Kyuhyun wasn't thinking. That much was obvious. Perhaps if he had been thinking, he wouldn't have been so rash and hasty. He'd have thought twice upon encroaching on his dangerous obession. He wouldn't have indirectly admitted in front of his daughter and her two friends, that he was once more approaching dangerous teritory. That he was once more obessed. And he wasn't sure that he could be cured this time around.

Chanyeol and Jongdae exchanged glances with each other. Today was not their day. The front of Jongdae's shirt was crusty with the caked mud and it was irritating him. He pulled at the t-shirt that was matted to his skin and winced when he felt like a layer of skin had been pulled off of his stomach.

Jimin was frozen and utterly speechless, as if she was in denial about what was happening. She didn't want to believe what her father had said or believe what he was doing before her eyes, but in her heart of hearts, she knew it was true. She knew her father had lied to her and she knew that there was something he wasn't telling her.

"D-dad," Jimin said, shock colouring her voice, "what are you doing? Where are you going?"

Kyuhyun barely heard her. He was so absorbed in the feeling of butterflies fluttering in the pit of stomach, as well as the satisfaction he had gotten from taking a risk and having it pay off. Even though he did hear her, he ignored her. He couldn't waste time answering his daughter and her inquisition! Now was not the time! He had more important things to worry about.

Chanyeol's brain was working a mile a minute, desperately to come up with some solution to their problem. He cast a look at Jongdae and saw that he was too preoccupied with his t-shirt and trying to fix himself.

He hit Jongdae's forearm and told him to focus. Jongdae glared reproachfully at Chanyeol and then turned to his stare towards Jimin's father.

"Mister, um, Jimin's father?" Jongdae called out awkwardly, not knowing their surname.

However, his words fell on ears that were deaf to him. Kyuhyun continued his path into the forest and his ever decreasing figure was cause for worry amongst the trio - each for their own respective reasons. Jimin was worried about what the implications meant, Jongdae was worried for his friend and his secret, and Chanyeol was worried about his secret being discovered.

Chanyeol raised his eyebrows and let his mouth hang open as an idea struck him. He dug his hand into his pocket and d at thin air until his fingers closed around the smooth, cold surface of his phone. He used his ball of his thumb to press on the centre key and hit the star button so that it was unlocked. He blindly went into the text messages and tried to type a text message, telling Kyungsoo to come to the forest.

Jongdae caught sight of Chanyeol's hand moving around in his pocket and stared at it strangely for a second, before directing his attention back to the situation at hand.

Jimin's feet moved beneath her before she realised what she was doing. She followed her father, her pace gradually speeding up as she realised what she was doing.

Jongdae's eyes widened. "Joonmyun is going to be lucky if he lives another day," he informed Chanyeol before chasing after the father and daughter. Chanyeol took the opportunity of the absence of the father and daughter to pull out his phone and call Kyungsoo.

After taking seconds to pick up the phone, Kyungsoo berated Chanyeol for a couple of minutes about sending gibberish, warning him that his text language had gone too far and he'd become unintelligible now, before Chanyeol could get a word in edgeways.

*~*~*~*

"Hey! Jimin!" Jongdae called out, making Jimin turn around. She was flustered and looked annoyed.

"What do you want?" she asked him.

"Where is your dad going?" he asked, cocking his head slightly.

"How am I supposed to know that?" she demanded. "I'm going after him to figure that out."

Jongdae deliberated for a nanosecond before adding, "Why is he going after the “wolf”?" He made sure to mimick quotation marks with his fingers, indirectly scoffing at the idea and showing he put no weight into the howl.

"I, um," Jimin cast her head left, looking towards her father's back. He was like a man on a mission. "Jongdae, I'll tell you later, just let me go after my dad now, okay?"

"Promise?" Jongdae asked, judging her reactions.

"Yeah, yeah, fine, whatever," said Jimin quickly before she went after her father.Jongdae scratched the back of his neck and his checks, trying to loosen the mud tightly clinging to his skin. He rubbed his arms and decide to pursue.

"I hate people," he decided, fed-up with everyone he had encountered today.

*~*~*~*

Kyuhyun stopped and looked to the side at the trees. There! He had heard something. He walked towards the trees that were growing side-by-side and pushed past the branches aplenty with leaves. He kept still, listening for a rustle of a leaf, the snapping of a branch, so it should be no surprise that he heard his daughter and her friend arrive and stand beside him.

"Mr. Choi, what are you doing?" Jongdae asked. He'd gleamed his name off of Jimin.

"Ssh," Kyuhyun said and waved his hand at the two teenagers, "keep it down."

"Why?" Jongdae asked, following orders.

"I don't want you to scare it off." Kyuhyun listened intently for a few moments before coming half-way to his senses. "What are you two doing here?" he demanded. "You shouldn't have followed. Go home!"

"Mr. Choi ..." Jongdae was lost for words.

