The little human in a house of werewolves woke up to a sour throat and hazy eyesight.

She knew she was sick right away, and she spent half an hour just groaning in her bed, thinking just how much life hates her for passing her the flue from Chen, whom was already strong and virus-free after their one-sided cuddle session.

She had to drag her feet off of the bed so that she could have some medicine and see if Kyungsoo was in the kitchen to ask for soup (even though she doesn’t like soup, or having Kyungsoo cook anything for her to be honest.) Her legs felt slow and heavy, and her body was groggy, to the point she felt herself falling to the ground the minute she stood up from her bed, everything around spinning in circles.

If there was one thing she really liked about werewolves, it was their large ability to sustain themselves when sick. They rarely get sick, but when they do, they don’t turn all tired and lazy like humans. However, they know something is wrong with their bodies, and if they don’t cure it away; it’ll get worse. Which would explain why Chen demanded she comes and take this feeling away from him, since the group of wolves she lived with were considered strong and important in the werewolf world. They cannot afford to be sick.

She just wished the virus wasn’t sneaky enough to travel to her weak body.

She strengthened herself from the floor and stood up with a moan of both annoyance and grogginess, before dragging her feet to the second floor.

The house was too quiet, which meant it was either too early in the morning that everyone were still asleep; or it was too late in the noon that the boys were already out.

Feeling slightly sour that Kyungsoo was not around, she walked around the kitchen with dazed eyes and hands busy searching through the cabins for the medicine she was sure she’d find somewhere along the—

“You’re sick?”

She flinched and turned around so quickly; she was afraid she might twist her neck. She saw Chen, his lips curled into a mean kind of smirk that she knew was harmless, despite the devilish intentions someone would mistake flashing in his eyes. He was all good and well, leaning against the wall across her with a lazy way that made her heart race. She didn’t feel him coming inside, but then again; they were faster than a cheetah.

“How did you know?” She answered, breathlessly, chest heaving up and down softly because of surprise. He dropped his hands to his sides and came forward, his smirk widening.

“I could feel it in your body heat ten miles away from my own room. I cannot not know, is it because of me?”

“Well, yes.” She answered him, her heart returning steady and her now burning mark, finally sensing the mate close to her, released a puff of imaginary smoke before softening. She hated her wolf mark, it reminded her she’ll forever be marked (she once called it a curse) by them, and she’ll forever be hyper away of their presence.

“Well,” he mocked her, standing right in front of her (really, really close) and taking her chin in his large, calloused hands, before pulling her face close to his. He still had a huge smirk lit up on his face. “Let me take it back.” His eyes flashed with a deep shade of yellow, that was awfully close to gold, before taking another small step closer, invading all of her personal space.

She screeched, literally, when he closed the distance between their faces, intending to dive in for her lips with his, his mouth parting slightly and she could see his tongue—

He was pulled away from her with a violent jerk, and he burst into laughter. She blinked her widening eyes, closing her agape mouth (she didn’t know it had opened. What was doing? Was it really ready to reciprocate? But what exactly? She knew what. The thought made her shudder in horror) she looked back at the intruder who had – fortunately – pulled Chen away from her, to see a very unamused Joonmyeon, who had his eyebrows furrowed and eyes pinned on Chen’s laughing body, almost falling to the ground.

“That wasn’t very funny.” Joonmyeon told Chen, still not acknowledging the look she was sending him.

“Joonmyeon, honey,” Chen stopped laughing to sling an arm around Joonmyeon’s shoulders, ignoring his bored eyes. Meanwhile, she tried to lighten the pace of her quivering heartbeats. “It is all about perspectives. I think this is funny to me and that’s really all that matters.”

“You aren’t very educated.” Joonmyeon commented, shrugging his shoulders so that he could push Chen’s arm from him.

“He really isn’t,” She immediately took the chance to add, a hand placed on her chest exaggeratedly. Chen let out a snort.

“Education is overrated.”

“You are overrated.” She mumbled, rolling her eyes and turning back to the cabins to continue searching through the cupboards, her mark sizzling afire when she sensed Joonmyeon coming closer.

