Woooo~! I'm aliiiive~! Like a diamond~! Oh baby, love me do~! *starts dancing horribly* Okay, getting serious, I want to thank all of my wonderful readers for all the comments, and of course I also thank all the quiet ones (I used to be one but I lost my mind) *chu~* I love and appreciate all of you, thank you so much for taking the time to read ♥♥♥ Thanks also for the upvotes, all the subscribers, I just gah I can't tell you how thankful I am, thank you all, I love you!!!!! Here's another update, I hope you enjoy!!!! *runs away before giving away spoilers*

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I woke up before Taekwoon this time. He hadn’t moved at all throughout the night, but I had started to inch closer to him while I was asleep. Relieved that I hadn’t been caught, I climbed out of his bed extra quietly and tiptoed around to get nearer to his sleeping form. His striking face remained beautiful in repose, and his long lashes, along with the fringe of his ebony hair, cast shadows over his regal cheekbones. My desire to touch him was growing stronger by the second, approaching the limit, so I settled with tucking him in, returning the favor from the previous morning. His hands, resting lightly on the pillow next to his face, twitched lightly and then flexed, curling in before relaxing once again. His lips, forever appealing, parted infinitesimally, but other than that, he remained the same.

Taking a quiet deep breath, I turned around and padded mutely over the rug of his room, heading towards the door. I took one final glance over my shoulder at his sleeping form, dying to go back to him, but chose instead to exit his room without a sound, walking out into the hallway on my own.

The soles of my feet landed on something wet and squishy. I both heard and felt it when I’d started to walk over towards my own room, and I looked down as I cringed, afraid to find something unpleasant. I hadn’t expected the red, though, and my body went cold as I saw the pools of blood. The instinct to scream was powerful, and I really wanted to when I saw that the hallucinations were back. My head snapped up and I looked at Taekwoon’s door again, but I remembered his sleeping face and refused to disturb him.

“You’ve got a sick way of proving your love,” I muttered to myself, hoping Jekyll would be able to catch that, wherever he was.

Taking multiple deep breaths, I walked onward, ignoring the wet sounds beneath my feet as I moved, pretending I didn’t feel the warm puddles. They stopped by the time I made it to my own room, and I looked back at the floor I’d walked over. There were no stains, no puddles, no proof of what I’d just experienced. Taking the small respite gladly, I opened my bedroom door…

And laughed sadly when I caught sight of all the blood splattered, staining, and painted over everything in view. On weak legs, I stepped forward and closed the door behind me, falling back against it, sliding down until I was on the soaked floor. I grabbed onto my head and laughed at Jekyll’s sick, twisted joke, even though I didn’t find it funny at all.

I sat with my head in my hands for a long time, keeping my eyes squeezed shut so I couldn’t see the mess my room was. Believing it wasn’t real grew to be more and more difficult, but I fought the illusion, struggling with everything I had to make it go away.

Panic was starting to make me think strange things. I started to see myself in my room before all the blood was shed, standing with an innocent Hyuk. I was showing him something by the closet door, and when he leaned in to have a better look, I reached out towards him. I looked away from the grisly scene, only to see myself with Ken, standing over his struggling body on the floor by my bed. Ken’s eyes looked right at me just before I dragged him away into the bathroom. Trembling violently, I made the connection that the blood that was everywhere was supposed to be the blood from my new friends.

Taekwoon sat on my bed, looking at me as I told him something quietly. He would nod every once in a while, listening intently to what I was telling him. Then he opened his arms for me and I sat down next to him, leaning in, his arms coming around me welcomingly. While he spoke, I inched closer to him, my face rising towards his neck. Staring in horror, I couldn’t look away even though I knew what I was about to do.

My lips touched the skin of his throat, and that tickled him. He broke into the sweetest smile I’d ever seen and leaned away, looking down at me. I smiled back at him, my cheeks pink, and then he…leaned in to kiss me.

The vision faded slowly and I sat by my door, hugging myself tightly, looking at the spot on my bed that fantasy-Taekwoon and fantasy-Mia had been sitting in; I was disappointed that that part of my vision hadn't been real.

