In a blink of an eye, school had already ended. Kyungsoo was too occupied in his own thoughts that he had lost the chance to ask Kangmi for her number.

“Hey, where’d you go?” Baekhyun asked his friend.

“I went to the library, I returned a book.” He lied. It was believable though, since the library was in that direction.

“Oh cool.” Baekhyun went to join the others, while Kyungsoo sat there at his desk contemplating. “Kyungsoo you coming?!” Minseok called, his head sticking out from the door.

“Yeah!” Kyungsoo hurriedly packed his belongings, being extra careful that an animal was in his bag. “Do you guys want to hang out later?” Minseok asked.

“Sure, we didn’t get any homework--nothing to do at home either.” Junmyeon spoke, looking out of one of the hallway's window. He was completely bored out of his mind, he needed some time to enjoy before school was going to be a big factor of his life; as if it wasn't big enough.

“Let’s not do karaoke again. That was horrible.” Kris mused, trying hard not to relive the memory of him dancing and singing at the same time due to a dare.

“Let’s just settle for Willow. I haven’t been in there for a while. It’s been getting cold now.” Luhan pulled his hoodie over his head. Winter decided to kick in early this year, but no snow was present yet.

“Cool. This time, we can have hot drinks, not during the summer. Bad idea, remember when you burned your tongue.” Jongin laughed, turning to Sehun.

“Don’t remind me please.” He rubbed his temple.

“Any objections?” Tao asked. Kyungsoo opened his mouth to speak, but decided that he could tell them later.

Cafe Latte Willow

“Kangmi! Your food is ready!” The chef called. “Thanks!” She patted his shoulder and picked up the plate along with her backpack. She walked upstairs to the employee lounge and sat far away from the other workers. She settled on a seat that had a divider between the tables and closest to the window. “You can come out now.” She whispered. The fox climbed out and sat on the table. “Where are we now?” Examining the room, taking in the new things it had seen so far.

“At my work. I brought us some food.” She grabbed a knife and a fork, cutting the steak in small pieces. “I figured since you’re a fox and all, you eat a lot of meat.” She placed an even amount of meat on a separate small plate and pushed it to the animal. “Dig in!”

“Thank you Kangmi.” The fox ate peacefully, “You know Kangmi, according to the reports, you do have enough money from your family to survive. So why work?”

Kangmi shrugged, “I guess it gives me a sense of responsibility. I often got picked on that I was a spoiled child. In truth I was; I never washed dishes in my life, never did the laundry, and I complained a lot. One day, I overheard from the maids that I would end up getting nowhere if I kept on depending on my parents. Of course I got angry.” She frowned, twirling her piece of meat around the plate. “But it was the wake up call I needed. I couldn’t use the parent card all the time. It was hard to adjust. I got through it.”

The fox slowly listened, letting her go on and on. Kangmi felt a peace with herself. Growing up changed her from a loud child, to a quiet, obedient teenager. She thought about her decisions and the consequences it would cause, than diving straight into the situation. Which was enough proof that she did mature. Even though she was talking about her past and life problems to a talking fox. Wow, that sounded weird in her head.

“Kangmi? Who are you talking to?” She flinched in surprise, but the fox was quick enough to seek refuge in her backpack. “Oh no one. I was just…self-reflecting! Yeah that’s it!” She declared, awkwardly laughing as she fixed a misplaced strand of hair behind her ear.

“Well, I’m just here to tell you that your break is almost over.”

“Thanks.” She flashed a sheepish smile. She waved goodbye to her co-worker, breathing a sigh of relief. “Thankfully he bought it.” She looked around. “Fox?”

“Here.” The fox raised its paw from the backpack, its ears peeking out. “Sorry, work calls. It’ll be over soon. I have two hours left.”

“Understood.” She placed her backpack in an area where most of the workers never ventured out to in the coffee shop, close to the window, since this fox liked looking at scenery.

