Rather than heading straight to the dining hall, I head for a shower and a short nap. I don't particularly care who knows about Hakyeon and myself, it's pretty common in Mato to know who has mated with who, but it is never the circumstance for to choose the one you mate with for oneself. I'm surprised that people actually talk about it so openly, as well. Like with Yongguk, the idea of mating when you have a partner or long for one person can make the subject quite touchy. Even I don't know everything about what has happened with my brothers. Junhong came to Yongguk and myself for comfort after all three times he got his orders, but Youngjae refuses to talk about it altogether and Yongguk gets upset when anyone asks. As for the others, they never usually said anything unless they found out their orders were successful and that was usually an angry rant rather than talking about it.

By the time I drag myself out of my room, everyone is already sitting around the table with their food, Hakyeon sitting and talking to Taylor and Hyuk whose backs are to me.

"Hey guys!" I call as I continue past them. I may not have done much today, but I'm still hungry. I highly doubt the shots stop working the second you stop receiving them, though I wish they would be healing my cuts, too. I'm more than done with taking twenty minutes to put my damn shirt on simply because I can't move in a specific direction without ripping stitches. Even pain meds don't help with that. On the bright side, at least the pins will be coming out tonight, I think to myself.

Piling my plate high with food, I wander back over to sit in an open seat beside Hakyeon. Taylor and Hyuk are both smiling, though Hyuk's laugh is a little on the creepy side.

"What's so funny?" I ask as I reach across the table for a utensil.

"Taylor, Hyuk –"

Taylor's giggle cuts him off. "So, I hear things have been getting busy for you Bree?"

Hyuk chuckles to himself, not looking at me, and even Leo is smiling. I raise an eyebrow, not understanding why they find Taylor asking about my day so amusing. "Not really? Today N and I just went over some maps."

"Over some maps?" Hyuk finally pipes up, the amusement in his voice apparent as he raises his eyebrows at N. " Little difficult to do that when it's on the floor."

I feel my usual blank expression fall away into one of shocked realisation. "Wait… What?"

Taylor nudges Hyuk with a grin across her face and continues. "Oh, right… The map wasn’t on the floor but everything else was."

My eyes focus on her and everything else seems to fall away. I don't care how much she talks about her mates with others or who she's mating with, but the way she is talking almost makes me think she believes me having with Hakyeon is something that should be public information. I don't care if others know about Hakyeon and I, but I don't want it to be a conversation piece. I'm happy with it just being us. If the others find out, my brothers will find out, and if my brothers find out, they'll tell Yongguk.

"Taylor –"

"I would suggest you stop talking," I interrupt.

Hyuk's smile becomes uncomfortable and he nods before turning to his food without another word. Taylor's expression becomes defiant however, her jaw set as her gaze becomes heated as she glances over at Hakyeon.

"I agree," Hakyeon says seriously, placing his fork on the table beside him.

Her eyes flash with anger. "Excuse me?"

"Taylor –"

"I don't want you talking about this, so drop it," I snarl, my temper beginning to get the best of me.

A hand slides across my leg and Hakyeon's warm voice whispers gently in my ear. "Taylor was only joking with you. I know it's hard to understand, but it's how she jokes with the rest of us. Things in Mato are more complex when it comes to discussing , but try to understand that with ual freedom comes the ability to make light of it which is why she was poking fun at us. I know it's not okay, but she's trying to be friendly and play around the same way she does with her family."

A light bulb flicks on in my head and I smile inwardly. She's trying to connect with me as a friend!

"Make me," she challenges.

I put my fork down slowly and stand up to accept her challenge as I would when any of my brothers were joking with me. I never took her for the fighting type, but I can't help but feel proud that she has developed such a feisty personality. My finger tips brush the table top when Hakyeon's hand wraps gently around my forearm.

"Taylor, that's enough. You've gone too far."

Leo surprises me when he speaks up. "N, it's –"

"Screw you!"

