1.   At first, Kibum didn't even notice the guy that had been sitting across him in the university library--on the same table, for almost everyday in two weeks--. The guy that always came with nothing but a cheap stencil papered notepad and a short, over-used pencil--none of which really presented him as a college student--. Kibum didn't even notice the secretive glances thrown his way from a pair of pitch black eyes every once in a while. Not until that particular evening.   It was raining that day. The temperature had already dropped to near minus degree, because it was also already in the end of november. In short, it was biting cold. But, again, Kibum was too busy reading through his Il Canzoniere to notice. He was in the middle of taking a very deep breath, one hand crept up to massage the tensed knot on his bowing nape as he's reading the 15th poem in the book, when he heard it. "Give me just one night, when the sun doesn't rise." There's a perfect amount of roughness and gentleness in that voice, something he couldn't quite put the name on. Something bewitching. That was finally pulling Kibum away from his book as he looked up, blinking once, twice to the as unfamiliar dark orbs, dark as the night, turning him dumbstruck for a second, before he finally found his voice and emitted the smartest thing he could ever think of that moment "Huh ?" Then there's something.. wild about the way the stranger barked a small laugh after it. "Solo una notte—e mai non fosse l'alba." He said with a belivable accent, after obviously trying to hold back the glee, eyes slowly crinkled into a beautiful crescent shape "It's the third line from the last stanza, on the sestina, 22nd in order of that book you read. My favorite. Give me just one night, when the sun doesn't rise. That's some free translation for myself, of course. You might not find the same one in the book." Kibum slowly made an 'O' with his lips. Kind of puzzled with the sudden random conversation about a Petrarca's work. Before he slowly noticed the guy had turned to watch him, his lips, then his face--but not, never really at him--with something akin to moony eyes. Something like.. longing ? Tho it was, for sure, very ridiculous. Kibum told himself quickly. They didn't even know each other. Well... Kibum's sure he didn't. He thought as he shook his head a little, trying to clear his mind. It must be the sonnets getting into his head. But when he turned to look at the stranger again, frowning to the same moony eyes that was directed to him and not to him at the same time, he finally dared himself to ask "Do I.. know you ?" The guy looked like he was just called out of his trance when he heard it, before he smiled an unsure smile and shook his head, eyes casted downward "No." He said, somewhat sadly "I hope you will." When the guy finally looked up, there was only one, two seconds when their eyes met again. But somehow, in that short time, Kibum just knew that something--unimaginable, indescribable, bigger than himself--was bound to happen. *   The night after that, it was the first time he saw it. The black dog that curled up under his window. Three-stories down. In front of the petunia bushes Mrs. Oh, the dorm caretaker, planted. He knew that she kept two guard dogs, which he oftened heard barking but never really got to see. So it was kind of surprising that he had the chance to see one of them in a time like this. Kibum didn't even know why he was opening his window curtain in the middle of the night to begin with. It might had something to do with the sleep he couldn't seem to get. Might be not. He usually dealt with it by reading book or doing something as equally productive, not peering over the window like this. And he was startled then, not really long after, when he suddenly caught a glint of moonlight reflected from what that should be the dog's eyes, when it looked up to see him, as if it knew there's someone watching. Kibum just decided to take a step back, then a deep breath as he closed the curtain, before slowly turning to climb back to his bed and trying not to think too much about it. *   It was raining again when the guy came to sit across him the next day. Kibum was in the middle of copying a new line to his notebook (Lasso, ch' i' ardo, e altri non mel crede; Alas, I burn, and others will not believe me;), when the stranger took his usual place without a sound. Save for another scratch of pencil that soon followed, harmonizing with the notes his pen made. It was the first time Kibum noticed the guy's doing something in the opposite of him, altho the truth, it'd been for two weeks. But Kibum didn't ask. Never been the one that had the courage to. He just kind of glanced to him in every five seconds. And if he was too bewildered to assess the stranger fully before, now he was too curious.   The guy didn't bring any backpack or anything similar to a bag. His black hair seemed a little too long for a guy and just gave an overall untidy impression. Kibum wasn't really sure but the hoodie he wore could be the same one he saw the day before. Then there's the pencil that was like really short and should be already banned to use. Kibum considered to offer his pencil case--just because--, when the braided brown leather bracelet on the guy's wrist got his attention. There's some small wooden carving pendant in the middle of it. Kind of like an ancient symbol. But a symbol he had never seen before. Trust him when he said he knew most of the ancient symbol in the world. Because he read much books. Too much. History was his forte. And it looked like the symbol the guy wore was not something common or viral, that he could just pick up somewhere. Or it could be it was just something the guy made up ? Kind of like a tattoo art or something ? That would explain..   Kibum was still frowning when he looked up absentmindedly, before he surprised himself as he saw the pitch black eyes staring back at him with raised eyebrows. As if asking what he'd been seeing, or thinking. Kibum could just purse his lips, flustered, before he got back to his notebook, unfortunately a little too fast, too hastily that he dropped his pen. He would pretend he didn't see the mirth look the crescent eyes sent him a little after after he scrambled down to pick his pen up. *