“Medicine is on the left, fourth cabin.” His voice was small, soft, and simply gentle. He was like that, Joonmyun, he was gentle, in whatever he was doing. She liked his company a lot, although he didn’t like anyone’s company, for he was an introvert. She liked the calmness he radiated, as if everything is alright and not at the same time, but he’d be ready to conquer everything all together. He was tranquillity, in itself.

She reached for the place he told her about, and took whatever she needed before looking back at the two wolves, whom didn’t even make a move, both staring at her with unreadable eyes. Even Chen, whom was laughing at her just seconds ago, was staring at her oddly, no expression visible on his face. She guided her eyes to each one of them cautiously, and she realized none of the two seemed to realize what they were doing. Was it something they did usually, yet she didn’t notice? Stare at her like that; with scattered thoughts and unfocused eyes, as if she’s some sort of mystery to them? It made her heart race.

“Why are you all staring at each other like that?”

The three of them all snapped their heads at their Alpha, whom was coming down the stairs with a confused frown of his own. She was rather surprised about the two boys not sensing him already before he could talk, and shifted her eyes to them momentarily, catching the slight startle in them, before glancing back at Minseok.

“Are you sick?” Minseok asked with authority, before crossing his arms and giving Chen a stare of exasperation. “I told you to be careful with her. She’s a human.”

“Sorry for causing her to get sick from my own sickness?” Chen snickered a little at his own words, and Minseok let out a sigh as if Chen was utterly hopeless, while she was trying hard not to let her cheeks darken.

Because, was Minseok worried about her?

“You need to stay in bed, then,” he turned to her with another sigh, a disapproving one, as if he cannot deal with any more trouble like her getting sick. She felt her heart drop. “Jongdae will make you soup.”

“Why me?” Chen scoffed, crossing his arms like a spoiled child not believing what he was hearing. She was holding a sigh herself.

“I think you know why,” Minseok gave a sarcastic smile. “Don’t be a child and do as I say.”

While Chen grumbled and went to make her soup (she honestly didn’t know if he was capable of making anything edible) Joonmyeon and Minseok engrossed themselves with an eye-contact that was similar to the one Chen and Joonmyeon had going on for her. She didn’t know exactly what was happening, or what exactly was running in their heads all of a sudden, she just knew she didn’t want to be apart of it.

She intended to leave, but then she remembered the text message she received a day ago, and went completely still, her shoulders stiffening. The boys must’ve noticed her going absolutely rigid, because they all turned to look at her with curled eyebrows, even Chen came back to them with a spoon, a frown taking over his naturally playful face.

“What?” Minseok demanded in a semi-harsh voice, and she involuntarily flinched, looking up at him with a small pinch of fear escaping the hard steel she was used to wrapping around her eyes. Something soft flashed in Minseok’s eyes, then, and for the first time ever since she had seen him five months ago, his eyes sparkled in a deep golden color, odd gentleness appearing in his face. She thought this was his way of apologizing, perhaps.

“I.. I want to go see my brother.”

It was their time to grow absolutely stiff, while Minseok looked downright pissed off. His face didn’t exactly show anything, since he wasn’t a feeling sort of guy; but his eyes were hard, and she could see his jawline tensing up.

“Why?” He tried to say it calmly, but he was everything but, and she wasn’t even surprised with how upset he really was. They all were.

“He told me he wanted to meet me.”

“Do you want to?” This was Joonmyeon, and he spoke faster than Minseok. She urged her suddenly heavy head to glance up at Joonmyeon, her eyes a little wide and unfocused. She didn’t know the answer to that, or maybe she did, but she didn’t want to answer them, because it’ll make them even more upset. But still, there was a small part of her that didn’t want to go see her brother. Her family was a part of her life that ended the day she found Minseok, and she had sworn not to open that chapter again.

But, her brother told her he wanted to see her, just yesterday; and that he wanted to check on her. She’d be lying if she said she didn’t miss him, or her family members, but what they did to her was cruel, and she didn’t know what overlapped what: her sheer annoyance and hurt over their actions, or her feelings regarding them as individuals.

“Fine,” Minseok must have seen the confusion dancing in her eyes, as he said and relented. “Bu