No matter how silent her footsteps were or how unexpected of a time she appeared, it was difficult for Jooyeon to get by under his nose, to put it lightly. Unlike most people she’s spent centuries dealing with, the younger man had an uncanny ability to sense her presence. As if his superior sense of smell or his inhuman hearing was not enough to track her down, he seemed to be in tune with her, which was something that was a rarity for her. He was one of her closest friends, someone Jooyeon could spend all the time in the world with. And while she pulled the vanishing act of the decade on him by disappearing without a trace for nine months, there were many instances in which she had thought about him.
Jooyeon absolutely adored and cherished Renier, the tall and gangly wolf boy that always seemed to put her at ease, but her absence was something she needed to do. A leave of absence to see what she was made of, Jooyeon decided it was time to leave her home for a little bit. It was unannounced and also uncalled for, but she acknowledged that time away from the places that gave her so many memories might do her some good. After arriving at Incheon and purchasing a one-way ticket on the next flight leaving the country, Jooyeon had managed to somehow make her way around the world over those months, reflecting and experiencing and simply finding herself again before finally returning to Seoul. She thought of Renier while she was gone, had left occasional voice messages and text messages for him to let him know she cared even if she did disappear.
As she made her way through the familiar roads that took her to his home, Jooyeon wondered if he still lived there. She wondered if Renier still ran around cutting down trees to mark his territory or if he still had an ear or two pop out when he was really excited; she wondered if he changed at all. She hoped he didn’t, at least not too much, but she’d still love her friend just as much if he did. With the sun just beginning to make its ascension into the sky that summer morning, she figured he’d still be asleep if he didn’t already catch her scent from a mile away. As far as Jooyeon was concerned, she still smelled like recycled air from the airplane she just got off of an hour or so prior.
Quietly closing the door to her car behind her, she stood in the yard of the home, taking a deep breath of the fresh air before relaxing as the oxygen filled her lungs; he was there. A soft smile on her face, she padded along the walkway toward the front door of his home, but not before glancing over to see the little trail leading to just below his balcony. Usually the one to scale the side of his home to slip in through the balcony, Jooyeon figured to at least formally make her return by entering through the front door instead of stumbling in through his bedroom window. Stopping just shy of the door, she took a moment to let out the breath she didn’t realize she was holding, only to lift her hand soon after and rapping her knuckles on the door, wondering if he’d wake up and answer.
