“I didn’t mean to go through your things, but I couldn’t exactly just pretend to not see this. Why do you have it?”

B-Bomb pointed down to the silver bracelet with a single gun charm attached.

Myungsoo clicked his teeth together and huffed a short breath. He knew he shouldn’t have picked the darn thing up. It had fallen out of your pocket as you stood up and you were already inside before he could exactly get your attention to point it out to you. “That’s what I’m asking myself right about now.”

B-Bomb hadn’t expected that answer to come out of Myungsoo’s mouth. Rather, it wasn’t an answer at all. More like a joke he had cracked on himself. B-Bomb ignored Myungsoo’s indifference and continued questioning him, “She had it on when I saw her last night. Is Hyunjoo the reason you weren’t there when I got back from my shower?”

“Yeah, I went to her house last night.” Myungsoo answered, seemingly not unnerved in the least from B-Bomb’s questions.

He knew he had gone against his better thinking by going to you last night. He hadn’t even expected to see you as he lingered around, wondering if the hunters would show up. Who told you to just spill your guts out to him as soon as you realized he was the wolf in front of you? And that bit about him being more pleasant when he wasn’t talking irked him. He would have thrown those words right back at you if he hadn’t shifted.

“We talked for a bit. She dropped it on the way back inside. So I picked it up.” Myungsoo added. He saw that B-Bomb had been staring at the bracelet intently. “You can return it to her if you’d like. I was going to this morning but forgot to grab it.”

That was a lie. He had no intention of giving it back so soon. The item of jewelry intrigued him.

B-Bomb picked the bracelet up without a second thought, not thinking twice about Myungsoo’s lacking explanation, “She’s probably looking for it. She’s worn it every day ever since Zico gave it to her.”

And that was why. Myungsoo didn’t understand the way you had looked at it last night, as though it meant the world to you. So, he had been holding onto it a bit longer than he should have. Silently trying to figure out why in the world such a thing would be so precious.

Now he knew why.

Zico, the leader of the hunters, had given it to you.

You yawned widely as you put rice and chicken into a plate for you. When you were finished, you pulled the rubber from your hair, releasing it from the ponytail it was in.

“The ponytail looked good.”

You heard from behind you. You turned away from the stove and towards the voice. Woohyun was sitting at the breakfast table, his chin resting in his propped up palm, as he watched you. You humored him and once more put your hair into a ponytail. He laughed lightly, his eyes closing as he took a deep breath, a hint of a smile on his face.

You took a seat at the breakfast table across from him and started to eat. He had said he didn’t need any food and you were thankful for that. Lest he know how awful of a cook you were. Everything felt peaceful and in place. A weird feeling since so many things were going crazy right now. You mimicked Woohyun’s position and gazed at his face for a little while longer before deciding to speak.

“The thing B-Bomb is trying to do. Do you think it’ll actually work?” Woohyun’s eyes fluttered open and he looked towards you, “Is it even possible?”

“I’ve never heard of anyone actually trying before.” He dropped his palm from his chin and leaned back in his chair, “The ones who divert from the main packs usually stay that way, away from us. Most of them leave because they don’t like following the nomadic tradition. Now, there's two things that allow us to control our transformations. The first is our pack mentality. A legitamate pack leader from the original leader's family line must lead the pack.

“The second is by learning the knowledge passed down by our pack leaders. Both of these play a part in what allows us to stop ourselves from being taken over by our other half. Thus, those who desert their original packs fall victim to the full moon due to their lack of knowledge and their lack of a legitimate leader. From what I know, even high-tension situations can cause them to shift because they lack those two things. This is what I've been told but I don't have much to go on since-”

Woohyun stopped talking, his eyes shifting downwards.

“Since what?” You asked, curious as to the sudden change in his attitude from nonchalant to conflicted.

A small noise escaped him. An effect of him almost spilling to you his next words. He locked eyes with you and wondered if he could tell you this without you looking at him differently. What if the relationship between you two changed? He didn’t want that.

“Is something wrong?” You caught onto Woohyun’s feelings. Who wouldn’t though when he was being so obvious? Woohyun rarely stopped talking half way through a sentence.

“Since,” He paused and gathered his bearings together. He leaned forward in his chair, his hands pressed together in front of him on the table, “Since I didn’t learn how to control myself from my original pack leader. I learnt how to from Sunggyu’s grandfather, a descendent from the original line.” The expression on your face told him you didn’t understand his hesitance, “Because my original pack was decimated by hunters.”

Your eyes widened and a ringing sound filled your ears. Words escaped you.

“My mother, my father, my grandparents, my best friends, all gone.” Woohyun took a deep breath as he recounted that fateful night, “I had just got home after hunting with my father. Our pack leader, I still remember those deep wrinkles of his, he was helping my mother and my grandparents clear the things from our house. Or I guess from a modern point of view, our hut.

“It was the farthest away from the center of our small nomadic community. I can still remember the screams in the distance and the smell of burning wood. Our pack leader told us to leave as fast as we could. After helping my grandmother out of our home, he ran towards the screaming.” Woohyun looked up, seeing the way you looked at him now made him not want to say more.

