The first thing Jay did was usher Jihoon into the bathroom. She gave him a set of clothes and told him to get clean.

He stared at the clothes like they were foreign objects and gingerly touched them as if he didn’t want to dirty them.

She thought she heard him say, “Thank you,” but it also could have been the wind.

While he was in the bathroom, she walked back to the living room where Seungcheol was brooding and Jisoo was silently eating the wings.

“I should have consulted you before; I’m sorry.”

Seungcheol glanced at her before returning his gaze in front of him. “You’re the leader. You make the decisions. If you choose to do something, then we should follow it.”

“Sure, but that doesn't mean I don’t value your opinions as well. I’ll only allow him to stay if you two are okay with it.”

Seungcheol and Jisoo looked at each other. They were quiet.

Jisoo caved first. “I’m okay with it. I think.”

Seungcheol nodded in agreement.

“But why?” Jisoo asked. “It didn’t seem like he wanted to join before, so why now?”

She shrugged. “Maybe he thought about it and decided he doesn’t want to be on the streets anymore. Don’t know.”

“But doesn’t that mean he’s just using you?” Jisoo stressed. “Why would you want that?”

“If you think of it like that, then I’m using him too. He knows how to fight and he’s no stranger to nibras. He would be good to have on the team.”

“I guess,” Jisoo relented. He glanced to the general direction of the bathroom. “He kinda scares me.”

“You were in a plane crash, face to face with a nibra, and he scares you?” Jay teased.

“He looks like he’s ready to strangle someone!” Jisoo protested. “I kinda want to live, thank you very much.”

“Are you sure about this?” Seungcheol spoke up.

Jay looked at him and then to Jisoo. “He’s not so different from you guys. He’s been through a lot,” she said softly.

“Like what?” Jisoo asked curiously.

She smiled. “You’ll just have to ask him.”

“Bull, you don’t know either,” Jisoo called out.

She laughed, putting her hands up in surrender. “Fine. So, I don’t really know either. Don’t worry, I’ll call a group meeting tomorrow when I officiate him.”

Jisoo merely rolled his eyes and continued stress eating.

Jihoon knew they were talking about him. Not that he cared.

He knew that they would. He would have too if he was in their position.

And how could they not? He suddenly appeared when he rejected them weeks ago.

But Jihoon wasn’t here to make friends. So, if they didn’t like him, it was all the better for him.

“Well, don’t you look fresh and clean?”

He looked to see Jay walking up to him with a grin. She peered at him and smiled.

“Glad to see it fits. Let me show you where you’ll be sleeping.”

She led him the stairs, and he followed silently.

He was slightly surprised to see how big the place she owned was. He was expecting a rather large place, but he wasn’t expecting this. A three-story house that had half-stories too; he thought those only existed out of the country. And it was cozy, touches of furniture and designs that reminded him of the girl in front of him.

“Mmm, well you can pick out any of the rooms on this floor.” She pointed at door next to them. “This is my room.” She then pointed at the one to the right of it. “This one is Seungcheol’s.” And she then pointed to the one across from hers. “And this one is Jisoo’s.” She gestured to the rest of the rooms down the hall. “Feel free to pick any unclaimed ones.”

Jihoon looked at the rooms. He wanted to pick a room that didn’t make him associate with too many people. That being said, he decided that would be a corner room.

“This one,” he said, pointing at the nearest corner room which was conveniently placed next to Jay’s room.

“Mmkay.” She threw him his backpack that he had packed when he left. Not that he had a lot possessions in the first place.

“Get some sleep. We’ll talk tomorrow.”

Jihoon opened the door to his room and without turning on the lights, he crashed onto the bed.

It was foreign to him. Sleeping on a soft bed.

All he knew was the hard cold concrete.

And oddly enough, it was hard for him to fall asleep.

After tossing and turning for a while, he gave up and pushed himself off the bed. He then dragged a blanket and a pillow from the bed and placed it on the floor.

Once he finally got situated, he promptly fell asleep.

Jay wasn’t an early riser, but she still got up a decent time. Jisoo usually got up first after her, followed by Seungcheol. She wasn’t sure of Jihoon’s sleeping pattern, but she figured that she’ll find out soon enough.

True to her word, Jisoo came down the stairs first and headed to the kitchen-dining area. He sat at one of the counter stools and watched Jay scramble some eggs.

“Morning.”

