Mina’s head was going to, for ’s sake, explode with all those ominous thoughts about being a werewolf that ed themselves none too gently through her head, without her consent of course. She constantly tried to take her head out of it, only for her to see something even close to resembling a dog or a wolf, and she’d think about it all over again.

It wasn’t really like she was afraid of what being a werewolf entailed— okay fine, she was afraid about what being a werewolf entailed. However, she was pretty sure her boys would help her go through whatever horror werewolves typically go through, but the real question that plagued her was this: was she ready to change her humanity? She did not think that wolves didn’t have any humanity, because they do, and her stupid, dorky, and warm werewolves showed that already. But she meant like the real humanity, the essence of being a human, the ignorance in being one and the difficulties in trying to be one too. Would she miss that?

Sure, a human is not about rainbows and glitter, a human can be the most dangerous living being, and the most vicious. Still, was she ready to lose that part of her? Of course she believed being a human was about how one experienced things, how one reacted to them, how one felt regarding them, and all these things can be achieved despite whatever creature you were.

But she saw so many supernatural shows, how every single one wished they could take even a day to return to being the humans they are and be allowed to make mistakes. That was the sole thought that made her so restless— whether she’d regret being turned into a wolf later on. 

She entered the coffee shop with a blazed brain, her eyes unfocused, and her neck still occasionally pulsing. The boys had made a mini cult— not like they weren’t already in a pack, which was just a fancy word for a damn cult— in trying to convince her to take more breaks. But she was growing bored with the suffocation of the hospital, and now they want her to be locked in her home? Nope, thank you very much. She wasn’t a homey person like most of the boys, and she needed her dose of fresh, manual work to get her through the days, especially now that she has a damn job to go to.

She’d say she wasn’t really that focused about what was happening around her, which meant she hadn’t noticed the dim lighting of the cafe. So when these lights suddenly became significantly brighter, along with the sound of a loud pop, she was reeled back to reality with a harsh zap of electricity. She snapped her head in front of her with wide eyes, heartbeats jumping, to see the girls standing in front of her, smiling widely, and holding a large banner decorated with roses and cute doodles. In the middle of it, in big letters, was written “THANK GOD YOU’RE ALIVE, MINA! HAPPY TO HAVE YOU BACK WORKING AND BUSTING YOUR WITH US!”

Mina blinked owlishly. 

“What’s... what’s going on?” She asked, meekly closing the door of the cafe with shaking hands, still overwhelmed with the shock of that loud popping sound, which she discovered came from Yeri, who was holding a party popper with strings of ribbons coming out of it, grinning widely and showing all of her teeth. 

“It’s a 'good thing you’re alive party!'” Joy exclaimed, dropping her side of the banner and coming bouncing towards Mina to envelope her in a hug, taking extra care in trying not to bust her neck (or her ears) with the overwhelming happiness exploding out of her. Mina hugged her back awkwardly, earning herself a beam from the taller girl after she was done. 

“Why is this name so pessimistic?” Irene raised her eyebrows from where she was among the girls, holding her own share of the banner and peering down at it disapprovingly. Mina couldn’t believe she was here too. “Why wouldn’t she be alive? The chances any human encountering a vampire would stay alive and kicking around a demon is relatively high.”

Everyone kinda just looked at Irene silently, unable to say anything because she was Boss Lady and they couldn’t afford to be moronic around her. However, this didn’t stop Joy from grumbling underneath her voice. 

“Why are we throwing a party?” Mina asked, despite already knowing why. She was just feeling incredibly awkward even though she felt, throughout the days she has been working here, that she has already gotten closer to the girls. It was just that sometimes she thought of them as too buzzing, too concerned with each other in a group. It was like it didn't matter how close she got to them— she was still an outsider, and so likewise, she felt it was only suitable to distanced too. 

The girls gave her blank looks. 

“Did the vampire slash affect her braincells or something?” Yeri non-maliciously leaned toward Wendy and whispered to her in what she thought to be discreetly. She wasn’t a good whisperer. “Why would she ask such a question when the banner we’re holding is clearance enough?”

“Ignore them,” Seulgi cleared , shooing Yeri and Wendy, and coming forward. Mina noticed that with Irene’s presence feeling so majestic, it made Seulgi feel like she shouldn’t act in her usual cold act, her cheeks relatively warm and full of blood. Or maybe Mina was just reading her wrong. But why was she blushing?  “How are you? Your neck seems fine.”

