There was a scream that woken up the occupants of IZ*ONE dorm early in the morning.

Chaeyeon jolted awake as the staccato scream awoke her rudely from her deep slumber; and, the instinct honed after a year living with trouble magnets, kicked in. With her brain geared to full force at the horror of any shenanigans Jangjorimz was brewing, she jumped off her bed after the screaming returned in full force. She accidentally kicked Sakura in the process of getting up and bolted toward the source of the sound.

The Alpha didn’t even stir when the scream pierced the sky for the nth time that day. She was too invested in her adventurous dream where she was a dragon slayer.

Now, about Chaeyeon.

She nearly crashed to Hitomi, who was standing in front of the big room. Hitomi looked sleepy and confused as to why she was there in instinct. The Omega shot Chaeyeon a confused look before moving aside to let Chaeyeon take charge. By moving aside, the bread-lover decided on not caring, and it was too early to give any care, so she went back to her room, planning on continuing her sleep.

The feather turned the knob, surprised that it wasn’t locked. She preened cautiously inside, meeting eyes with Nako’s confused ones. The short Japanese was on the edge of her bed, cute feet were hanging loosely against the bedside. Yuri was still sleeping soundly on her bunk, the distinctive soft snores echoing around the room.

“Wonyoung,” Nako began, but got cut off with a cute yawn, “She said her teeth hurt and went straight to the bathroom. I don’t know why she screamed. I was about to go check on her.”

“Thank you, Nako.” Chaeyeon smiled, sighing in relief. She was glad it wasn’t another episode of Jangjorimz shenanigans that would require her pills. She walked toward the closed door of the bathroom, her knuckles knocking the wooden surface lightly. “Wonyoung? This is Chaeyeon.”

“Chaeyeon-unnie!” Wonyoung’s voice was desperate. “Am I a vampire, now?”

Chaeyeon pulled her ear away from the door, suddenly dizzy at the ridiculously staggering suggestion. She moved her ear closer again. “Don’t be ridiculous, Wonyoung,” She chided tiredly. This was too early for Wonyoung’s crackheadassary. “What happened?” There was a warning growl on her voice as she addressed the question; her patience was running thin.

The door clicked open, revealing a frowning Wonyoung with blood dripping down her chin.

“Is that blood?!”

Instead of answering, Wonyoung only opened . Two pairs of long and sharp canines, a pair on the lower row, even longer pair on the upper row, all were drenched in blood, came into her view.

“It hurts to talk,” the maknae explained with difficulty, wincing every time the sharp tip of her canines scraped against either her inner lips or the lining of her cheeks. The blood was coming from her gum and it was very uncomfortable having your mouth filled with blood. “What’s going on?”

Chaeyeon blinked and her heels, walking over to the mysterious box placed between the bunk beds. The mysterious box was always locked. She took out a key from her pocket to unlock the box, and once it was opened, she pulled out something looking suspiciously like a baby chewing toy.

“Congratulations,” She responded blandly, while not-so-gently shoving the chewing toy to Wonyoung’s mouth. “You are Alpha-teething.”

--

“How long should I keep on chewing this?” The maknae complained, her voice slightly muffled by the toy inside . “I’m starving,” She continued, eyeing the steaming cooked eggs with hunger on her eyes.

“When I Alpha-teethed,” Sakura began before anyone could stop her, “I only ate porridges for the whole week.”

“That’s horrifying,” Wonyoung commented, biting down the chewing toy with more vigor this time.

Sakura nodded sagely, shoving a spoonful of eggs inside , unaware of Nako's judgmental eyes. “I agree. How Sakura-chan eats is appalling,” Nako commented without missing a beat, her face was scrunched up in disgust.

“Worst seven days of my life,” Sakura agreed on Wonyoung commentary while glaring at Nako to express her disagreement. “Keep on chewing that toy until they retract back to their normal s