(

“Of all people, ugh.”

Seungwan thinks there are two pairs of glowing eyes watching her through the branches of the trees, cautious and calculated. A hand is pressed against her cheek, tapping her softly, and when she looks up, there’s a pair of squinting eyes staring back worriedly.

They’re familiar, and Seungwan’s heart throbs a little more. “I’m gonna kill her,” the soft eyes almost shriek, sending the trees a harsh glare. Then She looks back at Seungwan. “I’m so sorry, Wan.”

“What are you doing here?” she barely croaks out, and immediately regrets. feels like death, and the world spins around her.

The eyes soften more, then sighs. “We’re gonna get you to the bookshop, they’ll treat you there.” Her voice trembles, in fear. And Seungwan’s heart throbs just a little bit more, because what is She doing here?

She weakly attempts to swat Her hands away, but it’s her glare that does the job. She flinches back as Seungwan tries to sit up. “What are you doing here?”

“That’s a discussion for another day, Wan. We need to get you to safety.” She looks around frantically. “Her, too.”

“Who’s—”

There’s another sharp pang to the back of her neck, and the pain is too much. She clenches her fist close against Her shirt, pulling Her close. “It hurts.”

“I’m so sorry,” is all She says, in a shaky voice, as She carries Seungwan up and gestures to the trees. “I’m so sorry. We’re gonna get you both to safety, okay?”

“Why does my neck hurt?”

“It’s just a little cut, Wan. Don’t worry.”

Her fingers clenched tightly, shake against the fabric as Seungwan pulls Her closer. “Make it stop.”

“I will.” A pause, some grunting behind. “I will, Wan. You’re not gonna get hurt when I’m around, ‘kay?” Something shifts, Seungwan’s deluded mind thinks it’s the body underneath hers. Then a kiss is pressed to her forehead, and the eyes meet hers. “I promise. I don’t break promises when it comes to you, do I?”

She shakes her head weakly, feels herself being carried once more.

And then, darkness.

)

-

There’s a moment when Seungwan’s sure she died. There were angels, a bright light, and some heavenly singing.

But then she wakes up, and there’s ache all over her, and she looks up to find big, bright eyes staring way too close at her, immediately pulling back when she opens her eyes and screaming.

She groans, tries to sit up and make sure her ears haven’t fallen off, and takes a look around the crowded—uh, library?

There are books all over, Jisung, Johnny, Taeyeon, Taeyong, and a few faces she saw during the party, and then her four favorite Witches, all staring at her. Jisung in particular looks sheepish but excited.

Then Joohyun’s making her way over to her, throwing her arms around her, and… is she sobbing against Seungwan’s shoulder?

Taeyeon clears , looking away, and Johnny sends Seungwan an infuriating wink.

Seungwan taps Joohyun’s shoulder and the latter pulls away, concern swimming in her eyes as she studies Seungwan’s. “You scared us so bad, you jerk.”

“Uh, sorry?” She looks around at the faces. “What happened to me?”

“You weren’t hit,” says Seulgi, sitting by her feet with what looks like relief. “But we saw a poisoned arrow near the park behind your apartment building, and—” she looks around hesitantly, “—Sooyeon brought you in really weakly. You were both battered and bruised, and Sooyeon was hit.”

She sits up, taken aback. “Who’s Sooyeon?”

Taeyeon clears once more before looking around sheepishly. “We need your, uh, what do you remember from the incident?”

She blinks as the memories come flashing back. “I dropped the cucumber candle, the cats liked to hang around my windows and they freak me out, so Joohyun made me a cucumber candle.” She sends her a thankful smile. But Joohyun’s just staring slack-jawed at the door towards what seems to be a smaller room. “And when I went down to clean it up, someone screamed at me to watch out and I—” she squints, trying to remember but coming up with nothing, “—that’s all I remember.”

“Okay,” Taeyeon says, tapping her pen on her paper impatiently, looking really annoyed and on the verge of tears. The guy Seungwan remembers as Leeteuk puts an arm around her, but she shrugs it off madly. “Yeah, all we have is a badly lit CCTV footage, and this girl who caused this is not helping at all.”

Joohyun looks up to glare at Taeyeon. “If Sooyeon wasn’t so secretive about her task we would’ve known she was just trying to protect Seungwan and not trying to hurt her.” Taeyeon flinches but she regains her composure immediately and goes back to tapping her pen. “Sooyeon disappearing isn’t at all Seungwan’s fault.”

