Absurdity came at a 21 year old like myself to have a curfew at 5pm. Because days were getting longer as the summer slowly approached, the sun would set later, meaning my curfew should also be later. That is…if my curfew wasn’t changed by my older brother.

This was a good two and a half, almost three hours, before the sun set, my agitation on the topic of my curfew only grew as Woohyun continued to change it. At this point, I wasn’t going to take him telling me my curfew was changed and then walk away with no explanation. For the first time in years, I pent up enough courage to argue. Well, my version of arguing. Starting with refusal.

I always say that my brother is really hardheaded, never backing down from anything he says. When it comes to arguing, it can’t be the whining ‘why can’t I do this’ kind. Concise, well thought out reasons will convince Woohyun to change his mind. Almost.

“Woohyun, I have two group projects in school. I’m a full time college student, cutting my curfew so early will give me virtually no time to work on them.”

He looked at me skeptically, as if I’d actually lie to him about important schoolwork. I’m pretty sure his intense gaze had to do something with me talking back to him for the first time in a while.

“7.” He took the negotiating much better than I thought he would. “But if your late, I’m taking all of your cameras.”

My eyes widened at that threat. His version of an ultimatum was taking away the one thing in my life that made me even remotely happy. All for a curfew that I didn’t even understand.

I masked any fear in my eyes and raised my eyebrow in suspicion. “And no explanation as to why my curfew is being changed?”

Woohyun paused for a second, and I was dumb enough for believing that he was considering telling me. “No.” Woohyun rarely came to my room. Every action that he was taking was irregular from his natural personality and that alone was telling me there was more to this situation than just a petty curfew.

The door closed shut and his footsteps faded away to nothing as he went back to his own room. Taking away my camera was incentive enough for me to never be late again, and Woohyun knew that.

Sehun had arranged for us to meet at the same coffee shop we met at the first time, a nice change in scenery from the library. Both of us had enough research that we didn’t have to return to the library, which I was thankful for. Not a big fan of the smell of dust and old books.

I was close to thinking Sera was going to be there if Sehun chose to meet at the coffee place again. I was more than irritated when it was just Sehun sitting there at the same table outside by himself, knowing now that he didn’t like coffee. I remember well that Sera said he had distaste for coffee and preferred bubble tea, yet here he was sitting alone.

Wafts of different coffee smells immediately hit my nose, most unpleasant smells at that. The stench gave me a headache almost instantaneously, not putting me in the best of moods. If he hated coffee, then we shouldn’t meet for coffee.

The coldness of the metal seat hit my skin through my tattered jeans as I sat down with an annoyed grunt. Sehun was too busy on his laptop to even look up or acknowledge his partner at all.

All he said was that we needed to start outlining the paper and shared a document so that I could work on my own computer. The whole meeting was set up so that we didn’t even have to speak two words to one another, considering he took charge of most elements of the topic himself.

There was a basic formatted outline on the document that Sehun started, and I was supposed to add the elements I found where they best fit. I scanned carefully over the topics that Sehun had already put, immediately unsettled once I got to the middle section where the compare and contrast was. Comparison between soul mates and werewolf mates?

Instead of typing out my own information, I wanted to replace the compare and contrast to something else, so I deleted it and started thinking.

“Why’d you delete that?” Sehun scolded. He peers over his computer screen to give me a glare, then back down to retype what he originally had.

“Whatever you are trying to point out is automatically wrong.” Sehun jumping to conclusions on his own that a soul mate was the same thing as a mate was highly false. Two different words entirely in my book, and I felt like I knew what I was talking about.

The inscrutable face of Sehun baffled me. Yes, I might have just told him he would be wrong no matter what, but I found his deadpanned looks somewhat entertaining. It was like he couldn't be wrong ever.

He raised a questioning eyebrow, “It seems similar to me. Mate: person you’re destined to be with. Soul mate: person you’re destined to be with.”

“Soul mate?” I couldn’t help but scoff at the idea. “First of all, it’s not a soul mate. And second, you honestly believe in something like that? That’s just another way of saying ‘Hey, here’s this person you are going to be stuck with for the rest of your life. Enjoy. There’s no choice.”

