Dear Diary, 

It's been a long while since I wrote in here. How have you been? You must be wondering why I'm writing again after so long. 

To the past me from 22nd June 2014, you don't have to worry about dying a anymore, because I have good news for you. Remember the tall handsome transfer student with big eyes in the high school basketball team you have been pining for years, Choi Minho? 

Well, we graduated then ended up in the same uni together. I've finally decided to take up a degree in environmental science, but I'm not too sure what he's studying yet. I think he's pursuing life sciences cause I see him hanging around that block a lot. Maybe sports science? 

Anyway, I finally got to talk to him! But it started off kind of awkward…

 

Jinki woke up with a start, neck hot and sticky with perspiration. His mouth and neck were parched, like they were stuffed to the brim with cotton. A throbbing headache suddenly burst in his head, causing him to wince and lie back down slowly, his brain feeling like it's being rattled around like a snow globe. 

 

"Are you awake?" 

 

His eyes cracked open, greeted by two large blurry orbs. It took Jinki a few blinks to realise they were eyes. 

 

"Uh, what?" 

 

The eyes blinked back at him, kind of reminding him of a golden retriever. Yet they're somewhat… familiar. Jinki let his eyes trail down, down the angular nose, thick lips, beauty mole just below the corner. Wait a minute, he knew that face. 

 

"C-Choi Minho?" He croaked. 

 

Minho immediately beamed, lighting up like the sun, a little too close for comfort. This must be a dream, Jinki thought. There's no way he would wake up to his highschool crush smiling beautifully on top of him, if only his head would stop hurting-

 

"Yeah, and you're finally awake. I found you lying down on the grass, I was worried you might get sick!" The tall boy exclaimed, getting off from him. 

 

"Oh," was all Jinki could say. He took stock of himself, other than the obvious hangover and body ache, there didn't seem to be any broken bones or bruises on him. Nor clothes. 

 

"Where's my shirt?" Jinki asked, mind creaking along like an old rusty train. As he sat up, he recognised his own bed, along with its lumpy pillow and threadbare quilt. He's back in his dorm room alright, but where were his clothes? 

 

"Here." Minho slid back into his vision with a bottle of water, already uncapped. "There were some nasty stains on your clothes, so I took them off for a wash, hope you don't mind me undressing you without asking."

 

Gods, Jinki didn't know if he wanted this to be a dream or reality; on one hand he's completely embarrassed to be found completely wasted by Choi Minho, on the other hand he's sitting in his own bed and being babied by him. He pulled the blanket over his chest, but even that couldn't hide the blush blooming all the way to his ears. 

 

Minho's brows crinkled in worry as his eyes grew even bigger than before. "Sorry, did I make you uncomfortable? I've been told that I overstep boundaries a lot, I'm still trying to figure it out."

 

Heart wrenched by Minho's frown, Jinki quickly shook his head (ouch) and grabbed the water bottle. "I don't really mind… Can I have a shirt and some pants at least?" 

 

"Of course!" The handsome guy's face lit up again. "Let me find you something right away!" 

 

As the taller guy looked around the room for clean clothes, sniffing each article, there seemed to be something gray… and fluffy… whipping about. Jinki tried squinting, but it was gone in an instant. Maybe he was just seeing things, he should get over his hangover quickly, before he makes any further embarrassment of himself. 

 

Once clothed and coaxed into drinking more water, Jinki finally managed to get off the bed on his two feet. Vertigo was not fun when your head is being hammered from inside. As much as he wanted to stay in bed, it would be rude to let his guest- no wait, how did Minho even get in here in the first place? 

 

"Uhm, how did you get in here?“ questioned Jinki, many more forming in his head. 

 

"Your keycard was in your wallet." Minho replied matter-of-factly.

 

"And how did you know this is my room?" 

 

"Because it smells like you."

 

Jinki blinked. Once, twice. "What?" 

 

The tall boy paced around the end of the bed as he scratched his nose. "I mean, without the awful smell of puke and alcohol, you don't usually smell like that."

 

"Uhm… D-do I have an odour?" Jinki stammered, sniffing at his own shirt, pits and elbows. 

 

"No, no! What I'm trying to say is that it has your natural scent. Which is… quite okay actually." The other boy replied, with a pensive look in his eyes. "You don't smell bad at all."

 

"Huh." Was all Jinki could say as he dropped back bum first onto his bed. He needed an aspirin badly. 

 

"Are you okay? I didn't do anything else, I swear. I was just trying to help!"

 

A hand was raised in Minho's face, keeping him a distance away from himself. "Wait, I don't understand. Do you know who I am? Why are you even helping me this much?" 

