As I walked down the street, my eyes caught my favorite tteokbokki shop. With a smile on my face, I opened the door and inhaled the scent of just cooked tteokbokki.

“Oh, Yuri! Come here. I just made a plate of tteokbokki and samgyeopsal.” The ahjumma of the shop grinned widely, the wrinkles on her eyes showing even more than usual. She’s becoming old, indeed. And I wonder what would happen to me if I didn’t have her to replace the mother I’ve never had. She and ahjussi -her husband- are like parents to me, while Seoyoon -who is their daughter- is like an older sister. Thanks to them, I have the chance to live a normal life like every other teenager.

Sometimes I think, maybe it was better that I didn’t get adopted.

“Oh, ahjumma! You cooked samgyeopsal? Wah let me try!” I squealed happily. Samgyeopsal is one of my favorite foods and it’s been a while since I last tried it.

She gave me two plates, one with samgyeopsal and the other with tteokbokki. We sat on the table near the kitchen’s door and I immediately started eating like a monster. Ahjumma, who was sitting in front of me, started laughing as she saw me with sparkling eyes.

“My dear, how have you been lately?” She asked, worried about my almost unnoticeable eye bags. After I chewed the last piece of food and gulped down a large amount of cola, I looked at the woman in her mid 50’s and started talking again.

“Tired but fine, I guess. I can’t sleep at night because of the nightmares I see. Also the night and moon have been fascinating these past few days.” I confessed. If there was someone I could trust the most, it was my great ahjumma.

“Yuri… What kind of dreams have you been watching?” She asked with a scared tone on her voice. I don’t know if she was worried about me, or there was something happening that I still didn’t know.

“I’ve seen a queen in my dreams. She was all in black and around her were a lot of guardians and werewolves. She would always tell me “Come here my dear. Come with me and I’ll show you the secrets of the world.”.”

Ahjumma’s eyes widened and she grabbed my hand. “What did you do?” She asked with a high pitched tone and I blinked at her a few times.

“I didn’t reply… I just happened to wake up before I tried to run away.” I said bluntly. Ahjumma relaxed and let go of my hand. With a sigh she leaned back on the chair and started talking again.

“Yuri, you have to be really careful. Every time she will appear in your dreams, don’t answer. And if you don’t wake up, then try to run away but never talk. Don’t let out a single word out of your mouth, ok?”

I nodded but I didn’t dare to ask what was happening. The concerns in her eyes made me want to follow the rules and not be scared. Even if it was just a dream, I felt like there was an unrevealed meaning behind that. And I knew I had to keep my promise and don’t talk.

It was already 2 pm. Since I didn’t have any homework for Monday, I decided I would pass this weekend having fun.

After deciding to leave the tteokbokki shop, I walked towards the children hospital near Myeongdong. I opened the door and saw children playing around, worried parents and doctors running from a room to another.

As soon as I stepped in, a mob with happy children came towards me and hugged me by the waist. I started laughing as I tried to open my arms wide so I could hug all of them.

Every Saturday, I would pay a visit to the children of the hospital and play with them until they got tired and fell asleep. Watching these angels play around, warmed my heart and made me forget everything bad that happened to me.

“Noona! You’re early today.” Jaehun, my “husband” hugged me and I patted his head.

“Noona will go to Myeongdong, so noona doesn’t have time to come later.” I kneeled down so I could be in the same eye level as Jaehun.

“But… Does that mean Yuri noona needs to go away faster?” He pouted. This 5 years old boy doesn’t know what he makes me feel!

I pinched his cheeks and kissed his forehead. “Unfortunately, noona just came to give you all a hug and will go away again. Noona is tired and can’t stay longer.” Suddenly his small hands caressed my cheeks and his thumbs traced the eye bags under my eyes. He smiled and kissed my eyes before whispering a “Noona, please take care of yourself. I love you.”

With a hug and a kiss on the cheeks, I left him behind and soon regretted it. I turned around and ran back to the hospital. I stepped inside as fast as I could and rushed to the 3^rd floor, where Jaehun’s room is.

“Jaehun-ah!” I called when I saw him walking towards his room. He turned back and as soon as he saw me, he ran to me and gave me a bone crushing hug.

“Noona! I thought you left!” He said as he grinned widely like the cute baby he was.

“Noona turned back for you. Now, want to come with me to Myeongdong?” I asked as I patted his head and he nodded.

The doctor and Jaehun’s mother gave me permission to take him with me. It is a good thing that they believe in me and always leave me to take care of him.

We took the bus to Myeongdong and we waited excitedly to arrive there. As I was resting my head on the window, Jaehun was taking a nap on my lap. I chuckled lightly so I wouldn’t wake him up and looked outside the window again.

I remember the first time I came in that hospital. I always loved children and always wanted to help them when they were in need, so I took permission from the hospital’s director to come every Saturday and play with the kids so they wouldn’t feel lonely.

The first time I saw Jaehun, I knew we would have a bright future together. Don’t get me wrong, but I felt like he was a younger brother to me.

Since that day, he always stayed with me and told me he loved me more than every noona in the world, until he asked me to marry him. Of course I accepted his request and now I call him “husband” sometimes. His mother really shipped us together.

Everything was good until one day, the doctors came with the results of his disease and we found out he suffered from leukemia. Since that day, I started taking extra care of him. I took him outside to play, cooked him meals and bought him everything he liked. Of course with his mother’s help.

Some weeks ago, we found out the situation was becoming worst and it wasn’t left much until his death. That’s why I decided to take him to Myeongdong, because the feeling of fear inside my heart wouldn’t stop telling me to pass his last days with him.

“Jaehun, it’s time to go.” I tried to wake him up but he wasn’t responding. Panic rushed through my veins as I felt like killing myself for taking him out. I shook his body so he would wake up but he didn’t respond. I placed my hand under his nose and I didn’t feel any air coming out.

“Help! Please help! We need to take him to the hospital! Urgently.

Beep, beep!

The sound of cars and the bus moving made me understand this was only a dream. Sweat was covering my forehead and I realized I had fallen asleep while we were still in the bus.

Jaehun was playing with my hair while I blinked at him.

“Did noona see a nightmare?” He asked, his head tilted to the side and I nodded. He smiled and kissed my cheek. “Are you feeling better now noona?”

“Yes, hubby. Because of you, I am.” I smiled and he chuckled, hugging me before we arrived at our destination.

After two hours of playing around, shopping and eating, we decided it was time to go back at the hospital.

“Wah it’s already 6 pm!” I said as we took the elevator to the 3^rd floor. Jaehun chuckled and waited until the elevator stopped and the doors opened.

Before he opened his room’s door, he kissed my cheek and hugged me.

“Noona won’t forget Jaehun, right?” He whispered and I nodded.

“I will never do that Jaehun.”

I was walking down the street, when suddenly I felt a weird presence behind me. It was already 8:30 pm and not too many people were in the roads. I looked around but no one was behind me. I tried to remain calm when suddenly I felt someone running towards me. I couldn’t understand how it happened, but my instincts took over me, and I raised my leg up in mid air and hit the creature’s neck with my foot.

When I saw him backing away holding his neck, I realized he wasn’t a human

.

.

.

.

.

.

but a werewolf!