“If I wasn’t here, you wouldn’t be arguing at this instant,” Jinah started in agreement, “but your poor sister would have to deal with you and your unreasonable twenty-four-seven. I’m doing her a favor, so shut it.”

         “This freaking female –”

         “– is our Prix,” Baekhyun finished Xiumin’s sentence with a firm stare.

         Jinah just realized that she had hardly spared a thought about Aheun. A few times, she would wonder what type of person she would be, but not much. She assumed that Aheun would be the typical Pacem girl, despite prejudices being bad. A cute, very kind and cheerful girl with black hair in low ponytails in a pink dress with flushed cheeks. That was who Aheun was to Jinah. Jinah never really thought about what type of impact she was making on the gang or Aheun by becoming Wolfs Prix. Jinah was too occupied with other things – cooking, gaming, and processing things she learned as a Prix, like Raves, the interview, gang life, what the gang does, what they say, meeting new people like 4MINUTE, SISTAR, and Seonah. Reuniting (sort of, not really) with Tiff and Liha, being able to go outside whenever she wished, and thinking about it all, too, kept her mind busy. Her thoughts often wandered to Miss Kim, Minjung, Callidum, others, and more. Now that she learned about these ‘abilities’, received news from Liha, saw blood, witnessed violence, and watched knives do their cutting. Not to mention – Jinah sighed, stopping her thoughts. Her head was hurting and it was packed. She felt like it was going to blow up any second.

         Lay walked up to her and smiled gently. He was wearing a white shirt and black sweats. Modest. But he couldn’t hide his arm muscles. “I’ll show you my ability first,” he said. “It should be… easiest to – err – mentally handle, I guess.”

         “Okay,” Jinah replied. He’s going to show me his ‘ability’? After seeing Minhyuk’s incredible speed and Kai’s unreal, teleportation-like speed, she wasn’t very excited. What crazy thing can he do? It was only when she heard a door slamming shut did she notice that Xiumin left. Tch, good riddance, she thought bitterly. But this time, Tao remained behind. He was there, between Sehun and D.O. Her eyebrows furrowed a bit. Isn’t this the time he usually leaves?

         Lay sighed at Xiumin’s departure, but then a good-natured smile appeared on his friendly face. “Don’t worry about him. Apparently sibling contracts are rarely accepted. It’s a tough blow for Xiumin. Anyways, today is about you and your satisfaction with answers. You’ve been dying to know, right?” Jinah nodded as an honest response. “I know. It must’ve been really hard. You endured lots, perhaps too much, but I have a feeling you like it that way.” Lay winked at her. “Okay, first things first. Do you have any open cuts on your body?”

         “No.”

         “Yes you do, your neck,” Luhan reminded her. His wife beater was black and he wore gray sweats with them, which were rolled up a bit. His arms were crossed. His biceps weren’t bulgingly huge, but they were clearly present. Jinah didn’t know why, but those muscles arms looked intriguing. Attractive, maybe? All the people around her were always females, so she never saw much muscle. They learned about it during the human body unit during science, but not much. AIT instructors talked about abs, biceps, triceps – things like that, sometimes. Jinah herself had evident lines on her arms when she flexed, but she wasn’t exactly… toned. Her skin was tight from the muscles but she had fat, too. Her thighs, calves, arms – they were slightly muscular but a bit squishy from fat. She wasn’t perfectly fit like some of the Intrepidus or as skinny as the Pacem girls, either. I wonder if girls can get biceps, too…?

         Jinah slid her hand over her neck, remembering what Luhan said, and how she got the small cut. It stung a bit. “Oh, yeah. A small one here. Wait, why?”

         Lay just gave her his kind smile instead of verbally answering, and then he told her to raise her chin a bit. Jinah frowned but did as she was told. Then she heard light woob-woob sounds, and there was a tickling sensation on her neck, and the quiet sound of something being zipped up. She panicked and grabbed the first thing she could – Lay’s wrists. He chuckled lightly at her panic, “Don’t worry. I’m not hurting you – I’m healing you.”

         “H-Heal?” Jinah’s grip loosened and Lay lowered his hands, finished with his work. The sounds and feelings stopped.

         “Yeah. Touch your neck,” he said.

         She glided her fingers across her neck but there was no sign of the cut or an uneven bump of a scab. Nothing was left. “You really healed me, didn’t you?” she whispered. What in the world…

         “Yes, I did. There’s no scar either, in case you were wondering.”

         “Can you heal my headache? Or the bruise on my chin and stomach?” she asked.

         “No, I’m afraid I can’t. I can heal cuts, broken bones, and torn muscles, but I can’t heal things like headaches, bruises, or dizziness. Or heartbreaks,” Lay said. “Sorry.” He sounded genuinely apologetic.

         “No, it’s okay. Great things have limits. Don’t be sorry.” Jinah felt her neck again. A kind ability for a kind person – Lay’s ability fit his personality. “This is so cool,” she said, gradually cracking a smile.