“Who’s Sooyeon? Why did she disappear?” she asks again, but it falls on deaf ears as Kangta pushes himself off the counter and claps his hands, sending her a warm smile.

“We’ve sent who’s left of Junmyeon’s group on a search for her, and I’m sure Taeyeon’s group’s helping out, too.” He sighs, rubbing his palms together and looking solemn. “Someone make sure this news doesn’t reach Soojung.” Then he smiles, so fake and phony and professional. “You can take Seungwan to Peek-A-Brew, I’m sure you have medicine over there. That is all. Dismissed.”

Everyone makes their way towards the doors, whispering to each other.

Seungwan grabs Joohyun’s wrist, making her own ache and herself wince. She gets a really worried look from Joohyun, who abruptly steps closer to stare closely as she massages her wrist. “You’re letting me in, aren’t you?” Joohyun nods. “Who’s Sooyeon?”

“One of the Cats outside your window.”

“Why is she gone?”

Joohyun shrugs, and no matter how nonchalant she tries to look, there’s fear in her eyes. “That… I don’t know the answer to, Wan.” She sighs, pressing a kiss against Seungwan’s forehead. “You’re going to have to stay with us for now, okay? We can’t risk any more of this. That was the worst three days of my life.”

She lets the smile lift her lips, eyes teasing. “Can’t risk when it comes to the people you love, huh?”

And of course, she gets an eye roll from Joohyun, a hint of a smile on her lips. “Can’t risk at all. Let’s get you out and in the car.”

“Hyun, we’re a few stores away,” she says. Joohyun looks up at her, looking conflicted. Then a smile brightens up her face. “What?”

“What did you call me?”

She blinks, lips parting. “Hyun?”

“Yeah. Hyun.” Joohyun nods, almost to herself. Then she smiles once more. “Come on now, Wan, no risks at all when it comes to the people you love, alright?”

Seungwan feels like she melted right there and then, into a puddle of a gooey pink mess that only Joohyun can bring back to its original form. She’s willing to be a gooey pink mess a hundred more times.

-

Johnny stands outside her apartment sheepishly, shifting between his toes and the heel of his shoes as he stares at Seungwan. “I can’t come in.”

Seungwan raises an eyebrow at him. She’s packing up her things and practically moving into the Witches’ house, and Johnny had volunteered to help. But he won’t step in and just stands outside, sulking like a child.

Joohyun’s head peeks out of Seungwan’s bedroom. “Vampire, Wan, he can’t come in without any invitation.”

“And they never invited me over to their house, so I always had to climb up the side to go to the rooftop during get-togethers,” he tattles, looking mildly pissed.

And Seungwan takes pleasure in that. She laughs a little before saying, “You shall pass,” gesturing sarcastically, hands flying around.

Johnny sends her a glare before stepping in, immediately breathing a sigh of relief after. “Your place is small.”

“Sorry it doesn’t pass your standards, Vamp.” She throws a pillow at him. “How big is your place?”

“Will you stop calling me ‘Vamp’? It’s not cute,” Johnny grumbles, picking the pillow up and putting it in one of the boxes. He has a thoughtful look on his face as he turns back towards Seungwan. “I like your place. Maybe I’ll live here while you’re with the Witches.”

“Why?”

Johnny shrugs. “It’s small.”

“Is your place, like, hella bigger?”

Johnny smiles. “I live in a mansion with seventeen other guys, Wan. It’s small for us.” He sighs, and, obviously avoiding Seulgi’s gaze, looks out the window wistfully. “But it was packed way more before. And I guess I just miss that kind of small.”

“Who did you live with before?”

Johnny doesn’t answer, just smiles tightly before entering the bedroom to help Joohyun and Yerim. But that was answer enough, and Seungwan’s gaze lands on Sooyoung and Seulgi packing up the kitchen.

“Did all the locals live together before?”

For a brief moment, it seemed like no one wanted to answer her. But then Seulgi speaks up even before Sooyoung opens . “It was a very dangerous situation,” says Seulgi.

“What do you mean?” she asks, prods. Because she wants to know more about them, and about the hurt in Johnny’s eyes as he talked about wanting a cramped apartment.

Seungwan wants to know a lot more about them, but there are hundreds of years of history and she’s just too late.

