"Donghae!" 

 

A slim, pretty woman in her early thirties-late twenties called out.

 

"Lee Donghae you come out here right now!"

 

A little boy with ruffled brown hair (complete with a mess of sticks and leaves) popped out of the bushes. The pretty woman scooped him up in her arms. 

 

"Lee Donghae! Don't you EVER do that EVER again. Do you hear me?! You could have gotten hurt. You know how I hate when you hide from me like that. What if someone came out of the woods? Then what would you do!" The woman, obviously his mother, kept rambling on and on, concern evident in her eyes.

 

But "Donghae" was a smart six-year-old.

 

He knew how to escape this scolding without leaving a mess.

 

Donghae stuck out his lower lip slightly, just pulling his little pink lips into a pout. He widened his eyes, their smooth chocolatey color melting into even the coldest heart. He touched his index finger to his mother's soft cheek, gripping onto her yellow apron with his other hand (so he wouldn't fall).

 

"I'm sowwy mommy." He skillfully slurred the r into a w so it sounded noticeably cuter. He saw his mother wavering, her scolding tone falling. She finally broke down.

 

"It's not okay." She said, fake-mad. She poked his nose playfully. "Don't ever hide again, Hae. You gave me a heart attack."

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

"ATTACK!!!!" Donghae launched himself at his mother, who was failing at attempting to tuck him into bed. He fired his pillow, the soft bombs smacking her face gently. It sort of tickled. She laughed and wrestled him to the bed. She wrapped him in a blanket burrito, refusing to let him escape. "You are going to bed if it's the last thing I do!" She screamed, giggling. Just then, Donghae's father came in the room. 

 

"WHAT'S ALL THE NOISE?!" She shouted with a smile. He picked up the nearest stuffed animal, ran to the bed, and launched it at Donghae's stomach. It hit directly on his belly button. Donghae was self-thrown onto the bed in his own fit of giggles. After he laughed so hard he cried (both parents tickled him until his sides hurt), his parents kissed him goodnight. He was eager to get them out the door. They left, but whispered to each other that Donghae was acting weird tonight. And it was true, he had a reason to act weird, though.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

That night, after Donghae had been tickle-attacked into bed, he flung open his window. He stared up at the skies, a thin film of clouds masking the moonlight. He sighed. Today was a special day. These special days came once in a while, but Donghae couldn't count that far yet, so he didn't know how many regular days were in between the special days. But he did have an indicator when the special days happened. Every time, he would look up at the sky and see a plump, full moon, shining bright in a full circle. Whiter than the purest milk. Rounder than the little cheeses Donghae liked to eat.

 

He was waiting. Waiting for something.

 

Or someone.

 

He heard a small whimper come from below his second-story bedroom window. He smiled. His visitor was here. He peered down, expecting. 

A small silver wolf stood elegantly. Its gaze seemed to soften, almost human-like, when he saw Donghae look at him. Its body was muscular, but not large. It was slender, and sleek, but still strong. Its silver furs seemed to glimmer in the moonlight, each fur reflecting a soft, silver glow radiating around it. Its ears, pointy and soft-looking (Donghae had never touched the wolf before) were a soft pink, like the kind of pink Donghae would see inside the little clams he broke open at the beach. The tips were black. Its feet seemed like they were dipped in charcoal, the toes and ankles a deep black, but fading out in a smooth gradient upwards, until it met the silver furs on its thighs. Its eyes, Donghae loved them. They were like liquid silver. It seemed like the color of the irises were flowing, a gentle moon-like glow shining around them. It would seem like the eyes were just pretty, but Donghae had noticed something. He couldn’t make out exactly what was real, but he thought that he saw something else in its eyes: a rill of mirror-like crescent moons, cascading down the outer edge of its irises. The shapes were crystal clear, the mirrors precisely reflecting what was in front of the wolf. 

Donghae smiled and dumped out the contents of a bag in his bottom desk drawer. It was filled with dog bones, stolen from his mother’s pet Chihuahua. Donghae was never a fan of that Chihuahua, it bit and snarled and its name was Kibum. Donghae had no idea why his mother named it Kibum. He thought maybe it was because her favorite singer was named Kibum. 

Donghae and the wolf smiled at each other until sunrise. It wasn’t anything exciting, but it seemed like they were making a connection, watching each other. When the sun started to set a pink fire to the horizon, the wolf (who Donghae had dubbed “Eunhyuk”) whined a little, looked at Donghae like it was a goodbye, and ran into the forest. Donghae sighed and went to sleep. It was a weekend, so he felt comfortable sleeping in. He sighed, knowing his wolf would come back the next full moon. 

His wolf.

His Eunhyuk.