The first couple of hours pass in a breeze.

Baekhyun alters between looking up at the cloudless sky peeking at him through the branches, sun slowly rising above tree crowns and shyly lightening up the woods and warming up the early-May air, and glancing down onto the moist undergrowth every now and then, where the sun rays illuminate spider webs and where dried out sticks break under his weight. Somehow nostalgic, he wanders unhurriedly, touching cold bark of the trees he passes; he imagines feeling life pulsing under their hard covers and peeking through the very tips of the thinnest of branches, life in form of green leaves, shy and uncertain whether it's their time yet. He feels somewhat like them, hesitant and a little aprehensive of what awaits him deeper in the woods. Chilly breeze wiggles its fingers under his clothes from time to time and he can feel the touch in his bones. It sends a slight shiver down his spine and the length of his arms, but he pays it no mind. Soon the sun will be higher in the sky and the sunrays that will make through multiple green crowns will warm up the air and him. He hasn't taken a breakfast break yet, but he supposes that should happen soon enough if he wants his stomach to quiet down. Baekhyun takes a deep breath and lets the muscles of his shoulders relax. The backpack is not that heavy and he woudn't mind it for a short trip. This, however, is not a short trip. He has exactly 12 hours until the sun reaches a low enough point in the sky to let the woods swim in semi-darkness again - his deadline. He is to be at the pack's house by twilight, according to the promise he made to Junmyeon just a few hours earlier. 

Baekhyun heaves a deep sigh and finally looks around, leaving his thoughts for a second to examine his surroundings. He is near his usual reading place, exactly where he's seen her last time. He remembers her so vividly; her starved body, matter coat, her shaky legs and her tail, tukcked safely under her belly. Her eyes were shining with desperation, the primal need to survive and live on, regardless of the conditions. His heart breaks all over again. 

He sets the backpack on the ground, careful not to break anything inside or disturb the calm of the forest. He tugs the food Kyungsoo prepared for him and settles on the body of the fallen tree he's sat on so many times. The seat is cold and upon taking it he finds that he's restless. Impatience buzzez in his veins, shakes his bones and forces him to look around in hopes of noticing anything out of place. 

The coast is clear.

Baekhyun digs in and chews slowly, making sure he propely savours the food. It's hard to swallow either way, considering the way he feels. The scent of fresh dumplings reachers his nose.

Then he stops. 

The scent. 

He looks down. The meal is just as inviting as it has been a few seconds ago, but Baekhyun sets his chopsticks how, mind reeling. 

Food.

He sets the lunch box on the forest floor, head tilting up to take in his surroundings again. There's nothing that might've alerted him of any company, but instead of disappointment he feels hope filling him with new energy. He picks up his backpack quickly and makes his way down the path leading to the campus, where he knows a clutter of thick trees is. He leaves the luch box on the ground, the lid set aside.

For the next hour, nothing happens. Baekhyun has the perfect view of the lunch box from where he's sitting, half-hidden behing a massive oak tree, but so far there has been no occasion in which the view would come in handy. Instead, he battled with himself for the last fourty-five minutes, ever since the food cooled down enough not to send semi-transparent clouds of vapor up to the air and into the world. Without superhuman scent like his friends' might have, or superhuman hearing (also a trait of the majority of people he considers his closest ones) for that matter, he had no idea if his offline version of Pokemon Go's Lure Mode worked or not.

What he does know, however, is that there definitely in an ant crawling up his pant leg, and that the spider (which is alarmingly big) that is uncomfortably close to his face and has been calmly sitting on the same tree trunk he used for his hiding spot, is in fact, unfortunatley, not dead. Instead, it is very much alive and aware of Baekhyun's presence, turning curiously to where Baekhyun's shoulder touched the bark. 

Baekhyun moves away. 

He heaves a sigh and looks up at the sky, where the sun finally managed to chase the dark hues of navy blue away completely. The temperature might have gone up a couple of degrees, but Baekhyun doesn't this he'd be warm enough if he took off one of his layers. He stands up and takes a few steps backwards, not caring about staying quiet, and leans against the body of the tree behind him, eyes back on the lunchbox, even though he's lost all the hope by now. Why can't it be easy for once?

Sulking (but only internaly, he is a grown- man), he pushes himself off the tree and starts forward, silently grieving the wasted food. Maybe it's punishment for listening to his intuition more than his brain; he's been overlooking the little fella's advice for some time now. 

He's making a circle around the fallen tree trunk to get to the cold dumplings when a soft exhale reaches his ears. It was not his exhale. 

His head snaps to the left, and Baekhyun briefly wonders about whiplash. He makes it in time to see a ghost of a black tail disappearing behind the thick bushes. 

"Okay" he whispers to no one in particular. "Okay."

His heart accelerates and he hears the soft thuds in his ears. A sudden wave of warmth makes itself home on his face, neck and chest and he had to will his lungs to woek properly, as to stop himself from hyperventilating. 

He allows himself to take a seat on the trunk, vision swaying, but eyes never leaving the bushes. "This is good. Yes." 

Eloquent.

The next rustle comes after a minute or two, not giving Baekhyun enough time to stop his hands from shaking. It comes from the opposite side.

Baekhyun turns slowly to the right, exhaling at the same time, and pushes himself higher on the seat, leaving his legs to dangle freely. He leans forward and squints his eyes. At the first glace he doesn't notice anything; there are a few lone bushes, with twigs so thin and bare that they are mostly see-through, a dozen of relatively young maple trees and three wide horse chestnut trees, clustered together in a close hug. He furrows his brows and waits. 

It all unfolds just as Baekhyun expected. 

Her black head appears from behind the huge trunk, her chin almost touching the ground in effort to seem smaller. She eyes the lunchbox and huffs siently, as if taking in the scent of something delicious and wanting to get the air out of her lungs as quickly as possible to be able to enjoy the smell with the next inhale. Impatient, yet cautious. Her eyes catch Baekhyun's stare and she snarls, backing away to hide behind her tree, but she keeps their eyes locked. In the next second she seems to get distracted by the food again, as if catching a fresh scent brought to her by the wind. She tilts her head up slightly, takes an uncalculated step from behind the tree and glances at the container longingly. Just quickly as she does that, she retreats back with another dangerous snarl. 

Baekhyun watches her with care in his eyes and pain in his heart. After the initial shockwave of emotions, surprise, anger, fear, confusion, she settles on the ground, her backside barely touching the undergrowth. She watches him with furious eyes and her glare is enough for Baekhyun to know what she thinks.

"I'm not trying to provoke you." He assures, voice barely lounder than a whisper in fear of scaring her. She flinches anyway. "The food is for you, you can eat it in peace. I know the lunchbox is a bit closer to me than you'd like it to be, but I promise I won't move."

She looks at him with suspition and Baekhyun knows that if not for the scent of the dumplings, she'd turn and walk away now. He studies her tense muscles, matted fur and ears pressed close to the back of her head and his heart breaks again. He sees the way she flexes her back legs, as if ready to stand up and approach, and immediately presses back closer to the ground, changing her mind. This will not be easy. She eyes the food again.

'My name is Baekhyun." Her head whips in his direction with fear radiating from the move. He's taken her by surprise. He clenches his hands into fists to stop the thoughts of just standing up and emb