He knew it was a possibility that Taemin would not return - a very real possibility.

His life back home was probably more enjoyable than his life there. He probably enjoyed his family's company over the company of four cursed men. Even the threat of turning into a woman might not be enough to make him come back.

He had promised he would, but people broke promises all the time. Minho knew that better than anyone. He broke more promises than most.

"He could just be late," Jinki suggested hopefully. He waited beside his master on the steps that led to the front entrance of the mansion. From there, Minho had a clear view to the open gate. A gate in which Taemin had not come through.

It was almost 6pm, which was the time he had left three days ago. His 72 hours were almost up.

If he did return, it would be as woman. That thought almost made Minho smile...almost. If Taemin let the spell get hold of him, it meant he didn't really fear it at all. And that fear was all Minho was banking on.

"He might have run into a problem at home, or even on the road."

Minho thought of the robbers that had attacked his father that long night ago. He was suddenly afraid something might have happened to him, but he knew what the more likely situation was: He didn't want to return.

And why would he? What was there for him in that house? Besides a man who had grown so desperately attached to him?

"He's not coming back," he said definitively.

"You don't know that," Jinki replied.

"He would be back by now." He rose from his seat and turned to go back inside.

"He still might come. Just wait a little longer."

"I'll be waiting in the garden."

After all, night was approaching.

"Are you just going to sit out there all night?" Taemin screamed through the door. He kicked at it again, but it did him little good. Their house had been constructed well, and there was no way he could beat the door down. Even if he could, he would inevitably have to contend his family on the other side.

"Dad, please. My time is almost up. You have to let me go back!"

Daevy had stopped answering him a while ago. All his threatening, begging, and screaming had gotten him nowhere.

He suddenly hated his father. He hated that he had returned at all. He should have just let him destroy himself in that tavern.

They were all thoughts he didn't really mean, but he was hurt and angry.

He looked down his shirt at the "1" still on his chest. His last hour was ticking away. Any minute now, the "0" would appear...and he would be a woman.

A woman. How had he even let Kibum do that to him in the first place?

And did his father care nothing about his pride as a man? How could he let his son be changed so drastically? And against his will? Did he have no pride in his first born son at all?

It would be reversible. It had to be. Jonghyun was able to get rid of his scales with a bath. He wondered if he could get rid of s so easily.

Defeated, he slammed his back against the door and slid to the floor. He looked under his shirt once more, and at the dreaded number "0" that was now there. He held his breath in anticipation. He expected his chest to suddenly expand. He expected the transformation to happen instantaneously.

He held his breath for as long as he could...and nothing happened.

He cautiously exhaled.

Nothing. His chest was as flat as always.

Maybe Jonghyun was right. Maybe Kibum was a fraud. Or maybe it would happen slowly.

Whatever it was, he was still a man for the moment, which he was thankful for. He was no longer as frightened, but he was still upset. Minho would think he had deceived him. He would think he had broken his promise. He would think he had abandoned him.

Since when did he start caring about that beast?

Taemin slammed his head back against the door.

His father couldn't keep him there forever. He would eventually get out, and when he did, he would keep his promise and return.

It had been three days and he finally accepted it: Taemin wasn't going to return.

He wasn't late. He wasn't delayed. Or side-tracked. He simply didn't want to return. Even Kibum's spell couldn't bring him back.

He must have really despised him to be willing to put up with that consequence.

Taemin had promised so emphatically and so convincingly that he would be back - that he could trust him, that he cared enough to keep his word - but it was all a trick.

He screamed in rage at the open gate, at that stupid doorway that continued to mock him. It was symbol of the magical barrier that always kept him inside. It never let him out, and never let anyone in. It shoved Taemin away just as much as it kept Minho from opening up to him.

Minho had forced himself past the barriers. He had forced himself to take that chance, to allow himself to feel something for Taemin - something he hadn't been able to feel for anyone before. Not Krystal, not any of the women he had been with, not his friends, not his servants, not even his own parents.

Taemin had been the first person to step through his personal gate. He had been the first person he wanted to prove himself to. That he wanted to impress. That he wanted to prove wrong. That he wanted to earn his respect.

Taemin had opened him up so much...then he abandoned him.

"What are you doing?" Kibum asked, pulling his attention away from gate and his own painful thoughts. He hadn't noticed the magician approach, which was strange, because he could always hear someone coming when in his beast form.

Minho couldn't answer him. Words never formed properly with his canine snout.

Kibum stopped beside him and looked out the open gate with the same longing he did. What the both of them would have given to step through and leave that place behind.

"Staring at the gate won't bring him back," Kibum pointed out logically, but as he spoke, Minho detected a sadness in his voice. He missed Taemin too. Or at least, he missed the chance that he represented. His hopes of Taemin falling in love with him - or whatever it was he hoped for - were gone with him.

"It's so strange. I thought he would have come back. Maybe he actually likes being a woman? Or as much of a woman as I made him."

Minho snorted. Taemin hated being treated like a woman. He would hate being one. But obviously not as much as he hated him.

Kibum reached over and patted him on top of his hairy, muscly arm. "Why don't we go to the garden? I'll keep you company tonight."

He didn't want to go back that garden. He was in that garden every night. Taemin had made the place a little more enjoyable, but without him there, it was just another part of his prison. If he couldn't have freedom, then he at least wanted Taemin beside him.

He wanted to step through that gate, just for once, if only to go find him.

He knew it would be futile. There was always an invisible force that kept him back, an unexplainable compulsion that dragged him back to the property. The moment he crossed the threshold, it would pull him back in. He would get nothing for his efforts, only more disappointment.

But he tried anyway. He rose to his feet and moved through the gate, past the line of demarcation.

He must have been dreaming.

It couldn't be possible.

There was no pull. There was no invisible force, no irrational compulsion pulling him back inside. He stood outside the gate, on the untamed open road. His creature feet settled on ground he had not touched in years.

"Minho!" Kibum exclaimed in surprise. The magician tried to step through the gate, but the magic wouldn't allow him. He saw fear and frustration in his expression. "What are you going to do?"

Because he knew he wanted to do something - that he had to do something. The curse wouldn't have altered itself for no reason.

"Minho, don't!" he screamed.

But he was already running. His animal limbs carried him swiftly from that hated mansion, down the road that would inevitably take him to Taemin.