If my face doesn't express everyone's surprise at what Taylor has just said, Hyuk choking on his food does. I'm too surprised to take my eyes off her but I hear Hakyeon inhale to speak when Taylor starts in on him again.

"I already know what you're going to tell me," she says stepping out from behind the bench, "so I'm already gone."

Taylor tells Leo something quietly before she leaves the dining hall, and I'm left standing there for a moment before Hakyeon's hand tugs me back to my seat.

"What just happened?"

"You're dating that," Hakyeon tells Leo with a sarcastic smile.

"I know," Leo says quietly, blatantly ignoring Hakyeon's frustrated tone.

"I hope you're planning on talking to her about that, because that was completely inappropriate. There is absolutely no reason she should have been talking to me or anyone at this table with such deliberate disrespect."

Leo sighs and puts his own fork down to talk. "It was a misunderstanding."

"I know it was, but it was a misunderstanding between Taylor and Bree."

"That was not just a misunderstanding, N; Taylor was going to get her kicked."

"What?" I interject. "I wasn't going to beat her up. She was joking with me the way she does with all of you – I thought it would be okay for me to joke like my brothers and I do since she challenged me first…"

"You're both stupid," Hongbin calls from the end of the table, effectively ending the conversation.

*****

"So really, what the hell is wrong with you?" Hongbin asks dryly.

"I didn't know!"

"Yeah yeah… How does that feel?"

I flex my fingers and rotate my wrist. "It's good. Anything I should know before I head out?"

"Don't break it again."

"Anything else, captain obvious?" I retort.

"No. Make sure you keep the healing areas of your shoulder clean like you have been and I would like you to stop taking the pain medication unless it's absolutely necessary. Because you no longer have the pins in your arm reminding you to be careful, you need the pain to let you know when you're overexerting yourself to avoid doing more damage."

I nod and salute him lazily before wandering out the door and up to my room to crash, though I don't know I how well I'll sleep. As I flick the lights on though, I notice that all the blankets and pillows are shoved in the sleeping spaces in the walls, the only indication that we were staying there being the dismantled chairs and desk in the corner.

"What the… Hey, N –" I turn around and run right into him.

"Yes?" he asks with a laugh.

"Who messed with my ?"

He smiles and pats my cheeks. "I did because I figured you'd be more comfortable sleeping with me in my room."

"Oh…" I stopped and stared at him for a moment. "Well, thank you. But are you sure having another person in the room won't disturb Ravi?"

"I doubt it. Why?" he grins deviously. "Were you wanting to do something that would be disruptive?"

I feel my cheeks heat up. "Cut it out. Just because others know, doesn't mean we have to advertise it."

Taking my wrist gently, he pulls me in to my room and closes the door behind us.

"Actually, I need to discuss what happened earlier with you." He holds up a hand as I open my mouth to respond. "I know, I know. And I also know that you are trying to fit in here for the most part. We do appreciate it and we are all trying our best to understand when there are clashes because truthfully each district does have a separate culture. However, there are times when you need to double check what you say or do."

I feel my heart sink. "But I just wanted to play. I've never had any friends aside from my brothers and I thought maybe she and I could…"

"I know, Bree," Hakyeon says gently as he pulls me against his chest and hugs me. "It's just that with the way you are, you can be really scary when someone doesn't understand that you are playing. It's sort of like… Even if you tame a tiger, if the tiger tries to play with a child, the only thing people are going to see are the teeth and the claws and the reputation that every tiger has – they don't see the tiger's mirth and friendship."

I nod slowly. Am I really that scary?

"Come on," he says cheerfully. "Things are okay. Taylor knows how it is – Leo has probably talked to her already and it seemed that she was angrier at me than you so don't worry about it anymore. Okay?"

I smile half-heartedly and he opens the door to pull me towards his room when I dig my heels in.

"If it's all the same to you, I want to stay here…"

As I lay with Hakyeon curled up against my back, his arm draped around my waist, I curl up around Yongguk's pillow with my nose buried in it.

I don't scare him, do I?