Xiumin had a secret. Well, at least two. Ever since he met you under the willow tree you visited each night, he felt undying affection for you which he had yet to tell you about. You never left his dreams, and his only wish was to make you his.

     Although he loved you, he was afraid to tell you so for fear of what else he'd have to tell you. 

     "Hey, _____," Xiumin greeted you as he sat down under the willow by the lake where you both visited each evening.

     "Hi," you replied, smiling. "What's up?"

     "Oh, nothing really," he lied. In reality, there were so many things going on with him that average small talk wouldn't even scratch the surface of his problems.

     You laughed. "Same here. Just my boring old routine," you told him. You glanced at the sky. "Although I do have to say, this part of my routine never gets boring."

     "I agree. And it's even better because..." Xiumin trailed off.

     "Because what?" you questioned.

     "B-because, well," he stammered.

     "Yes?"

     "Because you're always here," Xiumin finished, holding his breath. He looked into your eyes.

     "Aw, thanks," you said, trying not to blush. "That's really sweet."

     "Ever since I met you, I've really cared about you. You're always on my mind, and no matter how hard I try, I can't get you out of my head."

     You sat silently. Even though Xiumin was a great friend, you still weren't sure if you actually had feelings for him. You mused over what he told you.

     "I'm sorry, _____. I just made things awkward, didn't I?" Xiumin sighed, looking down. You shook your head.

     "No, no. It's fine." You gazed again at the darkened sky. "The moon sure is beautiful. Is it supposed to be full this week?"

     Xiumin's eyes lit up in horror. "Oh, it does look full, doesn't it?" He squirmed nervously. "It's been great seeing you, _____. I've got to get home."

     "So soon?" you asked, disappointed that he had to leave.

     "Yeah. It's just late."

     "But we're usually out this late-"

     "It's hard to explain. Sorry," Xiumin said. He waved before he dashed off.

     After Xiumin left, you felt a familiar presence behind you. Turning, you saw a wolf walk by, with thick black fur and bright green eyes. As it came closer, you gently its head. 

     The first time you ever saw the wolf, you felt a faint sense of fear, feeling as if it might attack. But as it walked toward you, it showed you that it would never think of harming you. You thought it was strange for a tame wolf to be roaming in the midst of the woods, but you pushed the thought aside. The only stranger thing was that it only seemed to hang around for one week out of the entire month, when the moon was full.

     "You again, " you smiled. "How are you doing?" 

     The wolf looked at you, silently staring into your eyes. It curled up by your side for a few minutes, gently dozing off. You began to feel your eyes get heavy also. As you got up to leave, the wolf whimpered sadly.

     "Don't worry, buddy," you told it, rubbing its back. "I'll be back tomorrow night. I'd say you could stay around while Xiumin's here with me, but for some reason, he leaves so early this time of the month. It's so weird."

     It stared at you with its melancholy eyes, but seeming to understand you, it walked deep into the forest, toward the direction of the moon.

     The next day, you received a call.

 "Hello?"

     "Hey, _____. I'm sorry I haven't talked to you in awhile," Suho said from the other end.

     "I know. It's been way too long, but it's alright. Where have you been?"

     "I've been...busy," he told you.

     Assuming he was talking about work, you nodded knowingly. "I'm sure you're working hard, but whenever you're free, it'd be great to hang out. Hey, isn't today your day off?"

     "Uh, yeah. It is," he said. "Darn it!" he thought to himself. "Not this week."

    "Great! How about we hang out tonight?" you asked.

     "N-not tonight. Does this afternoon work?"

     "Sure," you replied, confused. Suho had been your best friend since you were kids, but as of late, he had been acting strange. You just chalked it up to him being stressed. "I just remembered I have somewhere to be tonight anyway."

     Suho swallowed. "You...you don't mean with Xiumin, do yo

     "How did you know he and I hung out?"

     "Alright. I may or may not have been walking through the woods a few weeks ago and seen you both together. But I figured it would be awkward if I said anything," he trailed off. "Are you guys, you know, a thing?"

     You were quiet, slightly taken aback. "Um, no. We're not. I mean, he kind of told me that he really cares about me, but I'm not exactly sure how I feel about that."

     "So, you don't have feelings for him?" Suho questioned further.

     "No. I mean, I don't think so...maybe? Ugh. I don't know. I might," you sighed.

     "He's probably a good guy, but I'm not too sure about him. Didn't you say he'd been acting strange lately?"

