition, to the lovely familial feeling she forgot how much she missed when they just sat and chatted about anything and everything. Of course, Seungwan provided Joohyun that warm, fuzzy feeling far and beyond, but it was just as lovely in a different way to be able to spend time with her own kind whom she practically grew up with.
 

An exhausted vampiress snuggled into the warmth of the duck down duvet, wrapping herself and Seungwan into it. Without her even realising, her hand had trailed up and was now absentmindedly tracing circles over the soft fur of her ears, making Seungwan mumble in her sleep a little.
 

“Unnie, it’s been a while… why don’t you join us on our next hunt? You can take your time, but we’re worried about you and your health. Think about it, yeah?”
 

She thought more about what Seulgi had said when it had just been the two of them, but ultimately decided not to ponder on it for too long. She shoved the trivial dilemma out of her mind for later, now focusing on the little girl who made the entire world seem unimportant.
 

I’ll always protect you, Wannie.

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hmm...