Looking around the room again, the blood was gone. Relief settled over me like a warm blanket, warming up the body that had gone icy with horror. I mustered up enough strength to get back to my feet, and once I was up, I opened the door to my room to get the heck out of the lonely place. I’d been planning on giving the bossy wolf-man some space since I kept crowding his room, but I gave up on that notion really easily after that.

He was still asleep when I joined him again, but I felt too dirty to get back into his bed after that horrible episode in my room. I knew I hadn’t really been covered in blood, but remembering the gore still made me shudder and my stomach churn.

Instead of climbing into the lonely side of his king bed, I lowered myself onto the floor next to his sleeping self, drawing my knees up to my chest for something to hug. I made sure I was in a good spot so I could still see his face every now and then, which may or may not have been a bad thing because I ended up staring a lot. I gave up on holding myself back, however, because I needed all the comfort I could get...

About fifteen minutes later, I heard the footsteps approaching outside in the hallway, but I didn’t have enough intelligence to hide under the bed. I could only turn around and stare with huge eyes as the door opened up and Hakyeon stepped into the room casually. He was already smiling at me as he approached, going as far as tapping my head lightly.

“Good morning, Mia!” he chirped, and I could only stare as he continued towards Taekwoon.

Before Hakyeon could even land a hand on him, Taekwoon threw his covers to the side and held his hands up, glaring at the leader of the wolf pack. I stared with even more surprise.

Hakyeon beamed. “Oh, you were awake already? Silly boy, if you’re awake, you’re supposed to be getting ready.”

My neck started to hurt from the odd angle I had my head at to stare at the quiet wolf-man, and his eyes darted to meet mine for a brief couple of seconds before returning to glare at Hakyeon. “Leave me alone,” he mumbled, rubbing at his eyes.

He started to turn away, rolling on his bed, but Hakyeon lunged and grabbed him by his shoulders, yanking him back not-so-gently while Taekwoon gave the human version of a growl. Hakyeon barely even reacted to the menacing sound, choosing instead to grin down at his friend. “No! Come on, Taekwoonie, you have to go.” He was this close to cooing and crooning.

Taekwoon scowled up at his leader. “I don’t want to.”

I bit my lip, watching the two with fascination. Hakyeon shook Taekwoon some more, a lot more, and Taekwoon kept on glaring and grumbling, finally getting a giggle out of me. They both heard it and Hakyeon let Taekwoon go, smiling as he strolled over towards the door. “I expect to see you downstairs in fifteen minutes tops, Taekwoonie!” He winked at me. “You too, sister.”

I was able to return his smile before he left, leaving the door open behind him. Once he was gone, I turned to look at Taekwoon. He was already climbing out of bed, his legs over the edge, feet touching the floor, tugging my sweatshirt over his head. I was going to have a heart attack until I realized that he had a t-shirt underneath, which was both a relief and severely disappointing. He dropped the sweatshirt into my lap pointedly, then walked towards his bathroom silently. I listened mutely, hearing the rushing noise of the faucet running over the sink, then the unmistakable sounds of teeth being brushed. I continued to absorb the sounds of Taekwoon’s morning routine for a couple more moments, and then I was up and out of his room, brushing my own teeth, combing my hair, all while wearing our sweatshirt.

I thought Taek would have left for sure already, but after a short while, he came into my room without knocking and looked me up and down. “Hurry up,” he told me, and sat down gracefully on my bed.

I looked at him blankly. “What?”

He nodded at my outfit. “That’s not warm enough to go out.”

“Go out?” I scratched my eyebrow unconsciously.

Gracing me with a beautiful smile only he was capable of, he nodded again and pointed towards my closet. “Hurry and get changed or you’re going to make me late.”

Despite his angelic smile, I was more likely to make him grumpy, not late. Humoring him, however, I strolled over to the closet and shut myself in, hurriedly picking out something decent to wear; I didn’t have anything super amazing, but I could do warm. I ended up ditching my sweats for a thicker pair of black jeans, and added a t-shirt over the tank top I was wearing underneath our sweatshirt. I was still wearing all-black because I had also put on black boots, but I didn’t feel too bad because he was wearing dark clothing, too. I finished off my outfit with a dark vest to add layers and opened the door again, running my fingers through my hair since it got a little tousled.