 

It was still raining until night. And Kibum, who was just done calling his aunt, was frowning a little when he felt the strange urge that led his feet to the window again. It was unusually dark when he opened the curtain that he had a hard time to see. But after adjusting his vision, he finally found what he was subconsciously looking for. The black dog, not curled up in front of the petunias this time, but running lap in the backyard under the rain. Kibum frowned, slightly wondered why Mrs. Oh didn't tell it to go inside ? Or maybe, if it's not allowed in the house--considering it's a guard dog--, to go to it's cage or something ? Didn't it have any ? The rain seemed would last really long. And it was just too cruel to leave the dog out in the open like that.   Kibum glanced to the clock on his desk then, finding a big red 09:30 pm glaring back to him and realized that Mrs. Oh most probably had gone to sleep and forgot about the dog. She forgot about so much things, Kibum learned after all three years he spent there, after having and not having roommates for several times--he was in the *not* this time--. She always had everyone's name mixed up, got the date and year wrong, even sometimes forgetting the university's name she's working for. Kibum bit his lip as he took another look to the moving mount of black three-stories down his window, before he turned his head back to his room, then to his cupboard and suddenly had something came up in his head.     Kibum didn't usually wear his contacts after an evening bath, if he was about to go to sleep. So without the light provided by his room, it was more impossible to see through the dark as soon as he opened the back door of the dorm building. He opted not to offer himself to some cold and flu god by stepping out of the protection of the canopy. So he decided just to stay glued to the door. He was already getting splatters even then.   The rain fell like a full-scale shower. Blocking his imperfect vision, evenmore. Kibum could only try to squint, tho he still could see nothing. But then he suddenly heard a faint thud-thud-thud coming closer from somewhere on his left--the dog was still running laps it seemed--and he was oddly hopeful as he tried to call "Hey, buddy !" The thud-thud-thud stopped then, as if the dog really heard him. And he could only hope it was also looking at him.   Kibum swallowed before he turned to open the umbrella in his hand. It was the big, red one he didn't use anymore, which he just kept in the back of his cupboard, because one of the rib had already been broken and crooked. He put the umbrella in front of the nearest row of petunia from where he stood, on his left side, the direction where he heard the thud-thud-thud before. The handle's facing the plant and the top notch's pointing to the sky, so the dog could lay safely under it. "You could stay under it, okay ?" He tried to yell, patting the opened umbrella several times because he wasn't sure where the dog was and whether it saw the umbrella or not. "Stop running, okay ? Stay. Under. It." He explained with a loud voice, hoping the dog to understand. He waited for a while and was not disappointed when he heard a small whine came, followed by a closer thud-thud-thud. "Yes. It's here." Kibum almost smiled "It's here." But then the sound suddenly came to a halt again. Kibum frowned a little because he didn't understand. Before he finally decided maybe the dog was just being wary. He was a stranger, after all. "I'll go inside then." Kibum said, more to himself than anyone else. The dog whined again. "Alright alright. I'll leave the umbrella here." He said, opening the door behind him, before he took a last glance to the dark and said aloud "Bye, buddy."

 

Kibum couldn't help himself but to go to his window again as soon as he's back to his room. To check on the dog And was he surprised, when he saw his umbrella, a big red blob in the middle of blackness, was moving from where he had placed it, by itself. Or maybe not. Kibum squinted again until he could see the moving tail poking out from under the little parasol. And finally concluding that the black dog was the one to push it, to the direction of the petunia bushes on the right side, three-stories down, right under Kibum's window. Where it stopped and the black tail was finally, slowly curling up, until it was fully hidden under the blob.   The next morning, neither the black dog or his umbrella was anywhere to be seen. *

 

There's still no news on him ?-- Jjong, you were told to run patrols-- I am doing that-- So, keep doing that-- Still, I'm asking. There's really no news, right ? Why don't we just search for him ? You know, we can talk to the Alpha-- Who are you even kidding ? You're probably just looking for a chance to go out from the reservation-- You bet your furry I am !-- Just run the perimeter, Kim Jonghyun-- You don't have to be so stiff like a everytime, Choi Min--

 

God. Shut up, you two.

