“Baek hyung,” Kyungsoo called but it sounded more like a whine because he was already doing that for the past five minutes and yet the elder didn’t show any move to get up. And it is the first day of the academic year.

“Soo, eat your breakfast already,” Luhan made his way to where he saw Kyungsoo enter a few minutes back and he frowned when he saw the youngest trying to coax Baekhyun out of his bed. His eyebrow twitched in irritation because he has already allowed Baekhyun to mope and sulk for a few days but pushing it until that moment is too much.

He doesn’t have time to deal with Baekhyun’s drama anymore and he has to be early for the damned Freshmen Orientation because he will be one of the representatives of the Arts Department. He wrapped his hand on Kyungsoo’s arm and pulled him up and behind him. The younger didn’t protest and just observed what his hyung would do next.

Luhan then pulled the blankets that were covering Byun Baekhyun and tugged them harshly off the bed. Since Baekhyun is tangled with his sheets, he landed on the floor with a loud thud and a string of curses rang inside the room. After some minutes and Baekhyun has grown tired of trashing around and yelling  profanities in the air, Luhan removed his hands that covered Kyungsoo’s ears – that protected his precious innocence – and kicked Baekhyun once more. He heard a pained grunt and smiled to himself.

“Get your ing lazy up now, Byun Baekhyun or I swear…!”

“YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND!” Baekhyun wailed as he sat up, the covers falling on his lap. He looked like that it made Luhan snicker and Kyungsoo whimper. “THAT PERSON IN HERE! THAT PERSON IS EVEN LIVING JUST ACROSS US!”

Kyungsoo felt a thousand times guiltier upon hearing this and his lips trembled as he kept himself from crying. If he didn’t befriend Chanyeol then his Baekhyun hyung will not be like this.

Oblivious to this, Baekhyun continued his ranting, “NOW I HAVE TO BE ALWAYS ON ALERT SO THAT WE WILL NEVER HAVE PHYSICAL CONTACT AGAIN BUT THEN THAT WILL JUST MAKE ME THINK OF HIM AND OBSERVE HIM AND WE ALL KNOW THAT IT WILL NOT TAKE TIME FOR ME TO FALL IN LOVE WITH THAT PERSON BECAUSE THAT IS JUST THE WAY IT IS SINCE HE IS SUPPOSEDLY MY TRUE LOVE AND HE WILL BE NOTHING BUT PERFECT  BUT THEN I CAN’T EVEN TELL IT TO HIM BECAUSE IF HE KNEW ABOUT THE CURSE, HE WILL NEVER LAY HIS EYES ON A FREAK LIKE ME! NO ONE WOULD EVER WANT TO FRENCH KISS A DOG!”

A loud bang of a door harshly closed followed. Baekhyun jumped in surprise and groaned when his made contact on the floor once more.

“Huh, and I am supposed to be the around here,” Luhan sneered and Baekhyun flinched at the judging stare that the elder is giving him. “Get your sorry up and bring Soo back here by the end of the day or else.”

Shivering at the threat, Baekhyun grabbed his things and ran to the shower before he goes out and apologize to Kyungsoo. Luhan and his threats are not to be taken lightly.

Kyungsoo found a lone bench by the field. It is under the shade of a tree and it is almost to the fence that separates the university to the forest. It was a perfect place for him to cry and no one will give him curious stares as he tried to curl himself into a ball as if willing to disappear from the face of the earth.

He haven’t been in the university for a month and yet he has already managed to anger Baekhyun because of his carelessness. It was his fault that Chanyeol was there in their room that resulted to Baekhyun finding the person who will turn him into a pup even without the new moon. If they were just normal people, they should be celebrating because his hyung has met the person who is his perfect match. His destiny. His soulmate. His one true love.

But because they are far from normal, this is dreaded by almost all of them.

For Kyungsoo and the rest of the Cursed, finding the person who are fatefully meant for them would turn them into cute little animals upon any physical contact. And it is the best torture because you already have the one thing you could only wish for but it is so close and yet so far.

And that is the reason why the Cursed keeps to themselves. Families living in compounds, children being home schooled, neighbors turned to friends, companionships masked as marriages and living discontent because somewhere out there they know that there is someone who could make their life complete. And yet, the same person will bring them nothing but heartbreak because they are Cursed that way.

Kyungsoo knew that there really is no way out of their destiny. It has always been like that, a couple of generations has passed already and yet, nothing has changed. But he wants to somehow live outside of that box where they are inevitably in. Nothing is stopping them, actually. Except the fact that they are more exposed and vulnerable to breaking.

He continued to cry because it hurts that Baekhyun is one step closer to being forever scarred and he was the cause of it. He cries because it is sad that they can’t love freely as they would want. He cries because he feels hopeless. He cries because he is frustrated. What did he ever do to deserve something like this? What did his Baekhyun and Luhan hyung do to be suffering like him?

It is truly unfair.

But then again, he reaches an impasse.

“Hey, why are you…? Kyungsoo?” Chanyeol was walking to the auditorium for the freshmen orientation but then he had gotten lost and he would rather bite his tongue off rather than call Jongin or Sehun for help because they wouldn’t live that down forever; him being lost on the first day of uni. He doesn’t know how he ended up to where he was standing. Maybe it is because he heard low sobs that he followed it and found Kyungsoo curled to himself.

Kyungsoo looked up and he cried even more.

“! I’m sorry! I-I… what happened?” Chanyeol flailed around until he ended up sitting beside Kyungsoo on the bench, looking over the other worryingly. It reminded him of that day when he learned that Kyungsoo and the doll bull