His face was the same as always, unreadable. I couldn’t tell if he was upset, or angry, or happy for that matter. “You’ve got it backwards…” I heard him mumble. “You make it sound like being in love with one person is a sin.”

I didn’t peg Oh Sehun to be a romantic. Well, even though he had a girlfriend, that doesn’t mean anything. Because obviously he was wrong about her. That is, if either of them thought they were each other’s soul mates. That kind of thing just doesn’t exist.

Honestly, if the whole topic wasn’t brought up, I might have been able to make it through this meeting, but that on top of my impending headache from all the coffee smells, a nice time would be impossible. Especially with Oh Sehun.

“You haven’t been reading the material right. It’s a physical attraction, that’s it. No love.” I deleted the point again, but he retyped it just as quick.

“God, what’s gotten you all pissed off? You don’t normally talk this much.” He grumbled, averting eye contact and rapidly typing on his keyboard.

“I talk when talked to. You’ve kind of made it difficult for me to talk to people.” It was simple. People don’t talk to me and that was his fault, not mine. When you ostracize another person it kind of makes it strenuous for them to make any friends, hence my case.

“Don’t blame all of your problems on me. Just because no one wants to talk to a freak show doesn’t make that my fault.” It was so effortless how he directed the blame away from him. It amazed me that he couldn’t even see any of it was his fault, and I honestly couldn’t see how it was mine. I didn’t do anything. I was born, and even that was against my own will.

My teeth clamped down on the inside of my cheek. The guy in front of me has no sensitivity whatsoever. It wasn’t like anything was going smoothly to begin with, but this was definitely a stagnant, and it didn’t help that I wasn’t in the best of moods.

Instead of working on the outline, I turned my head to the side, watching the people coming and going. My eyes fell upon one person that I wasn’t ready to see yet.

“Oh, great…” I muttered, turning my head the other way in defiance. Of course, one of the faithful pack members comes much earlier than needed. What I would really love to know is how Woohyun got him.

I heard the metal scraping against the concrete patio, and the leader getting comfortable. I turned back over to Sunggyu, who already had a scowl on his face. Either he was upset at me, or he was in a bad mood. My guess would have been the first.

“I have an hour.” I snarled, annoyed at this whole curfew thing. “Can’t this wait?”

“No.” He sauntered. Little words from the leader typically was not a good thing. The fact that Sunggyu was quite the outspoken one, even with me, had concerned me.

“I’m never going to finish this project if all of you keep showing up.” Great. Now it sounds like I’m whining. Whatever, I’ll whine if I want to, I hate having my brother’s pack babysitting me, or whatever he wants to call it.

Sunggyu shrugged indifferently, “Tough?”

I slammed my head  down on the metal table, hoping that it would numb my mind so I wouldn’t go crazy. I hastily closed my laptop and shoved it in my bag, telling Sehun that we’d finish some other time. Another time when I wasn’t being watched like a hawk.

I stalked off in a huff, relishing in my bratty little sister roll, I guess. Calm footsteps echoed behind me.

“You don’t have to be so dramatic.”

I turned around to stop walking and folded my arms. “Besides Woohyun, you’re the last member to do this, and you’re the leader. You have power don’t you? Why can’t you tell me what’s going on?”

I could see some guilt in his eyes, meaning that even he didn’t want to keep secrets from me. Woohyun must have been desperate to ask Sunggyu not to tell me anything. “I’m not supposed to tell you exactly, but I can say this. We are having trouble with other….species, of sorts. Don’t ask anymore, ok?”

I complied for now and thought lightly of it, wanting to just go home and take a nap. Turns out Sehun pissing me off can last a while, or maybe it was just the topic that got me riled up. When the weekend rolled around, I didn’t want to run, I didn’t want to take pictures. I had never wanted to change more than that weekend. Something in me pulled me towards the forest, calling out to me.

The days were slowly getting hotter, and since the sun was beating down on me, I wanted to find a nice shady spot by water. The best were by rivers; cool enough but not that muddy. Not in the mood to get dirty, just relax. I wasn’t sure about how much time had passed when I found a good spot to lay down, I kind of just passed out. That didn’t mean my senses turned off.

What initially caught me off guard, as always, was the cologne. As soon as my eyes opened, I saw him casually dressed, shuffling through his backpack quietly. Why does he keep coming back here?