     "Yeah. He has been, I guess." You thought for a moment. "Although, to be completely honest, you haven't exactly been the definition of 'normal' lately, either."

     "Yeah. Look, I'm sorry about that. It's just that life has been really complicated lately, and it's kind of hard to talk about," Suho told you.

     "Suho, I'm your best friend. You know you can tell me anything. I won't judge you," you reassured him.

     "I know. I don't want to scare you. That's all."

     "Come on. We've been friends for almost our entire lives. Nothing much about you could really scare me anymore," you laughed. Suho was silent.

     "Suho?" you said. "I...I'm sorry. I'll listen. Really."

     "No. Don't say you're sorry. I should be the one to apologize."

     "For what?" you interrogated.

     "I, well...it's nothing you did. I promise. But I really just can't say anything right now. I'm so sorry, _____. I really am," Suho explained, hanging up the phone.

     "Suho? Suho?" you called. But the line went dead.

     Suho's heart sank. 

     "I really need to tell her," he thought. In his mind, he went over the multiple confessions he had to reveal to you. There were really only two, but they were complicated enough to seem like much more. And thinking about how you might feel about Xiumin broke his heart even more. All in all, there was a lot of confessing that had to be done, but his main focus was to keep you safe and let you be happy. Still, he had one important question.

     "Will I ever be able to be with her?"

     The next evening, you and Xiumin sat under the willow tree in the woods again. Feeling brave, you decided to ask him a question.

     "Xiumin, have you been okay lately?" you asked.

     "Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?"

     "You've been acting sort of strange lately. You leave so early, and one night this week, you didn't even show up."

     "I guess things have been kind of complicated-"

     "Complicated? That's what Suho told me."

     "Suho? He's been acting weird, too?" Xiumin questioned.

     You nodded. "He's been off this week, too. Are you guys hiding something from me?"

     "No. We don't even know each other!" he commented nervously.

     "Alright. Calm down. I'm still not convinced, though," you confessed.

     "Fine. Do you want to know why I've been acting so strange lately?"

     "That's what I've wanted to know all along," you deadpanned.

     "Do you really want to know?" he asked again.

     "Yes! You don't have to be afraid to tell me anything. Go ahead any say whatever's on your mind."

     "Okay. Just be prepared," he warned.

     "It can't be that weird-"

     You went completely silent. Thick hair appeared all over Xiumin's body, beginning to look like fur. Slightly horrified, you looked on as his teeth became longer and more pointed. His breathing slowly intensified. You heard footsteps behind you.

     "Xiumin! What the heck do you think you're doing?" Suho yelled from out of the trees.

     "You...you guys know each other?" you asked, shocked. Suho nodded.

     "We're from rival packs. And I also know that Xiumin is nothing but dangerous when he's full wolf!" Suho exclaimed. Xiumin growled.

     "And what would you know about being tame? Oh wait, you'd know a lot about that, considering that you refuse to fight, you coward!"

     Suho's eyes filled with rage. "I haven't spent all these years calming myself whenever there's a full moon for the fun of it. Maybe I was thinking about protecting other people. Maybe I was concerned about keeping _____ safe. But you don't seem to care. It's almost as if you've forgotten how much damage you've caused when you're in wolf form. And how do you intend to keep her safe when all you can do in this state is kill?"

     "Wait," you said. "Rival packs? You mean...oh my god. You're wolves?"

     "That's why I said I didn't want to scare you," Suho told you. You began to seem him transform as Xiumin was doing.

     "Oh, and I bet that was in the name of protecting _____, too. At least I was about to tell her the truth," Xiumin taunted. 

     "And risk her getting killed? You could of at least have learned to control yourself before you showed yourself to her in wolf form. Do you actually care about her as much as you say you do?" Suho retorted. 

     "I hope you know what you're getting into, lap dog!" Xiumin declared as he pounced on Suho. Suho let out a yelp of pain as Xiumin dug his claws into him.

     "Xiumin! Stop!" you pleaded. You tried to pull him off Suho before he leapt onto you.

     "_____!" Suho screamed.

     You felt your skin sting as Xiumin's claws grabbed onto your shoulder. Suho got up, jumping onto Xiumin's back. After a brief struggle, Suho had Xiumin pinned on the ground. 

     "This is why I told you that you couldn't be around _____ in your wolf state. Or you need to at least control yourself," Suho scolded. "Look what you've done."

