“Why are you so slow?”

               “I’m sorry, that was only made just now,” I said, gasping for breath as I point a finger to the cup of coffee jelly that was now in Sehun’s hand.

               “It’s not cold anymore,” he stated frankly, eyeing the cup then looking sharply at me.

               “Well, I guess…” I said, still hitching up for more air. “You could just use a bit of your duire…?”

                Sehun’s look got even colder than I ever could imagine. That’s when I realized that I shouldn’t have told him or even hinted on what he should do.

               “You’re just watching us practice again, right?” he suddenly said.

               “Eh?” I responded unintelligently, not quite understanding what he meant.

               “It’d be better if you keep standing up,” Sehun said, and I saw the corner of his mouth slightly twitched up. “For moral support.”

                After he said that, he turned his back on me and started walking to the center of the arena where Xiumin and Tao were having a one-on-one battle. I was about to follow Sehun and ask what was that all about when I realized that I couldn’t move my feet. When I looked down to the ground, I saw that both of them were covered in crystal ice. It’s funny that I didn’t notice it right away because when I saw them, I immediately felt the cold sticking to my skin. I struggled at first, but no matter how hard I tried, it wouldn’t even budge a mere millimeter. In the end, I just sighed and hung my head low.

                Lee Mi Yeon, what the hell did you just get yourself into?

                But honestly, I do know why I agreed to his proposition. It’s because I wanted to be seen doing something. Seijira did told me to earn the trust of my warriors and I knew right at that moment, when he asked me to be his slave, that this is my only chance of winning his loyalty. I want Sehun to see me not as a superior or something by decree, I want him to honor me for who I am. So, I agreed to him in the hopes that he will see me trying very hard. So far, however, I could see that his cold exterior is more difficult to break than I expected. He doesn’t seem to pity me in any way. I think he even finds its amusing how I gasp for breath every time he asks me to go do an errand for him. The incident with the coffee jelly was actually the ninth time he asked me to run around the campus to get something just for him. Yesterday, which was day one, he tired me out by asking me to do forty laps around the arena. You could just imagine how hard that was for me, and to be frank, the arena is the BIG deal. It’s perimeter is just a bit smaller than the mansion, but nonetheless…I wanted to scream when I finished the lap last night. The other warriors were making me stop already, but I only smiled at them and kept going on. I don’t want them to think I’m that weak. Plus, I’m just stubborn that way. When I did that, they only shrugged and just looked at Sehun, willing for him to make me stop. But as expected, he didn’t. He watched me do the last five laps then went out immediately after I reached the finish line. He didn’t even congratulate me or anything. Then again,  it would be weird if he did. Chanyeol, who was my guard that night, helped me on my knees all the way up to my room. I did not thank him since this morning, because when I reached the place, I collapsed immediately on the bed and called it a day.

                Then, there’s this other reason that weighs more than the first one in my head. I agreed to this slave thing because of Luhan. He and Sehun are close friends, for reasons I don’t know what, how and why. The thing is, I don’t want to impress him or anything, but I want to get to know Luhan through his friends and I know Luhan would want me to be on good terms with Sehun. To add, I want him to see that I’m also working out things just as how he’s doing missions outside. Only if he could see….

                And now I’m sad and conflicted again.

                Up to this day, not a trace of Luhan could be seen. Kyungsoo keeps on telling me not to worry but I can’t help it. There’s just this weird feeling in the pit of my stomach that’s telling me something’s going on with him, something wrong. The school atmosphere is not helping too. The issue about that warehouse explosion’s all over the place. I don’t know what’s the big problem there. I couldn’t really care less even if it’s close to the school, as long as it’s not the school that was on fire. Surely, that is a relief, right? The faculty got involved too in the case. In fact, my adviser is away to help the police with the investigation. Maybe, there are things that they aren’t telling us if the duireans have to get involved. I mean, okay, traces of duires were found but c’mon, isn’t it only common to have duires everywhere? That’s what they tell us at school anyway.

                Just then, my knees buckled a bit. The cold was getting to me. I looked down at the ice and saw that it’s not even melting. I think I’ve already been standing for thirty minutes or so. In normal circumstances, I would still be fine. In fact, I could stand for several hours. But, after the running I did today and yesterday, I don’t think this will do…

                “You and your stupid pride,” someone from behind me said.

                I turned my head slowly to see who it was but I’ve already recognized the voice even before seeing. It was, of course, the person who throws the truth whether it hurts a person or not. Kai.

                “That’s not the—“ I started.

                “Speak for yourself,” he said and then he crouched down on the ground, examining the ice. I have no idea what he’s really doing at first, but then