My eyes were fully open, my head no longer resting on the ground, but perched up in curiosity as he pulled out a plastic bag…with what looked like raw meat. He’s not going to throw that at me, is he? Doesn’t he remember the last two times he threw something at me?

With his bare hands, he took out the meat and then looked over at me. No Sehun, don’t do it…

With a little too much force, he tossed the meat over to me, landing directly in the dirt. Ok, I may look like a wolf but never in my life am I going to eat raw meat. I’m planning on not getting food poisoning, as I assume most would. To keep him away from suspicion I sniffed the meat, and shook out my fur, leaving the meat alone.

“Wha-I bought that.” He sounded so offended that I didn’t eat it, starting to mutter things like how he had to look up what kind of food wolves eat and a waste of money.

That’s what got me thinking. The last two times he was looking for me as a human. Now he came back with the intention of finding my wolf self. Strange, I could have sworn he was scared of me. He was all jittery before, but he seemed so calm.

I rolled over on my side, placing my head back on the dirt. Even though I was mad at him before, it sort of just disappeared once he showed up. Interesting. I don’t remember where I heard it, but they say one can’t be mad at someone if they are truly destined to be together. Interesting…

Sehun came closer to me and bent down, boldly rubbing my belly back and forth. Yes, he must have thought I was similar to a dog; that didn’t mean I didn’t enjoy a massage. “Huh….you’re a girl…” He muttered. Glad to see he was being more observant.

He soon joined me on the ground, kicking away his waste of money, and leaning against a tree. His hand found a spot on my back that brought me shivers, never being able to reach it myself. At least he was smart enough to realize that I liked that spot, and that’s where his hand stayed.

“You need a name.” He said thoughtfully. Yep, I’m becoming Sehun’s pet. Perfect…

“What if I called you snow? Or is that boring? I don’t know, it seems a bit basic. Do you like it?” I’m going to subtly admit that his excitement for naming me was kind of cute. His monotone voice had changed, somewhat giddy like a child.

He was right, a name like snow seemed so fairytale. It’s not like he could call me by my actual name, might as well go along with his.

He started muttering to himself again. “Well, it’s not like I can call you blackie or spot or any of those either. Your fur is white, what else can I come up with? Maybe I’m just not very creative with names. This is why I don’t have any pets…”

For someone who seemed so quiet in groups, he was sure talkative when he was by himself. Or at least, talking to my wolf form. Instead of letting him ramble on, I nudged his hand with my snout until it rested on the top of it. Instinctively he moved it on the top of my head, letting his short nails scratch my scalp.

“What, you like the name snow?”

It’s all right for you. I guess. I huffed out. Not really sure how he was able to communicate so well with me, but he caught on, letting out a smooth honey thick chuckle.

“Well, I guess you are just as into fairytale stuff as me.” He scoffed muttering again, “Says the guy who spends his free time talking to a wolf. Oh Sehun you are going mad.”

I would have laughed if I could. He must talk to himself a lot.

“You are the calmest wolf I have ever met.” He said softly, reaching a really nice spot behind my ear.

Probably the only one.

“No, wait…I don’t exactly meet wolves…”

At least you know that one doesn’t meet wolves.

We sort of stayed out there all day, and it made me wonder why he wasn’t with his girlfriend on the weekend. He purposely choose to go look for a wolf he met twice and ended up staying. If only it were this easy to get along in my normal self, then there wouldn’t have been so many problems. If only he showed me this self, rather than the person he shows me.

It’s strange to me. The person who had spent the day relaxing with a wolf, and he was my mate. What I didn’t like about this whole mate thing to begin with was the acceptance. Mates have to accept each other to become truly mated. Seeing how much I have progressed in appealing to Sehun, it didn’t seem like he could ever accept me. And I was beginning to hate that. 

Sooo....here's a list of completely justifiable reasons as to why I went AWOL for like a month...

-major writer's block [pretty reasonable right?]

-I made a tumblr for one shots 

-I downloaded minecraft 

-I ran a summer camp for middle schoolers practically by myself....

-minecraft again

-minecraft

-i ruined my own life...

Yes I'm weird and got bored and bought minecraft...don't judge me it's fun i swear! But be honest, how am I doing so far? You guys like Wolf Princess? I'm liking how it's turning out >.<