Despite saving my sorry from getting thrown against an unforgiving stone wall, Yongguk was still clearly unimpressed with me; I know I crossed a line when I essentially told him to it up when it came to certain orders, but I'm not good at apologizing. Even though he still walks beside me as we make our way towards the Shelter, he hasn't looked at me or talked to me since he caught me when I flew out of the tunnel.

I have no right to talk about the subject because what he said was true – I never have been and never will be ordered to have a child unlike probably everyone else. The fact of the matter is that they hated the idea of me having children so much that when I fell and snapped my collarbone four years ago, they sent down an order to sterilize me when they had me under to set the bone. It was only by a of pure luck that the doctor in charge was good friends with Himchan; as soon as the order came down, the two of them talked and Himchan convinced him to remove my appendix instead. Everyone could still say I'd undergone surgery, but the reports simply neglected to say what exactly that surgery was. Many of the doctors know each other and, according to Himchan, almost every single one of them hates what happens in Mato. When people are going to receive orders to have children, the doctors are the first to hear who and when to make sure the people are healthy. Any time it's someone one of the doctors has become close to, they let each other know – sometimes they'll lie and say one of the people is sick. Himchan can't always stop it, but he always makes sure our family knows before someone has to leave. Junhong almost cried the first time he received the order. He told me he didn't care about the order itself – what he cared about was that if he "succeeded" as they wanted, he would have helped bring another human being into a living hell. He's the youngest in our family, but he has a strong sense of morality and respect. Sometimes I can't help but wonder if someone in records screwed up on his birth date.

I shouldn't have snapped at Yongguk about there being no such thing as love in Mato. If it doesn't exist, then what's holding our family together? He's right. I really do need a filter between my brain and mouth. I should apologise next chance I get. Lost in my own miserable thoughts, I don't notice that Yongguk has moved ahead of me and stopped, causing me to crash into him. I open my mouth to tell him off for cutting me off when I realize he's looking at me and I immediately shut it again. I should apologise.

"What?" he grumps. The apology dies on the tip of my tongue and is replaced with sass. I hate being spoken to like that.

"I didn't say anything. Why would I have anything to say to you?" I growl right back, looking around.

We're at the central shaft and I have the perfect excuse to get away from him. Shoving past him, I take a quick look at the ladder traffic and swing around.

"Get out of my way," he orders someone. "Bree, get back here."

I ignore his shout and keep an eye on the ladders around me. Someone is coming up from below carrying something, so I glance to my left. It's open. Releasing my grip, I relish the feeling of the jump right before my stomach twists with the feeling of falling. I land with ease and keep going, doing my best to stay off the same ladders as Yongguk. I feel like an . I could have ignored his tone and apologized – I should have. Some days I can't help but wonder what my problem is.

Trying to keep away from him is a useless task given we're both going in the same direction and his legs are longer than mine; it eventually turns into a game of cat and mouse, and unfortunately for the cat I'm far more agile a mouse than I appear. The entire walk to the Shelter is a silent chase intermittently peppered with swearing as one of us narrowly misses falling, getting caught, or catching the other. It almost feels light-hearted and on Yongguk's part it probably is, but for myself I know I'm legitimately avoiding him and the second I set foot in the Shelter I busy myself. If I'm talking to other people he can't talk to me.

"Bree!"

I turn and smile at Youngjae as he jogs towards me. "Hey, what's going on?"

"Nothing really, but I started planning moving all the stuff out of the Shelter. How soon can we start?"

"We can get moving tonight, if that works for you," Yongguk interrupts. I wrinkle my nose in frustration – I just can't get away from him!

"Excellent. I have people ready to start moving everything out already; I'll let them know that they need to be ready to go ASAP."

As he turns away to start spreading the word – every Matoki within earshot knows and is telling everyone nearby.

"We can't send everybody." I practically jump out of my skin. "Well at least I got a reaction that time. Are you done ignoring me?"

I huff. "I'm not ignoring you…"

"Then what would you call it, because it feels like you are," he demands with a scowl.

I'm trying not to look him in the eye, still angry with myself for having been such an previously and in the end I'm just glaring at his crossed arms. For what seems like hours we stand there, semi-staring at one another until I realize he's shifting uncomfortably, rubbing at his arms now and again.

"Stupid," I grumble.

"Excuse me?"

I step forward reaching for the arms of his overalls, knotted in front and resting low on his hips.

