It was Christmas Day. 

Melody stared out at the blanket of snow surrounding the cottage. The night was getting colder and it was past shy of three in the morning. She shouldn't be here, she knew she shouldn't. Her chest ached to even think about it but a talk with the older wolf had made her resolution crumble. She hadn't wanted to understand Haerim's situation, hadn't wanted to know of all her struggles and what she went through, but there was a genuine sadness swimming through Haerim's eyes as she spoke of the words of her past, and even when Melody felt like she was betraying her own self by listening, she did anyway, because it hit too close to home. 

Haerim understood. She knew. 

What has my life come to? She thought to herself with a growing sense of unease, how am I supposed to continue on living like this If I'm going to everything up? 

Haerim had told her about her parents, how she'd been torn apart by their divorce, how her mother had been responsible for her own fate, that it wasn't just the Kitsune genes, that it was also in the mind if you let it take control of your senses and your emotions in such important situations. She'd told Melody of the fear of living with the feeling that she couldn't get a mate because of that gene and history. She also told Melody how stupid she had been, because it was never about the actual curse. To her, when she met Sehun and started accepting the bond as it was, felt like she had pushed the curse aside and stopped believing in it. Instead, she focused on how good it felt to have a mate, how beautiful their bond was, and how she always took things on the bright side and never really acknowledged the curse's presence lingering at the back of her mind. Giving in to the curse meant to know of its presence, and that was only food for it to grow. 

The wind blew, and the scent of berries and vanilla wafted through her nostrils.

She tensed. 

"What do you want?" She barked sharply, her gaze unmoving from the falling snowflakes. 

She knew without looking that Kyungsoo was standing by the door. She felt his presence, his energy calling out to her through the throngs of her heartbeat. 

"You didn't leave." 

She stayed silent and preferred keeping him in the cold about her genuine thoughts. He didn't have to know everything that was running through her mind. 

"You actually listened to Haerim." 

Melody growled and turned to him, irritation flaring through her when she realized that there was no escaping the fact that Kyungsoo could read her mind as easily as she could read his. 

The bond between mythical beings were more intense, their magic interwoven and interconnected because they were both aware of it. And that didn't make things any easier. 

"Stay away from me." She snarled, the dangerous glint in her sharp, angular eyes  giving him a good indication of what she'd do if he didn't listen. 

But he really didn't care at this point.

So he took a step forward and said, "you don't mean that."

"Stay away." She repeated more adamantly, but he took another and another step until he was close enough that she got overwhelmed with his delicious scent that made her head spin.

She gulped and tried to focus her attention on the snowflakes, forced her mind to think of how much she hated this situation. 

She did not think of how his warmth felt sizzling, enticing as he kept drawing closer until he was merely a few steps away.

"Look, I know about Kitsune's," he cleared his throat before he continued hesitantly, "and I guess you're unhappy with the situation but you had no choice but to stay."

"Don't think I stayed because of you." She sneered right back, her words sharp and blunt, slicing through the air, "I have manners."

"Then go."

She frowned, "what?"

"If you're staying out of politeness, don't." She finally lifted her gaze to his, her orbs flashing with shock for a few seconds while he stared down at her, intense and unrelenting, "we don't like the polite. We like the genuine, and if you can't do that, then you better go." 

She hadn't expected his words to sting the air like bees. Blinking for a few beats of silence and letting his statement sink in through the pores of her skin, Melody looked back out at the surrounding environment before letting out a small sigh. 

"You don't live here." She stated it a a fact. 

"And?"

She seemed so unsure then, her eyes moving right and left while avoiding his gaze, her jaw clenching.

When she spoke next, her words were strung together and mushed, as though she was babbling about nothing and anything that it took Kyungsoo a few seconds for realization to dawn on him.

"It'll be hard for us to continue this--" she motioned between them, "this thing if we wanna go for it."

"That's not a question for me to answer."

Melody bit her lip, "what do you mean?"

"I'll try to make it work." He said, "if you try as well."

Despite her reluctance to give in to a practical stranger, a surge of warmth blossomed through her chest at his words. Her life had been nothing but a continuous list of lies and false hopes. Numerous times had she been brought around and led on by those false hopes. And she'd heard those words before, she was accustomed to them like any brokenhearted girl would. 

And yet, it felt so right when they fell from his mouth. 

A hand suddenly appeared before her, and looking up at its owner, she was met with his kind gaze, "I'm Kyungsoo." 

Then, with a slight moment of hesitation, Melody gave in to the proposition and reached out to grab his own in a handshake.

Fire burned through her palm through the tip of her fingertips, a searing rush of blood that seemed to put her body on alert while she tried to ignore it, "Melody."

