Sometimes wounds can reopen just as quickly as they closed.

Ae Sook didn't really know how it happened, or why it happened, but just like last night, she wound up in D.O’s room again.

But the thing is, it didn't seem like D.O minded, but almost like he expected it. On her part, it made her question if girls coming into his room was a regular occurrence.

Nonetheless, Ae Sook and D.O spent another unlikely night together, Ae Sook camped out by the wall while D.O scrolled through his phone, only his flicking fingers and the glow of the screen a sign of his presence.

On one hand, Ae Sook was glad that D.O treated the situation with complete normality that didn't allow room for awkwardness, but on the other, his quietness peeved her. She didn't understand how just earlier, he would fight with her and talk with her without a moment of still air, and now, the room is as silent as if Ae Sook had been by herself.

Yet, Ae Sook’s thoughts only lingered for a little while longer before she drifted off to sleep, exhausted from the day and pressed between the walls and blankets in her own cocoon.

<> <> <> <> <> <>

D.O’s nerves buzzed like static, forever unsettled and loud in his ears. Just like the night before, and the night he was watching over Ae Sook, his stomach knotted in wads and his senses were heightened, which to his annoyance, kept him awake.

To his dismay, Ae Sook was asleep, eliminating the only person he could talk to currently. Sure, he could probably go down the hall and find one of his pack mates awake, but he didn't want to make the effort even though it was undoubtedly a small one.

D.O had to admit, though, that were more than a few thoughts that kept him company anyways, one example being those concerning the sleeping girl next to him. With his back to the headboard and his phone limp in his hand, D.O’s gaze drifted to Ae Sook, who had her back turned towards him.

To be honest, her position made it look like she was trying to hug the wall, and D.O had to stifle a small laugh rising up his throat at the thought. It was a thing he found himself having to do recently.

With a soft smile lighting his features, D.O continued to observe Ae Sook without a mind for time. Even though she was faced away from him, there were small details that he could make out about her, from the slope of her back to the fall of her hair.

She seemed so small and peaceful that he wished she could stay this way for the entirety of time, hidden from her worries by the blankets and by him, but knowing her, D.O knew it was an impossible wish whose denial would complicate his life even further.

Especially given the fear he felt when he lost sight of her today.

Yes, he had felt annoyance, anger, and frustration when he couldn't find her before, but it was different now.

She apologized to him, showed him her vulnerable side, and now she was a friend, not just a random girl anymore, and he didn’t wanna mess up.

Before D.O’s thoughts could consume him again, something brushed up against his arm, causing his phone to slip from his fingers and into his lap. Looking down at his left forearm, he found that Ae Sook had rolled over in her cocoon and was now laying flush up against him.

D.O choked.

His throat started to close up even more still as she scooted closer to him, her eyebrows furrowed heavily despite her sleeping state. In that moment, D.O’s alarm turned to recognition as he could immediately tell that Ae Sook was having a nightmare.

Unsure of what to do, D.O quickly did what he saw in a drama once before. Slipping his left hand under her head, he took his thumb and slightly pressed down on the space between her eyebrows, causing them to unfurl. Then, like a lullaby, he gently traced her eyebrows as he watched her face regain its undisturbed, peaceful nature.

He should’ve moved then, took his arm from under her head and left, but he made the poor decision not to. And as a result, he began to fall asleep next to Ae Sook, who was filled with warmth and worries that soon started to become his as well.

<> <> <> <> <> <>

“Ae Sook, wake up,” a voice urges.

Even in her subconsciousness, Ae Sook groans.

Not again.

Once again, she tries to dismiss it and her eyes squeeze shut, refusing to be awoken for a second time in the same manner. But just like yesterday, the voice persists. With annoyance filling her system, she suddenly rises from the bed, kicking all the covers off herself.

“What, what, what, what?! Can I not sleep in once?” She yells, her fingers fisted in the sheets. She looks around the room quickly, trying to find D.O.

And as expected, he’s sitting on the foot of the bed. She stares at him for a second, and in that moment, he leans over, caging Ae Sook under his arms and forcing her back on the bed.

“I thought you said the fighting was over yesterday? Or are you already willing to sacrifice your meat even with Christmas coming up?”