 

.......................-- .......................-- DUDE ?!-- Who is... Is that....-- DUDE, ARE YOU THER—HERE, I MEAN ?-- KIM JONGHYUN, DON'T HOWL. OTHERS WILL HE—

 

He tuned them out, cutting the connection off, holding his head. He didn't mean to talk to them. He didn't even know how they suddenly got inside his head after all these weeks he'd been alone in his thoughts. God. He groaned as he felt his head throbbed again, that he banged his temple to the table and stayed like that with closed eyes, before he slipped his arm to the equation for more comfort as a pillow. Who was he even kidding ? The heavy rain last night pretty much beat him up. It didn't stop until sunrise. When he felt like a damp bedroom rug. It made his bone all chill and trembled, even after he had phased back. Good thing he didn't forget his coat. The one that could reflect back all of the heat he radiated for himself.   But, seriously, last night could be so much worse, if it's not for the guy. Kibum.   Kibum. He smiled groggily. He found the guy's name on the library's log book some days ago. Where he'd been creeping on him. Trying to make an impression. Which was so successful, of course ! They--or more like he--had talked about a poet, a cryptic line, then exchanging secretive glances all the time. It would only take a century until they could be bonded !   He slowly sighed a long, deep sigh, realizing how pathetic it was, knowing that he, in wolf form, even did a better progress than he, in human form. Although Kibum seemed to think of him as a dog. He chuckled dumbly. Buddy. That was a pretty cute nickname. Eventhough somewhat generic.   He yawned widely as he felt grogginess filled him up, rubbing his cheek to the wooden table, partly hoping it would smell as it naturally should be, like home. Tho, of course, it just smelled of thinner and dry air. And he was almost snoring, while listening to the thrum in his chest when his nose instinctively sniffed to inhale a sweet, sweet scent. A familiar sweet scent. Cinnamon, driftwood and soft skin. Then he felt a poke on his pillow-arm. That caused him to crack his eyes open for a bit, just to see the object of his thought materializing right in front of him.   "He's alive." He heard him muttered, while taking the seat across the table. But in between the floating question of how Kibum could find him there--he was choosing different table, far in the back to sleep--and why the guy was even there on saturday--he knew Kibum never leave his room when he had no class in a day like saturday--, and the memory of the Elders' stories about how it would be impossible to stay apart for both sides when they had found each other, his sleepiness won. He slowly closed his eyes back, and before he knew it, he was sleeping a peaceful sleep in the comforting smell of his bound imprintee, his soulmate-to-be. *

 

Kibum also didn't know why he was even there on a saturday. For reading ? He was not reading anything from the library at the moment. For homework ? He could do that in the dorm. For quiet ? His room was quiet enough with the absence of roommate, still.   Or maybe.. just maybe because he felt it was the only place he could find him. And not in their usual spot this time, but far in the back corner, near the old newspaper bundling shelf no one ever bother to read again. Kibum swallowed as he, not-so-secretly, took another chance to stare at the soft-snoring guy in front of him. He'd been dead asleep for like three hours and Kibum had never moved from where he was. The textbook he brought as pathetic reasoning sat there on the side of the table, untouched.   This was weird. Really weird. It was like the only third time they met. Why did it feel like he was becoming attached to him ? He mentally chuckled when his mind offered a "Love at the first sight, sir ?" No. It didn't feel like that. He didn't stumble on his feet, didn't hear his heart stuttered like a school girl, didn't find flower petals falling over blushing cheeks on the sight of him.   It was.. lt felt so serene. Like a sitting-alone-on-top-of-the-mountain-to-watch-the-midnight-mist-fell-over-a-lower-river serene ? It felt strangely... natural. Like something that was buried deep inside of him, was slowly coming, creeping out to live, knowing the time had arrived. It was there, all along. It was--this was--supposed to happen and he knew it would slowly consume him.   Kibum blinked twice and slowly frowned then. Realizing what he was just thinking. God, from where that thought came from ? He wrecked his brain for good with all those supernatural romance he read in the past. He shook his head and sighed a little as he looked absentmindedly to the guy again, before finally decided to get a good use of his textbook by doodling on it. Still not moving away.   It was five twenty when he heard the familiar clearing of throat from Mrs. Park, the librarian. The sign that the library was about to close. The opening hour was shorter on weekends. Kibum, who was in the middle of reading the headline of some 1980 newspaper--he got bored of doodling after one hour doing it--, finally looked up and found the guy across him was still pretty much dead to the world like hours ago. He frowned a bit and wondered how one could rest comfortably in that position, before he decided just to rouse the guy by shaking his arm "Hey. Hey." The guy only stirred a bit and mumbled some unintelligible things. "Hey." Kibum finally stood up, reaching his hand out to pat the guy's cheek "It's almost five thirty. The library will be closed." The guy whined a bit then, before a minute later he woke up with a sniff to Kibum's wrist, then he slowly sat up straight, nose blindly following when Kibum pulled his hand away. He only opened his eyes when he couldn't sniff anymore. Before he gradually turned to look disoriented then confused when he saw Kibum's face. It was a little cute. But, of course, Kibum didn't say it out loud. He just cleared his throat after it, closing the newspaper bundling in front of him, before he asked the guy with scrunched eyebrows "You want to grab something to eat ?" *

