A/N: Wow it's been a while. Sorry guys, school started again and I've been hella busy. I have a lot of creative writing to do in other classes, so it burns my juices out for this story, sadly. BUT! In celebration of NCT U's new song coming out, here's an update ♥ Also, since NCT's debuted new members who aren't small children, would you guys like me to add Lucas and Jungwoo to the story? Please answer the poll at the end of the chapter~~

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For the next few days, Taeyong, Mark, and Ten were all gone to watch the Im pack. With two of her mates away, Somin felt terribly anxious, and quite scared, but the other wolves were talented with assuring her.

"Taeyong hyung only went to make sure Mark and Ten knew what they were doing. Mostly Mark, since he's the youngest, and has the least experience," Yuta murmured to her as he kissed the top of her head. "But everyone's been fine so far. It will be okay, alright?"

"Taeyong is very strong," Taeil added. "He's not alpha for no reason."

The wolves were still figuring out a proper schedule to rotate observing, with everyone being in school, so they never were gone more than three days before swapping out with someone else. Unfortunately though, with Mark gone, Somin had to go to school by herself. It was only one day, since the wolves had left on Saturday and would be back that night, but it still felt strange to ride the bus and walk into school by herself, despite promises from all the wolves that they were a call away, and that she could call them and they'd take her home if she didn't feel safe.

But that was ridiculous. Her pack wasn't here. There was no one, and nothing, to be afraid of at school.

Except maybe Park Jihoon.

"Mark sick?" Jinyoung asked as he, Woojin, and Jihoon all sat next to Somin with their trays of food.

"Yeah," she replied with a nod, poking around at her rice with her spoon.

Jihoon lifted a brow and took her spoon away from her, gathering rice onto it, adding a piece of meat on top. "You'll get sick too if you don't eat. Ahh. Open up."

Somin glanced up and glared at him, but those doe eyes of his made her give in and open to accept the food, Jihoon giving her the most infuriating grin. "Good girl," he cooed, making her snatch her spoon back from him.

"Do you really not feel good?" came Woojin's quiet voice. At least this kid was actually nice and truly concerned.

"I think she just misses Mark," Jihoon observed, head cocked to one side as his lips pursed into an infuriatingly adorable expression. "Don't worry. It's probably just a cold or something. It's been going around. Don't need to act like the kid's going to die, Somin."

"You're the same age. If anything you're the kid. He's already taller than you," Somin pointed out as she rolled her eyes and took her spoon back from Jihoon, who was now annoying her. "But Woojin, I'm fine. I think I might be getting a cold, too. I just feel...tired."

Tired. It tended to happen when she was away from one of her mates for too long, she'd noticed. It had been a day and a half that Mark and Taeyong were gone, and she had seen Yuta this morning and been fine. But now she was just getting tired, with not even the mate who was always beside her here now.

"You should really eat then," Jinyoung piped in. He was pretty quiet too, honestly, when he wasn't making a condenscending comment about someone. In fact, he reminded Somin of Taeil a bit. Jihoon was really the one who annoyed her the most. But he also made her smile. Funny. She didn't realize this was what having friends was like until now. 

"You're right. I'll text him later. He's probably asleep right now anyway," she agreed with the boy, nodding and eating a spoonful of her soup. She only had to get through a few more hours before she was back home. There, she would have Yuta, and Yuta would instantly make her feel better.

Somin became distracted in her thoughts about just when the wolves would take a break, and when Mark would be able to see her text, so she didn't notice Jihoon staring at her pensively, only occasionally taking a bite of food. He was in deep thought about something. His two best friends noticed, but they didn't make any comments on the matter.

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"Welcome ho--hey, you okay?" Johnny had stopped his greeting as he saw the expression on Somin's face, a frown immediately gracing his own features to match hers.

"Yeah. Just tired." Somin dropped her bag and flopped down on the couch beside Winwin, sighing. The wolf reached out to her, but his hands stopped as he remembered the times he'd been scolded. However, Somin leaned into him, letting one of his arms wrap around her.

"Are you getting sick?" Winwin put his hand to her forehead, humming. "I can't tell if you're warm or not. Wolves are warmer so I'm used to my own temperature. There's probably a..." The wolf frowned, trying to remember the word. "The stick you put into your mouth