It was an incredible hot day and Siyeon was out of breath from the hard training with Mao, which was nothing unusual anymore. He let her run about 10 kilometers every day only to increase her stamina and slowly she got used to it. “Siyeon-chan, what's wrong with you? You look so angry,” Mao but Siyeon was not in the mood for teases. “What is wrong with me? What is wrong with me? Why don't you tell me what the happened at the ball?!” she shouted at Mao whose smile didn't disappear.

“I told you to be prepared, right? Not my fault that-”

With an outcry, Siyeon fired a beam of light at him. It shot past his head this close and the rock behind him pulverized to nothing. His eyes widened and his heart sunk to his knees for a second. If she would have aimed for his head, he would have died immediately.
Two days had past since the ball and since then Siyeon had trained until she fainted. Mao knew why she did that. He had been there. He had seen everything. And he knew why Siyeon was so angry.

“Siyeon, listen. I told you how our society works. I told you that this is a survival of the fittest. Siyeon! Listen!” Just in time he created a shield to protect himself or else he would have been nothing than a burned corpse this time. In no time he had moved from his place where he had sat before to the place right in front of Siyeon. He grabbed her hands and twisted them behind her back under heavy struggle from Siyeon's side on. “I said LISTEN!” He shouted the last word and used his ability as a healer and an Influxor to relax her whole body. “There was nothing, absolutely nothing that you could have done, especially since you still are considered as an outsider. I told you that I would take you to the ball so that you would get an impression of how everything works. Yes, our society is cruel, yes we have some strange rules and manners but your so loved human race is nowhere better.”

The anger inside Siyeon didn't disappear completely but she calmed down a bit. “But that boy, he was just a little kid,” she whispered while Mao let go of her hands. “Now he's not anymore.”
Mao's touch was soft, as he brushed Siyeon's hair out of her face. “There is nothing you could have done, nothing. Not even Shigen could have done something and he's a council member. Siyeon, you know who that woman was?”

Before that night she had not known that woman. Now she knew who that woman was.

Two days before:

The ball progressed smoothly though Siyeon could feel a strained atmosphere so as if the people would kill each other at any moment. The air vibrated heavily, showing how powerful everyone was. If they wanted to, they could destroy the whole world at once, Siyeon thought by herself. Hell, they could even take over the world if they wanted to but why didn't they?

With a silent sigh, she watched the people dancing and chatting. From afar, she saw Ara dancing with someone who was not Kato. The latter stood in the near of her, watching Ara with eagle's eyes. His expression was dark, so as if he disapproved of Ara's dance partner and Siyeon couldn't help herself but to think that he liked Ara a lot. No, not like, he loved her, but it seemed like that Ara didn't notice it.
Hikari on the other hand danced with Maél, who guarded her like a watch dog. They looked really cute together though and Siyeon was actually happy that he watched over her like that.

There were a few things Siyeon disliked though. Sehun and the others danced with girls Siyeon had never seen before. The dance alone didn't bother much; it was the way the women literally hung on them. They looked more like some hens flocking around their roosters. It was so annoying.

Luckily, Baekhyun and Sehun had their usual -faces on and the girls with whom they danced didn't try to flirt with them too much. Kai on the other hand was as flirty as ever and Chanyeol was polite just like Kyungsoo. Nevertheless, the girls took their politeness as an invitation to flirt with them and everyone who watched Sehun and the others a bit closer could see how they tried not to reject those women.

“Do you want to dance?” Matsuda asked her but Siyeon shook her head. He had rejected every woman who had asked him for a dance only because he stayed to look after Siyeon. “You don't have to stand here. Enjoy yourself a bit,” she whispered back. Siyeon felt a bit bad that he was only there to guard her but it looked like he was okay with that. “I am enjoying myself. I can't leave you alone, can I?”

A mellow smile hushed over his face and for a moment it looked like he wanted to reach out for her but he didn't. “By the way, Siyeon, you really look pretty. In my opinion you are the prettiest girl here.”
The heavy blush on Siyeon's face showed quite clear how embarrassed and honored at the same time. “Is something wrong?” he asked with a knowing grin but Siyeon only shook her head. “No, everything is fine. Thanks... thanks for the compliment.”

Since the atmosphere turned awkward between Matsuda and Siyeon, she turned her head a bit to look around. Not too far away from them stood Jooyeon. She was one of the fewer girls who didn't dance. Rather than that she watched Kai, so as if he was her belonging. Jealousy was something nor