He'll check on the jaguars since one had a cold a few days ago. 

That one needs a follow-up, and the oldest needs his diet revised. Along the way, Min-ho tries to settle the sinking feeling in his chest, which usually means danger is around him. 

But what could be out to hurt him amid all the fresh morning sunshine and the beautiful, serene path of green? The heavy, foreboding feeling is making him ice cold and upset.

Dr. Martinez asked me directly if I could hear her thoughts. Has that ever happened before? 

Nope, that's the wrong question. The correct one is: why would anyone ask me directly if I could hear them? Maybe she's as deluded as I am. If that's the case, I hope she leaves me the fuck alone. 

Min-ho tries to forget the odd encounter and refocus, but it isn't easy, especially as he recalls the grey gaze that followed him out. Unnaturally, he feels the tightness around his ankles getting tighter. Something hot within his heart starts to awaken with every step, making a wave of burning pain spread throughout him. 

What was she staring at? 

His sight droops down to his feet, and something slips into his vision in a moment of weakness—something familiar and dark. There are tongues, lips, and black rotting teeth grinning at him with a dreadful happy grimace that hurts Min-ho's pride heavily. Before he can scream about it, a flash of white blinds him from within, erupting a wave of greater pain within his head. The pain knocks him down, but somehow, he keeps himself from blacking out. He knows that he will meet his end swiftly if he does. 

"It will eat you! Don't faint!"

Min-ho hears a hurried, worried voice warning him from within the blinding light behind his eyelids. 

Eat me?! Ugh! What the hel- 

The young man clutches onto his clipboard, suppressing a wail as the pain intensifies. He takes a breath, looking up towards the summer morning above. Even in his current state, the guy feels gravely diserviced.   

What a fucking joke. I can't even go one full morning without this type of schizophrenic bullshit. 

Unexpectedly, something of a fuzzy memory of his mother starts to form within his mind, distracting him from the onslaught of stabbing and burning pain. She's holding something hot near him. A fire, perhaps? In the memory, he wants to move away from it, but he can't. They won't let him go. There's no telling in the fuzzy memory what his mother is doing, but he knows he's got to get away. But he never di-

"Dr. Suk, are you not feeling well?" a voice behind him says out of the blue. 

Turning around, he sees the source of his anxiety from this morning. Dr. Martinez is looking at him with great alarm. Worriedly, she slowly approaches him with a hand out to help him up. 

Miraculously, without pain, he replies, "I-I'm just tired from not sleeping well. " 

Surprisingly, he responds with a close truth instead of attempting to hide behind "I'm fine," as he always does. 

"Ah, yes, you seem like the type who's all work and no play. I guess you work hard all day and go home to more work somehow." 

The subtle twitch of Min-ho's left eye suggests she's right. 

"Hmm, you know a happy soul sleeps well. Maybe hit up a friend and go out for a New York dog or something?" Nyla says the word dog with a long drawl that lingers in his ears.

After waiting for color to return to his pretty cheeks, she starts down the path that will eventually lead them to the new jaguar exhibit. 

"Let's go, Dr. Suk. I want to see the new babies. Dola told me you cared for them while I was away. I'm sure you'll feel better once we see them." 

Min-ho definitely didn't want to work with her, but there's no pain now. There's, in fact, nothing but an odd calmness as he watches her back and hips sway.

"Dr. Suk, hurry up! I know it's somewhere down this way, but I haven't been here for a while." 

The new doctor twirls around, letting her dark brown hair swing beautifully under the warm sun. With a hand, she beckons Min-ho to hurry up. 

"Right..." he mumbles and sets out after her. 

They make it to the exhibit rather quickly, and he feels a little sad having to stop his conversation with her. They were just getting to her adventures in Central and South America, and he had to admit that the woman was fascinating. 

"I guess you can tell me the rest later," he softly says. 

"Yeah! Do you eat lunch by yourself? If it's not a bother, will you eat with me?" she says, having enjoyed their conversation just as much. 

Min-ho can feel his cheeks color in fast. 

"Um- yeah, sure. Lunch it is, then?" 

"Did you just ask me to lunch with my own offer?" Nyla tries to smother her laughing grin, but it's useless. 

His cheeks get hotter as he answers, "I did, yeah. I was just making sure you really meant it." 

Nyla wants to smack the guy but finds it endearing that he's so unconfident about simple social rituals. She can't fathom how he must live his life. There was something latched on to him that even nightmares shirk away from. On top of that, he was timid, dark, and jumpy. Yet, despite his dull, faded existence, something was keeping the Hunger at bay from feasting on his soul. The question was... what exactly was it? 

Seriously, who doubts a co-worker wanting to have lunch together? She chuckles in her mind. 

"Pfft, don't worry. We're going to be working together from now on, so let's get along and have lunch often." 

Her smile leaves him momentarily dazed. 

"You shouldn't get close to her human."

Min-ho doesn't drop his soft expression as the familiar voice revibrates in his head. He slowly takes his eyes off of Nyla and looks before him. Behind the fence is a snarling beast looking at him intently.  

"Do you like this one?" The new doctor asks, noticing his heavy stare.

Min-ho mulls the answer a little too much and replies, "It's the most expressive out of the three. Sometimes I think it's soul is human." 

He ponders only a moment more and admits, "I guess you can say I like it."

"Hmm, interesting. Personally, I think it's the least beautiful," Nyla says while looking directly at the beast with a smirk. 

Nyla leans in and gives the beast a wink.