         “You know what’s cooler?” Chanyeol said as he stretched his hand out and a flame appeared, hovering over his palm. He kindled it carefully as he ran up to Jinah, letting her take a close look. “Cool, huh?”

         “It can’t be cool,” Suho said with a smug grin. “It’s fire. It’s hot, not cool.” As Chanyeol rolled his eyes, Kris and Chen laughed at that simple, childish joke.

          “You probably have too much in your head right now, so we won’t show you all the abilities. As you can see, fire is Chanyeol’s ability, healing is mine. Suho’s is water. We’ll show you one more during your training. Try to find out what it is, okay? After we finish and you wash up, you can ask us any questions, if you have more,” Lay said.

         “Wait, what’s training?” Jinah asked with a small frown. “What am I training for?”

         “Like AIT. Army Institute Training, right? Only… well, you’re at a disadvantage because you don’t have an ability. But your opponent will go easy on you. They don’t have a choice – they’re drained of energy too. We all are. We did just have a gang fight with a Top Gang, you know. Well, not as… time-consuming as the other ones we had before, but I’m glad Cougar had the sense to forbear their abilities.”

         “If we went full-mode and they did too, you would’ve died from shock,” Kris joked.

         “If death from shock was possible for a seventeen-year-old with a well-functioning heart, then maybe,” Jinah said.

         “Ooh, Chomper!” Chanyeol exclaimed and high-fived Jinah.

         “Only a good comeback is called a Chomper. My joke was hilarious. It overpowers her comeback,” Kris retorted.

         “Shut up, you tall . Just accept the fact that she just owned you,” Chanyeol said with a grin.

         “Hardly!”

         “Anyways,” Lay said, stifling a chuckle, “He’ll go easy on you, so don’t worry.”

         “Wait, wait, who am I going against?” Jinah said, her frown deepening. “Go easy on me for what? I don’t – urgh!”

         Sehun. She saw his rainbow hair. He had punched her stomach. Her eyes widened and then shut tight in pain, which the body registered but the mind didn’t. He hit right on her bruise. She doubled over his fist, which was still pressed against her bruised stomach, and she choked up from the sudden impact. When he let go and raised his fist for another punch, Jinah kicked his wrist away, and with the same leg, she kicked his chest, making him stumble back and heard Wolf hoot, but it didn’t matter. She hadn’t been punched since the last AIT session, and that as months ago. The last few months of her time at dwelling had been spent in classrooms or with books. She leaped back and caught her breath, her mind refreshing itself with fighting techniques and quirks. However, the body was clearly caught off-guard by the blow. Sehun’s approach was sudden and her stomach really hurt.

         Sehun looked blank as ever. He looked at Lay, Luhan, and Kris, who all nodded. And when Sehun looked at Jinah, Jinah had a sense of apprehensive premonition. Sehun outstretched his arm and Jinah flew back, hitting the flat wall. It knocked the wind out of her – literally. She slid down, groaning. He then ran up and punched just above her stomach before she had the time to recollect herself. This punch had a good side and a bad side – the good side was that he had hit just above her stomach, and not directly on her bruise. The bad side was that it was a lot more enhanced than the last punch, and she was sure she heard something crack. It seems as if Sehun was in for the kill. She bit her lip so her cry would be muffled. She put a hand on Sehun’s shoulder to support herself, but then she remembered that he was the enemy. She quickly pushed him back with the hand that was on his shoulder. Something trickled down the side of her head and she could guess what it was. She held the area just above her tummy because it hurt more there than her numb head. She had to gasp to breathe, and it was still difficult to do so. The pain was hard to describe, but if she had to try, she would say that it felt like a rock was hurled at her upper stomach area, and several spears had pierced her chest. Why did a punch hurt so much? Was this Sehun’s ability, or was this the strength of a male, something that a female could never achieve? Or so Liha says, Jinah reminded herself.

         “Let’s call it a day, yeah?” Lay suggested, worry evident in his melodic voice. From Jinah’s sporadic breathing and the blood on her head to the million thoughts and emotions she was feeling and constant holding of her upper stomach, she was suffering some serious injuries. “Jinah, come on, I’ll heal y –”

         “No, wait,” Jinah panted as she looked up at Sehun, a hand on her knee. The pain was almost surreal. She had never felt this much all at once. But she wasn’t going to give up without a fight. Sehun wasn’t even breaking a sweat! She took her time as she leaned against the wall and breathed heavily. She swallowed and blew her bangs away from her face. What do I do now? Sehun blinked indifferently at her. Without a warning, she grabbed Sehun’s collar and punched his face with the other hand. Sehun wasn’t expecting that – especially not a blow this strong.

         “Okay, now you can heal me,” Jinah choked out as she let go of his collar and fell onto her knees as Sehun just stood there, dumbfounded. He thought she had come over to talk or insult him, or swear. Not punch his face. His face – his face – his face! Sehun mentally sighed at his thoughts. My arrogance is getting in the way, isn’t it?