"Whoa, hey! What?!"

He almost leaps away but I catch the material and pull him back, untying it and pulling it up for him to up his arms through. Pulling the zipper up, I notice his face is quite flushed. Maybe he's getting sick? I suddenly feel even worse.

"Back by the tunnel… I'm sorry I said those things…"

He leans closer, confusion all over his face. "I'm sorry?"

"I'm sorry I said those things."

"Bree, I really have no idea what the hell you're saying."

"I'm sorry, okay?!"

A long awkward silence falls and I go back to looking anywhere but at Yongguk. The silence is broken as I hear him start laughing – loudly; hand lands on my head and ruffles my already never-neat hair.

"Yeah, I figured as much as soon as you ran away from me."

"I wasn't running away, thanks. I was avoiding."

"Yeah yeah. Look, I'm going to talk Youngjae for a bit. I know you've got it set that we'll be using the office again – really, what choice do we have – but I need to make sure he isn't taking too many of the men I might need if you send us out. Wait for me here."

He's gone without another word and I'm instantly bored. I know what goes on in the Shelter and I come down here fairly often, but I never really explore. Before I can stop myself, I've wandered over to an area where people were putting together what looks like the mechanized hand of a Matoki exo suit. The light armour for it is sitting some ways away, next to frame work that looks like it was starting to be assembled for full construction; I start poking around the frame when someone comes up behind me. Out of instinct, I grab the person by their shirt and shoulder to throw them to the ground when she waves her arms defensively.

"No no no! Please don't! I bruise easily!"

I stop and shake my head. "Sorry. Knee-jerk reaction."

"Understandable, all things considered. You seem interested in the frame for the next exo suit."

"I am."

"Well, enjoy it while you can – I'm here to start taking it apart."

I can feel a wide grin spread across my face. Take it apart? I love taking things apart. I can't usually put them back together right, but that's not what I like doing. Reading my expression, she hands me a ratchet.

"It's a good thing we didn't start welding yet, otherwise this would be a whole lot harder." She extends a hand. "I'm Bai An."

"Bree." I shake her hand firmly.

"I know who you are. The green hair," she says with a chuckle. "Youngjae talks about you guys a lot; come on, let's get wrecking!"

I need no prompting. I quickly lose track of time as Bai An and I take the intricate framework apart piece by little piece. How anyone can possibly keep track of so many little pieces is mind-blowing to me and I admire their ability to build something so impressive. Patience like theirs is something I wish I could have. Through all this, Bai An and I are having a conversation and I am shocked to discover how close her and Youngjae are; close doesn't really begin to describe it. She explains to me that she and Youngjae consider themselves to be the very thing I had scorned earlier. We all knew Youngjae paid a bit more attention to one of the females in the Shelter, but he was good at keeping the depth of it hidden. I never have the chance to talk to other women and I can't help but want to ask questions. I don't get the chance though, as my thoughts are interrupted by a sharp whistle.

"Hey."

"Hey yourself. Ready to go?"

"In a sense."

I hand the ratchet and my bag of nuts and bolts to Bai An. "Thanks for the fun," I tell her, smiling.

She just nods and waves as I drop to the ground.

"What's up?"

"Youngjae said we should rest before we have to leave tonight. There's a quiet corner in the back where we should be able to fall asleep okay."

Taking my wrist, Yongguk pulls me along until we find ourselves in a dark, cool corner. Yongguk slides down the wall, wedging himself into the corner with his feet on the floor. Once he's comfortable, I drop down beside him but the steel grating under us makes me shiver.

"Come here." Before I can respond, I find myself being pulled around to sit curled up in front of Yongguk, my right shoulder against his chest as he brings his knees up around me protectively. "Warm now?"

I shrug, still a little cold; his arms wind around me. "Better?"

I nod.

"Thanks."

I hear him sigh as I rest my head on his shoulder, closing my eyes.

"It's kind of nice that Zelo's busy right now."

I open my eyes and look up at him. "What? Why?"

"Just because… Try to get some sleep, Bree."

I raise an eyebrow at him before returning my head to his shoulder, my eyes slowly closing on their own. I'm still tired from last night and I'm really starting to feel it now. As sleep pulls me further in and I can feel myself slipping away from the waking world I let out one last yawn and a contented sigh.

"Goodnight, Yongguk."

Something warm presses against my forehead for several seconds before disappearing. "Goodnight."