Jinwoo manipulates Yeolie. Marianne learns the truth.

Puppy Love

Truth and Lies:

Marianne woke at the sound of her phone alarm going off beside her bed. Upon swiping it off, she noticed a slight difference in how this morning was beginning. Looking around her bed, she noticed Chanyeol was not beside her like he was the night before. He wasn't even at the foot of her bed cocooned around her.

"Where did he go?" Marianne whispered to herself, scratching her head. On cue, she began smelling something peculiar in the air. It smelled like it was coming from the kitchen. She couldn't help but laugh to herself, "What's he doing in there?"

After getting up out of bed and putting on her baby pink nightshirt and slippers, she made her way into the kitchen, seeing the tall Park Chanyeol standing at the stove with the tablet on the counter. She noticed he was playing a French toast tutorial and giggled to herself once again.

"How's it going over there?" Marianne called out softly, obviously startling Chanyeol by the way his broad shoulders flinched and turned around so quickly. He blushed at the sight of her standing there witnessing his struggle at cooking for the first time.

"It was supposed to be a surprise." He looked down at the pan containing soggy pieces of bread with eggs that were definitely not mixed right with clumps of cinnamon dumped on top. "But I'm not doing a very good job."

"Oh, Yeolie. It's okay." Marianne laughed more as she came closer to hug him for assurance, "Do you want some help?"

"I think that would be great." Chanyeol chuckled deeply, his cheeks pink with embarrassment. 

Marianne showed him how to whisk the eggs in the bowl properly and how he shouldn't just drop the bread in so it wouldn't get so soggy. She showed him how to use the spatula so he would be able to flip the toast himself.

"Perfect." She grinned in excitement. She noticed the way he stared back at her with complete admiration.

"Yeah." He brushed the back of his hand on her soft cheek. "Perfect."

She couldn't help but be a blushing mess from that. She giggled nervously, "Why are you like this?"

When she looked up at him, he answered by gently holding her face in his hands and placing a kiss on her forehead. He then took her hand and sat her at the table so they could eat the breakfast they made together.

"Oh," Chanyeol suddenly thought of something. He stood and went off into Marianne's room to get something. "Here."

Marianne looked at the object he put into her hands. It was his old collar. The collar she had forgotten to put back on him when he had given him a bath before he had changed into what he is now. The collar that read his original name, "Yeolie".

"I don't think I need it anymore." Chanyeol smiled with confidence. "I think I like human life way better."

"And why is that?" She received a similar answer he had given before. Only this time the kiss he gave was longer and on her lips.

"That's why." He kissed her again on her lips then on her nose. "I wish I could do that all the time."

"You can." Her response made his chocolate eyes sparkle. She let out a playful scream when he suddenly grabbed her and pulled her close to him so he could start kissing her all over her face. "Yeolie!"

When the playfulness finally winded down, Marianne quickly got ready so she could go off to work. She offered for Chanyeol to come with her like the last time, but he expressed that he wanted to go visit with his brothers.

"Do you know how to get there?"

"Of course. Cousin Yixing already showed me the way yesterday." There was no way that thousand-watt smile of his could ever get less beautiful. "I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you too."

Chanyeol was sure to kiss her goodbye before she left. He happily skipped into Marianne's room (which he now wanted to call their room) to change into the first outfit Marianne had ever bought for him. He wore his light blue denim jeans and his oversized thin beige sweater. He wanted to run all the way to his dad Suho's house. He was so excited considering the circumstances with Marianne, he couldn't wait to tell Baekhyun and Chen all about it. He knew they wanted to know if the date went well, and it did go well, better than he thought it could.

He left the apartment building and pranced off to Suho's house. Nobody's pet dog could distract him today, not even the street foot he passed along the way. He of course was still distracted by his happy mood that he wasn't paying much attention to where he was going, causing him to bump into someone.

"Oh, sorry." He turned to the lady he bumped into as he continued walking, making him bump into someone right in front of his path. He repeated to the man in front of him, "Oh, sorry."

"Don't worry about it." The man replied. "Actually, I'm happy I ran into you. You're just the man I wanted to see."

"Me?" Chanyeol grinned, pointing to himself.

"Yes. It's nice to meet you." The man put a rough hand on Chanyeol's shoulder. "I'm Jinwoo. Come with me, we have a lot to talk about."

"Okay!" Chanyeol happily went with this Jinwoo. "What do you need to talk to me about?"