Sooyoung sighs. “We were being attacked, so all the locals had to move into Gramps’ castle. He has one, edge of the woods beside the university. We weren’t—” she stops, then shrugs, “—close back then. We weren’t like how we are right now. But we had to move into his castle to avoid casualties.”

“We had numbers, sure. We had more than fifteen Demons, seven Angels, twelve Werewolves—but we didn’t have strength. We were weak.” Seulgi shakes her head as sadness flood into her eyes. “We lost… we lost quite a few of us. Most of them the older ones.”

“What do you mean lost? Aren’t you immortals?”

Seulgi’s lips lift up in a sad smirk. “Witches aren’t immortal, really. Neither are Weres. But after losing too many, we—” she stops, just stares at Seungwan like she’s afraid. Or maybe just sad. Those two emotions bleed so well together on the town locals, Seungwan realizes.

Sooyoung continues for her, “Our parents poisoned the air of the castle so that whoever is inside will be immortal, and whoever leaves will die. It’s to make sure our blood lives on, and anyone who breaks into the castle dies when they leave.”

“We have the same air around the city here,” Yerim says, exiting Seungwan’s room. “We’re not allowed to leave unless we have a potion with us. But that only works three days maximum. Those sent on outside missions are required to drink them every three days and not miss.”

“So, if I left—”

“Will you leave?”

She looks up and finds Joohyun and Johnny each holding boxes and stepping out of her room. Joohyun raises an eyebrow at her.

“If, Hyun.” She will, obviously. She needs to visit her parents and her sister, but she can just take the potion and come back after her visit.

Joohyun nods. “If you leave, I’ll make sure to perfect my potion so you’re not dependent on the air around here anymore.”

“You say it like you think I am for sure going to leave,” she says defensively. She can’t help the hurt that laces her tone, but keeps staring straight into Joohyun’s eyes, because Seungwan’s eyes are similar to Joohyun’s—they cannot lie.

She notices Yerim doing that thing with her lips when the tension is high and she's mildly amused, so she sighs and shrugs. “I’ll always come back. Where else can I find Witches?”

She chuckles as she looks around, but Johnny diverts his gaze, Seulgi busies herself with the packing, and Sooyoung and Yerim sends her equally amused looks.

Joohyun stiffens. “There are lots of Witches out there. But if you ever get tired of the disorganized mart, the rowdy game center, and the creepy coffee shop, you are allowed to leave.”

There’s a silent ‘and me’ there that makes Seungwan pout. She stands and cups Joohyun’s cheeks. “I’m not leaving, okay? Like, maybe just to see my parents but I'll always come back.” She looks around warily and finds everyone still either trying to ignore or flat out watching. “Not for the Witches—or Vampires. But for the people.” She turns back to Joohyun. “For you.”

Joohyun avoids her gaze like a child, looking away so obviously it’s cute. Especially since the reddening of her cheeks have already said what her eyes are trying to hide.

Seungwan smiles as she pulls Joohyun into a hug. “I won’t get tired of you.”

Joohyun melts into the embrace, gingerly wrapping her arms around Seungwan’s waist.

And that, the doubtful tighteting of her arms, is how Seungwan realized that even Witches have insecurities.

-

She moves into Seulgi’s room.

Yerim doesn’t like sharing her room, Sooyoung’s room has the dogs, and Joohyun—well, she claims her room’s too crowded for another person. So, Seulgi offers her room with a bright smile, eyes disappearing.

Besides, Seungwan thinks it’s better to not share a room with someone she’s embarrassingly crushing on, especially not when the said person is Bae Joohyun.

She lets Joohyun buy her a mattress to place on the floor of Seulgi’s room, though, and lets Joohyun fix her bed, placing way too many pillows aside from the ones Seungwan brought, even making her pick between the twenty different kinds of blankets that Seungwan swears all look the same.

She takes the purple one with a smile.

Yerim tackles her onto the mattress with a grin, Sooyoung pushing Seulgi right on top of her before joining the pile.

-

While they did promise to let her in, it isn’t easy to learn everything at once. Some things still catch her off guard. The only difference between now and then is they’re much more free talking to each other about their hunts, their tasks, and the Wolves’ newest pranks against the Vamps.

And they always answer when she asks, though the doubt and fear never leave their eyes. It’s the same for humans, anyway. There are just some things that are hard to talk about, especially when you’re afraid to admit it to yourself.

The little things, however, they answer in a heartbeat.

