12

When Jinri woke the next morning, she was only slightly surprised to see that she was in her bed. It took a minute before she remembered the late night adventure she and Luhan shared in his illusory stargazing field. She would have to ask him how his power worked, because frankly, even though she didn’t like the idea of him peering around in her thoughts, she could get used to adventures to amazing places like the one from last night.

She padded over to her desk where she retrieved the half-eaten bowl of cereal. A glance at the clock told her that she hadn’t actually gotten all that much sleep, but she felt refreshed anyways. She made her way down to the kitchen. Only Chanyeol seemed to be awake, and he regarded her with a blank stare as he ate his own bowl of cereal like a zombie.

“Good morning, Sleeping Beauty,” Jinri joked as she washed out her bowl. Chanyeol merely glanced at her once before grunting and nearly face planting into his cereal. “I’m fine, too. Thanks for asking.” Realizing he didn’t seem to be all there, and after watching him miss his mouth several times, she gently took the spoon from his hand and removed the bowl of cereal from in front of him. Again, he only looked at her blankly before falling asleep right there at the table.

“Well, alrighty then,” she said and returned to the sink. Soon enough, the sound of his snores filled the air, and she had to bite back a laugh. She poured herself another bowl of cereal and took the seat across from him. She hadn’t ever really talked with Chanyeol, and for what it was worth, it seemed he didn’t like her all that much, but maybe that was because they didn’t know each other well.

“Oh, good morning, Jinri!” A cheerful looking Baekhyun came into the kitchen, waving at her. As he spotted Chanyeol slumped on the table across from her, he frowned. Marching right over to Chanyeol, he slapped him across the top of the head. Popping up immediately, Chanyeol let out a growl and glared at Baekhyun, who growled right back.

“Hey stupid,” Baekhyun taunted. “Way to snore like a bear all night.” Chanyeol just growled again and gnashed his teeth at Baekhyun.

“I only snore after my sleep has been interrupted by your whining like a little puppy!” Chanyeol retorted. Jinri watched in amusement as the two argued, going unnoticed as she ate her breakfast.

“Who in the world is making all of this noise?!” A groggy looking Kris growled as he came into the kitchen. Baekhyun and Chanyeol stopped to look at him, the fight seeping out of them. He was both frightening and funny looking with his hair tied up apple style and a slight bit of toothpaste clinging to the side of his mouth.

“Can't people even sleep in peace?” Kris mumbled as he shuffled over to the refrigerator. Again, it seemed Jinri was invisible, because it took Kris the whole five minutes of making cereal, plus another five eating it, before he noticed she was there.

“Good morning Jinri,” Kris said as he eyed her curiously. “Why are you wearing Luhan’s sweater?” Jinri, surprised, look down at herself. She was wearing Luhan’s sweater. How could she have forgotten?

“Uh, I was cold?” It came out more like a question, but Kris just shrugged and continued on with his breakfast. One by one, the others trickled into the kitchen, displaying varying degrees of tiredness. While she was busy washing up her dishes, Luhan came to stand next to her.

“You’re still wearing my sweater,” he said quietly, a little smirk playing on his lips. Jinri gave him a glance out of the corner of her eye.

“Yes, I am,” she said simply, and continued with her work. “I’ll give it back. Eventually.” Luhan’s smirk grew wider at her little flirting. He was about to respond, when Sehun came over and placed his dishes in the sink.

“Do you want to come out to do a run with us today?” Sehun asked, his usual quiet voice holding a bit of hopefulness. “It’s better than sitting in on a history lesson.”

“Hmm, exercise or history lesson? What a poor set to choose from,” Jinri joked. “It doesn’t matter, I guess. I should thank Taemin for the phone, too.”

“Why would she even want to go on a training session with us? It’s not like she’ll be helpful,” Chen was muttering to himself. Whether it was his intention or not, Jinri heard it, and scoffed loudly. Drying her hands and turning to face him, she gave him a glare.

“It’s obvious you don’t like me Chen; I get it,” she said as calmly as she could. “But what I don’t understand is why you insist on making a big deal out of it. Don’t you think you’re being a bit much?” Chen matched her glare and stood from his seat.

“You think that just because you’re a Tamer, you can come in here and change things and it will all be okay?” He spat, his anger very evident. “Sorry to break it to you, but that isn’t how things work in our world. You’re not one of us!”

“You think I don’t know that? You think I actually want to spend time with you and ty attitude?” Jinri yelled back. “I’ve got my own set of problems, Kim Jongdae, none of which I’ve bothered you with, have I? I had a life, too, before I came here, and frankly, I would prefer it in all of it’s ed-up-ness over you and your whiny, egotistical self. I don’t care that I’m not one of ‘you’. And I certainly don’t care if you like me or not. What I do care about is that you choose to make it more difficult for everyone by being an utter pain in the .” Her face was red and she was close to tears as she spoke.

“I’ve lost my parents, my home, my best friends, and I’m pretty sure my grip on reality. If you think that for one second that you can break me by calling me weak and useless, guess again.”

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a second, trying to calm herself. Suddenly embarrassed for her outburst, she took a quick glance around the silent kitchen and sighed.

“If you’ll excuse me,” she said quietly. “I need some time alone.” She fled the kitchen to no protest, and as soon as she was gone, eleven pairs of eyes turned their attention to Chen.

“Way to go, thunder dunce,” Kai scoffed with a roll of his eyes. “Why do you have to be such a dou-”

“Kai, stop,” Kris growled, and the younger shut up. “Chen, I think it’s about time you and I had a talk.” He needed to say no more to the stiff-looking Chen, who followed him out of the kitchen without a word. The rest of the pack was left to themselves in the kitchen.

“I really thi