 

Jinki. His name's Jinki. He never knew anyone with that name before. Kibum took a soundless breath as he tried not to keep glancing to the guy, as they walked quietly, eating bung-eo-bbang they bought from a stall just outside the university complex gate.   The gu—Jinki was grinning this rather stupid grin the whole time, starting when they first stepped out from the library--where he seemed like he finally really woke up then realizing what'd been happening as he looked incredulously at Kibum--until that moment. Kibum asked him for his name a little while ago, which earned a more illegal happy smile, before Kibum finally gave his own name to the guy, which only resulting a small knowing nod. Then they got back inside the gate and honestly, Kibum wasn't really sure where they headed, until he recognized the familiar oak tree on the side than slowly, the whole path. He frowned. "Do you live in the green dorm too ?" "Oh." Jinki looked a bit surprised "No. No. I live around here. But not in the dorm. I'm not a... student." He shook his head slowy, as if to explain it carefully to Kibum. "You're not a student ?" Kibum asked with a raised eyebrow, tho honestly--strangely--he's not that surprised. "No. I'm... 24. I just... moved out from my parent's house. It's near the southern wood. Then I moved here. Trying to search for.. uh something." "A job ?" Kibum just mentioned the first thing that matched the keyword. Jinki just gave him a smile. Which could be easily deciphered as a 'no' or a 'yes' or a 'maybe' at the same time. Kibum didn't inquire further about it, tho he offered another question "Then why are you always in the university's library ?" "Yeah well.." Jinki kind of shrugged "First thing, it's opened for public. Second thing, I really have no job at the moment." There's the unspoken third. Which Kibum knew was hanging from Jinki's tounge. From the way he looked at him. But he didn't say it. And it left a toes-curling silence hanging in the air. They didn't talk much again after. But Kibum knew it was a start. *

 

"You seem on distress." Jinki stated one day in their usual place inside the library. "Huh ?" Kibum, of course, had to ask dumbly again. After he looked up from his full-marker'ed textbook. "Creases." The older pointed to his own forehead, to show where Kibum had his frown. "Yeah." Kibum reached his fingers up to smoothen the skin above his eyebrows "I'm trying to figure out why everything seem to be important when I'm about to have a test." Jinki chuckled softly and Kibum saw the way his black eyes slowly softened as he looked at him, like he was staring at something so dearly. It always caught Kibum off guard. How Jinki could stare at him like that. And just how he didn't feel bothered by it at the slightest.   Then Kibum realized this--whatever this was--began to escalate so quickly. Jinki liked to walk him home. Especially when Kibum was leaving the library late. That day, it was particularly cold. They were eating bung-eo-bbang again while walking, and Jinki had been assessing him for some time before he lifted his hand up and suddenly touched his cheek, hot skin on freezing one. But it's gone too fast. And when Kibum heard Jinki muttered "Guess it's red from cold. It's gonna be winter soon." after he pulled his hand away, Kibum knew he wanted that hand to warm him up just a little bit longer.   When he thought about it, Kibum felt like they had a big--no, huge--leap somewhere along this timeline. Where they skipped the introductory stage altogether. Where they should've been exchanging phone number on pink notes, having pleasant conversations about weather and hobbies over coffee, or going to several movie and dinner dates, before all this happened.   But they didn't have it. Kibum took another look to the guy, who was busy stuffing the last big bite of bung-eo-bbang to his mouth until his cheek bursted out like a chipmunk. And it felt just fine. *