Taekwoon turned to look at me, still sitting on my bed, and appraised me silently. I blushed a little, feeling his gaze roam over me, and walked over to grab my bag from the bedside table. Still pretty flustered, I started walking out of the room altogether. I sensed him following me, and I shivered just a little, not entirely sure why I was so excited suddenly. He was close enough that if I slowed down he’d step on my heels.

I took the stairs a little faster, and heard him chuckle behind me. Turning around, I raised my eyebrow at him. “What’s so funny?” I was already starting to smile in answer.

He shrugged and shook his head, passing me as soon as we reached the landing. His scent wafted over me, stronger than before, and I stared after him before following again.

Hakyeon, Ravi, and Hongbin were in the kitchen eating different kinds of cereal and wearing clothes similar to the ones Taekwoon had changed out of, which meant they were probably staying in. They waved as we approached, and exchanged grins when they noticed I was dressed and ready to go, too.

I went ahead and poured myself a small glass of holy water from the gallon Taekwoon had gotten for me, which was stashed in one of the cupboards; I was hoping I’d be able to keep myself in control and sane that way. It still felt like I was drinking liquid fire, but I felt better immediately in terms of my head, the second presence in my mind vanishing slowly. After I took my shots of holy water, I located a sports canteen to fill up for the trip out.

“I see you’re taking a cheerleader along with you today,” Hakyeon commented wryly, batting his eyelashes at me before returning his attention to Taekwoon. “It’s nice to see you two are going out together.”

Hongbin and Ravi snickered very quietly at Hakyeon’s suggestive sentence, and I felt my face heat up again. I didn’t remain quiet, however, and said, “I’ve been pretty cooped up, so it’s only so I can get some fresh air.” Beside me, Taekwoon nodded. I still wasn’t aware of where we were going yet, but I was curious enough and definitely willing to go with Taekwoon anywhere.

Hongbin cleared his throat. “So you’re going for a casual stroll?”

Ravi grinned. “Not under the moonlight, right? I wouldn’t do that.” He glanced at Taekwoon briefly, still smiling. “He gets a little crazy when the moon’s out.”

Hakyeon laughed enthusiastically and clapped his hands once. “Oh, you two silly kids. That would be the reason to go.”

While I burned hotter than the sun out of embarrassment, the boys cracked up and had to run away or risk getting pummeled by Taekwoon.

It was really amusing, and even a little satisfying, to see Taekwoon chase down the three of them around the kitchen’s island. When he caught poor, unfortunate Hongbin, Ravi and Hakyeon tried to help, and then he had them all right where he wanted them.

Once that was over with, Taek, slightly breathless, motioned for me to follow him. “Come on, we can get food somewhere else.”

I walked by the three grown men nursing their bumps and bruises, waving lightly as I passed them by. “erts,” I mumbled, and they laughed before about their aches and pains again.

There was a cinnamon-and-mint scent in the air. The walls were a bright white hung with pictures of perfect, shining teeth, the chairs were a buttery yellow leather, and the carpet was checkered like a chessboard. The center table had a neat assortment of magazines along with an oversized plastic model of a tooth, and there was a children’s corner set up with a variety of building blocks, books, and puzzles. Light classical music drifted out soothingly from speakers hanging from the ceiling, and a couple of people sat together right by the wall so they could see who entered and who exited the building.

The couple of people was us. Situated next to Taekwoon, I had my hands in my lap, my ankles crossed, and my elbows braced on the arms of the comfy chair I was perched on.

“A dentist appointment…,” I muttered again for probably the seventh time. Taekwoon sighed beside me and looked skyward, probably trying to find patience to deal with me. Going ahead with my teasing, I mumbled, “The big bad wolf getting his teeth cleaned.” He didn’t say anything, and I continued, “Grandma, what clean teeth you have.”

He elbowed me lightly, staring at me with a bland expression. “Be quiet.”

