Moonlight: Stars, Eclipses, & Full Moons

My Tough, Little Girl

Lily's POV

I think a lot of girls say that they have the best dad in the world, but how many of them actually mean it? I, for one, do mean it, with the utmost amount of love and appreciation. My dad is great and the amount of complaints I have about him are so few that I can't even remember them all. But my favorite thing about him is how protective he is and how he always tries to keep the people he loves from getting hurt.

However, his protectiveness is also my least favorite thing about him.

Being a werewolf isn't like being a human and not just for the obvious physical reasons. Love is something that's almost expected for us, preordained, and planned into our life stories. In some ways, that's relieving. As a kid, I didn't have to be envious of the people who had hopeless crushes and as a teenager, I didn't have to feel so lonely seeing all my friends dating because I knew that one day, I'd meet that one person I'd spend the rest of my life with.

But on the other hand, there was still a part of me that was both envious and lonely. I had always wanted to know what it was like to date someone and not know if they were the one you'd end up marrying. My appa had done it, Uncle Baekhyun and Uncle Sehun, too, and they all seemed perfectly content with where they were at. The problem was, though, my dad was as single as single could be before he met appa and being his first born, there was no doubt in my mind that he would go to any length to keep me from experiencing the heartbreak that comes with what he would call "premature dating."

Plus there was the fact that he was more traditional than appa. Like his father before him, he puts all his faith and trust in Fate; if it didn't feel like it was meant to be, we were advised not to do it. He is also, as if the cards weren't already stacked against me, a stronger believer that we should sit back and let Fate bring people and things into our lives for us. In other words, when it comes to the pursuit of love, there is to be no pursuing on our part. So, convincing my dad that dating before I imprinted somehow felt like something I was meant to do wasn't an easy task. 

I decided to drop the bomb after dinner on a night when he showed signs of being in a good mood. So, after I so generously offered to help clean up from dinner, I sat them down in the living room. But of course, Jaehyun just had to sit in on it, too, because as anyone with younger siblings knows, he is always looking for opportunities to watch me crash and burn for his own personal entertainment.

"Fathers," I started after they had sat down next to each other, "I would just like to start this off by saying how grateful and appreciative I am of all you've done to raise me into the person I am right now."

"Oh, this is gonna be good," Jaehyun tried to mumble, but the loud laugh he let out afterward made us all look at him. I sent him a deep glare, to which he only laughed more, but at least he covered his mouth.

"So, keeping that in mind," I continued to say as I took a deep breath, "I would like to present you with a proposal."

"A proposal?" appa repeated back to me, his eyebrows raised and a faint grin on his lips. "No wonder you've been so helpful these past few days."

"Of course, why else would our spoiled teenage daughter so any interest in helping out?" my dad said in agreement, jokingly of course, making appa laugh a little. "So, what is this proposal?"

"It might sound bad, but I swear, if you just let it sink in and think about it a lot...like a lot, a lot," I explained, "you'll see that it's not such a bad thing after all."

"We'll see about that," my dad said with a chuckle.

"Well, you see," I said, shuffling around on my feet and gulping hard. "I know appa was the first person you ever dated because you imprinted on him and all that and that's great. Truly, a beautiful love story. But I've been thinking about that a lot lately and I just don't think waiting until I imprint to experience a relationship is what I want to do." Confusion came over their faces quickly, at least that's what it looked like from where I was standing. "What I'm trying to say, I guess, is that I want to date...you know, before I imprint or mate or do any of that permanent stuff."