 

Without losing a beat, Minho answered, "Yeah, I remember you, you're Lee Jinki from class 3-A. Your classroom was just down the corridor from mine, I've seen you pass by lots of times."

 

Of course he did. Lee Jinki was not exactly subtle when it came to catching glimpses of the school's basketball star. He would always peek in, scanning the back of the classroom, as long he could see Minho, either completely focused on the lesson or sitting atop his desk laughing with his classmates, and then his day would be made, no matter how terrible it had been. 

 

Beads of sweat formed on Jinki's temple as he tried to maintain his cool. For Minho to notice him, he must have thought that Jinki was a stalker.

 

The tirade continued. "And I couldn't possibly leave an unconscious person alone, especially someone that I know. That's actually dangerous, you know that?"

 

"Yeah, uhm… thanks. Sorry that I doubted you." Way to go, Jinki. Of all the things he could have said, he had to make the worst impression on the guy that he liked, after being seen for the first time since high school, possibly soaked in his own puke, stinking to high heavens. And blackout drunk, on top of that! What a disgrace to his title, the Drinking God, amongst his peers. He better say something and not let this get any worse. 

 

"So, uh… are you hungry? I need to go sober up, so I think I'll go make noodles or something…" 

 

In an instant, all the hard lines from frowning disappeared from Minho's face, as his eyes grew full blown in wide eyed sparkly wonder. "You're inviting me to stay for brunch?" 

 

"Yes," Jinki blushed and raked his hair up while internally swatting all of his awkwardness away. "If you're not busy." 

 

"Of course not! I'd love to!" Minho's smile was so blinding, that it made Jinki's heart stop for a moment. He had never expected the coolest, arguably the most handsome and popular guy from his school would easily accept his invitation, while he himself was in a complete mess.  

 

Deep breaths. Play it cool. Check out the fridge first. 

 

"So what are you going to make?" Minho chirped right behind him, nearly making Jinki jump. The room was too small for two grown men to stand around in. 

 

"I've got uh, sausages and cheese sticks. Do you want them in your noodles?" 

 

"Sure! Want me to help you hold them?" 

 

Jinki groaned and stuck his face into the coolness of his tiny mini fridge. 

 

"You're in Veterinary Science?" Jinki asked as he slowly scraped the sticky cheese off his chopstick with the edge of his incisor. "I thought you would be in Sports Science."

 

"I thought about it, but there were a lot more things about animals that I'm curious about." The taller male set down his bowl, red sauce covered crimson lips in messy splotches. A pink tongue peeked out, greedily swiping sauce off his lips. "This is really good, by the way." 

 

Jinki gulped, throat dry. There were only two of them in the tiny service kitchen, a rarity for a Sunday morning. Or maybe it’s still too early for twenty-something-year-olds to be awake after partying hard on Saturdays.

 

"I'm surprised you've never tried Buldak ramyeon with cheese."

 

"To be honest, I've never thought about adding cheese to cup noodles. I've only tried adding eggs to pot boiled noodles…" 

 

"So you just add boiling water to your noodles and eat it?" 

 

Minho nodded solemnly as he stared sadly into his now empty paper bowl. "If only there were more noodles in here. I should try this myself next time."

 

"You can have more if you want." Jinki blurted without thinking. His bank account and food rations for the month were going to hate him for this. 

 

"What do you mean?" Minho's eyes grew wide. 

 

"If you're still hungry, I can always make another bowl for you. I owe you so much for helping me."

 

"You'll do that for me?!" The chair was sent clattering onto the floor as Minho bolted up from his seat. 

 

The last thing Jinki saw were fluffy ears emerging atop Minho’s head, his mouth– suddenly full of sharp , canine teeth– grinning down at him.

 

…

 

When did it get dark suddenly? Why was there something wet and slimy touching his face?

 

Something nudged at the back of his hand insistently as Jinki groaned, regaining consciousness. He cracked his eyes open to the sound of huffs and whines. 

 

"Ugh… what… Minho?" 

 

His tall gorgeous crush was nowhere to be seen. Instead, there was a huge, freaking, wolf-like dog sitting right next to him. 

 

"Woah, ." Jinki backed away instantly, only realising now that he's on the floor as well. How on earth did a dog get in here? Or was it really a wolf?

 

Just like how the guides taught him about survival during their environmental surveys, Jinki mustered everything in his power to keep himself from freaking out. He slowly backed up to the cabinet, hoping he could find something within reach – like a pot or pan – to distract the large animal and make his escape from the tiny communal kitchen.

 

The canine stood up, golden eyes fixated onto him. Ears alert, head slightly bowed and tail hanging low, it did not seem aggressive. But animals can be unpredictable, and Jinki was no animal behaviour expert.