She’s mixing her batter quietly, Seulgi, Sooyoung, and Yerim all lounging in the kitchen to disturb her and her playlist, when Sooyoung reads aloud a text from Kangta, “’tell Rowoon I need her report this weekend’.”

Seungwan looks up at Seulgi, brows furrowed. “Who’s Rowoon?”

“That’s her fake name but she messed up and introduced herself as Seulgi as soon as you met. Funny ‘cause that should mean wise and she’s anything but,” Sooyoung informs her, gracefully avoiding the knife Seulgi throws at her.

The knife breaks the window and lands outside, much to Seungwan’s shock. She turns to Seulgi, who’s back to cracking eggs open like she didn’t just throw a knife at her friend. “What the hell was that?”

Yerim spins on her chair, looking out the window nonchalantly. “That knife probably ended up with the other knives thrown around this kitchen.” She sends Seungwan a knowing look, almost like she’s mockingly sad. “They’re within arm’s reach when Joohyun’s mad and Sooyoung unironically always gets her pissed off in the kitchen.”

“It helps strengthen my skills.” Sooyoung shrugs nonchalantly.

“What skills? Avoiding deadly objects thrown at you?”

“Exactly that.” Sooyoung winks, further making Seungwan confused and worried.

“We master combat skills. We have to make sure our reflexes are fast, aims deadly.” Seulgi raises an eyebrow, glaring out the window. At that moment, she looks so charismatic Seungwan almost forgets this is the girl who whines whenever Seungwan doesn’t leave her any cookie batter to . “Some towns have no magic, some towns have restrictions. Seoul doesn’t have magic, but Yang’s town locals like to stay there.”

“So, you… learn how to kill?”

“Honey,” Yerim breathes out coyly, “we’re Witches protecting the town. We help hunt. We are killers.”

Seungwan’s heart aches a little at the sardonic tone and she almost reaches out to assure Yerim they aren’t monsters. But she learned from Joohyun that sometimes all these creatures can believe in are what humans think of them.

Murderers.

She sighs. “Will you guys teach me?”

“You’re human,” says Sooyoung, shooting down any other ‘but’s with a glare and a cocked brow.

That look goes well with Sooyoung’s face, with her long hair and her expressive eyes. That look makes Seungwan’s inner gay throb a little each time.

But then the reason why she doesn’t ever fall for Sooyoung walks in, in her apron and her hair up in a bun that came as a shock to Seungwan at first, but almost made her melt the next moment. She chews on her lower lip, studying Seungwan.

“I think we need to teach her.”

Seungwan’s eyes widen. “I was just—”

“It’s for your protection, Wan,” Joohyun says, gaze piercing. But it’s only piercing because Joohyun only knows how to hide her emotions with anger, and fear is harder to hide than most emotions. She adds, “You need to be protected. You’re not even supposed to be part of this but we thought you were the threat and… and this is our fault.”

“It’s not—”

“So, we’re teaching you. And putting our lives on the line for your safety.”

She looks around the room and finds the other three nodding at Joohyun, almost like it didn’t even need any thinking. “You can’t. I mean, you’re immortal, but you can’t.”

“Immortals have weaknesses, Wan,” Seulgi tells her, moving around the table to the door as Joohyun takes her place by the eggs. “They’re all different, but with the same outcome.”

“What’s the outcome?”

Fear floods Seulgi’s eyes, a few drops of sadness in there. Seungwan can only imagine the scene playing out behind the walls of her brain, making her stare at Seungwan with nothing to say. “Just… we can handle the outcome.”

Seungwan swivels to face Joohyun. “What outcome?”

Joohyun shakes her head. “It’s nothing much, don’t worry about it.”

But it can’t be nothing much when there’s that much fear in Seulgi’s eyes, and, now that Seungwan thinks about it, Taeyeon’s eyes. “Joohyun, what outcome?”

The oldest Witch sighs, then glances towards Sooyoung, who shrugs. “We lose our powers, is all. We’ll live as mortals.” She looks back at Seungwan and her gaze flicks from one eye to the other. “Like your friends.”

Wheein and Hyejin, whom she haven’t seen since the full moon and will kill her if she pops out alive. She adds a ‘call Wheein and Hyejin’ on her mental list of things to do before sighing. “I won’t let you guys risk your lives for me, so just teach me how to, uh, hold a knife or something.”

