| The School

The house was dark and strangely quiet when Namjoo entered. She had just returned from a dinner with Bomi and hoped to find her father still awake, reading something in the living room. Taking off her earrings and shoes, she called out to him, wrinkling her nose when she got no answer. Her father didn't usually go out at night, at least not without warning.

Walking down the hallway, she noticed the curtains flapping in the wind and the windows between open. If he was out, he wouldn't leave the place unlocked and unprotected in that way. Feeling a bad environment, her instincts began to alert that something was wrong. Namjoo called her father again, and again and nothing. No answer can be heard.

Her breath hitched as she approached the room only to stop again the moment she walked through the door. The scene she witnessed made her stomach turn; her legs gave out and a horrified cry was caught in . Tasting the bile on the surface of her tongue, she covered with one hand to contain the reflux, shaking her head in denial, feeling the tears running, she did her best to breath.

This couldn't be happening, she thought. Maybe it was just a hallucination, her eyes were deceiving her because of tiredness. Determined not to believe what she was seeing, she gathered as much strength as she could to stand, only to be shocked a second time by the scene and burst into tears, unable to look away again. Sitting on the armchair, bloody and with a disfigured throat.

There was her father's body.

Namjoo screamed as she sat on the bed, feeling the tears running down her cheeks as the most vivid memories of the dream drain from her mind. Since she moved, the dreams become less frequent, but they still happen. They didn't even turn into panic attacks or anything like that, but they still made her sad and ruined her nights. Getting up, Namjoo looked at her watch only to notice that it was after four in the morning. Sighing, she left for the kitchen in search of a relaxing glass of warm milk.

It had been almost four days since Namjoo had moved to Huiwang. The day after her arrival, she took her free time to look around the city and observe the changes that the time made during her absence. Fortunately for her memory, the region had undergone few changes, including minor renovations and some new establishments here and there.

Still, the thing that had helped her so far in overcoming her trauma was undoubtedly her new job. She only had passed two days with the children, but as soon as she met them, she felt the environment around her clear. Namjoo would take care of a small class, teach the basics, but essential for a bunch of kids. The children, besides being cute, were sweet and innocent, a little more agitated than normal, but understandably. Her first impressions had been so good, that just the thought of coming back to them when the morning came encouraged her to go back to bed and rest well.

Yes, she was there to start again. Thinking about her father was natural, but it shouldn't be the only thing on her mind, at least, it was what she believed. Turning the glass of milk over, she wiped her lips with the back of her hand and walked back to the bed.

"Where does a woman hide in a small town like this?" Minseok complained to himself as he pushed the phone away from his face. "This is becoming a serious case."

Baekhyun looked at him, still chewing his breakfast cereal in the kitchen. He didn't like when he got bad news early in the morning, and judging by Minseok's expression, something was not going well.

“Haven't they found her yet? No Signal?" Baekhyun asked, while Minseok shook his head.

"Nothing yet. Rowoon is desperate. He's trying to contact all the packs in the region, but I think he counts on us even more because she worked here in the city.” The friend replied. “I can't imagine what he's going through. He had just found his mate, but it still is...” he sighed, imagining himself at the other's place. “Painful even for me to imagine him losing her. If something happened to Sooah...”

Baekhyun was quiet for a little longer and stopped eating his cereal. He still hadn't found his mate, so that wolf empathy that Minseok was feeling was unknown to him. He felt bad that Rowoon had lost his mate, yet he would never understand how painful it could be for those of his kind.

"Relax hyung" Baekhyun raised the spoon of cereal to his lips once again. "They will find her sooner or later."

Dispersing the cloud of silence that hovered over them in the kitchen, the door was opened to reveal another member of the pack.

“, I'm hungry. Eunbi kept me busy all night.” He commented with a laugh. "I couldn't even make my morning snack."

"Hey Chanyeol." Minseok greeted when he saw him.

"Hey dude."

“I haven't spoken to you properly since Friday. How are things at school?"

The giant sighed as he walked to the table, taking a slice of bread. "It was in chaos until last week, the parents were furious at the school for letting the children go home earlier, but with their teacher gone, what did they want us to do?"

Baekhyun rested his eyes on him. "Haven't you got someone to take her place yet?"

"Yes. They got a replacement there from Seoul, I haven't had a chance to meet her yet, but they say she's doing a good job with the kids.”

"I underst