 

It started to stalk towards him. Terror struck into Jinki's heart, halting his breath. The creature came near, nose twitching at his scent. 

 

Jinki nearly let out a whimper at the canine's snort, too close to his hand for comfort. Then, the most unexpected happened. It bowed its head and nuzzled against his hand. 

 

"Donteatme." He squeaked.

 

The wolf-dog thing snorted. And pushed at his fingers with its snout. 

 

"W-what are you doing?" 

 

It let out a huff, seemingly in exasperation, then wriggled under Jinki's hand, sleek ashen grey fur grazing against his palm. Confused and unsure, Jinki let his hand slide down to the back of its head, marveling at how its ears pulled back. 

 

It wasn't everyday a strange animal would easily come close to a human like this, even a pet dog or cat would be more cautious towards strangers. Moreover, the dorm had a strict no pets policy.

 

"Uhm, where's your owner? Are you a stray?" Jinki questioned as he continued to pet the wolf-dog's head (it's strangely calming and addictive). It did not answer of course, but it looked content being petted, eyes slipping close. Now that he's not hyperventilating, he could see the different shades of brown and cream fur covering most of its body, grey being more prominent on its brows and sides of its head. 

 

Suddenly the wolf-dog's ears pricked up, head sharply turning towards the door of the kitchen. Voices could be heard coming from the corridor. 

 

"Oh no... You can't be seen, can you?" 

 

It nodded and quickly slid out, a dark grey stripe lining its spine coasting right under Jinki's fingertips. Then, it circled the kitchen, sniffing slightly, before padding up to the chair Minho was sitting in, and – holy , how did he not notice – pulled the clothes on it with its teeth down under the table. 

 

It took a low growl for Jinki to stop gawking and get up from the floor. Not sure how to effectively hide a large animal under a table, he began to pull up the dining chairs so no one could see the wolf-dog underneath the table. 

 

A chorus of girlish laughter announced the arrival of three girls, whom Jinki immediately recognised as Eunjo, Yuri and Sooyoung. 

 

"Don't come in!" Jinki immediately shouted, startling them in their tracks as he blocked the doorway with his body. 

 

"Oh, you scared us!" Sooyoung remarked, fanning herself. "Why can't we come in?" 

 

"There's, uhm," Jinki blinked, "uhhh… A cockroach." 

 

It was a lame excuse, and Jinki kind of regretted it with how their screams nearly took out his hearing. "Oh my god, is it dead yet?" 

 

"Don't worry, I got it." Jinki turned around, finding Minho standing right behind him with a balled tissue in his hand. "You girls should eat somewhere else, there might be more."

 

"He's right, what's with the hygiene of our dorm kitchen? We should file a complaint to student services." The girls muttered amongst themselves. "Thanks, oppa!" 

 

The girls quickly left, leaving a bewildered Jinki alone in the kitchen with Minho.

 

"How did you even get in here? You can't be here, there’s-" Jinki paused, something wasn't adding up. Had Minho been in this tiny kitchen all the time while he was talking to the wolf? But there wasn't anyone else in the room!

 

"Have you been in here for the whole time?" Minho nodded.

 

“Did you see…”Jinki trailed off, gesturing underneath the table, which was now… empty. “Huh, where did it go?” he questioned himself as he went down to his knees, looking for signs of the animal. To his infuriation, Minho joined him next to him on all fours, smile playing on his lips.

 

“You mean the wolf? That was me.”

 

Jinki snorted. “What are you talking about? Yes, there was an animal in here, but it seems to have disappeared.”

 

“And I’m saying that was me. Here, hold your hand out.” The taller boy reached for Jinki’s hand, and placed it on top of his head. Before Jinki could even protest, a soft pair of pointy ears popped up under his palm. 

 

“H-how… What are you?” Jinki stammered, unable to believe his eyes. He had heard tales of shapeshifters, and seen plenty of it in books, movies and TV, but they were all just works of fiction, weren’t they? How could they be true?

 

The animal-eared boy grinned, showing canines that were longer and sharper than an average human’s. “I’m a werewolf. Don’t worry, I don’t bite.” 

 

“But… your teeth… your ears…” Jinki’s head began to swim as his vision floated out of focus, struggling to comprehend. Firm hands grabbed onto his shoulders, shaking him back to reality.

 

“Hey, stay with me. Don’t go fainting on me again,” the deep warm voice soothed him. “Let’s go somewhere else safer, then we’ll talk.” 

 

All Jinki could do was to nod weakly and let Minho lead him out of the kitchen. His head was filled with a myriad of thoughts, but there was one thing Jinki knew for certain.

 

I liked how warm my hand felt in Minho’s hand.