Ae Sook’s eyes widen at the statement. Without taking their proximity into consideration, she’s quick to apologize, even rubbing her hands together a bit for the maximum effect.

“Uh, I forgot. One more chance?”

D.O purses his lips in consideration as he tilts his head to the side slightly. “I’ll have to see. I don’t want you to think our relationship isn’t a serious one.”

A tad bit annoyed, Ae Sook uses her palm to push D.O’s chest back. “If you don’t think you being my literal life protector isn’t serious, get out and let me sleep. I don’t need to waste time on the obvious,” she says as she pulls a pillow over her face to block out the seeping morning light,

“Hey, I don’t think so,” D.O chastises. Taking the pillow from her, he throws it to the other end of the bed. “Come, get up, we have to go places.”

“Where now?!” Ae Sook exclaims.

D.O gives Ae Sook a pointed glance that makes her close before getting up. “Christmas shopping, remember? And your phone?”

Realization dawns on Ae Sook’s face before skepticism takes over. “You’re not gonna give me 4 minutes like you did last time, are you?”

D.O laughs. “Consider yourself lucky. We’re leaving in an hour.”

Ae Sook can only thank her parents above for D.O’s newfound kindness.

<> <> <> <> <> <>

Rushing out of D.O’s room, Ae Sook sprints back into her room. Still cautious of the memories that made her leave it in the first place, Ae Sook hesitates for a second at the threshold before taking a decided step forward.

Almost as quickly as she did yesterday, Ae Sook gathers her new pair of clothes in her arms while she hums to herself in order to block out the reoccurring flashbacks. Once she has everything, she rushes out the door and down the hall to the bathroom, however, it seems as if someone had the same destination in mind.

When Ae Sook is almost halfway down the hall, she makes direct eye contact with Baekhyun who has a large container of face products dangling from his right hand. Simultaneously, both look towards the bathroom door, and that’s when the battle begins.

Each individual charges at the door, but on Baekhyun’s way, the male falters a bit in one of his steps, causing him to fall a second short to Ae Sook. Just as the girl is about to slip into the bathroom, Baekhyun’s hand reaches for the door handle and pulls on it with his supernatural strength which holds Ae Sook back.

He gives Ae Sook a sarcastic smile. “Ae Sook, friend, chingu. How about letting oppa go first?”

Laughing slightly, Ae Sook shakes her head in a definite no. “How about no?” She asks as she reaches from behind the door to try and pry Baekhyun’s fingers off the handle.

“Eyyy, don’t be like that,” he reprimands while trying to wedge himself into the bathroom. “I was on my way here first.”

“Actually, I don’t think you were, because if I wasn’t getting my clothes from my room, I would have been here long before you came out of your room,” Ae Sook grits through a smile. She tries to use her foot to kick at Baekhyun’s shins to get him out from her space, but the werewolf persists.

In an effort to distract Ae Sook from his advances, Baekhyun asks a hopefully distracting question. “And where exactly were you if you weren’t in your room?”

At that, Ae Sook’s cheeks flush. “None of your business,” Ae Sook chokes out, and with a surge of strength, she slips behind the door completely and pulls the handle into place and clicks the lock.

Even with the door between Baekhyun and herself, Ae Sook can hear his groans as loud as if he was simply standing next to her. She chuckles at his childness.

“Ae Sook, what the hell! What am I supposed to do now for the next 30 minutes? I need to finish my skin treatment!” The male yells as his fists hammer the door weakly.  

“I don’t know, go yourself? My dog used to do it all the time to clean up,” she shouts through the walled barrier.

Ae Sook giggles when she hears a screech of exasperation, but with nothing to do about it, she continues to take her clothes off in preparation for her shower. Before entering the steamy enclosure, she activates her Spotify account to let some music mix with the soundtrack of the falling water.

When BTS’s Run starts to echo on the tiled surface, Ae Sook slips into the shower, letting the burning water soak her hair and dispose of her dead, exhausted cells. As all the droplets run the terrain of her body, she lets her thoughts run down the drain with them, and soon enough, she feels as if she’s a new person.

The temporary loss of her worries allows her to surrender herself to the music, and just as in the times before her parents were murdered, Ae Sook carelessly bellows her heart out with the lyrics of the passing songs.