I held my hands up. “Hey, I’m actually pretty impressed.” He rolled his eyes and looked to the side again, pretending I didn’t exist. I set my hands down and waited a beat before saying under my breath, “I bet you have tons of cavities.”

His stony expression split open and out came a smile as he started to laugh. His hand flew to cover his mouth and he dipped forward, bowing his head as he hid, laughing very quietly. I grinned as I witnessed it all, happy to have gotten the opportunity to experience something so breathtaking. Gathering up my wits again, I fixed my expression so he wouldn’t catch me ogling.

Regaining his own composure, he straightened up and looked at me, shaking his head. “You’re horrible.”

I waved off his comment. “You’re just saying that.”

He chuckled a little more, and I breathed in deeply, catching the masculine aroma of amber leather coupled with peppermint and blood mandarin… His personal fragrance was musky and rich, smooth and inviting, doused with dashes of the autumn wind’s perfume from outside.

I didn’t need air as much as I needed his scent.

Taekwoon opened his mouth and was about to say something when his name was called by a technician. I felt bad for him because of the way she butchered his name, but it also made me feel better to hear her say it so awkwardly since I didn’t do a great job of pronouncing it either (according to him, at least). He turned to look at her and stood up automatically. Once he was on his feet, he turned his face down to smile gently at me. “I’ll be right back.”

“Tell them you brush all day,” I told him lightly, smiling at him with affection.

He chuckled and walked away, amused with me but unable to think of a response to my suggestion. Left alone in the empty waiting room without even a receptionist to keep me company, I plugged in my headphones and thought long and hard about the emotions stirring within me, including the unmistakable love that had been born without my knowledge, or my consent.

“You have to have at least one cavity,” I grumbled, sitting in the passenger seat of Taekwoon’s luxurious sedan. The car’s interior was leather, it had more controls and buttons than my laptop, and it had a fancy touch screen I wanted to mess with. I was also able to hear the subwoofers and amplifier, and I knew he’d taken the time to get himself the sweet sound system installed by an expert.

Taekwoon shook his head, minding the road more than he was paying attention to me. It was slightly unnerving how graceful he was at everything he did, but it also added to his charm. Not that he needed to be any more charming to get under my skin, but he didn’t get that memo.

After some deliberating on his part, he pulled into the parking lot of a famous diner and stationed his car towards the edge of the lot, where it would be easiest to escape from without hindrance from the other parked vehicles. He turned off the sedan, unbuckled his seatbelt, and had his hand on the door handle when he realized I wasn’t doing the same. He reached over with his hand and pressed the button to release my seatbelt. “Hurry up, I’m hungry.”

I watched him open his door and climb out, and then did the same. We closed our doors at the same time and walked forward towards the building together, our strides matched so we were at an equal pace. I reached the door first, so I opened it for us, but he reached out with his long arm and gripped the edge just above my head, forcing me to go in first or our chests would touch. I wasn’t totally opposed to the latter, but ended up doing the former out of embarrassment.

The hostess noticed us and did her practiced greeting, then took us to a smaller booth towards the far side of the room, which was convenient because Taekwoon needed to see everybody all at once, something I now knew was a wolf thing.

Settled in, I took off my vest because I was pretty warm, and he watched me innocently as I did. I folded the vest and tucked it into the booth beside me, relaxing further now that I wasn’t so hot. The heat reminded me that it was a good time, so I also took the opportunity to take a swig from the water bottle in my bag and did a really horrible job of hiding how much it burned.

Taekwoon watched me with much more intent when I drank the holy water, and when I stashed it in my bag again, he observed, “You have a high tolerance for pain.”

I breathed in his scent, the wonderful aroma drifting over from his side of the booth. I shrugged lightly to respond to his statement and brought the peppershaker from the table into my hands, spinning it around idly. “I endure. It’s not like I haven’t gone through worse things,” I told him, smiling with dark humor.

He nodded, giving me that. He reached forward and grabbed the shaker from my hands and set it back next to the salt. “I want to know more.”

I squinted a little at him. “About what?” I reached for the peppershaker again.