Shortly after our Christmas break, we returned back to our normal routine and everyone started up their lives again. I was still working part-time at the coffee shop with Donghyuk-- much to Luhan's displeasure-- while waiting for my high school results to come out. I still hadn't figured out what I wanted to do with my life yet, but I figured that it could wait after I got my grades back, which would pretty much predict my future. I hadn't contacted my mother ever since that outburts between us, and maybe it was better that way. She didn't seem to need me, and even though guilt wallowed my lungs in sadness and regret, even though I wanted to reach out and pull her out of the misery she'd embedded herself into, I resigned myself to the fact that I couldn't. She was long gone and broken, and didn't want any outside help. I couldn't lend a hand to someone that clearly didn't want to take it. 

The wolves resumed their way and life pretty much continued like normal. I learnt that Luhan had changed jobs -- he'd been working at some grocery store stocking shelves-- and had been hired as a coach at one of the local primary schools in the area, which made me question his educational background and had me curious about his history. There were still so many things that I didn't know about him, and no matter how right it felt to always snuggle in his arms and sigh in comfort when his warmth would bathe me in that small cocoon of happiness, it somehow struck me once again that I barely knew this human being -- well, half human and half animal. 

I asked Suho about it, but came back with nothing but a headshake and a mysterious smile. 

"He's your mate. You should ask him yourself." He said with a hint of a smirk, to which I rolled my eyes. 

And so, on that same night, when he finally stumbled into the room while I had been cooped up at the corner of his bed reading "Memoirs of a Geisha', I waited patiently when he took a shower and finally walked out, half-asleep with a towel tossed messily over his wet strands. I tried to avert my eyes when I caught a glimpse of his white shirt clinging to his still-moist skin, doing nothing to hide the muscles underneath. Instead, I closed my book and looked at him. 

"Did you study in University?" 

His surprise was blatant through the small crease in his eyebrows. 

"I didn't," he answered. 

"Why?" 

"No money." He shrugged, sitting on the edge of the bed and causing the material to dip slightly, "The only thing my parents could afford were a few Sports Psych courses." 

"You're into sports?" 

He raised a brow, "Are you really asking me that question?" 

"What?" I got defensive, as I was just trying to get to know him better. I knew he loved sports, but I hadn't known that it was to an extent where he was passionate about learning about it. "I was just curious." 

"I didn't know this was 'Let's get to know Luhan better' time." he raised a brow in question, which caused infuritation to flare up within my chest. 

"Nevermind," I spat, flipping on my other side and opening up my book violently to show that the conversation was closed. Here I was, trying my best to make this thing work -- and it wasn't even called a relationship. God knows how they called it-- and Luhan was being nothing but a little about it. 

Maybe I was too quick to judge. Maybe I was too sensitive because for once I was genuinely curious and trying my best to communicate with him. It was something that put me out of my comfort zone, something that I wasn't used to doing. But the fact that he shut me down so easily and brushed it off with his stupid remarks couldn't stop the anger boiling through my veins. 

"Hey." 

I could feel his warmth at my side. He was close, and I feared that turning around would crumble what I had of my pride and resistance. So I stared out of the window instead, gazed at the raindrops tapping against the glass pane while adamantly ignoring his presence. 

"Seulmi," he sighed, taking a strand of my hair and tugging on it lightly, enough for me to feel the pressure, "I'm tired okay? I didn't mean to snap." 

Yes, I was a brat. I knew that, definitely. Luhan worked hard. I knew that too. But I'd been trying, couldn't he see that? 

"Whatever." Now he was just making me feel bad for overreacting about such a stupid thing. I kept my gaze averted from his brown orbs and decided to put away my book, tucking it on one of the shelves before proceeding to pull the blanket over my body. The conversation was over and done with, and I wasn't in the mood to talk any longer. He killed off any kind of interest that had flaired within me. 

"Come on." he whined a little, like a puppy that had upset his master. 

Impulsively, my lips hitched into a smile. But I'd die before I let him see that. Wiping off any kind of expression from my face, I turned around, eyes coming to a rest upon his wet strands framing his face and the guilt etched into his expression. 

Reaching out and grabbing onto the towel hanging from his shoulders, I proceeded to dry his hair, ruffling my hands through his brown locks as I huffed some sort of comment about how annoying he could be sometimes.

But I felt his grin at the corner of my eye, and looked up at him with a frown, "why are you smiling?" 

Luhan chuckled, "You're cute." 

I flushed, snapping a sharp, "Shut up." 

"So," his eyes were shining with mischief, now intermingled with shades of slight silver in a teasing glimmer. He leanged in so that I got better access to his scalp, "What's with all the questions all of a sudden?" 