Honestly, her neck was wrapped so it didn’t look like anything, but considering she was only half-crippled and walking, she was considered fine enough. Mina was reminded of the whole escapade and her cheeks turned a little red, especially with how drunk-like she acted around Seulgi. What an embarrassment. She hoped she’d forget about it soon enough, or be deleted from her head by some miracle. Which creature erased people’s thoughts again?

“Um— ah— I’m good... I’m good,” Mina scratched on her cheeks, the blush on Seulgi’s face flaring all the way to hers. Seeing Mina so uncharacteristically flustered, it made Seulgi feel better, almost like the feeling was reciprocated. Mina cleared . “I wanna see how much damage Tao was in, considering...” She trailed off.

“Considering?” Joy popped her head out from where she was squabbling with Wendy, eyes blinking curiously.

Mina blanched, feeling blood seep into her face at the remembrance of Tao and his ugly actions. Also, the fact Joy had heard her soft tone of hers when she had been sharing somewhat of a secretive conversation with Seulgi made her remember just what kind of people they were, because she, a human, wouldn’t have so easily heard that small sound of hers. However, she was a little bit pleased to know she wasn’t scared of them, only a little apprehensive. Maybe it was her prior involvement with the supernatural, with her friends, that made her feel like she could easily trust them. 

Seulgi rolled her eyes at Joy. “Stop butting into people’s business.”

Joy pouted as a response, having predicted that from Seulgi. From Mina’s perspective, she could clearly catch the buzzing fire lighting up Joy’s eyes next. “But I wanna know! All I know is that you came back looking like you’ve done some serious exercise, and trust me, seeing you sweaty and panting is hot, but I also know you’re prudish. I know something happened and you don’t want to tell us. Mina hadn’t been to work for four days and last time I remember, you went out to check on her, so tell me what happened,” Joy took a deep breath, in agony about not knowing the unknown and showing it in her puppy eyes. “I. Want. To. Know! I might grow a tumor in my belly by how tremendously curious I am! You know that’s not healthy!”

Mina blinked at Seulgi, surprised at her for not telling them about what happened, but simultaneously trying to show that she didn’t care. “You didn’t tell them?”

Seulgi looked exasperated, lips slacked open in some sort of exhaustion Joy’s consistency has brought her. Man, Mina didn’t want to be put in her place, not with Joy breathing down her neck. “Nah, figured the only one who needed to know was Boss Lady.”

Irene raised her hand in a wave at hearing her nickname, a smirk on her soft lips. However, she didn’t say anything. Seeing Irene, Mina was reminded of that first time she came into the cafe looking for a job, the supernatural sense of the Elixir of the shop, the creepy theme, and how quickly she was accepted after she told her she believed in mythical creatures. 

“Can I strike a compromise?” Mina found herself requesting, squinted her eyes first at the smirk Irene was wearing both because she wanted to appear bold and because she was blind. Beside her, Mina felt Seulgi tensing, knowing exactly what she was about to propose. 

“What is it?” Yeri blinked, eyes flashing with innocence, and Mina wondered if Yeri was really that innocent or if she didn’t want to be a part of that ‘compromise’. Honestly, no one should be as innocent as Yeri was, especially not with the type of being she was, an unforgiving part of the supernatural. Mina thought a part of Yeri was a mask. Anyway, it wasn’t important right now, so Mina focused on what they were talking about at the moment. 

“I’ll tell you what happened, in detail,” Mina gave Joy, who’s eyes were twinkling at the prospect of details, a reassuring look and then turned towards Seulgi, her eyes softening at seeing how uncomfortable Seulgi had became. “And you guys tell me what you are.”

Irene’s eyes flashed, and for the first time since Mina have met her, a devious smirk that showed a kind of ancient intelligence aligned her face.

“I can’t see why not.”

—

When Mina told them all about what happened to her— with Wendy and Joy’s eyes widened in apt concentration and amazement, even going as far as exclaiming out loud and adding sound affects— they began to tell her what exactly they were.

Mina was a genius by now when it came to myths and all the hocus pocus she got herself immersed in those previous days she didn’t know what her best friends were, but suspected them. She had gone through all kind of websites in Google to read through the mythology and its creatures. Of course, she came out empty handed because first, she wasn’t good with research, and second, she never believed the bull that was offered online. It did help her a little when the boys told her most of what was online was not the truth, and although there are a few things that relates to them, some other personal things the internet always failed to acquire.

