“Let me guess, you’re running late?” Lina said into the receiver of her cell phone in a disapproving tone. She heard her dad chuckled on the other end.

“Am I that predictable? I’m just under ten minutes away. Sit tight inside and I’ll be there before you even know it.” He reassured. Like shook her head, finding it hard to even be mad at him. His tardiness somehow gave him an odd charm to his personality.

“Fine but don’t let this happen again, alright!” Lina scolded, fully knowing that is was more than likely to happen once more (and more after that).

After that phone call, Lina hurried back inside the school, waiting just by the exit so she could see when her dad’s Jeep would roll into view. At lease she was warmer inside, she considered thoughtfully.

Most of the students had exited school by now. There was hardly anyone in sight, except for the receptionist in the farthest corner of her eye. It was only expected; who wanted to be in school any longer than they had to?

“Shouldn’t you be off home by now?” a voice asked behind Lina. She knew who it was. No voice ever could make her skin light up with millions of tingles. She turned to face Sehun who stood with nonchalance; his hands were stuffed in his trouser pockets, his hair was ruffled and his face was stoic. She wondered what his face looked like when he smiled.

“Shouldn’t you?” Lina countered when she found her own voice. Sehun shrugged while taking in all of Lina’s attire. She was wrapped up tightly indeed, yet he could tell she was barely handling the cold.

Lina did the same. Sehun was wearing a simple school blazer and she knew that would hardly keep off the assaulting hands of winter.

“Don’t you feel cold?” Lina asked suddenly, shaking Sehun out of his daze, “I mean, you just have a blazer jacket on.”

“I’m strong enough to handle it,” Sehun informed, “But you on the other hand...”

He stifled a small scoff of laughter, just at the appearance of Lina adjusting her thick woollen scarf away from her face so she could breathe and speak, and it irked her.

“Hey, I could handle it too! I just have to get used to it,” She complained.

“Your nails are turning blue.” Sehun stated, avoiding retorting to her previous sentence. There was no way something so human could withstand temperatures like that. Lina looked down at her hand and frowned. It was exactly how he had said. Her fingernails were verging purple-blue because of the chilly weather.

She heard a sigh from Sehun, “Take these.”

He produced quite a large pair of gloves. They were black and thick with wool; something made for a lumberjack.  Lina shook her head, “Oh no, I couldn’t. You probably need it more anyway.”

Sehun rolled his eyes and stepped forward, over to her. He grabbed a hold of one hand and slipped on the first glove without a word. He did the same again for her other hand. The gloves were too big and there was quite a good bit of space left at her fingertips, but they were warm and bring some life back to her hands.

“Just wear them,” Sehun ordered, letting go of her hands ever so slowly, as if relishing in the feel of them in his, as if they were made to fit each other, as if letting go would mean nothing but pain.

Lina kept her hands to her side, while looking anywhere but Sehun. Her face glowed and she could do nothing but hide in her scarf and stare out the doors, hoping her dad would come soon.

“Do I make you uncomfortable?” Sehun accused seriously, alarming Lina.  She was startled by the question and immediately shook her head in denial, “What? No! Of course not! Why...er why would you think that?”

Sehun scoffed slightly, a small slip of laughter was heard, and the faintest of smiles on his lips. So faint, that Lina thought she hadn’t really seen it. Sehun returned to his usual frown when he realised Lina was looking at him in wonder. He cleared his throat and straightened up slightly.

“Your dad’s here.” He pointed towards the school doors. Lina snapped her head in that direction and sure enough, the Jeep was pulling up on the road and honked once to alert her of his arrival.

“Oh well by—Huh?”

She turned back to say goodbye but Sehun was gone. He had somehow slipped by her silently and was already outside in the school car park, heading over to his own car. She stood there staring for a moment as he slipped in.

He had waited with her till her dad arrived.

Lina shook herself awake and made her way to the Jeep.

“I’m taking a late shift today at City Hall,” her dad said as they entered their home, “I’m going to be home around three in the morning. Will you be alright by yourself?”

Lina was curled up on the sofa. The fire was roaring and she had a funny comedy sitcom playing on the television. Taking a final sip of her hot chocolate, she smiled and said, “I’m seventeen, Dad. I can look after myself. You just go off to work and I’ll be fine.”

He still looked a bit sceptical, “Are you sure? This is your first day here. I can change shifts if you want.”

Lina looked at him stubbornly, “Dad, go to work. I’ll be completely alive and well when you return.”

He gave a final look and grumbled under his breath, “Fine. But I’m a phone call away, okay?”

Lina hummed in response, already immersed in her TV show.

At some point, Lina had fallen asleep and she was jolted awake. The TV was still blaring with a completely different programme and the fire had reduced slightly. She stretched lazily and looked at the clock. It was one in the morning.

She was about to turn off the TV when a howl stopped her in her tracks. She wondered if it was her imagination and when it didn’t happen again she resumed her walk, and switched off the TV. She tapped her cheeks lightly to try and make her less delirious.

But it happened again.

A clear, melodic howl. It echoed into the night and sent a chill down her spine. Lina shuffled over to the window and gasped.

“Wolves.”

There were about ten, slipping in and out of the trees that fringed her home.

One wolf stood at the edge of the forest of trees. It was pale grey and so very big. Unnaturally big. Its head snapped towards the window Lina’s face looked out of. It made her jump out of view so quickly that she felt her breath escape her. She found the courage to look again, but the wolf was gone. They all were gone.

Letting out  shaky breath, Lina tried to go to bed and leave the thoughts about wolves out of her dreams.

HULLO THERE

How are you all??

I'm a bit ill -.-

Hope you like this chapter! I doooo :DDDD