“Good morning,” he replied sluggishly, eyes still full of sleep.

She set a plate of eggs, salami, and bread. She then set a kettle of hot water where he made himself some black tea.

Seungcheol came down when Jisoo was eating.

“Morning,” they both said.

Seungcheol nodded at them and stifled a yawn behind his hand. He sat down next to Jisoo where Jay placed his breakfast in front of him. He made himself a cup of coffee and settled down.

Jihoon came down when they all had finished eating and were chatting while drinking their respective drinks.

“Finally,” Jay said, seeing the boy walk in. “I was thinking I would have to go up and drag you down.”

“Mornings ing ,” he replied to nobody in general, a grumpy face etched on his face.

“Well, if you’re hungry, here’s some food.”

Jihoon sat down a seat over from Seungcheol and started to eat.

He paused when he couldn't stand Jay’s gaze on him. “What do you want?”

“How is it?”

He looked at the food and up at her. “What? The food?”

She nodded.

“At least it’s edible,” he muttered.

She smiled, her eyes shining. “Good to hear.”

The three who finished first cleaned up while Jihoon tried to finish his food. But he couldn’t.

He hadn’t had a proper meal in ages, and it was hard for him to eat so much food.

Once he pushed his plate aside, Jay took it without a word.

Once she was finished cleaning the plate, she ushered them into the living room.

She sat in the armchair as Seungcheol and Jisoo sat in one of the couches while Jihoon sat across from them in the other couch.

“Alright. Let’s do some introductions, shall we? As you know, my name is Shin Jay. I am the leader of the Azure Dragons. And don’t worry, I’ll get to that.”

“Choi Seungcheol,” the boy simply said.

“And I’m Hong Jisoo. Nice to meet you,” the other boy said politely.

“Lee Jihoon,” he roughly mumbled back.

“Now to the heavy stuff,” Jay said.

She explained to the boy the basic information she told the others before. Simple and straight to the point. Jihoon listened intently although it may seem like he wasn’t.

“And if don’t mind me asking, can you tell me a little about yourself? Family?”

Jihoon narrowed his eyes. “Got none. My mum dropped me off the orphanage when I was a baby. Ran away from that ty place the moment I could. Been on the streets ever since.” He looked away. “And you guys? Have a loving family somewhere?” he asked with a slight bitter tone in his voice.

“No,” Seungcheol replied unenthusiastically.

“Same,” Jisoo mumbled as he twiddled with his fingers.

Jay shook her head too and smiled sadly.

Jihoon frowned and coughed. “Guess we have more in common than I thought. Not sure if I’m happy about that.”

“Well, now that you know about the organization and that boring stuff, it’s time to get you officiated.”

“Officiated,” he deadpanned, not sure if liked that word.

She got up and walked over to him. Both Seungcheol and Jisoo looked at him with something of a light sympathy.

“What is it? What the hell are you going to do?” he questioned angrily once he saw the others’ expressions.

She rolled her eyes. “Oh, please. You survived multiple nibra attacks, and you’re scared of me?”

“And you kill those nibras.”

“You do too.” She sighed. “Just stop squirming.”

She placed her hands on his shoulders, surprising him which caused him to stop moving. She mumbled a few words under her breath, leaned down, and kissed him lightly on his forehead, very close to his left eye which made him to squint slightly.

A strong gust of wind enveloped them, whirling around the two of them, causing some loose papers on the table to fly. A faint blue light appeared for a second before disappearing, and he felt a tingle where her lips were a few seconds before.

She nodded and stepped back. “Alright, we’re done here. Welcome to the team!”

Jihoon remained motionless before shaking out of his stupor.

“What the hell was that?” he shouted at her, eyes filled with confusion and anger.

“I officially made you a part of the team,” she replied simply.

“You ing kissed me.”

“On the forehead. What’s the big deal? It’s not like I kissed you on the lips. Or is that what you wanted?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.

“What? No!” he spluttered. He looked at the other two males. “Did she do this to you guys too?”

They way that Seungcheol looked away and Jisoo coughed into his fist softly told him everything he needed.

“You’re a erted woman!”

She rolled her eyes. “Wow, calm down, drama queen. You act like you never had the female kind touch you.”

Jihoon glared at Jay with such an intensity that she almost laughed.

“Stop fussing. This will probably the only time I have to do something like this to you.”

The boy only continued to glare at her.