Heavy growling invaded the peace of the night atmosphere. Roused from his sleep, a confused Taeyang blinked in the darkness. The noise was coming from outside his house.

Suddenly, there was a piercing howl. He cringed as soon as the sound reached him. After another howl began, he quickly slapped his hands over his ears. He hoped that whatever animal it was would just go away.

Silence appeared once more. It seemed that the creature had gone.

Taeyang breathed a sigh of relief and tried to get back to sleep. 

Scratching and thudding against the door of his house had him jolting upright. Fear gripped his heart this time.

With a mighty crack, the front door was broken down by a large, erratic figure.

A grizzly, rabid wolf stood snarling before him. With nowhere to go, Taeyang could only stare frozen in fear as the monstrous beast blocked the only exit of the house.

As the intruder approached him, Taeyang could hear his own heart beating in his ears.

A deep, crackling growl like that of a dragon became increasingly louder as he was overshadowed by a looming wolf. Blood dripped from its fanged muzzle disgustingly.

It didn't take long for Taeyang to realize an irritable substance was stuck to his brow.

Shakily, he reached a hand up and wiped at his whole face. When he examined his hand, it returned with blood covering it.

Neglecting the fact the he could somehow see in the dark, he stared in horror before him. He now knew the blood on the stained teeth of the beast was his too.

Before he could think another thought, the monster pounced forward with inhuman speed.

"Aaaaggghhhhh!!!"

As if being raised from the dead, Taeyang sat up so fast that his neck now hurt.

He was confused again. He looked around. There was no wolf beast in sight.

It was a sunny morning, and he heard purring near his ear.

Feeling quite silly, he held his face as if it was embarrassing that the cat, Ray, had seen him panic over a nightmare.

He smiled at the fluffy cabby cat while drawing it into a hug. "Don't scare me like that again, Ray Ray," he scolded. Ray just meowed- content to be loved on.

When bonding time was over, Taeyang scooted Ray from off his lap. She didn't seem to mind and scampered away to find something to toy with.

It was time to get ready to work and greet the beautiful day.

While having breakfast, he tried to shoo the bad memory of his nightmare away. He figured that the feeling would be gone around lunchtime. After all, this wasn't the only time a terror had invaded his sleep.

A small bit of doubt in his assumption caused him to lose his appetite.

The chair loudly skidded back as Taeyang stood from the table. Collecting the dishes, he carefully placed them upon a filthy group of dishes. He just didn't have time to clean them.

Almost tripping over some scattered clothes on the wooden floor, he caught his balance with ease. The place really needed tidying up. Ray apparently didn't care as she slept on one of his unwashed shirts.

Putting "fresh" clothes on, Taeyang headed to the front door where the beast had broken through in his dream. Of course, the wooden structure was still intact.

Retrieving dusty boots, he placed them on his feet with a stomp for each.

"Bye, Ray Ray," he grinned at the fluffy baby. Then, he was outside his house.

There was nothing to fear in broad daylight. Plenty of people were around who could fight off threats easily too.

Taeyang knew that this was going to be a nice day as he paused to feel the sun shine on his face.

❦ ❦ ❦

A nearby bakery's aroma filled the air with wonderful smells of every bread product.

In the kitchen, a chef mixed a batter together with expertise. His forehead was wrinkled in concentration. There were so many orders coming in today that he had to get them done on time.

Kyungsoo didn't like to have unhappy neighbors. The villagers were as close as family to him.

A movement caught his eye, but he kept working without seeing who it was. "Taeyang-ah, we have a lot to deliver today. Can you start packaging what's finished on the counter?" he directed.

The younger one nodded as he jogged over to Kyungsoo's side. "Yes, Uncle. I'll start on it right away."

Retrieving bread sacks, Taeyang placed each order together carefully. As he finished with one, he would place a name tag on it to keep from mixing up orders.

Soon, an enormous amount of bread products were finished and ready to be delivered. Kyungsoo could handle the local ones, so Tae gathered up the packages for the rural areas near the village.

Normally, a basket would suffice for carrying, but a large sack was needed for today. There were so many people needing bread as it was the day before a great feast which the village celebrated twice a year.

"I'll be going now, Uncle," Taeyang reported.

Kyungsoo smiled warmly as he watched his nephew stride off. "Be safe!" he called back. Taeyang waved his hand in acknowledgement.

It made the chef glad that he was able to raise such a good kid.