Only when her fingers start to prune does she turn off the shower head. Stepping out with a clear mind, Ae Sook reaches for a towel off a, of course, refined wood floating cube lined on the wall. Choosing a yellow one, Ae Sook envelops herself in the fabric.

In response, drops open.

Oh my god a towel cannot be this soft. This is a ing blanket.

Still marveling in the luxury item, Ae Sook reaches blindly for her undergarments. However, she only comes up with one garment instead of two. Ripping her attention away from the towel, she frantically searches for her , but of course, she comes up empty handed. She must have left it in her hurry to get out of her room.  

Drawing in a deep breath, Ae Sook sighs. She knew her win over Baekhyun and the peace of her detoxing shower was too good to be true.

Biting her lip in a pout, Ae Sook looks to the bathroom door sadly. There's no way she can go commando outside, even if it's just to her room.

She shuts her eyes even tighter in embarrassment.

And she can't give up the bathroom just yet either since she needs it to dry her hair.

Sighing, she approaches the door in a small fit of disbelief and distaste for her situation. If she had just let Baekhyun go first, this wouldn't have happened, and now she had no choice but to go out in the open in just a towel.

Regretting all the life decisions she's made that might have had a say in this y form of karma, Ae Sook bites her lip as she hesitantly sticks her head out from behind the door to make sure no one is lingering in the hallway. After pausing for a few seconds to consider whether or not the underwear was really important and to make sure no one was coming, Ae Sook made a run for it like she escaped from jail.

She darted into her room, and annoyingly, there were her undies, lying smack dab in the middle of the hardwood floor. Sighing, she snatches them quickly before darting back to the bathroom.

Expecting a quick entry into the bathroom once again, Ae Sook pulls on the metal handle of the door only to find it stuck. With a nervous laugh, she pulls on it again as she refuses to believe that the door is locked. The image of her bra on the floor strewn across her clothes almost makes her want to cry.

And for the third time today, fate screwed her over because the door won't budge.

About to scream, she bangs on the door. “Byun Baekhyun, get your out of that bathroom right this instant!”

Chuckles leak through the cracks of the door. “Better luck next time, Ae Sook. In this household, what you leave unattended gets taken.”

“Baekhyun, I swear to god! Do you not see my stuff still in there! I wasn't finished! I just had to get something!”

“And exactly, I care why?” The calmness in his voice irritates her even further.

“Because once you exit this very space, I will pummel you. Is that enough a reason?!”

“Oh my god,” Baekhyun mocks, “a tiny human is gonna pummel me? I'm scared for my life!”

At that, Ae Sook goes nuts, screaming threats and hammering on the door. Her cries are so loud that they even begin to draw the attention of others.

Suho is the first to notice, walking from his room and into the hallway to see what the noise is about. “What the hell is going-,” he begins to declare but is caught off guard by the sight of Ae Sook in a towel and still very wet from her shower. His eyes go wide at the unexpectedness of the situation, and he’s rooted by his place by shock.

Sehun is the next to take curiosity in the loud profanities, and as soon as he strolls from the threshold of his room, he notices the same thing and his expression doesn't differ much from Suho’s. The leader, though still dumbfounded, walks over to Sehun and covers his eyes, turning the poor maknae around in the direction of his room. “Just wait for your mate, okay?” The young member nods his head in understanding and returns to his lair, shutting the door with a certain thud.

With Kai still out of the house and Chanyeol as sleep-dead as a log, D.O is the only one left to be a witness to this scene. And even in the midst of his own morning routine, the screams are too distracting to continue, so he makes his way to the hallway, too.

He can't say he exactly expected this type of scenario, either, however, it's more distracting to him than any of the other members- Ae Sook’s bare shoulders, that is.

Just as the time when she wore her romper, surprise fills D.O’s stomach at the elegance of her shoulders sharpened by muscles. He can't help but notice her dark hair, too, and the way it's color deepened by water shines against her pale skin. But as he's silently observing her, an additional tidbit captures his gaze: just above the place where the yellow towel cuts across her back on her left shoulder blade, the half of a small black circle peeks out.

Curious, he approaches Ae Sook from behind, touching that spot on her shoulder so that the point of his index finger covers it.