The jaguar growls loudly at Nyla, but she doesn't flinch. Instead, she laughs and says, "You're right about it being expressive, hehe."

"I'm warning you, human, it's better to die young than be entangled with that one."

'Why don't you like her? Is she really dangerous?" He speaks back with his mind. His interaction with this beast has been his only surrender to the madness that he has tolerated thus far. 

"Maybe not directly to you, but destiny isn't kind to her or anyone who gets involved with her." The beast stares at Nyla with familiarity as the doctor beside him glances between them. 

"How do you know that?" Min-ho hesitantly asks. 

The big cat yawns and looks back at him somehow kindly. 

"I'm a talking jaguar. I just know things."

"Dr. Suk, it's weird, but I feel like you and the jaguar are communicating secretly with each other somehow," the doctor says with a hint of jealousy. 

"That's impossible. It seems you like saying the oddest things," Min-ho says, trying to change the subject. 

Nyla scoffs and stands. The jaguar follows her lightly as his colleague walks around the enclosure. 

"Well, the other two seem too lazy to step down, but they're alert," she softly analyzes, jotting down notes after spotting the two beasts above on a wooden patio built for them.  

She takes out a recorder and says, "Midnight, male jaguar, coat is a pristine obsidian. Diet must be well taken care of, and Luna is a female with traditional rosettes. Her head bobs slightly when she's still, probably because of muscle weakness. And as for Elotti," the doctor looks down at the beast, still eyeing her with familiarity, "she's grown quite animated since last I saw her." 

"Dr. Suk!" Nyla shouts out, turning off her recorder and turning to him. 

Min-ho was already watching her every move, admiring how quickly she was to notice things. 

"Yes?" he automatically replies. 

"Thank you," she says sweetly, but it's unexpected, and Min-ho doesn't understand her gratitude. 

She knows this from the look on his face. She explains, "I brought them back after finding them with poachers. They were in bad shape, but it's been three months since they arrived, and they're doing so much better. You have been in charge of them all this time. So, sincerely thank you for looking after them." 

Before, Min-ho can say anything in return an out-of-breath intern interrupts the exchange. 

"Dr. Martinez, they need you at the raptors. One of the vultures seems to have mangled his wing on something." 

"Call in to have my instruments ready! " she starts away with the intern and does not turn back as she says, "Ah, Dr. Suk, I'll find you later, okay? Please don't overexert yourself and take a break if needed. It'll do your soul a load of good." 

"Always in a hurry. Always so annoying," he hears the jaguar think. 

Min-ho turns to it, now alone with it, and says out loud, "You sound like you're talking about your best friend. Haven't you've only known each other for a few weeks at most?" 

"No one knows that one well. That's why she's annoying." 

Elotti lies down right next to the fence and stretches. Her fur sticks out the perimeter, a sign that she wants Min-ho to touch her. It's one of the only perks he gets in his day, so he happily obliges. 

His trouble from before finally seems so far away. But with it behind him, he can feel the emptiness inside himself instead. It's a humming void that buzzes softly through his consciousness. At times, it almost laughs and snickers at him like some kind of demon. 

After wrapping up his findings and enforcing the new diets for the jaguars, he moves on throughout his morning, making his rounds. Thankfully, mostly everything is routine. Everything except the woman at his desk as he comes in for his lunch. She looks up at him with a happy, warm, full-tooth smile that somehow makes his throat drier than a summer's afternoon. 

"You better not run, Dr. Suk. I'll be very hurt and dejected the rest of the day," she pauses and retracts, and says, "actually, I'll probably be sad all my life. I'm more sensitive than I look, if I'm being honest." 

The shit is, she's actually telling him the truth. Imagine that. If the stupid beast knew she had just honestly revealed such a thing about herself, she would roll over in laughter. 

Min-ho feels something odd in response to her words. He laughs and genuinely feels... a sense of comaderie? 

Is that what this feeling is?  

His whole face feels like it's weak like his about to go to sleep but he manages to stay alert as he continues to chuckle. Something new fills his heart like a high, and it's the saddest thing that it won't last. 

Min-ho calms himself and replies, "I'm not going to run because I'm sure sensitive people like you would chase me, and I can't outrun anyone. Might as well get used to you." 

"Yes, get used to me. I think we're going to be quite a team," she says, lightly patting him on the shoulder as she walks towards the door to wait for him. 

"Come on, then grab your food and let go," she shouts.  

Min-ho obeys. He still feels a lightheartedness that he hasn't felt for a while, but now there's something slightly scaring him. 

Why does my shoulder sting where she touched it? 

He feels it out, but the sting is fading fast. After inspecting it quickly, he finds nothing. Gathering his lunch and reaching out to her, he mulls over the touch. She's touched him a lot today and more ways than other's have in a long time. 

Nyla turns as she talks to him and smiles. Min-ho couldn't tell you when the last time a woman looked so happy next to him. 

His eyes widen in realization. 

I'm having a lunch date with this woman and didn't even brush my teeth. 

Nyla's eyes crinkle as she enjoys the sight of the handsome man blushing. Why he's so red, she has no idea, but it's cute. 

I wonder how much redder he would get if I told him he was pretty cute. I have thirty minutes with him. Should I tease him? 

But there's a cold sweat breaking out under her clothes and a twitch on her scalp that no one knows about. 

Maybe after telling him he's cute, I'll ask why there's a full-fledged Hunger clinging onto him ready to eat him.