05.

Yesol shifted, groaning when her body ached from exhaustion. It took her brain a fraction of a second to recall the previous night's events and she ignored the ache to sit up and look around, alert and defensive, her instincts still in primal mode.

“You’re awake.”

Her shoulders slumped, her body instantly relaxing from the sound of his voice. She turned to Mark, his form sitting in a chair beside the bed she was tucked in. He looked anxious, she could tell, definitely worried after what happened.

“Are you okay?” He asked, sitting forward and taking her hand in his. Warmth tingled up her arm and throughout the rest of her body at his touch, his skin soft against hers.

Taking a deep breath, she nodded. She was safe wherever Mark was. No matter what. Her instincts told her that. His touch was the most reassuring feeling she had ever felt in her 21 and a half years of life.

He gave her a moment to gather her thoughts, his thumb brushing gently across the top of her hand, soothing her worries and fears as best he could. She exhaled as she squeezed his hand, a gesture to show that she didn’t want him to let go.

And finally, with a shaky voice, she looked him in his eyes, the electric blue long gone and his deep chocolate brown in its place. “What exactly happened last night?”

“We were waiting for you to wake up to discuss it properly, but Taeyong and Taeil have thought of a few things.”

 She frowned at the name of Taeil but knew that there were probably plenty of pack members she had yet to meet. She nodded in response to his statement before a question made its way to her thoughts and she frowned, making his nerves grow. “What’s up?”

“How…” She wasn’t sure if she could word it appropriately, so she paused, biting her lip before continuing. “How were you able to find me? I mean, how did you know that I needed help…?”

“Ah.” Mark gave her a sheepish smile, his cheekbones prominent as he did so, and she found it incredibly cute. He looked away as if he were flustered to answer her question, and the slight pinkish tint to his cheeks proved that theory. “I could feel you.”

The way he said it sounded a bit… she couldn’t quite figure it out (or maybe didn’t want to), but it made her flush as well, her eyes widening slightly. “Feel me?”

He seemed to realize how odd that sounded and turned back to her, shaking his head vigorously in denial. “No, no I mean, like, I could just feel that you were distressed. Mates have the ability to sense when their mate is experiencing a very strong emotion, even before consummating the process.”

Consummating.

“I see.” Yesol blushed furiously at that, but she ignored it all together, instead making a move to get out of bed.

Mark stood as she began to try and balance herself, his other hand coming to rest on her elbow. “Are you alright to walk on your own?”

She smiled, nodding and allowing him to steady her as she began to make her way toward the door.

It occurred to her that she was losing her resolve to distance herself from the blond boy beside her, but she wasn’t sure that she cared anymore.

In that moment, Yesol decided to let things happen as they happen, and that she wasn’t going to fight it. 

When they stepped out of the room, Yesol was immediately struck with a sense of familiarity as the plain setting of the building displayed itself in front of her eyes. She was upstairs in the pack house, she could tell. She assumed the room that she was just in was a guest room of sorts, considering that it didn’t look even an ounce lived in. And, she also realized as she glanced side to side, the entire upstairs wrapped around the length of the house, making it like a square shape, a balcony almost. Rooms lined the entire stretch of the wall, and it was open to the other side of the house, the door opposite herself a distance away, but visible.

A door a few rooms down opened, the rowdy sound of something else familiar, or rather someone, stepping out of it. Jeno stood beside Haechan as they exited, and the redheaded male froze when he saw his teacher standing, leaning gently against Mark.

“Yesol, I’m so glad you’re not dead!” He cheered, rushing to her, but stopping short when Mark scoffed and held his hand up, signaling him to take it easy.

Jeno gave her a gentle smile as she joined them, bowing respectfully to her. “I’m glad too, Ms. Nam.”

Yesol’s chest filled with a sense of pride at him calling her Ms. Nam and she smiled gratefully before turning to Haechan with a raised brow. “You should be that respectful, too, Haechan.”

“But being informal promotes closeness.” He countered, earning a snicker from Jeno.

“And I’m sure respect will too.” She frowned, shaking her head at him. She could already tell how much of a handful Haechan would turn out to be.

He opened his mouth to retort but stopped short when he caught sight of something to the other side of Yesol and Mark. “Ah, Hyung! Come meet Yesol!” He called out eagerly, drawing her eyes over to that direction. Two more members stood down the hall, making their way to her. The shorter of the two looked familiar to her, so she assumed he was one of the students at her school as well, but she was somewhat grateful to not know the other boy personally. They stopped in front of her, bowing politely before giving Haechan and Jeno a pointed look to introduce them properly.

“This is Renjun and Sicheng hyung. They’re actually from China, but Taeyong took them under his wing when they were younger and first came to Korea.” Jeno clarified.

Yesol bowed her slightly to the two of them with a smile. “It’s pleasure to meet you.”

“I hope we can become close, Noona.” The taller of two smiled, Sicheng, she guessed.

“Yes, and I promise not to allow this to affect us at school.” Renjun gave her a reassuring grin.

“I think Taeyong and Doyoung hyung are making breakfast, so we were on our way downstairs for that. You should eat something, Noona. Energy is important.” Sicheng informed them, giving her a welcoming smile as he motioned for them to follow.

Mark placed his hand on the middle of her back in comfort, and the pair began following the four other boys downstairs.

—

“Now that our damsel is awake, I believe it’s time to discuss some rather important details.” Taeil stated, earning the attention of all the remai