Sanghyuk’s POV

    Tuesday I arrived at school early. Hakyeon drove me as usual. He talked through the whole drive, but my thoughts were on finding this other girl in the prophecy. The sooner I found her the more time we would have to prepare. I still felt that the others saw me as a child. I wanted to do all I could to prove them wrong, and I was positive this was the best way to do it.

    Between the days I missed and my general lack of interest in school, I was not able to name any of the girls in my class. Many of the girls were attractive. I tried to listen carefully to pick up names. Not a single person stood out. Growing up knowing that you will only have one love dampened my interest in the opposite gender. There were many girls I found exceedingly appealing, but I didn’t actively look for my soulmate.

    During lunch Minji sat down across from me. She began talking befor her tray even hit the table, “don’t you might be taking the whole prophecy thing a little too serious? I mean, I love my grandma, but the story sounds crazier every time I hear it.”

    I shrugged, “But why if I don’t take it serious and then we are too late?”

    “Fine, but at least let me help.” she reached into her pants pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. She continued to speak as she unfolded and set the paper down in front of me. “She said that the man was at the front of the class looking at one person and smiling, right? Well, if we go with the assumption that you are the man, and it’s our class, then this would have been the seating arrangement.” My eyes scanned the paper. I recognized a few of the names. “Do you know who you may have been smiling at?”

“No clue.” I pulled out a pen. “If we exclude you.” I drew a line through her name. “The these are the other three girls I recognize.” I circled each of their names. “Now all I need to do is to get close enough to them to determine if they are a part of this prophecy too.”

Minji chucked, “let me know how that one turns out.” She ate a spoonful of what appeared to be pudding.

I can’t remember ever seeing her talk this much, or even sit with someone during lunch. I had always assumed that it was because she was shy, but I was discovering, that while she was awkward, she wasn’t shy. The curse, or prophecy, that was created by her grandmother had made things hard on her. She must have distanced herself to avoid being hurt.

I felt bad that I hadn’t noticed her sooner. She was proving herself to be a valuable friend. As much as I didn’t want to admit it, I was enjoying her presence. We finished lunch in a comfortable silence.

Once class had ended, I rushed out of the class quickly. I stowed my bookbag in my locker and went to hide behind an old shed. The shed had gardening tools, that had been unused due to the winter. I stripped and hid my clothes. With a sigh the world around me slowly grew larger. I leaned my small body against the door and stepped out into the world.

If Hakyeon saw me, or knew of my idea, I would never hear the end of his list of dangers. Hakyeon wasn’t here, and didn’t know what I was doing. This knowledge gave me confidence. With my head held high I made my way to the entrance of the school.

When I saw a group of girls from my class leaving, I approached them and let out a small yip. They reacted as I had expected. First was the high pitched squealing, followed by them bending over or dropping to their knees so that they were on my level.

“He is so cute!” They exclaimed loudly. I loved the attention. I ran in circles and continued to yip at them excitedly. On of the girls picked me up off the ground. This startled me, but there was nothing I could do without revealing myself.

“Hey, he doesn’t have a collar.” One of the girls pointed out. “Someone should take him home.”

“No pets in my building,” another girl frowned.

At that moment Minji came out of the building. I yipped trying to catch her attention. She looked up at the girls at the same time they noticed her.

“What about you Minji, can you take a dog? He is only a puppy, and we can’t take him.”

Minji looked unsure. “Uh, I don’t know guys. I mean,” the girl holding me started to walk closer, and Minji took a step back for ever step closer. “we aren’t really dog people.”

Minji stopped when her back me the brick wall of the building. I was into her arms, “don’t be silly, everyone is a puppy person.” The girl smiled, almost wickedly, “besides, it’s not like you’re busy off with your friends or anything.”

I snarled at the girl and let out an angry bark. This must have scared Minji, because she jumped and held me as far from her body as possible.

Even though she didn’t seem thrilled at the idea of having me come with her, she placed me in the bed of her pickup truck and drove home. When we arrived she picked me up and held me out away from her body. She set me down as quickly as possible and tried to keep her distance.

“Listen here, mutt.” She started firmly. “I’m not a dog person.” She went to the kitchen and I followed. Upon seeing me behind her, she grabbed a wooden spoon and pointed it at me. “To be completely honest, I hate dogs. You terrify me.” She turned and put away the spoon, and used her toes to gently nudge me out of the way. “I’ll find you a good home, I promise. This is only temporary so don’t get used to it.”

I found it adorable and funny that she would hold such a serious conversation with a puppy. I decided to give her a little space. She would eventually find my presence comforting.

I hope everyone had a great Valentines day! 

And Happy Birthday to Ravi!! <3