Chapter 2

I raised my brows in awe when the guy started to move closer in this vicinity. He was now holding the leash of the dog that approached me a few seconds ago, as it stared at him with its tongue sticking out. I couldn’t blame her; if I were a dog, I would be drooling over this masterpiece. It was just a shame that I was constantly attracted to a guy like this.

He towered over me, seeming like a wall that was enough to block my way so I could only focus on him. I swallowed, taking in the view in front of me, and tried not to appear dumbfounded. Slowly backing away from him when he got a little too close, I tugged a half-smile as I tilted my head up to stare at him. 

His brown hair was dancing with the wind, and he was beaming at me as if he knew who I was. The sunlight struck his face that made his hazel eyes lighter, as he plastered a grimace while gazing down at me. I took another gulp, but this time, I decided to speak up.

“Hey,” I uttered, filling the awkward silence that consumed us for a bit.

“Hey, I’m sorry for my dog. She’s just used to smelling random people in the park whenever we go out,” he responded, rubbing his dog’s neck with his large hand. His voice was deep and a bit croaky which sounded so fine.

“No, um— it’s fine,” I stammered and ran a hand at the nape of my neck awkwardly. “Nice to meet you, by the way.”

“Nice to meet you, too. I rarely stumble upon strangers who’re about my age.”

Raising my brows, I chuckled at his remark. 

It seemed like I wasn’t the only one who struggled to find new people in my early twenties. I guess stepping into adulthood would decrease your social skills and would make you socially anxious. Most of the people I’d met who were a bit older than me were less nice and too uptight I hardly got along with them. Aside from that, encountering guys who could be your potential significant other was a rare thing to happen. Not that I was expecting someone.

“Really? That’s surprising,” I responded, plastering a smile. “You’re lucky you found me,” I joked and he giggled in return.

“Yeah, I think I am,” he agreed, nodding in approval. I could feel the heat rushing to my cheeks so I looked away and averted my attention to the poster hanging on the brick wall. “What’s up with that thing?” he asked out of curiosity when he noticed where I was staring at.

“An organization. I guess they’re hiring some agents who are willing to work with them,” I answered and moved in front of the poster, snatching it out of the wall. I glanced down at it before I flitted my eyes to him. “They’re finding a creature I’m not completely familiar with.” I pretended like I knew nothing about this creature.

I said it with much nonchalance as I could because I didn’t want to seem suspicious for believing such a thing. As much as possible, I tried not to mention any werewolf-related stuff. Let’s just say that some of the people I had known in my life didn’t believe me when I told them that I was continuously seeing some werewolves during the full moon. They thought I was just making up this stuff and concluded that it was just my hallucinations. I would admit, I had my medications for the anxiety I got from Mom and Dad’s death, but I was certain it wasn’t the side effect when I saw those creatures with my own bare eyes. People had assumed I was crazy, but I knew they were just afraid of its existence that’s why they shook it off.

When the guy saw what was inside the poster I was holding, he stifled his laughter.

“Werewolf? They’re hiring some people to help them find a werewolf?” he asked in disbelief as I shrugged in response. “This town had created this mythical creature to scare children from going out at night.”

No, it wasn’t a telltale. It existed in this town for a reason. Werewolves were just lurking in the shadows— in the dark forest where they could hunt their prey. They had existed in this town for a long time and no one had the courage to step out and capture them. It also wasn’t a surprise every time this town would have some people that went missing or locals who would be found dead in some areas of this place. It had become more foreboding throughout the years, so I think this was the reason why an organization chose to grasp the idea of their existence, or else they wouldn’t offer a huge amount of money for this mission.

Since I didn’t want to look crazy for believing in something a lot of people thought didn’t exist, I chuckled and said, “Good luck to them. It’ll take them forever.” I crumpled the poster in my hand and didn’t toss it aside.

“Yeah, and just in case they exist, because that organization was making it seem like they do, they shouldn’t be messing with werewolf stuff.”

“Totally agree.” Just when the guy was about to speak up, my phone rang inside my arm bag that made our attention avert to it. “Excuse me,” I sheepishly said, grabbing my phone as the caller ID flashed on the screen.

“I think this is my cue to go. Nice meeting you again and see you around.” The guy bid goodbye, sticking his thumb and pointed it at his back.

“See you around.”