Joohyun nods, smiling. “We’ll start tomorrow. I can see you need to meet your friends today.”

-

Hyejin is amused; Wheein, not so much.

She gets a tight hug from Hyejin, gets dragged along with her jumps and her excited yells of ‘You’re alive’, as Wheein just glares at her from the sidelines, arms crossed and eyes teary.

“I’m sorry,” she chokes out, Hyejin’s arms around . “I got sick and wasn’t allowed to use my phone at all.”

Wheein’s glare slices harder. “You got sick a few days away from the full moon, is that it? I almost killed Hyejin for dragging me into her prank of making you buy coffee from that place!”

Hyejin pulls away from Wendy, nodding seriously. “She had a knife in her hands.”

The thought of Seulgi throwing a knife at an unfazed Sooyoung contrasts the thoughts of Wheein holding a knife with both hands and Hyejin hiding behind a couch. It amuses Wendy into chuckling, making Wheein’s glare intensify.

She holds her hands up. “I’m sorry, really! I was really sick. They wouldn’t allow me to even leave the bed.”

“They meaning those owners?” Wheein grumbles, but stepping forward.

Wendy shrugs. “Yeah, them. They’re not bad, Wheein, they’re actually… softies.”

“Tell that to all the boys that disappeared.”

Before, whenever Wheein or Hyejin brought up the boys, Wendy always felt the fear pulsating numbly in her veins. She was always doubtful, scared she’d end up like those boys.

But now, she can say confidently, “They’re not bad.” Those boys may have not met the best of endings, but that doesn’t make Joohyun and the others bad. It makes them heroes, and Wendy’s proud to call them that.

“We really don’t want you to disappear, Wen.”

Her gaze sweeps up and she meets Wheein’s. “Wan,” she corrects.

Wheein’s brows cutely furrows, lips cutely pout. “What?”

“My real name’s Son Seungwan. Wendy Shon’s my, uh, Canadian name.” She extracts a palm, which Hyejin takes immediately. “My closest friends call me Seungwan and I don’t know why it took me this long to tell you guys that. Call me Seungwan.”

“It’s only been a month,” Hyejin reminds her, rolling her eyes.

Wheein steps closer. “Seungwan,” she tries, then a smile lifts up her lips. “Well, Son Seungwan, you’re an for being MIA, and I grew up thinking those girls in the coffee shop, and those boys in the diner—all of them are dangerous. But if you think they’re not bad—”

“Then they’re not bad,” Hyejin cuts her off, giggling at the glare Wheein sends her.

Seungwan grins at them, realizes she spent too much time trying to enter the Witches’ world that she forgot she has friends outside of it. She pulls them both into a hug. “You were taught since young that you should avoid them?” she asks as she pulls away.

Hyejin frowns at her sudden display of affection, but nods. “They’re that one scary neighbor every kid has, except they’re everywhere. We used to play by the river and at the end of that’s a house where one old lady lived, and our toys always end up there. We played games to choose who takes it from her front yard.”

Wheein’s eyes turn from mocking to happy, reminiscing. “Yeah, I remember! We played—what was that game we played again?”

They argue amongst themselves about the games they played as Seungwan watches fondly, a smile playing on her lips. She imagines the two young Wheein and Hyejin running around and forcing each other to get their toys, only to have Yongsun call Byulyi for them, and then all four splashing each other in the river.

Her smile freezes. She blinks, gaze snapping between Hyejin and Wheein still trying to piece their childhood together. “What river?”

They look up at her. Hyejin an eyebrow as Wheein blinks owlishly.

“There’s no river here, right? Just the sea.”

Confusion floods their eyes. Hyejin turns to Wheein, frowning. “It was a river, though, wasn’t it? There were, like, rocks surrounding it. And a waterfall at the end.”

Wheein looks back just as lost. “Yeah, you were there. Yongsun and Byulyi were there… uh…” She laughs uneasily, nervously. “Sorry, I just—why can’t I remember anything aside from the river?” She meets Seungwan’s gaze. “And why don’t I know where the river is?”

Hyejin glances at Wheein before following her and staring at Seungwan, same amount of fear in her eyes. But it quickly disappears and is replaced with a knowing look. “Wait, I think it is the sea. We, uh, we played that game where you throw your shoe and it needs to land really far? Remember? And then, well, the shoes also end up in the front yard.” She laughs, and Wheein nods slowly, smiling.