"I heard that you got employed as a Coach in one of the primary schools." I said. 

"How?" 

"Krystal told me." My eyes narrowed into a glare, a look of accusation on my face, "Why didn't you tell me?" 

He looked at me for a long time, as though he was trying to decipher my expression bit by bit, analyzing it with a thoroughness that made me uncomfortable. He then let out a soft sigh before looking away, "I didn't think it was that important, to be honest." 

"Luhan, you got a job." I wanted to shake him, slap some sense into him, "How can it not be important?" 

He shrugged, "It's not big deal. It's not like I'm being employed by a huge business company or something." 

"It's still quite something." I argued, "You need to tell me these kind of things. You tell me that I should talk, but you never do." I felt my throat tighening with emotion, but continued to gaze at him unblinkingly, maroon orbs intense and burning through his skull to drive my main point home, "how are we going to make this work if you keep everything to yourself?" 

Luhan heaved out a soft sigh, silence filling the air between us for a short moment. Then he murmured softly, "I'm sorry." 

"You better be," I grumbled, hands falling away from his towel when his hair was dry enough. "next time, I don't want to be the last one who knows if you suddenly decide to make a major, life changing decision." 

"Deal." he mumbled.

A grin involuntarily spread on my face. He looked and sounded so docile when he agreed so instantly, just like a good dog that would follow its master. I made a move to shift back to my side of the bed, content that I cleared this matter up with him, but Luhan was faster. 

He grasped my wrists. 

He pulled me in, a small gasp dying at the back of my throat when his arms laced around my middle and his warmth wrapped me up in a small cocoon of bliss, his scent flitering through my nose and making me sigh in satisfaction. Something inside me shivered in joy, relishing in Luhan's presence and basking in the way his firm structure molded perfectly with my curves.

"What are you--" 

"Oh shush." his alto was an echo that vibrated through my ear, goosebumps dancing along my spine. As if on autopilot, my body pressed closer, like it was just upon instinct hidden within levels of subsconsiousness for me to do such a thing. 

"So, a soccer coach, huh?" I teased, causing him to groan before burying his face in the crook of my neck. 

"What can I say?" He replied when he pulled away, face dangerously close to mine as I smelt his delicious scent waft through my nostrils, "I love sports and I love kids. Give me the two and I'm a happ man." 

"I didn't know you liked kids." 

He grinned bashfully, "now you do," and then, he wriggled his eyebrows suggestively, "I love children, sweetheart. Know what that means?" 

I rolled my eyes but still felt the heat crawl across my face in embarassment. I slapped his shoulder in annoyance, hating how my physical being gave me away before I could stutter out an answer. But Luhan merely laughed and tucked a stray strand of hair behind my ear, hand lingering a bit longer for a few seconds. 

His eyes were sparkling, silver orbs of genuine affection that I wouldn't mind getting lost in. He looked at me as though his world rotated around the sole purpose of giving me the protection and I love I needed. He looked at me as though I was the centre of his orbit, as though I was the one that kept him in place, rooted on the ground. As if I was the oxygen he breathed, that he couldn't live without. 

And even when I felt slightly intimidated by the sudden intensity he projected so blatantly in my face, I still found that it was something I could get used to, in the long run. 

Already, his arms were a normal occurence to me, a safe haven I returned to every single time. 

I got pulled back into reality when he tapped my forehead and asked, "Penny for your thoughts?" 

"I was just thinking," I answered, uncomfortable that he's caught me right in the middle of thoughts I wouldn't normally be having, "how comfortable it has become between us." 

He gasped mockingly, "who are you and what have you done to Seulmi?" 

"Oh shut up.' I slap his arm, earning a chuckle that rumbled through his chest. 

"And how is it?" He asked, pillowing his head with his arm, elbow resting just beside my face.

"Hm," as if on their own accord, my hand reaches up to his hair and I run my fingers through his strands. A guttural growl rumbles through his chest, causing me to jump slightly. 

But he snuggled closer and proceeded to pillow his head on my bosom, just like a baby would, a big sigh escaping his lips in satisfaction.

"I guess it feels...right." I mumbled my words in hopes that he wouldn't take notice of them, but I forgot that Luhan's ears were like radars and he caught on without any issue. 

His arms hugged my waist, "thank you." 

His words were muffled, echoing against my skin. I looked down at him and discovered that he was just as embarassed, avoiding my face at all costs. And when I raised a brow in a silent question to elaborate, he squirmed like a wet fish out of the water. 

"For not leaving, I guess." He murmured softly, almost too fast and too uncomprehensible for me to understand. But I did anyway, and a small smirk hitched my lips upwards. I said, "Didn't take you for suhc a romantic."

"I'm not." He scoffed, "far from it." 

