--

09

--

Dongwoo and Woohyun made a bet with each other to see how many days it would take you to warm up to Howon. And that meant you would stop giving him confused looks when he did something nice for you, and not looking at him like he grew a second head.

“I’d give it a month,” Woohyun said, biting into an apple. They watched Howon carry your grocery bags for you back to the townhouse.

“No way, I’d give it two weeks at most. She’s going to get tired of wondering eventually.” Dongwoo watched you bow awkwardly at Howon before shutting the door in his face after he carried the groceries inside. He frowned and started to rethink his bet.

“I’m going to muscle in on this bet, and say it’ll take a week,” Sunggyu said, appearing behind them. Dongwoo and Woohyun jumped. “Howon’s been looking for you. He needs your help for some heavy repairs on the outskirts of town.”

“Right. We’re going now,” Dongwoo said, grabbing Woohyun’s arm.

“Don’t tell him we’re betting on him, or he’ll kill us!” Woohyun said, pointing a finger at Sunggyu. Sunggyu just shrugged as he watched them run away.

--

You were putting away groceries and folding the bags when your thoughts started to wander. Ever since the dance, you’d been rethinking your feelings about him. The dreams with the werewolf with glowing yellow eyes stopped and were replaced with dreams of Howon. They were dreams of him holding you, taking you to see sunsets, and protecting you.

When you woke up in the morning, you always felt empty, like you wanted more.

Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to give him a chance. Without Sungjong steering you away from him, you felt like you were gravitating towards him anyway. Something about Howon drew you towards him, and if those dreams meant anything, then maybe…

You thought back to the feeling of Howon’s arms around you at the Full Moon Festival and blushed. The feeling you had wasn’t one of terror. You were nervous. You felt safe in his arms. Then your mind wandered back to some raunchier dreams, and your face turned beet red.

Howon liked to be in charge of everything, you noticed. You huffed and started pulling out supplies to make lunch. He wouldn’t be the boss of you. You weren’t going to avoid him anymore, and you were going to show him who was really the boss.

“That’s crazy. You’re going crazy,” you said to yourself, putting the bags away. Without anyone else in the house to talk to, you felt like you were reverting back to how you were when you were alone in the dungeons. Blinking a few times, you shook your head before starting on lunch.

--

The women in town sighed when Howon walked by them, muscles rippling as he carried wood to fix holes in roofs and broken floorboards. “Any woman that manages to win his heart would be lucky,” one of them said, fanning herself.

“Oh, didn’t you see him and the shapeshifter? The look on his face when they were dancing together at the Full Moon Festival was hard to miss.” They erupted into a fit of giggles that caught the attention of the workers.

Howon blinked a few times before one of the men leaned over to him. “The wives are almost as bad as the kids. My kid keeps asking me if you and the shapeshifter are going to get married.”

Howon snorted. “Are you kidding me? She keeps at least five feet away from me at all times.”

“But you’re interested in her?”

“Of course not. Why would I be?”

One of the other coworkers laughed, eyes full of mischief. “Well, a little birdy told me you were planting flowers outside of that townhouse for her.”

“And another one told me you’ve been carrying groceries for her ever since Sungjong left.”

“None of the others will do it,” Howon said defensively.

“Whatever! I saw you muscle out Woohyun to carry them.”

Howon let out an angry breath of air and shouted at all of them to get back to work. Suddenly, wolf whistles went up in the air, making Howon glare before he turned and saw you walking towards them, carrying two heavy looking bags with one arm.

“Speaking of the shapeshifter.”

But Howon was already running towards you to take the bags from you. “What are you doing here? Why are you carrying these by yourself?”