“Yeah, I guess. I guess I’m way too sleep deprived,” Wheein says with a soft chuckle.

Seungwan furrows her brows at Hyejin, seeing past the bullted story. “Yeah, I guess you are.”

-

“What’s your choice of weapon?” Seulgi asks, looking around the library.

Seungwan shrugs. She was never asked that question before, and never thought of being asked it. So, she simply doesn’t have an answer. She lets her gaze wander around the library, guns and knives stashed carelessly between books and mason jars, no sense of organization at all.

Her gaze lands on what she assumes is Yerim’s class project—plenty of colored papers and some glue, and a pair of scissors. Almost amusedly, she asks, “Do scissors count?”

The biggest smile lights up Seulgi’s face as she mutters a ‘wait’ to Seungwan before grabbing the ladder and dragging it to the secure shelf of weapons—probably their favorites. She climbs up and squeals as she opens the cupboard on the ceiling, grabbing a pair of scissors and tossing it to Seungwan.

Except it’s not your normal scissors. They’re like gardening tools, but double-edged, much bigger, and very rusty. Seungwan jumps away, like she would even if it were normal scissors, and yelps. “Are you trying to kill me?”

Seulgi frowns at her, a bit of dust visible on her cheek. “Come on, you said scissors. We haven’t used scissors in a few decades.” She hops down, then walks over to Seungwan. “I used to use scissors, until I figured I was better at knives.” She looks around the library thoughtfully. “Or do you prefer baseball bats?”

“What?”

Seulgi glance over to her, then shakes her head. “Nah, you can’t handle bashing someone’s head in.”

“You can?’ she shrieks, still a few steps away from the scissors. “You’re a softie.”

“But I can kick , you can’t.” Seulgi kicks the scissors and the tip hits Seungwan’s shoe sole. “You gotta know how to protect yourself, Wan. It’s the rule around here.”

Her gaze floats around the room once more. She instinctively flinches at the huge weapons, the guns and the swords and the crossbow carefully propped on the armchair. Her gaze lands back on the scissors, and she sighs. “Yeah, I guess scissors.”

Seulgi’s face brightens up. “Amazing! We’ll get this baby—” she grabs the scissors and raises it, “—cleaned and you’re ready for your first class! We’re going to teach you how to use the other weapons, too, of course, but we’ll get you started with these.”

She feels something hit the back of her head and she swirls and sees Sooyoung leaning against the doorway, Yerim beside her and about to throw another pen.

Joohyun makes her way between them, rolling her eyes. “We’ll get you started with hand to hand combat and honing your reflexes. You didn’t even realize we were creeping up on you.”

“I’m in a safe place,” she argues weakly. Truth is, she's not that aware of her surroundings most of the time.

“There is no safe place, Wan.”

Seungwan wants to say ‘you’re a safe place’, but she knows now is not the time for that. She sighs. “Fine, teach me how to combat.”

“Your stamina’s not that great either,” Sooyoung says, smirking mirthfully at the glare Seungwan throws her. “We’ll need to start with building your stamina.”

Yerim shrugs. “I personally think you can just swing your scissors and hope you hit someone that’s not yourself.”

“Is that what you do?”

Yerim scoffs, making Seungwan rolls her eyes. “I mastered the crossbow when I was seven, Wan. But someone who’s as weak and fragile as you… I don’t really have high hopes for.”

Of course. Seulgi grabs her shoulder and reels her back before she can swat at Yerim. “Exercise first it is, then. Start with the easiest.”

“Wake up at 4 tomorrow,” Joohyun says, turning. “And get a good night’s sleep. We’ll start easy.”

-

Their training is definitely not easy.

Seungwan’s already out of breath and drenched in sweat and it’s just 4:30. “Can we take a break?” she chokes out. She doesn’t wait for an answer and stops running in front of a diner, palms against her knees.

Joohyun looks back at her, no sign of sweat on her at all. She stops running and jogs in place instead, eyeing Seungwan as the others continue. “You’re tired? We just started.”

“We ran—” a huff, “—up and down—“ she coughs, “—three flights of—” she almost vomits, “stairs with tw—” she puts up her hands and closes and opens them twice, “steps.”

“Keep jogging in place, Wan,” Joohyun says easily, not at all sounding breathless, and instead sounding teasing.

Seungwan looks up to glare. “You’re used to this, I’m not. This is… this is horrible.”