"Say what you want, sweetheart," I drawled, mocking him.

He scowled, "That's my word."

"You don't have copyright on that." 

He shot up on his elbows, face zooming in on mine until I felt our breaths mingle. My throat ran dry as I looked up at him, unconsciously pressing my lips together when I felt a knot tighten in my stomach. 

His silver eyes, sparkling with part mischief and amusement, made me want to squirm. It didn't help when he leaned in until his nose brushed lightly against mine, just a whisper of a breath between our lips. 

He hummed as I felt jolts of electricity searing across my body every time his lips would brush against mine, merely touching and yet causing me to react in such a way that I felt like a middle school girl finally being able to spend time with her crush. It was inecessantly annoying how hard to get he was trying to be, how he kept going back and forth without really kissing me, just enough to cause frustration to bubble up within my stomach. 

"Luhan," I finally hissed with narrowed eyes, to which he responded with a small smile on his own as he murmured, "What?" 

Oh he damn well knew what kind of game he was playing at. I groaned in frustration as my eyes zeroed in on his lips before my own. He wasn't playing fair with me, although I do admit that I did deserve the treatment, for all the times I had been harsh on him.

I could feel the warmth of his breath when he asked, "What is it, sweetheart?" 

I grimaced, "You're doing this on purpose, aren't you?" 

"And I'm totally enjoying it." 

And so I decided that enough was enough. Wrapping my arm around his neck, I pulled him down until our mouths met halfway and moulded together as if they'd never been apart in the first place. His control slipped slightly, causing his elbows to buckle while I took control and framed his face with my other hand holding him in place, our lips moving in a synchronized dance. Our bodies danced around each other like waves, his hands finding purchase at my waist before pressing me closer to his hard frame and backing me up against the headboard of the bed. I gasped as he bit down on my bottom lip, my own hands taking a life of their own as I travelled the span of his shoulders and went up to tangle in his locks. He growled, and I giggled in response, loving how sensitive he was to my touches. His hands squeezed my hips, a burst of fire spreading through my loins as our lips interlocked in a unifying dance. I felt the echo of his emotions rolling off his body and onto mine, and I couldn't help but pause and let the intensity of his feelings for me sink in. I could practically feel the vibrations of his breath, the pounding beast that I'd call his heart, and everything that was going on through him coursed through me as well so that I understood how genuine, how vulnerable he was being. 

Our lips parted slightly, foreheads pressing close together, and I took this chance to look up in his eyes. Those silver irises flashing with nothing but tenderness, a delicate affection I learnt to accept and love and cherish. 

Maybe I really was falling in love with him. 

But that wouldn't be such a bad thing now, would it? 

I knew that he saw what I'd asked myself in my brain, for his eyes lit up like a christmas tree. His lips curved up into a smile and I cursed inwardly at how adorable he looked, what with his dishevelled hair and those beautiful orbs and that expression that was only directed at me. 

"Do you really think so?" He murmured. 

I looked away as I gulped down the numerous words that lodged into my throat, causing it to run dry at his question. "M-Maybe," I stuttered out in hopes that he wouldn't probe further, for although I felt that it was right to be falling slowly at a decent pace and coming to terms with the fact that Luhan was someone I would cherish forever, it was harder to say it out loud and I wasn't sure if I was ready for that yet. 

But he only enveloped me into his arms, curving around me so that I was cocooned in his embrace before letting his lips linger at my ear: 

"That's more than enough," He murmured, breath washing over my skin and causing electric tingles to ignite sparks behind my eyelids. Then, he placed a chaste kiss onto my cheek before burrowing his nose into my neck and settling there. 

My hands found the back of his neck and travelled to his hair, gently combing through the locks as I thought that this wasn't as bad as I once thought it would've been. 

Slowly. Slowly but surely. 

God knows how overdue this is. Looking back at all the things I've written and all the times I've apologized for not updating, I can't help but feel guilty. You guys don't deserve this neverending wait for a story that hasn't been updated in so long. A bunch of apologies won't do it because I know that's not enough for all this waiting I've been causing you guys. I feel like I've let you all down and I know I have. I also have no excuses because I've managed to upload my other stories and finish them before this one, so really I'm just the worst ;_; But anyway, this is another chapter update and I just want to take this moment and thank each and every single one of you who actually clicked on this story when you saw the 'Updated!' sign, not that it would surprise me if no one read it/clicked it in the first place ^.^' But if you have, I just want to let you know that I am really truly grateful for the support and that although I'm not promising anything right now, one thing for sure is that I will NOT give up on this. I've started something and I've gotta see it through till the end. 

Thank you all so much. This means the world to me. Sharing my stories with people means everything. 

- nutmeggu