 

But bright days were finite. And no matter how pleasant Jinki made him feel, there's still something unsettling about him. Unless that time when Jinki told him he was 24 and had no job at the moment, Kibum knew nothing about him.   Kibum tried to look closely at Jinki that day, trying to ease the bothering feeling, trying to search for the answer in the depth of Jinki's pitch black eyes. Jinki was the one to be taken off guard that moment, breathing in the intensity in the air when Kibum stared at him with confused feline eyes. "Why ?" Jinki asked softly, afraid to pop the bubble. "I'm looking for clarity." Kibum mumbled, not breaking the contact. "You find it ?" Jinki asked again after sometime. Kibum shook his head, frowning then shrugging and sighing. And Jinki looked like he was trying really hard not to do it, but he seemed to lost it, as he took Kibum's face and kissed his red cheek in front of the dorm building's front door like silly school boys. Kibum felt his heart skipped a bit, but somehow, it just made him more uneasy.   Kibum sat by his window again that night. After sometimes didn't. The dog was there. And it was running in small circle when Kibum looked down, maybe trying to catch flies or it's own tail or something. Whatever it was, it looked silly and happy and it made Kibum couldn't help but to smile a little. And that was when it looked up. Moonlight trapped inside the vast of blackness. Blinking slowly to him. Kibum thought he could see it grinned, pink tounge rolled out as it barked a laugh.   In his sleep after, Kibum dreamed of endless rain, black orbs and night wolf. *

 

He woke up with a start. Vivid images swimming through his mind. As clear as the day that seeped through his window. Tho he completely didn't understand what they meant. It just seemed too random to decipher. Like the nightmare he had every once in a while when he was a child. Unending run, grim shadow, woman without face that had no link to each other whatsoever. So Kibum decided not to get all worked up about it. Although--he didn't know yet--in the end, it would just eventually come to him.   It was a saturday again so he didn't have any important thing to do. Before he remembered he had thr last homework before finals and how he really had to get it done for the sake of his grade. After considering long under the shower, Kibum finally decided to grab his coat, pack his textbook then head out to the library. Kibum found no Jinki on their usual desk. And none too in the back corner where he slept days ago--Kibum decided maybe the guy had another life outside the library, after all-- . The only thing he found there was the 1980 newspaper bundling he read then, which was yet to be cleaned up from the desk. Now he's convinced that Mrs. Park really never went to this side of the library.   He sat down and moved the newspaper a little to the side, so that he could make a space for his textbook. Where, he stared in horror, he found his doodles were taking over most of the available white spaces. For pages. He didn't notice he doodled so much when he was waiting for Jinki to wake up. Kibum started to ransack his pencil case for eraser. He even tried to draw the wooden carving on Jinki's bracelet. The symbol. That symbol.   Kibum was dumbfounded as his eyes automatically moved a bit to the side, to where the newspaper bundling laid down. To one of the news in the front page he just passed before--because it seemed like your usual crime news--and the picture on it. 'A Man from Lupo Tribe Found Dead.' The picture wasn't big, but it was focused on the man's left upper arm. Where the tattoo of the symbol Jinki wore was. *

 

'THE TIMES -- A middle-aged man—identified as a part of the mysterious Lupo Tribe by the tattoo on his left arm—was found dead in the outer perimeter of the Southern wood last night. The Southern Chief of Police Ahn Chan Soo said in an interview that they found a bullet wound on his abdomen, which was most probably the cause of the death.   The suspect, a licensed hunter who was the only one who had the permission to hunt in the Southern wood that day, has answered to the police this morning and defended himself by saying he was just shooting a wolf that day, which he said he missed. "I only tried to shoot this big gray wolf, which even ran away from me." Mr. Song, 40, stated to The Times. "That's why I don't have it as the evidence !"   The Police is still investigating the found bullet and the arm gun Mr. Song used that day. Until this news is written, no one has come up to claim the body in the medical examiner's office. (KHM)'

 

Kibum tried to ignore all the assumptions his gut's trying to tell him. Although at the same time, he knew this could be the clarity he was trying to look for. But, a mysterious tribe ? Kibum didn't even know that their country still had any existing original tribe. Jinki was a part of a tribe ? He couldn't seem to wrap his head around it