He didn’t let me take it, grabbing my hand instead and setting it down on my other palm. “About what you’ve been through.” He shrugged lightly, tucking his hands underneath his legs so he now sat on them. His eyes met mine, his gaze tender, and coaxed me to spill my heart. “You haven’t talked to anyone about it at all, have you?”

I had to my lips because my mouth had suddenly gone dry.

As if on cue, the waiter came by and dropped off a couple of glasses of water, then asked if we wanted anything else to drink.

“Coffee, please,” Taekwoon murmured delicately, and the waiter had to take a moment to appreciate the fine specimen sitting across from me. It was absurd, but I wanted to get jealous and possessive for a second there, but then reasoned with myself that it wasn’t the waiter’s fault that Taek was so damn attractive.

Smiling over at me now, the young man asked me in a warm and polite manner, “And you, miss?”

“Water’s fine, thank you,” I said, but before the waiter could nod and shimmy on out of there, Taekwoon told him, “She’ll have the strawberry lemonade, please.”

Both the young man and I stared at Taekwoon. The waiter was better at schooling his reactions and recovered first, nodding and smiling as he promised to have that right out for us, and took his leave.

I raised my eyebrow at Taekwoon, and he started to shed his black wool coat. “If you don’t like it, I’ll drink it,” he mumbled, and his sudden cute act had me biting my lip hard to keep it cool. Once he had his coat tucked away to his liking, exposing a dark button down shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, he looked at me again pointedly, and waited.

Clearing my throat, feeling slightly uncomfortable under his tender gaze and bothered by how much more attractive his shirt made him (the good kind of bothered), I tried to organize my thoughts to think of what to say and how to say it. After a second, I started to speak at last; “You know it all started with my mom. All we did was go out to get some groceries.” My belly burned as I recalled that night again, my anger increased with all the additional events that had occurred recently. “Without doing anything, we got the attention of Jekyll and his friends, and Jekyll went so far as to follow us into the store.” Remembering the first time I’d seen those silver eyes, I shuddered. “They snatched her away so easily, I don’t know how it was possible. My uncle came to us, and he didn’t even notice it when they took her.” My throat thickened a little, but I continued anyway. “She was walking right beside me, and I moved away for just a moment to put the groceries in the truck, and then she was gone, like vapor.” I lifted my gaze to meet his. Those eyes of his were really getting to me, and I didn’t dare to look away, not for a while yet. “Seven years later, here we are.”

He pushed my glass of water towards me and convinced me to drink while he asked, “What did you do all these seven years? Other than look for your mom.”

Setting my water back down, I exhaled slowly. “I don’t know. School and work?” I shrugged. “I gave up the friends I had because they didn’t understand my obsession, and a lot of people thought I was crazy because I’d mentioned vampires.” I smiled bitterly. “If only I could show them now.” I imagined sending Lissa, Jekyll’s best friend, after Jenna, my old foe.

To my surprise, he smiled with me. “I wouldn’t mind helping you.” Then he looked to the side, as if remembering something. “Although some people would disagree.”

I laughed quietly. “Hakyeon.”

He broke into a grin and nodded, laughing lightly. “Yeah.”

I allowed myself some chuckles, and then sighed quietly. “Still, this…curse is too horrible to wish upon anybody.” Even Jenna. I tapped my fingers on the glass of my water. “I can’t wait to break it.”

Taekwoon nodded, staring at me solemnly. “We’ll break it.”

The waiter came back with our drinks at that time, and took our orders. I didn’t have to look at the options to know what I wanted, and Taekwoon didn’t pick up the menu either. Food ordered, the waiter took the untouched menus and excused himself and left Taek and I to our preternatural conversation.

Swirling a straw in the lemonade he’d ordered for me, I looked at Taekwoon while he doctored his coffee. “So, what about you? Were you…born a wolf?”

He shook his head slowly, considering his words carefully. “It is far more rare to meet a werewolf that was born than it is to meet a wolf that was made.”

Narrowing my eyes a fraction, I appraised him. “How are werewolves made? Does it take just a bite, too?”