That didn’t mean she wasn’t familiar with the dozens of types of supernaturals that scrolls and scrolls of pages offered her online, despite having semi-incorrect information about them. The girls were a little taken aback with how excited she became at the prospect of being told their type, and how that excitement of hers only intensified the longer they kept talking. Then again, they knew she was friends with wolves, and according to what happened before, Seulgi came to the conclusion she already knew of the supernatural world, so it was understandable she wouldn’t freak out entirely. But, her excitement... her excitement was buzzing, thrumming in the air like electricity, and although it was endearing how twinkling with color and emotions her eyes were, the girls found it a little awkward. They were never used to being glamoured like how she was making them feel.

Not with what they were.

“So, Incubi? demons?” Mina asked, a little nervously, not because she didn’t know what the heck demons are, or what they do, but she felt like it was an awkward topic in itself. The girls around her looked at ease, though, actually more bored than anything, and Mina wondered if this was a repetitive conversation. 

“Ew,” Joy exclaimed. “No, we’re fortunately lacking the and the horns,” Joy scrunched her face in exaggerated disgust. “You should refer us with Succubi, or demons, or those extremely hot girls with firing appeal.” She winked. Of course she’d wink; she found every opportunity as a chance to flirt around.

“So you feed on people’s ual fantasies?” Mina, however, decided to ignore her, her eyes flitting over the rest. Joy pouted, but no one gave her any attention. 

“More or less,” Seulgi answered. She too, had her expression solely focused on Mina, not paying attention to the now wailing Joy, exclaiming about how unfair everyone is. “It’s easier to feed through people’s ual dreams; they’re more vulnerable and less guarded, but physical is the best.”

“Skin to... skin?” Mina wasn’t exactly the most innocent girl around there, nor was she a prude, and she had went through many one night stands, but she always thought of as intimate— no matter what. The fact these girls needed to have to feed... it had a different meaning to them, it was not just a chase for desire and release. For them, it was food, more than food, but an essence of their soul. Mina blinked, would she ever, as a human, see differently? It was weird to direct something as as something beyond its rule. 

“Why so shy?” Wendy’s eyes sparkled dangerously, misunderstanding the meaning behind her words, her tone taking a low pitch. “Are you inexperienced? Are you a prude? Are you a ?”

“s taste the best.” Yeri smiled dreamily before Mina could open and say anything. She ended up gaping at ‘innocent’ Yeri, and when she noticed the older staring at her, Yeri beamed. 

Mina’s smile became even more forcefully anxious. 

“She doesn’t smell like a ,” Joy rolled her eyes at Yeri, as if the subjects correlated. Then, she turned to Mina, her face breaking into a foxy, wide smile. “You’ve definitely been touched, a couple of times. ’ scents usually take a long time to fade. I can dictate your ual life through the past six months.” Her smile turned a little proud. 

“I can work out a year,” Wendy winked at Mina, and Mina couldn’t help but think that these two were very similar. Any time to them was a chance to flirt around.

“Um. I’m not sure—I wanna have—the scents of people I have had with—on me—for a year.” Mina stuttered, her cheeks going undeniably red at the prospect of these creatures smelling the times she had in the last year. It felt oddly like an invasion of privacy, as if she had something to hide and they outrightly ripped it out of her. 

“Ignore them,” Seulgi once again came to the rescue, her face as blank as a white sheet. “Do you have any questions for us?”

In a sense, Mina had a lot of questions, but they were so inanimate and immersive that they blurred together into short, cluttered sentences, ugly for eyewitness. That’s what happens when you have read so many google documents about mythology and supernatural, things begin to blur into each other. Mina felt her head ringing. 

“Why isn’t she speaking?” Yeri’s secretive whispers to Joy was what awakened her, and she gave the two an icy look. Yeri either hoped her tone was secretive or she just didn’t care. “Seriously, tell me the truth. Has her neck wound been severely implanted? Did it negate her intelligence?”

Joy muffled her sniggers by her hands, amused to a default, whereas Wendy smirked, and Seulgi rolled her eyes. Again. It seemed that rolling her eyes was the response to everything in Seulgi’s expressions. 

“You guys are strong, right? Stronger than werewolves and vampires?” Mina decided to ignore them even though she could clearly hear Yeri’s ‘whispers’ and ask away her question, the clearest one so far compared to the others. Her vision still rang of what happened with Tao, especially that incredible bulldog punch Seulgi delivered to Tao, denting her, Sehun and Kai’s car. If there was anything she didn’t want to forget about that catastrophic incident, it was her amazing technique. 

