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Being half dragon wasn't all that bad. She didn't have her father's fire breath nor does she have wings, which sucks, but night vision certainly didn't hurt. There's also a warmth to her that never disappeared.
Her parents always told her that she was going to feel things differently from her peers but she never minded. Im Nayeon was simply too unique for some to understand and that's okay.
She never actually felt the difference until she finally made some friends. You see, while dragons were dangerous and aggressive, they were also very protective of what they consider theirs.
Her mom was very insistent in her lessons about that particular trait. She apparently couldn't just call people hers, not like her toys are hers. It's very different. With people, she was told that they have their free will and sometimes they wouldn't want to be hers.
That made her sad for a while but she got over it by thinking that she'll just become so awesome that no one would mind if they were hers. It's not like she considers everyone part of her treasure anyway. It would be funny if she didn't think that way till her adulthood.
She had a pretty big hoard. Her father only had her mother and herself. He didn't want anymore, he'd always say. She found that strange because why wouldn't he want to give love to and protect more people in his life? Maybe it was a pureblood thing. She doesn't mind. He's hers too, anyway.
Her first friend, Yoo Jeongyeon, was a bit hard to keep. And that's all she really wants, to be allowed to be there for the girl. It's all kinds of clingy and she had to figure out how to balance her natural and very excessive possessiveness with respecting Jeongyeon's need for space. It was a bit like taming a tiger, she thought as a kid. Jeongyeon had the harshest words for such a small kid. Still, she was nothing if not determined so bit by bit, she learned their boundaries and respected it when she finally had it down.
Jeongyeon would come to be her first treasure aside from family. It was all kinds of special.
Next came Jihyo. Jihyo was a shy kid, much unlike her and Jeongyeon. They met her on a park when they were in elementary school, kids needlessly making fun of her because she looked like a foreigner. That was the stupidest thing ever, of course, because she was only half-human yet they didn't tease her. She kind of really hated the way humans were so quick to judge.
It was easy and comfortable to keep Jihyo, mostly because she wanted to stay from the start. In her words, “someone needs to keep you two idiots out of trouble.” She grew out of her shy phase and boy, was that a proud moment for her and Jeongyeon. Who cares if they occasionally get scolded for giving each other stupid dares? Not them, for they treasured her together.
She met the next members of her hoard during high school. They came as a pair and would probably always be a pair if her senses were right. It was amazing, finally seeing two people so perfect for each other aside from her parents. She always wanted to find that too, but that's a part that'll come later, she'd come to learn.
Sana and Momo were both from Japan and barely spoke the language when they came to Korea. She didn't mind, most things transcend words anyway. She wanted to keep them because they were precious, something she wanted to protect. Her friends knew from the start that they stood no chance in stopping Nayeon's attempts. They didn't want to anyway.
They wanted to stay with her too. Something about Nayeon being the warmest person they know and that's saying something because Sana was nothing if not sunshine incarnate. She tried saying it's the fire in her soul but they just laughed. She didn't mind. She liked keeping her treasures happy.
Dahyun, she met during senior year. She already had a pretty big hoard, she felt no need to shelter anymore people, but something about such an innocent-looking human wanting friends made her want to reconsider. For a dragon, she was so weak for these humans. She still doesn't mind.
Keeping Dahyun meant caring for her and it was such an easy thing to do. She was treasure that she didn't see coming but she's glad to have her anyway.
College brought about new beginnings for all of them. Jeongyeon, Jihyo, and Dahyun went into music. Sana and Momo went into dance. She, to the surprise of everyone, went into pre-med. She could have gone into music too, to be honest, but something about being able to save people made her the happiest. Becoming a doctor would go a long way to allowing her to do that.
She would discover how hard it is to keep her treasures happy when she didn't take care of herself as much as she should. She'd still insist that it wasn't her fault that her workload was too heavy but her treasures won't listen, only take care of her in return. That was very nice too.
She would meet two other treasures during college. Tzuyu, a med student, and Chaeyoung whom Jeongyeon would introduce to her. She didn't think she'd have time to make the two of them want to stay with her but she did her best and her best was thankfully enough. They were like younglings anyway, precious, young, and so very hopeful. How could she not protect that?
If that was where the story would end, she wouldn't be sad. Not at all. She'd be happy and contented because her hoard would continue to be happy with or without her. She gave them family, she gave them treasures of their own that they could find in each other. She's only half-dragon but damn it if she didn't feel like she could soar through the heavens with happiness when she looked at her treasures, always so precious and perfect in their own ways.
But life was kind to her, the way she tried to be kind to everyone. Life brought her Myoui Mina.
Seeing her for the first time, barely breathing on a stretcher almost woke the fire in her completely. She'd never felt herself closer to her dragon side than in that moment. Something inside her screaming mine, protect, and save.
It was not very nice to feel those things when the girl looked so broken and close to death. She always thought she'd meet her mate the way her parents met, cute and unassuming. Of course it would be intense.
She didn't even know if it could be considered them meeting when Mina was bleeding out because of a car crash caused by a drunk driver. She would later meet up with said driver and put the fear of dragons into the man (he'd very nearly shit himself, her sharp sense of smell picking up on it very unfortunately).
At the time though, she would do all she could to save the girl she knew she would want to spend her life with. She'd succeed.
Getting to know the girl outside of the hospital would be an adventure itself. It was a long way to recovery but she made sure the girl always had the best chances and the best level of care. Mina was a ballerina but the accident took that away from her. The urge to kill someone came back sharply but something about the softness in Mina's demeanor made her hold back.
It was admittedly a bit weird how she wooed her mate. She was a doctor, Mina was a patient. She counted down the minutes before she could morally start to pursue her. That was such a challenge to her base instincts, she doesn't know how she survived.
Mina seemed to like her enough. She was abruptly cheerful as always and that seemed to only affect the girl positively for which she'd always be glad. When the time came for Mina to go home and recover on her own, Nayeon was there.
And so were her treasures. Momo and Sana definitely felt like a bit of home to the girl. Jeongyeon and Jihyo mothering her to no end and to Nayeon's amusement. Her three youngest were also there to cheer the girl up in her more morose moments.
Nayeon, well she always had the thought that if she's awesome enough, her treasures would want to stay. But with Mina, she couldn't even try to be awesome because all of her vulnerabilities bled through. She was just Nayeon.
In the end, Mina would say that she stayed because of that, for the ever-patient person who saw all of her darkest moments and saw it through to the end until she finally saw a light and became the person she is now, a dance teacher with a wonderful family and the best wife in the world.
Nayeon was half-dragon and her treasures meant everything to her. They were hers.
Just as much as she was theirs.