FLASHBACK:

“Are you sure about this? I really think you out to give this more thought before you do anything hasty.” Akio wouldn’t stop pestering about my new decision to leave Japan and move off to South Korea. In all honesty, I hadn’t fully felt 100% right about the idea, but something in my heart told me that this is meant to be. I assured him once more, “I got to do this, Akio. I just got to leave this place and start anew.”

Akio still sat on my bed, resting his elbows on his knees. He kept looking at me like I was making a really big mistake, but I avoided his look because I didn’t want to change my mind at all. Dealing with countless changes from schools, but still dealing with being teased for being an orphan. I lost my cool for it and made the decision to leave behind these bad memories. If only my brother didn’t die in that car crash with my parents, then I wouldn’t be alone.

As I packed the rest of my belongings into my suitcase and began my departure, I took a final look at my room. Like in any orphanage, there were beds a couple feet apart from each other. I pet my bed and smiled to myself. Although it is bittersweet leaving this all behind, I know that deep down, I never really wanted to be here truly. Akio gives me my jacket and walks me out. He wanted to walk me to the airport, so I had no arguments for that. He is last person that I would want to say goodbye to since he is my one and only friend.

When we finally arrive, I am about to enter to security gates, so I know this sad moment has to play out. I cough a bit to clear my throat before I proceed.

“Akio, thank you for being such a great friend. I will miss you, so do not forget to contact me in any way you can.”

He chuckled and pulled me in for a last goodbye. “Of course Mi-Hyun, anything for you. You have no idea how much I’ll miss you. Don’t be a stranger.”

I pulled away and gave him a nod before taking the handle from my suitcase and preparing to go.

Just as I was about to stroll off to security, Akio grabbed my wrist and spun me around. He pulled me a bit too close for comfort and I could see how nervous he was from the way his chest was rising up and down. He looked down for a while before getting the courage to look me in the eyes. He spoke, “Please Mi-Hyun, don’t go.” I tilted my head slightly, “What do you mean?” Akio bit his lip before explaining, “I don’t want you to go. Mi-Hyun, I love you and when I say I love you, I mean I love you. I can’t bear to see you leave me. Please Mi-Hyun, stay here….. with me.”

My lips parted and I took a step back. Akio looked straight to me, but I didn’t know how to answer him. Knowing Akio, he wants me to give him the answer he wants and we leave this airport together and live happily ever after. Sadly for him, this is not that story and for me, it’s not what I want.

“Akio, I’m sorry, but I just do not feel that way for you. I love you, I really do, but only as a friend. I can’t stay here for you. I need to leave and do something for me. Please understand.”

He looked to the ground and looked straight back at me. I noticed his fists clenched a little and eyebrows furrowed. He asked, “So that’s it? That’s how you’re going to leave? By breaking my heart?!” The way he raised his voice at me like never before, I jumped from his tone. I shook my head in disbelief, “Understand Akio, I just can’t give you what you want which is me. I need to go and-“

“No! Don’t leave!” Akio got on the ground and held on to my knees. People were staring as they walked by or noticeably pointed. I tried to tell him stop and let go but he kept repeating, “No! I’m not letting go! I need you!” As I was trying to get him off me, security came by and pulled him away. Once security took hold of Akio, I gathered my stuff and left him behind, but not before warning him, “I see that you just don’t get that I need to be happy for myself. Until you fully let me go Akio, I think we should just not be in contact for a while. I’m sorry, but you and I are not happening.” I turned my head and got through the checkpoint, trying to ignore his fading voice pleading, “Mi-Hyun! I will find you! I’ll come get you someday! MI-HYUN!!!”

BACK TO THE PRESENT:

“Nice to see you, Mi-Hyun. You still look beautiful as ever.” I gritted my teeth while Makoto growled, “Eh-Hem!” Akio tried to play it off as nothing and wrapped his arm around her shoulder, “Don’t worry babe, you’re the best looking girl ever.” She giggled that stupid sound before giving him a kiss on the cheek. Of course, I rolled my eyes out of disgust.

“I can’t believe you are a part of this, Akio. How could you do this to me?”

He walked up to me, grabbed my chin, and came almost three inches to my face. He hysterically answered, “How? How?! Why do you think, Mi-Hyun?! Please!! Ask yourself what on earth would possess me to do all this?”

I already had an idea and scoffed, “You’ve got to be kidding me right?! You did this because I didn’t want to be your stupid little girlfriend?!”

“You don’t understand!?! I loved you, but you left me all alone!! For a girl who hated feeling alone at school, you did a hell of a job of giving me that dreadful emotion! You know how much pain I went through not seeing you everyday?!?! I sure as hell know you didn’t suffer one bit without me!”