“More or less,” Joy confirmed, jumping into the conversation again. Mina wondered where the heck Irene went; that scary woman would have been able to keep a leash on Joy. “Demons of all kind are typically the strongest type of, Ahm, excuse me for this term, but we’re the strongest supernatural around.”

“So um...” Mina blinked her eyes, her dry lips nervously. 

“What? Cat got your tongue?” Yeri smiled innocently, yet again, her eyes twinkling like the glittering sun rays on a silver plate, and her smile kind, elusive, and mechanic.

“Or more like, the succubus killed the human.” Wendy bared her hands as if they were claws, and Mina instantly began to think about Demonic Claws and Demonic Tails. Were those real, too? 

“Funny.” Mina muttered. 

“Do you have any other questions?” Seulgi cleared , crossing her hands together upon the clear surface of the table they all sat on for their question session, as Wendy so audibly called it, a huge grin on her face. 

“Not for now,” Mina answered in the same diplomatic expression of Seulgi, and the girls, who thought she was mocking her, giggled. “I’ve had a bunch of google documents loading up my laptop when I was trying to deceive myself about how my friends weren’t a bunch of freakass weirdos. I know enough about Succubus.”

“Not everything you see is true though.” Wendy gave her a reprimanding look, surprisingly, eyeballs bulging out of their sockets as if the idea Mina would trust in stupid folklore-induced internet files made her taken aback. 

“Trust me,” Mina scowled. “I’ve faced my own skepticism regarding internet too.”

Then, a slideshow of all of the memories she had regarding her weird questions — because of things she saw on the internet — as her boys indulged her began to cloud her mind.

“Hey, Suho, do vampires actually sparkle in the sun or am I too obsessed with Edward Cullen?”

“No, Mina, vampires don’t sparkle. Be real. And you are obsessed— I’m going to burn all of your twilight CDs.”

“Jongin, I know you kinda don’t like to be reminded of this, but why do you think your clothes shred when you shift into a werewolf? Why didn’t God or whatever divine and holy power out there who made you made your clothes magically appear or something? Was who created you a ert or some ? Man, I would be embarrassed having to prance around after an accidental shift.”

“Knowing your frivolous personality, those accidental shifts would happen a lot, minus the accidental part.”

“Minseok, are you team elves or genies?”

“Genies are not real, sweetcake, but they’d be awesome creatures to team with.”

“I wouldn’t be an elf fan myself. I feel like every elf is that ert Kim. I’m sorry elves, my image of you has been ruined.”

“Sehun, do you know that the size of your nose is the same size of your wolf tail?”

“You know what they say, the bigger the nose—“

“The bigger the air bubble around one’s head is? Man, who came up with this theory must be a genius. The only thing you have going on around your head is bubbles.”

“So Baek, if there is a giant cake in the center of the Han river, but you have to jump really high to get it before the others, would you turn into a werewolf to get a higher momentum?” 

“Heck yeah. I’m not about to miss on a bigass birthday cake for the fear of .”

“And here I thought you’d be afraid of exposing your werewolf-y status.”

“Kyungsoo—“

“For the last time, Mina, I’m not going to dye my fur magenta purple just because you want to see if I’m going to be allergic to it. I’m pretty ing positive I’m already allergic.”

“Yeah, of good fashion sense you are.”

“Mina?” 

She was broken out of her reverie (and her grimace) by the sound of Seulgi, who, once she gave Mina her attention, was blinking. The blinking softened her ordinary expressionless face, and Mina’s body warmed up at seeing the cute puzzlement on Seulgi’s face. 

“Yeah?”

“If you’re done,” Seulgi stretched her face tautly again, showing a grim yet serious expression. “You have to start working soon.”

Everyone instantly began to object, groans coming out of their sealed lips, Joy’s objection being the loudest. 

“What! We haven’t yet asked her about her friends!” That was joy, the ever so curious. 

“Yup!” Wendy abided, “We need juicy deets, for ’s sake!” 

“Don’t be a party pooper.” Yeri pouted, showing those puppy like eyes of hers and hoping to melt the icy mountain that was Seulgi’s heart. Of course, it wouldn’t work.

“We have soooo many questions!” Joy wailed again, having seen nothing of their attempts soothing that  face of Seulgi's. 

It was Mina’s turn to muffle her giggles by her hands. Seulgi just simply rolled her eyes at her over-immature friends. 

“Of course you do. I’m positive you have an infinite set of questions, but it’s not the time. We have work to do, work which your asses get payed for in case you all forgot.”