“You don’t have to continue on if you don’t want to.” You said, comforting him with a slight smile.

He lowered his head, deciding to finish his story, “The hunters were on us before we could even get a mile away from our home. There were so many of them. It was a planned attack from the start no doubt. My father refused to let me fight alongside him and instead told me to hide underneath the roots of a tree which were shaded with freshly fallen snow. I wouldn’t listen to him though and kept on persisting and persisting.” His voice trembled and he had to clench his hands together to keep going, “So he knocked me out. One swift blow to the stomach.

“When I woke up, I couldn’t find him. I couldn’t find my mom, my grandmother, my grandfather. No one. I went back home and as I got closer and closer, the stench of burning flesh got clearer and clearer. As I got closer, I finally saw it. A pile of bodies engulfed in flames.

“I didn’t hear anyone. Only silence. No one laughing or playing or talking about going hunting the next day. Nothing. I was eight years old and I ended up wandering in the woods like a lost puppy.” He laughed at himself before he took another deep breath. His tone changed now, a soft smile on his face, “That’s when Sunggyu found me. He said I could join his pack. That I could have a new family. I agreed without thinking twice.”

 You looked down at your hands, still taking everything in. You took a slow bite down onto a spoonful of rice while your mind worked everything out. Woohyun’s smile faded and he laughed once more. It wasn’t a hearty laugh but instead a laugh that made your heart wrench for him. The odd thing was that the hint of worry beneath his eyes seemed as though it didn’t have to do with his past. From the way he talked, you could tell that he had come to terms with his past. So what was the cause of the worry that practically oozed off of his features?

“Do you pity me now?” He asked, remembering Sungjong’s words from before. The way you looked at him now made him wish he hadn’t told you.

You looked up at him, wide eyed and hit your chest, coughing hard. You shook your head no vigorously in rejection of his question. You raised a single finger in the air, tell him to wait a minute while you chewed.  

“During lunch, you spoke without even being done with chewing.” Woohyun whispered even though he knew full well you would hear him.

You finished swallowing your food and pointed your fork at him, “That’s because I was going along with Sungyeol’s joke.” You looked back down at your food and mumbled, your lips pursed, “I don’t want to show you such a thing.”

You broke the silence in the room as you place your fork down onto your plate, causing a small clanking sound to be produced. “I don’t pity you. The past makes you who you are, so its important and I’m happy you told me about it. But, the present you is the one I’m interested in, okay? Knowing your past doesn’t change how I feel about your current self.”

Woohyun stared on at you in silence. His insides melting at your words. He had indeed, as you thought, come to terms with his past long ago but he never said anything before for fear of your feelings for him changing for the worst. Now that he saw how you reacted, he wanted your feelings for him to change for the better.

“Hyunjoo.” Woohyun called your name. You made a small noise in recognition and tilted your head, waiting for what he was going to say, “Nothing.” A smile formed on his face and you looked back down at your food.

“Hyunjoo.” He said again. When you looked up, your curious face had turned into an annoyed one. You narrowed your eyes at him, asking him ‘what?’ “Nothing.” He chanted again and you scoffed.

“Hyunjoo.”

You weren’t sure where the vulnerable Woohyun went because all you saw now was flirtatious Woohyun. You dropped your fork and glared at him, “What is it?” When the two of you locked eyes, your glare faltered. The way he was looking at you was different from usual. Something about it sent your heart racing. You clutched at the ends of your shirt, your nerves felt like electricity was surging through them.

Woohyun once more laid his chin in his propped up palm, “I think I’d like some of that chicken after all.”

You paced back and forth in the living room, your cellphone by your ear ringing. You wondered if she would actually pick up the phone. After all, she must have known that what she was was obvious to you now. The phone line rang once more and you sighed, wondering if you should give up.

Surprisingly, the phone stopped ringing. You waited for voicemail to kick in but instead, you heard a few mumbles in the background.

“Hyunjoo?”

“Tiffany!” It felt relieving to hear her voice after so long. You had so many things you wanted to talk to her about but right now there was one that rose above all the others. “I need to talk to you. Face to face. Can we meet?”

You heard silence on the other side. Would she reject you?

“Tomorrow, afterschool. Is that time okay for you?”

Your phone beeped and you pulled it back, away from your ear. You couldn’t believe you eyes when you saw that you had another call. Not because someone called you, which was actually rare these days, but because of the name on the caller id.

“I have to go. But I’ll definitely see you tomorrow.” You promised Tiffany quickly and heard a light laugh on the other side of the phone. You hung up and took a deep breath, preparing yourself for the voice you were about to hear.

“A phone call is okay right? It’s not like I’m actually seeing them.” You mumbled to yourself and answered your phone, “Hello?”

“Hyunjoo, I’m outside your house. Can you come out?” 

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A/N:

Looks like we found out about Woohyun's past! Six more pasts to uncover! (Among Infinite~)

Question: Who do you think called?