DAY TWENTY-FOUR

“Did you get the food?”

Jinsoul lifted the white plastic bags and shook them, a smirk on her face. “Sure do. Sometimes I think you only keep dating me because I keep feeding you. A bird was a totally appropriate Animagus form for you.”

Jungeun let a playful smile dance on her lips before she snatched the bag out of Jinsouls hand. “Mmm. Dumplings. I love dumplings!”

Jinsoul crossed her arms. “You love all food.”

Jungeun shoved a dumpling into , chewed quickly, and then replied, “Not as much as I love you.”

Jinsoul sighed and finally let herself smile. She was cute when she did that. Well, if Jungeun was being honest, she was always cute. Jungeun patted the space on the couch next to her. Jinsoul yawned and plopped herself down.

Jungeun’s fingers worked their way across Jinsoul’s back in what she hoped was a soothing massage. Jinsoul let out a soft sigh and put her hands on her knees. “It’s going to be a very long night if you’re this tired at ten in the morning.”

Jinsoul threw her hands up. “Two of us have gotten through worse.”

Jungeun nodded and bit her lip. “Yeah. The first nights after you told your parents were rough.” She shuddered to think of those nights, when Jinsoul would spend the whole night crying. They were nightmare times, the worst case scenario. Jungeun could still sometimes catch her sobbing, when she thought she wasn’t paying attention. There were fewer of those now, after Loona.

But they weren’t in Jungeun’s house now. They hadn’t been for quite some time. After Jungeun’s parents heard the news, they moved the two girls to their summer home in France. It was a nice enough place, but it was clear they’d only done it to get the heat off of them. And there was heat. Enough to burn a building down.

No one knew they were here. It was just the two of them, all alone in a strange country. And Jungeun couldn’t get enough of it. She let herself slouch against the back of the velvet couch in the living room of their little hideout. The dumplings were rich and savory, with just the crispiest skin you could imagine. They were perfect.

“You like them? I wanted to try a new place after the last one gave us both food poisoning. You know how hard it is to find a chinese restaurant around here?”

Jungeun swallowed the remains of her last dumpling and nodded. “Yeah, almost makes me wish we brought Vivi along.”

Jinsoul gave her a look. “Yeah, okay, not the greatest idea. She’d totally kill our chemistry. But she’s a really good cook. Really good. Just saying.”

Jinsoul shook her head. “Just let me sit on your lap, you doofus.”

Jungeun nodded eagerly.

Her fingers idly worked their way through Jinsoul’s hair, gathering hair and bundling it into quick braids. “You’d look good with short hair.” Jinsoul looked at her with skeptical eyes. “You would. I mean, you look great already, but with a bob, you’d just be…” Jungeun grunted suggestively. Jinsoul coughed.

“You must be just about the only person in the world who thinks I’m still beautiful.”

Jungeun laced her fingers behind her head and leaned back, cool as a cucumber. “That’s because everyone else is an idiot, honey.”

Jinsoul’s eyes shined with admiration. “I thank my lucky stars every day that I met you. Even if we didn’t start out the greatest...you’re the best. I mean that.” Jinsoul squeezed Jungeun’s hand tightly.

“Stop, you’re gonna make me tear up!” Her voice was exaggerated and whiny, but she was only half-joking.

They spent the hours between in the same way they always did. They ate, they read books, and they made fun of each other. It was love in the only way they knew how to express it. Two lonely girls who avoided loneliness together.

It was nearing eight when they found themselves cuddling in bed. It was intimate, but not . Doing that kind of stuff before the wolf came was just asking for trouble. But it was almost time.

Jungeun shook Jinsoul by the shoulders. “Wake up! We need to get you into the cage, honey.” Jinsoul’s eyes shot open and for the briefest heartbeat Jungeun thought she might have gotten her time wrong, that Jinsoul might already be changing. Thankfully, the yellow she saw in her eyes was a mere trick of the light.

“Already? The days are too short, Jungeun.”

Jungeun nodded. “They always are. But we have every other day of the month to spend in peace. This is just the price we pay for those moments.”

Jinsoul’s eyes were red. She had been crying while Jungeun had been napping. Jungeun felt that now familiar twinge of pain in her heart. She hated doing this. She hated doing this alone. It was so much easier when they had their friends.

This was...this was too intense.

She felt like a prison guard. She was sure Jinsoul felt like a prisoner. One night a month. That’s what she had to keep telling herself. Jinsoul didn’t resist as Jungeun snapped the cool silver manacles around her wrists and marched her down the stairs to the tiny metal room that was her cell.

Jungeun fumbled with the keys in her pockets. Jinsoul stared at her with the same empty, pallid eyes that she always did just before transforming. The guilt formed a pit in Jungeun’s stomach. But this was had to be done. One night a month.

The door unlocked with a twist of the key. Jungeun pushed it open with one hand and led Jinsoul into the rough,scratched up interior of the cell. She sat her down on the plush pillow that served as the only furniture in the room.

She held her hand. She always held her hand, up until the moment she couldn’t hold it anymore. Jinsoul always admonished her for doing so, saying it was too great a risk, but Jungeun didn’t care. She needed her.

Jungeun brushed the sweat slick hair out of Jinsoul’s face. She stared into a pale face and distant eyes. Jinsoul said she couldn’t remember the half-hour directly before and after a transformation, but Jungeun always made an effort to make her comfortable.

“I love you.”

Jungeun folded Jinsoul’s hands one on top of the other and left her there. She closed the cell door behind her, the lock clicking into place with a snap.

She let herself slide down the door, suddenly exhausted even though she had just been napping not fifteen minutes earlier. She buried her face in her hands and sobbed, doing her best to block out the noise of the wolf in the room beyond.