"Dad, what are you doing?" Jimin asked, unable to believe her father's behaviour. "Please, let's go."

"Yes, yes, you go home," he responded, still distracted and in a reverie.

"No, dad, both of us." Jimin stopped and looked at the extra boy. "You can go home," she told him.

Jongdae ignored her. Where was that idiot Chanyeol? He tapped his foot. Surely that fool would've had enough time to have come up with a plan by now. He had no idea where Joonmyun was. What if he was near and decided that he was hungry and that deer wouldn't sate him appetite.

A howl sounded. It was different from before. It was more human. The trio turned to see Chanyeol walking towards them with Zitao. Zitao cupped his hands around his mouth and howled.

"I found the source of it," Chanyeol told them and gestured to his friend.

Zitao tossed his head back and cupped his hands around his mouth. He let out a howl, while one of his hands shook. After he was done, he looked straight and stared straight at Kyuhyun.

"Sorry for the false alarm," he grinned. "No wolf."

Kyuhyun stared at him with a steel glint in his eye. "No, no, no," he repeated. "I heard a wolf. I definitely heard one."

Jimin was confused, but she would rather accept Zitao's explanation than the alternative. She didn't want to accept the fact that her father had relapsed, had broken all of his promises, had gone back on his word ...

"Mister, um, sir," Zitao said, befuddled, "I swear that it was me. There are no wolves in these forests, there hasn't been since ... um, since ..."

"A long time," Chanyeol intoned and Zitao nodded his head, repeating his friends words.

Kyuhyun began to protest, saying that he was sure of what he had heard and that he wasn't one to be wrong often. Jongdae was on edge and he kept stealing glances into the forest. Eventually, he cut across Choi Kyuhyun.

"Sir, I can assure you, we haven't had wolves in these parts for a long time. It was just Zitao messing around. I'm guessing that Joonmyun is near here, as well?" He directed the question at Zitao, who confirmed it, confused about the question, but still going along with it.

After some more assurances, Kyuhyun reluctantly accepted the fact that there was a slight chance (less than one per cent, according to him) that he may have been wrong and misheard. What wasn't said, was that Kyuhyun rarely ever got anything with wolves wrong. The situation with the howl would have been like Isaac Newton getting two plus two wrong. However, that was unspoken between Kyuhyun and Jimin.

Three of them walked back together. Jongdae and Zitao stayed behind. Measures needed to be taken. For one, they couldn't have Joonmyun running around the forest by himself. And besides, if that howled again, they wouldn't have an excuse.

They'd be safe. Well, safe enough.

The trio were just heading off, when Jongdae remembered something. He power walked up to Chanyeol and tapped him on the shoulder. Surprised, Chanyeol turned around and bent down so that the shorter boy could whisper in his ear.

"’Kay?" Jongdae said and Chanyeol nodded, a little shocked.

"See you then," he said and hurried to catch up to the family walking in stony silence. The tension was obvious and could be cut with a knife. It made Chanyeol feel awkward and out of place. The hostility was tangeable. He could almost taste it on the tip of his tongue.

The rest of the journey was rushed and taken in silence. Chanyeol could tell that Jimin and Mr. Choi needed to talk about what had just happened, but unfortunately, Chanyeol's presence refrained them from doing so.

Once they had reached the road and the yellow barrier that prevented vehicles from entering unless they had the key, they split up. Jimin went to grab her bike, Kyuhyun went to his car and Chanyeol just stood with his hands in his pockets.

"Jimin, I'll see you at home. Finish up your project and then come home immediately, okay?" Kyuhyun told her and climbed into his car, shutting the door behind him. The window was still open and Jimin was about to ask for a lift home and tell him that they had agreed to postpone the project prior to his arrival (had he not seen them about to leave?), but Chanyeol opened his mouth before Jimin got a chance to.

"Thanks, sir! I'll make sure that we finish up early!" he said and Kyuhyun gave him a queer look as he turned the key to ignite the engine. He reversed out onto the road and drove off.

"What?" Jimin asked blankly, her brain not functioning correctly due to her annoyance and frustration. "I thought you had a movie to go to?"

"We did, but we'll never make it," Chanyeol told her, as if she was some incredibly slow person. "I want to talk to you a little."

"About?" she prompted.

"Snakes," he told her, "what do you think?"

"I don't know what I think!" she refuted. "Tell me what I think!"

"That I'm the most amazing and handsome person ever," he told her matter-of-factly. "No, in all seriousness, we have to write stuff up. For our project," he added.

"Now? Should we not finish it up first?" Jimin asked him, utterly disconcerted by him changing his mind and his random friends showing up at odd times.

"No, it'll rain soon. It's best that we go to my house and write it up," he said, taking a look at the sky. The iron grey clouds were rolling ever nearer to their location.

"Your house?" Jimin readily agreed. No doubt her dad would have something weird out right now, researching something weird or replaying clips of wolves howling. He was just that crazy.

~* Fighting *~