Ae Sook jumps at the unexpected touch and spins around, but seeing who it is, the color of humiliation spreads across her cheeks.

At this point, death would be a kind choice.

Locked in D.O’s gaze, Ae Sook’s cheeks deepen in color as the time passes by, unsure of what to say, but finally, as she grips her towel tight, she manages to muster some obvious response that is jumbled by D.O’s attention.

“Uh, Baekhyun, I- we, uh, fought and he took the bathroom while I was still using it.”

With what Ae Sook assumes are kind eyes, D.O states, “I know. With your screams, one doesn't have to be a werewolf to hear what you were saying.”

Ae Sook rolls her eyes. “Well if you heard me, how about some help here?” For emphasis, Ae Sook leans over to bang on the door one more time, and suddenly, the door opens, causing her to stumble into the

bathroom and into the occupant before she rights her balance. With his hands on her shoulders to keep her steady, Baekhyun’s eyes widen at Ae Sook’s apparent lack of clothing.

But Ae Sook doesn't take his hesitation into consideration, because with his hands on her, she starts to slap away his touch, making sure every hit stings just a bit, even for a werewolf.

“Oh my god, woman, stop,” Baekhyun says as he shrinks into the bathroom even further as he lifts his hand over his face in a protective defensive position. Ae Sook, spotting another opportunity, takes a towel from behind him as he's cowering and rolls it, then using it to hit him.

Yelping, Baekhyun tries to avoid her touch and dances around her as he scrambles to try

and get past Ae Sook and into the free space of the hallway. Baekhyun dashes behind Suho, then proceeding to use his alpha as a shield.

“What the hell is your problem, Ae Sook?”

“You,” Ae Sook screeches and tries to launch herself out of the bathroom and at Baekhyun, but D.O intercepts her as he catches her by the biceps.

Eyeing D.O with a fierce look, she growls, “Let go of me, or our terms of friendship are gonna break right now.”

“I don't think so,” D.O counters as he tries not to think too hard about the feel of Ae Sook’s smooth skins on his. But surprisingly enough, Ae Sook’s strength takes over his and soon enough she's out of his grasp. Shocked as Ae Sook speeds out of his grip and towards Baekhyun, who lets out a high pitched yelp, D.O barely manages to regain a hold on her, and this time, it's in the form of a back hug.

At least the touch seems to work in one way or another because Ae Sook freezes in his arms and her incessant curses at Baekhyun stop.

With burning cheeks, Ae Sook fights her way out of D.O’s hug and begins to hit him with a towel before she stops in exasperation and humiliation.

“I cannot ing believe this situation, oh my god,” she mutters without paying attention to her volume. With one more false step towards Baekhyun, Ae Sook turns around to go back into the bathroom and gather her supplies and clothing. Leaving the threshold, she sees all three of the guys staring at her and she can't help but feel annoyed.

“When all of you get your mates and treat them like princesses, I'm going to come and make your lives hell. None of you know how to let a woman shower in peace and I hope your mates take days in the bathroom before they come out, and even still, won't let you in when you need it. And I hope all your homes have one ing bathroom instead of ing three others that were open.” With the last statement, Ae Sook looks pointedly at Baekhyun before stomping down the hallway, brushing off D.O’s hand when he attempts to touch her shoulder in consolation.

With her tiny strides minimizing the space of the hallway in the midst of her fast repetition, Ae Sook flies into her room as she shuts the door behind her and throws all her things onto her bed.

Touching her cheek with the back of her palm, she tries to swallow the humiliation that accompanied the previous event. She can't believe all three of them just saw her in a plain towel. It was so much more worse of a result than she expected would occur. And especially with D.O-

Ae Sook choked on the thought.

He back hugged her.

Ae Sook let's out a small scream of frustration before she starts changing her clothes in order to get her mind off the memory by getting her mind to do things.

But just then, as she’s pulling her sweater over her shoulders, the sound of a door creaking open is accompanied by a male voice.

“Ae Sook, I was just wondering if you wer-,”

With eyes wider than quarters, Ae Sook turns her head to look at D.O and yelps in a loud shout of surprise. Hastily trying to pull down her shirt (thank god it was already covering her bra), she fumbles to the door to shut it in D.O’s face, who is stuttering his apologies in a loud voice.

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