     Xiumin stopped struggling long enough to look over at you. He froze as he saw you crying, clutching your shoulder. He began to walk over to you.

     "Don't go near her," Suho commanded.

     "I'll control myself. I promise," Xiumin said.

     "Alright. But if you do so much as touch her-"

     "I'll be more careful than I've ever been in my life."

     "That's saying a lot," Suho scoffed.

     "Suho, please," you said. "At least give him a chance."

     Xiumin slowly walked over to you. You impulsively began to move away, but when you saw the sadness in his eyes, you knew he had made a terrible mistake.

     "_____, I'm so sorry. I never meant to hurt you. I just wanted you to know the truth, and things got out of hand," Xiumin apologized, tears beginning to form in his eyes.

     "I know you were just reacting out of instinct. I'm sure you can learn to control yourself," you told him, trying to smile. He shook his head.

     "Some wolves have different personalities. I'm a natural born hunter. I tend to attack whatever comes my way when I'm a wolf. I should have thought about that before I showed myself to you like this."

     "You could have just told me," you said.

     "Yeah, but would you have actually believed me?"

     You thought for a minute. "I...I guess not. But you can learn to resist your instincts, right?"

     He shook his head. "No. I've tried for so long, but it never worked. Suho's a hunter, too, but he can control his urges a lot more easily. So, you're a lot safer around him."

     "What do you mean?" you asked.

     "I mean, we can't be together, _____. I'm really sorry. But," he said, taking a breath. "You and Suho can be. He'll always protect you, and he cares about you as much as I do, if not more."

     More tears came to your eyes. "What? He...he cares about me?"

     Xiumin nodded. "And I know you care about him, too. So, don't worry about me. I'll be okay."

     "Xiumin."

     He kissed your forehead. "Goodbye, _____."

     You saw him completely transform into a brown wolf with large, black eyes. Giving you one last glance, he dashed off into the woods.

     "Wow. That was pretty...interesting. Are you okay, Suho? Suho?"

     You looked around, but you saw nothing. Suddenly, your toe tapped the black wolf that had sat with you every night that week. Seeing the wounds on its chest, you realized it was Suho in his full wolf form. You tried your best to care for the wound, putting pressure on it with your jacket. Frantic, you tried to think of what you could do to help him. He looked up at you with his green eyes, somehow telling you he'd be okay until morning. Still, you refused to leave him. You rested your head on his chest, waiting for the sun to appear.

     "I never thought it would have been you whose head I was petting this entire week," you thought, dozing off.

     The morning light kissed youe eyelids, jerking you awake. You turned over and saw Suho lying down, shivering. 

     "Are you okay?" you asked him. He nodded, only to sit up and wince as pain rushed to the wound on his chest.

     "Come with me," you told him. You brought him back to your house to tend to his wound. Even though it was deep, it didn't look like it needed stitches, so you cleaned it and bandaged it for him. 

     "Thank you," Suho said. "How are you? Are you hurt?"

     You checked the scratches on your shoulder, shaking your head. "It's more of a scratch. I'll be alright."

     As he lay on your couch, you sat next to him on the floor.

     "What Xiumin told me about you...is it true?" you asked.

     "What did he tell you?"

     "He said that you care about me. And you want to protect me."

     Suho looked up, and then nodded. "Yeah. I do. I really care about you. I would have told you sooner, but I didn't want to get in the way of you and Xiumin if you wanted to be with him."

     "I think we realized it just won't work."

     "I'm sorry about that, _____."

     "It's alright. And I guess this helped me realize how I feel about you."

     "Huh?" Suho asked.

     "Well," you continued. "I remember how we were best friends when we were little. But as we got older, I realized that I had feelings for you. I thought it would make things weird, though, since I figured you didn't feel that way about me."

      "I've had feelings for you for the longest time. Probably after I realized how much I could trust you. And you've always been there for me. So I want to be there for you for as long as I can. But, are you okay with the whole, uh, you know, wolf thing?"

     You smiled. "Sure. It'll take some getting used to, but I know it'll be okay."

     You looked into his eyes, which had returned to their normal shade of brown. You felt him lean closer to you, his warm breath on your nose. As his hand gently your face, his soft, warm lips were pressed against yours in a loving, reassuring kiss.

     "I love you, _____. And I promise you I'll protect you for as long as I live," Suho told you.

     And you knew what he said was true no matter what happened.