"It's about someone you and I know very well." Jinwoo looked seriously into Chanyeol's eyes, making Chanyeol's smile fade. "I have some things I need to tell you about someone you only seem to know as Marianne."

Marianne blissfully entered the coffee shop, feeling like nothing could ruin the mood she was in right now. Luhan noticed her bliss and immediately felt saddened that he wasn't the reason. He knew who was making her happy like this. Park Chanyeol.

"I'm guessing your date went well last night." Luhan tried to make it sound like he was completely fine even though he was far from it. He also already knew the date went well, he had followed them the entire time until they disappeared back into her apartment building.

"That sure is an understatement." Marianne bit her lip at the thought of her evening with Chanyeol the night before. Seeing him at the door looking so handsome and holding flowers for her. Their dinner together, their talking, him winning her the beagle plushy from the crane machine, their kiss under the street lamp, him saying how he only wanted her, their time back home. It was all that made it the best night of her entire life.

"Oh. Really?" Luhan felt an ache in his heart. What could he possibly say? He didn't even feel like he had the strength to speak anyway. Was there even anything to say? He forced the most fake smile on his lips.

"I've never felt like this about anyone, Luhan. You have no idea what he means to me."

Marianne's smile held so much sincerity and pure happiness. It was enough to lift his spirits just enough for his smile to be genuine. He thought about what he had talked about with Sandra the night before after taking a breather from watching Marianne with Chanyeol. He understood that she was already destined for Chanyeol, never him. He had to be happy for her, even if he had to force himself to.

"Well...You know I'm happy for you."

"Thanks, Luhan." Marianne gave him a quick hug before going off to start working.

"I'm still trying." He whispered to himself so she wouldn't hear. "H-Hey, Marianne?"

"Yeah?"

"Have you heard from Sandra today? She never came to get her usual coffee. I even made sure everything was perfect this time so she wouldn't scold me."

Marianne looked and saw the coffee cup with Sandra's name on it sitting on the counter, cold. She immediately thought it was out of the ordinary but still decided not to worry herself.

"No, I haven't. She probably just forgot. You know how busy she is with her finals coming up. She probably didn't have time to stop by."

"Finals is all the more reason why she would want her half-and-half coffee with three packs of sugar and soy milk and an inch of foam with melted mocha on the bottom and caramel on top."

"Wow, you really do have it memorized."

"She would kill me if I didn't. Which is why I find it strange. She comes in every day like clockwork. She made me waste this whole thing." Luhan grumbled, "Could've at least texted, you know?"

"Maybe this is just her payback to you for messing it up last time." Marianne joked but Luhan wasn't brushing it off as easily.

Luhan looked at his phone to see if Sandra responded to the message he sent over an hour ago.

"Are you alright?"~Luhan

There was no response. There wasn't even a notification saying she at least read it. Never had he once experienced complete silence from Sandra the entire 3 years he'd known her. He wanted to believe she was fine like Marianne had said. Maybe there was a logical explanation. Still, he couldn't manage to convince himself. He was worried.

"Come on, Sandra," Luhan whispered, going into the kitchen and putting the phone to his ear to call her. "Where are you?"

"What's wrong?" Kyungsoo asked, seeing the distressed look on Luhan's face.

"It's Sandra. She didn't show up like she usually does, and she's not answering her phone."

"When was the last time you saw her?"

"Last night." The ringer went off, and the call then went to voicemail. "She didn't answer, again. Where is she?"

"Don't get too worked up yet." Kyungsoo attempted to console his friend, "We don't want to jump to conclusions."

"I know, I know. I just hope she's okay."

"I hope so, too. She's done so much for us, especially Miyoung."

Luhan nodded his head, his mind going to Jinwoo who was still out there. "That only gives me more of a reason to worry."

Jinwoo brought Chanyeol to the park to have his talk. He said he had something to say about Marianne, of course piquing Chanyeol's interest. Who was this guy and how did he know his Marianne? What could he possibly want to say about her?

"Listen, I'm going to be completely honest with you. I've known Marianne a lot longer than you have. There's a lot of things I know that you don't. Understand?"

"I'm not sure." Chanyeol felt uneasy being around him. Jinwoo had deep scars on the left side of his face that looked like claw marks and Chanyeol could smell the stench on him. Jinwoo was a wolf hybrid like that Luhan.

"I know you know what I am. And I know what you are. We're not fully human and guess what, neither is Marianne. She is not the nice and pretty human you think she is. The only reason you don't know is because she doesn't know. She has it suppressed down to t