As his heavy breathing was returning to regular pace, I raised an eyebrow at Akio, “How would you know I didn’t suffer?” Akio stepped back and began to laugh like a maniac. His laugh was echoing throughout wherever in this forest I was. He placed his hands on his hips, “You really must stupid if you think I just stayed in Japan while you enjoyed your sweet time in Korea. I happened to fly out there weeks after you came so I could convince you to come back. While I tried to figure out what school you were attending, I happen to meet Jonghyun on the way. As he takes me there, I tell him all about you. Coincidentally, he says he knows a Mi-Hyun, and he reveals that she’s actually with someone. Now I didn’t believe him, until he shows me from afar what I just couldn’t believe.” Immediately, Akio’s demeanor changes as I see his voice get hoarser and his fists get tighter. He begins to bellow, “I see you and your “lovely” Kris embracing and having the gall to kiss. At that moment, the thought that popped into my head was, ‘This forgot about me! She abandoned me!’” Akio lays his fist right next to my head, creating a puncture in the wall.

“I never felt more betrayed, more hurt, and more used than at that moment. I wanted him to die so that I could have you all to myself. But instead-“

“I decided to be of a little assistance to him,” Jonghyun interrupted.

I raised my eyebrow at him, “How? What exactly did you do for Akio?”

With his small chuckle, he explained, “Easy. I basically told Akio the truth. Why would you, a new wolf, want to be with someone as weak and normal as Akio when you had Kris, a wolf who was none other than an alpha. When he realized how true that was, I gave him what he needed, power.”

I glanced over to Akio who revealed to me his mark right on his collarbone. I couldn’t believe how stupid he could be. Jonghyun continued, “So when I bit him, I decided to train him until he would be of perfect use to me. Things changed when your disgusting husband took my mate’s life away from me! That’s when we needed a new game plan.”

Makoto flipped her hair and trudged around a bit while her arms were crossed. “I couldn’t believe that your wretched pack took my Oppa’s love away, so I decided that I should be bitten so that I may help him achieve his goal: revenge. Turns out as we trained, we discovered how easy I could make people fall for me. Thanks to that, we already knew that the best way to take down EXO-K and EXO-M was to use Kris as the weakness in both those groups.”

As I was processing everything, there was still some things that didn’t make sense. “Wait a minute, if you were already bitten before, then how come when we found you, you were already a newborn?”

“Come on, Mi-Hyun, you can’t be that stupid. You and I both know that a close-blood relative has the ability to take away our power.”

Oh damn it. I forgot about that. “So when we found you-“

“I already started to set the trap. Since I knew how my power worked, I used it like a charm on Kris.”

Makoto and Jonghyun laughed, while Akio kept his cool smirk on me. I tried to avoid gazes because I couldn’t believe how stupid we could be. I couldn’t believe that Kris fell for Makoto’s tricks. What’s even worse, my beliefs in it led him right to her arms.

“So let me guess? Because of your ability, you made Kris cheat on me?”

Makoto shook her head, “Oh no, sadly, Kris found a weakness in my ability. Apparently, since his love for you was too hard for me to pull him away, I had to resort to using the other part of our plan. Don’t be foolish Mi-Hyun, your Kris definitely loves you too much to ever cheat on you even though I tried too damn hard to make it happen.”

“But that doesn’t make sense, I saw you and Kris in the woods, kissing-“

Before I could go on, all three of them began to laugh. Jonghyun smiled his sharp teeth at me, “You do realize that I always have something under my sleeve when it comes to this battle between us and the rest of EXO?”

I felt the atmosphere grow more ominous. “What did you do?”

He and Makoto turned to Akio, “Show her.”

“With pleasure.”

In an instant, I didn’t see Akio, but Kris right in front of me, in perfect form. His dirty blonde hair, his dark, auburn eyes, and that cold demeanor he’d display to everyone. What’s even scarier, he even copied the symbols that Kris had, his symbol that represents his power and the one he and I share to present that we are each other’s mates.

What felt like forever in a time-stopped dimension, Akio spoke in Kris’s own voice, “I love you, Mi-Hyun. That’s why I got to kill you.”

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Annyeonghaseyo Readers, 4EverVipKissMe here :) I don't know how more disappointed I am with myself that I haven't updated as much I should have. I'm sorry to each and everyone of you on how I promise to update more and it doesn't happen. Well in May and June, I've got SATs and ACTs respectively coming up. Also, my work schedule has basically been packed so much, I barely got time to sleep or even do school. I'm working basically 26 hours a week. Therefore, you can imagine how hard it is to get free time to even do my own personal stuff like go to the gym, practice my singing and dancing, and even write stories. Now, I want to announce that tomorrow, I am planning to give my two-weeks notice at my job because I really want to put all my attnetion back into school.  I want to prepare myself for college but mostly for future auditions for K-Pop companies. So hopefully, by the end of this month, I will be completely free and finally have time for my stuff. All the time that I spent at work, I can finally use for studying and doing my writing again. So hang in there for me, don't lose hope, and SARANGHAE <3