Clearing his throat a little awkwardly, he shrugged and nodded, but it wasn’t very convincing. I kept staring at him until he set everything down and met my eyes at last. Looking over my shoulder, he deliberated some more before finally telling me the truth. “You have to take a bit of a werewolf’s flesh and consume it, and then the change starts at the core of the body. The magic spreads out from within, evolving the entire vessel to morph it completely.”

My eyebrows rose slightly. Sitting there, impressed, I absorbed that information without judgment, which he seemed to appreciate. However, I was curious enough to ask, “You bit a wolf?”

That was a good question, apparently. He burst into quiet laughter, covering his mouth again while his eyes disappeared due to his mirth. I pursed my lips to keep from smiling too, but I was also embarrassed about asking a stupid question.

Taekwoon shook his head. “No.” He laughed some more, still not over it. While I waited patiently, tapping continuously on the glass holding my strawberry lemonade, he regained composure and said, still smiling, “It would be pretty reckless to bite a werewolf, and not very smart to expect to live.”

Nodding, I muttered, “Okay, forget I said anything.” I was still smiling though, because I got him to laugh.

He sobered up more and then revealed, “I was dying. If it weren’t for a good friend of mine, I wouldn’t be here at all right now.”

Cold flashes ran down my spine. I didn’t want to imagine such a reality, because a reality without Taekwoon wasn’t worth enduring. I took a few breaths to steady the panic that had risen in my chest and stared at him to reassure myself that he was perfectly fine.

My reactions were highly irrational, but I was unable to keep them from surfacing.

Thinking back to his pack mates, I wondered aloud, “Was it one of the guys? Ravi, Hakyeon, Hongbin?”

He shook his head slowly, taking a drink of his water instead of his coffee. “No. He’s dead now.” He didn’t meet my eyes when he told me, “He didn’t make it.”

Without thinking twice about it, I reached across the table and placed my hand softly over his. I was relieved when he accepted me, his fingers curling around mine gently. His eyes came to meet mine and I both lost and found myself in his gaze. “I’m very grateful to your friend,” I murmured, and his hand tightened around mine.

We both jumped when the waiter appeared out of thin air, holding two steaming plates with a huge grin. “Who ordered the omelet?”

Taekwoon and I both sat back, accepting our food now that the spell was broken between us.

I didn’t know how hungry I was until I started eating. I felt better, though, to see that Taekwoon was eating even faster than I was, practically inhaling his food.

I was just about done with mine when my brain made a little click. I looked at him curiously. “Wolves are made with magic too, huh?”

Taekwoon looked at me neutrally and nodded. “Yeah.” Rather bluntly, he disclosed, “Wolves were created by vampires, after all.”

My eyes widened on their own as I stared at him, stunned. “What?”

He nodded, scooping some hash browns with his fork. “Vampires created werewolves a long, long time ago to use them as personal bodyguards, slaves, and pets.” He made sure to catch my expression when he said, “We’re made of dark magic, too. We’re just better at hiding our evil by aiding the innocent.”

I shook my head immediately, refusing to agree to that. “No. You’re not evil at all.” I actually grew pretty upset with him. “You’re an idiot. Don’t speak like that again.” I stabbed some broccoli with my fork and swirled it around on my plate, miffed.

Taekwoon chuckled after a moment, and that prompted me to look up again. “It’s frustrating to hear someone so negative, isn’t it?” He inclined his head towards me. “If you talk like that, I will too. If you don’t, then I won’t either.” He surprised me further, glowering at me. “You’re not allowed to think about dying anymore.”

I gaped. “When did I even—?”

“You mumble in your sleep sometimes, remember?” he reminded me softly. He was very obviously unhappy with me. “You’re not going to die, so quit with that already.” Then he changed the subject to prove how final his word was. “Do you need to buy anything while we’re out?”

A baseball bat to clobber him with came to mind, but I didn’t say that aloud. I shook my head after thinking about it, mostly because I wasn’t too sure. “I don’t think so.”

He chewed on his French toast thoughtfully, took a sip of my strawberry lemonade, and then said, “I do.”

So after brunch, we went shopping together.

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*still dancing horribly but passionately to "Love Me Do"* Like a diamond~! *sings horribly too*