Hyeji knew one thing, even if she was aware of the truth about Leo, there was no way she could confront him about it. Leo had vanished without a trace and everywhere Hyeji looked, she could not find him. Unfamiliar with the totality of the woods, she was certain there was no way she could locate him either. She sat across Jaehwan and sighed, sipping on the hot chocolate his mother had just handed to her.

“So your ancestors lived in this house?” Jaehwan blinked as Hyeji snapped out of her daze and nodded “that’s interesting! And you say this house was attacked by a wolf?” she could see Jaehwan’s eyes rounding as he spoke further.

“Well, something of the sort. At least that is what my father said.” she sighed into her mug as Jaehwan nodded, understanding.

“I don’t personally know anything else about this house though,” he continued, taking a sip of his own hot chocolate. He had finally recovered from the wounds on his back and had set to wooing the girl who had moved in next door - Sooyeon with his overwhelming excitement. Hyeji couldn’t help but wonder if there was a repeated pattern of this wolf-like creature targeting this very specific house, considering Jaehwan’s situation. She found herself tuning Jaehwan’s chatter out and feeling awful about it as well. Was she was too preoccupied by this? But this was the matter that she simply couldn’t let go.

“Do you think I can do it?” Jaehwan asked, as Hyeji blinked back at him meeting his hopeful eyes. She smiled.

“Of course you can Jaehwan.” she said, finishing the rest of her hot chocolate making Jaehwan grin back at her even though she had the same question he did. Would she ever be able to find Leo again or would he simply remain burned into her memory, fading like a deep scar, slowly but still there to remind her of the experience.

“What’s that around your neck?” Jaehwan’s voice piped up over her thoughts making her turn towards him as her fingers reached up to run over the fang that now hung around her neck. She held it up to Jaehwan’s gaze as he took it into his hand and looked at it with fascination.

“A wolf fang? That’s interesting.”

“Found it in the attic.” she explained as the fang was dropped back against her chest. She wasn’t entirely sure why she wore the fang around her neck, but ever since she found it, she strung it around her neck and there it stayed. Their conversation continued till late and Hyeji found herself picking her bicycle up and heading towards the woods to get back home sooner.

It was a lot more eerie than usual, the comfort of another human life being with her no longer existed. She could hear the creak of her bicycle wheels and the sound of it’s weight on the drying leaves. Taking a deep breath, she mounted the seat and began slowly pedalling her way through. She only heard the noise of footsteps on the leaves when she slowed her cycle down to take a turn. The speed at which they were heading in her direction made her spin around and her eyes to go wide at the mangy creature that was now pouncing on her.

She heard a shout, and tried to move only to have her feet freeze in fear. Movement almost felt impossible at that moment. The cycle dropped to the side as she slide off it and felt her knees give way. Maybe this was the end.

She barely remembered anything except the darkness and the heavy weight upon her that followed. She’d squeezed her eyes shut holding her hands up to her face – the only defense she had left. There had been a crash, a whimper, and the a solid weight upon her which  warmed her up instantly and a voice which whispered into her ear.

“Hyeji.”

Hello after a long time. Getting back into the groove of writing :)

Ryukai