Joohyun stares at her for a moment before peeking in the diner. Then she stops jogging and pulls her phone out of her pocket, typing something before sliding it back in. “Fine, you loser. Let’s go get breakfast.”

At that, Seungwan perks up. Joohyun had warned them not to eat anything before the workout, and Seungwan had followed despite catching Sooyoung, Seulgi, and Yerim snacking on some eggs when Joohyun left to change her clothes.

“Where?”

“Here,” says a low voice.

Joohyun smiles at whoever is behind Seungwan. “Junmyeon! This is Seungwan.” She grabs Seungwan’s shoulders and pulls her up, forcing her to look at the incredibly handsome man by the doors of the diner.

She looks up and finds the Led sign screaming ‘Monster Diner’. Oh.

“Oh. You’re a Wolf.”

“Seungwan, you can’t just call people Wolves the first day you meet,” Sooyoung chastises mockingly, appearing beside her. “Junmyeon’s more like a puppy. But their diner does have the best breakfast waffles for free.”

“They’re not free,” Junmyeon says, only to be ignored and pushed aside by Sooyoung as she walks in. He directs his gaze towards Joohyun. “They’re not free.”

“Come on, we’ve given you way too many free coffee—especially that Minseok of yours,” Seulgi reminds him, popping up beside Seungwan.

Seungwan knows they’re Witches but do they actually also teleport? She looks behind her shoulders and finds Yerim running towards them. So maybe just really fast runners, then.

“Fine, this breakfast is free,” he concedes, rolling his eyes. He opens the doors widely and gestures grandly. “Come in.”

Seulgi walks in, and Yerim squishes herself behind her, sticking her tongue out at Joohyun as she runs to the table Sooyoung had occupied.

Joohyun stops Seungwan before she can come in. “Can we use the rooftop?”

Junmyeon frowns thoughtfully. “I’m not sure if Kyungsoo made Chanyeol sleep outside again or not, but you can just kick him out. The tables aren’t set, though.”

Joohyun waves a dismissive hand. “No worries. I’ll take the usual, and your best breakfast combo for Seungwan.” She smiles warmly at Seungwan, the warmth reaching the pits of Seungwan’s stomach in this cold morning.

Then she turns back to Junmyeon. “Thanks.” She pats his shoulder, eliciting a blush from the boy, before taking Seungwan’s hand and interlacing their fingers, leading her to the stairs by the side and up.

Unlike the Witches, it seems like the Wolves don’t sleep on top of their shop. It’s just an open space with tables and chairs, and what seems like a bar at the far side.

To Seungwan’s—and the shop’s—right, she sees a house with three levels, chic and modern. “Is that their place?”

“Hmm?’ Joohyun hums, looking up from the table she’s setting. She blinks at the house, then nods. “There are twelve of them, although four are with Qian in China. It’s a full house.”

“So, you guys are each other’s families, huh?” she queries, taking a seat beside Joohyun.

“More or less, yeah. We’ve only got each other.”

“How is it like?” She clears , remembering her sister. “How is it like to have a family?”

Her voice breaks maybe just a little and she’s ready to blame it on parching after that run, but Joohyun doesn’t comment on it. “It’s nice. Warm.” Joohyun asks, “How is it like having a sister?”

“I don’t know.”

She feels Joohyun’s gaze burning her skin, questioning. And it that Joohyun let her in, but Seungwan can’t even think of anything remotely amusing about her own life to let Joohyun in.

Joohyun hastily changes the subject, “You can see the sunrise best from this spot.”

Seungwan looks up at the dark sky. “Is that why you brought me here?”

Joohyun ignores her. “The sunrise from The All Nighter can’t be seen as prettily because of the rocks, but all you can see from here is the sea and the sand.”

“The stars are pretty right now, too.”

“They’re fading, Seungwan.”

“Fading things can be pretty, Joohyun,” she counters. “And they’ll go back anyway. Just as bright. Just as pretty.”

“You’re more of a sunset person, aren’t you?”

She almost laughs at the accusatory tone. “Because I like the night sky better, yes. I like things that are surrounded by darkness, yet bright.”

“They’re only bright because they’re surrounded by darkness. The sun doesn’t need the darkness to be bright.”

She shakes her head. “The sun overshadows the darkness. With just the sun, you won’t realize what darkness is. But with the stars, and the moon, you realize both light… and dark can exist together.”