Kangmi gathered the dishes and placed them in the sink, following the employee rules, she washed her hands with soap and warm water. “Kangmi! We need you to take orders!”

“Got it!” She called, drying her hands on the towel. She grabbed for her notepad and pen in her apron pocket and rushed to the front.

“Hello! May I take your order?” She greeted happily.

“I’ll take a — Kangmi!” Chanyeol called, grabbing everyone’s attention away from the menu, especially Kyungsoo’s. She jolted up and saw them crowded around three small tables,“oh, hello.”

“You work here?” Yixing asked, none of them remembering that they had met before during the summer.

“Yup. What would you guys like?”

“Can we have the dinner special for all of us and twelve waters.” Jongin politely answered.

“Sure, coming right up!”

This is your chance idiot! Say something! Anything! She's going away! “Kangmi!” Kyungsoo hurriedly stood up calling out to her retreating figure. She turned around. “Yeah?”

“Uh... never mind.” He slowly sat down trying to ignore the eleven pairs of eyes that were staring at him.

God damnit. Kangmi only smiled and continued on her other tasks.

“Well, here you go!” Kangmi used the big cart to serve out their food. She came back once more to with their waters. “Enjoy!”

The boys were talking amongst each other munching on the cafe food. “Hey Kyungsoo, what were you going to ask Kangmi?” He choked on his food at Luhan’s question and gulped down his water. Breathing heavily, he cleared his throat, “nothing.” Luhan did not want to pry anymore and devoured his food.

“Rock-paper-scissors. Loser has to pay!” Sehun announced. Loser turned out to be Kyungsoo who muttered curses under his breath as the rest of his friends celebrated. He made his way to the counter and paid the bill. He looked at person working the cash register and noticed her name tag. ‘Manager.’

“Excuse me. Would you know by any chance know Kangmi’s number?”

The manager looked at Kyungsoo and raised her eyebrow, but a smirk came upon her face. “Oh my, does our Kangmi have a secret admirer?”

Oh god. Kyungsoo blushed. “Never mind.”

“I’m kidding.” She giggled. She ripped a piece of paper and wrote it down. She handed it to him along with his change. “Good luck.” She gave him a wink. “Thank you!” He bowed, shoving it down his pocket.

“Whew.” Kyungsoo was at home; phone in his hand, staring at the crumbled paper on his bed. “Should I call or text her? What if she asks how I got her number? I’m not good at these things.” He ruffled his hair in frustration.

“It’s okay. You can arrange it another day.” The fox was curled up on his bed. “I’ll just contact him.”

“Contact who? Kangmi’s fox? How do you exactly contact him?” Kyungsoo attacked the fox with questions.

“Telepathically.” The fox closed its eyes and opened it as fast. “Done. You have worked hard. Please rest.”

Kangmi's Room

“Got it.” The fox spoke.

“Got what?” Kangmi curiously asked.

“You will know soon.”

“Oh okay. Night!”

The fox sat there waiting for her breathing to become steady. “Kangmi. Kangmi.” He called, no response from the dead-asleep girl. The fox made its way to the window and managed to unlock it. He leaped down onto the grass and made its way around Seoul. It came upon a park, where the fox silently waited near a tree.

“You’re here.” It declared.

“Why wouldn’t we be?” The cheery fox called.

“Have any of you approached your human yet?” Kangmi’s fox asked. Simultaneous no’s were sounded off, it seemed like Kyungsoo and Kangmi were the only ones to at least acknowledge their fox’s presence.

“We will need to meet. Then we can tell.”

"Understood. We need to go back, we cannot leave our humans unprotected. See you soon.” Kangmi’s fox announced.

“Same here.” Kyungsoo’s mentioned, leaving first as it blended with the dark.

The pack dispersed from their location. The fox managed to get back inside Kangmi’s house and locked it. He jumped from the window pane to her bed, where it circled around and comfortably went to sleep.