They all shot her sour faces, this time Mina joining them. Truthfully, she didn’t mind working, but it felt fun to be a part of the sad group. 

“Now chop chop.”

Mina swore Seulgi shot her a secretive smirk after everyone began to hike themselves up the chairs lazily, like those infinite questions were circling her own head as well, but for a later time. 

—

A later time never came, fortunately or not. The cafe’s business was so busy and overwhelming that the girls didn’t have a time to breathe, practically jogging around the place to deliver drinks, cakes, and orders of all shapes around. Mina was sure her wrists were getting sore by the dozens of tables she wiped as customers came and went, her back muscles flexing painfully by the amount of bending she was doing. It was a nice feeling, though, to see the girls so preoccupied to the point where they didn’t have any spaces in between their work for gossiping. She was sure Joy’s pout at the end of the day was because she was dissatisfied still by the lack of details she received for the whole subject. Mina, however, was perfectly content with the state of business she was in— it helped her keep her mind off of the werewolf matter. 

When the work was over for the day, this time having to stay past the usual nine o’clock with the severe number of customers that overwhelmed the place, Mina was already picking up her things to go home. She was informed earlier by a very clingy and whiny Sehun that Suho was going to come by to pick her up, since he was done with his work anyway. Mina had a sneaky idea that Junmyeon wasn’t just aiming for her safety, but to actually inspect the place she decided to work in. She winced, recalling that Suho was not informed of her job, and only figured it out because of stupid Tao. Because she had been terribly sick the past days, he hadn’t had a chance to confront her about it, but she was positive they’d have some bad blood between them once they did.

She couldn’t wait, she thought sarcastically.

Mina came out of the back rooms with heavy loaded shoulders, knowing what’s about to come. Yet, she was still shocked to see the sight of Suho, wearing his body hugging gray suit, and a scowl filled with perpetual fury showing on HD display, which, in a sense, was super duper hot, but also made her pause, despite it not being directed at her to begin with. Who was it directed to, though? Seulgi, who was behind the counter, giving him the exact same look of anger, had rage coating her eyes and her face, and when Mina payed her attention, her eyes seemed to be flashing with deep, burgundy red.

“Haven’t you scented her?” She heard Suho growl lowly, the voice not passing the locked door of the cafe, remaining strictly between those amongst the shop. “She’s among wolves. How can you even agree to let her work with the likes of you?” His eyes flashed golden, like fair honey, the ultimate sign of his frustration and annoyance. Mina could say that she hadn’t before seen Suho show such vexation before, but she’d be a big fat liar. Suho has always been like this, so easily flared, like some kind of lighter that’s always on, flames un-doused. She’d say he hadn’t always been so... up-tightly angry all the time, but even when he had been her cute and adorable Junmyeon, there’d be days where his eyes glint mercilessly, especially when she talked about her struggles at home.

Honestly, can’t he just... like, chill out?

“I’m pretty damn sure she can decide to work wherever the hell she wants, Alpha.” Seulgi squinted her now rosy red colored eyes, calling out his title mockingly, a tick to her lips. 

Junmyeon’s eyes flashed yellow golden, the magical shift of the color swirling past the honey hues and overtaking it completely left her breathless. However, she was fully aware of the indications behind that color, and wow, what a catastrophe was about to come. Trying to sound bolder than what she was feeling at the moment — which was boredom — she walked out from where she was watching them, clearing . 

“What the hell is going on?”

Both snapped their heads towards her, both of their eyes a significant color. Suho’s scowl shifted into a harsher glare upon noticing her walking towards him, now directed to her. He didn’t spare Seulgi a look when he walked towards her. 

“Mina, we’re leaving.”

“Well,” She started nervously, fiddling with the straps of her bag. “I finished my shift so I guess that’s oka—“

“No, sweetheart,” Suho shook his head, reaching for that hand that she was nervously twirling around her bag straps, and latching onto it, wrapping their fingers together. Then, he pulled her back towards the counter, possibly aiming to leave. “For good.”

It was Mina’s time to turn into a reddish canvas of rage, and she snapped her face into Suho’s side with wide eyes, coming to a dramatic halt, making him stop as well. “What? No! I like working here!”

Suho yanked his eyes off of where he was staring ahead and shot them towards her, his irises glistening with beautiful yellowish gold. “Do you even have the slightest of clues what these people are!” 

“I know you’re angry about the fact I’m working rather than what their ‘creature’ is.” Mina responded sarcastically, roughly pulling her hand out of his warm, calloused one, and walking backwards towards S