She adds, “I used to talk to the moon when I had no one else to talk to. The moon listens each night, no judging and no ‘stop asking’. The moon was the brightest part of my life.” Her head sways and she smiles drunkenly at a thoughtful Joohyun. “Why do you like the sunrise?”

“It’s a reminder that the day always comes,” she whispers. Lashes sweep up and Seungwan’s met with the pretty eyes she fell for. “That brightness comes.”

“For someone always trying hard to exude a dark aura, you sure do like brightness.”

“And for someone who’s the sun personified, you sure do like the night sky.”

Seungwan sits up straighter, leaning closer with a smile. “Maybe that’s why we fit together? Greatest love story of all, the night sky and the sun.”

As she expected, Joohyun scoffs and pushes her away. But also just as expected, her cheeks redden. “They never meet. They’re always chasing each other. It’s not a good love story.”

That makes sense, obviously. But Seungwan just grins stupidly at her. “Well then, we’re a better love story than the night sky and the sun.”

Joohyun stares right back, smiling amusedly. And Seungwan swears it’s Joohyun’s eyes but she pulled like a magnet.

Or maybe Joohyun’s pulled like a magnet. The next thing they know, the tips of their noses are touching and the door slams open, making them both jump.

A guy stands by the door, a tray on his palm. “You lesbians are so cute,” he gushes. But his face immediately turns sour. “Ugh, it’s annoying.”

He walks towards them, placing the plates on the table and side-eyeing Joohyun. “Name’s Byun Baekhyun, the town hunk. Everyone chases after and falls for me, so be careful, new meat.”

Joohyun shakes her head at Seungwan, still smiling giddily.

“And I saw that shake of your head, Bae,” Baekhyun scolds, taking his tray and standing tall. “Enjoy your breakfast date, pretties.” He winks before sashaying towards the door and disappearing.

Seungwan turns to Joohyun. “This town is full of amazing characters.”

“Really?” Joohyun muses softly, eyes snapping to Seungwan. “I never realized until you arrived.”

She tries, really tries, to bite back the smile. But her lips tremble and she let go, face breaking into happiness. “You’re a dork.”

“When I do it, I’m a dork?”

“Yeah, but you’re cute for trying,” Seungwan teases, reaching for the fork and stomach grumbling at the sight of the food. She stuffs with sausages and hums in approval. “This is amazing,” she tries to say, except it comes out muffled.

Joohyun frowns as she wipes something off the corner of Seungwan’s mouth. “You’re disgusting.”

“You’re amazing,” she tries once more, still coming out muffled.

But Joohyun ducks her head and focuses on eating, a clear indication of her hearing. “Just eat your breakfast.”

Seungwan nods, happily munching.

And when she’s not munching, she talks about the portrayal of Witches in shows, talks about her love for Harry Potter. Joohyun rebuts each misconception with a snort, a roll of the eyes or a glare, and talks about the numerous times Baekhyun and Heechul almost set the whole town on fire trying to up one another.

There’s warmth in her tone as she talks about the locals, warmth in her eyes as she stares at Seungwan. Joohyun is warmth in the middle of a cold night. Joohyun is campfire heat Seungwan’s skin.

But Joohyun isn’t the sun; Joohyun is the moon. Joohyun shines even in darkness. Or maybe Joohyun’s also the darkness, with her past and the things she has to do to keep the town protected.

Seungwan doesn’t care. She likes all parts of Joohyun.

But when the sun rises, Joohyun nudging Seungwan childishly and pointing up, Seungwan thinks maybe Joohyun’s also the sunrise, a reminder of the day always arriving.

Seungwan has lived the past few years without the sun, just in the dark as her parents kept everything from her and her sister avoided her at all costs.

But now, as Joohyun interlaces her fingers over the table, she realizes she found her sunrise. And as Joohyun listens to her ramble about the restless sea underneath, she thinks maybe she found her moon, too.

A/N:

here it is, just in time for Son Seungwan’s birthday. I had a busy month so I wasn’t able to write much. But I’ll try to write more frequently now that I’m not as sick and bus

Song from Coldplay’s Yellow (my all-time favorite song). As usual, leave a comment! I hope you guys liked this. Thank you for reading!

(Hi, I know I said less than 2 months but it was a REALLY stressful 5 months and I had neither the time nor the energy to write. But things are a bit better now and I'm also feeling better so I'm getting back into writing. Thank you for waiting!)

thepurplewan