I sat beside Jongin’s bed and carefully peeled off the tangerine’s skin. He was getting better in a miraculous speed. It was only the first week, and he was already moving around like nothing had wounded him at all. He wasn’t particularly fond of the Genbu’s headquarter, calling it a ‘cage’ and that he felt trapped by their lack of interest in anything fun.

“Remind me again why I have to stay on the bed when I am clearly healed?” He raised his eyes and sharply looked at me. He no longer wore the faded color of their infirmary, but his own clothes, and that included a sleeveless shirt and black sweatpants.            

“Because they need to make sure you rest plenty to recover completely,” I replied with a small glare. It had been hard to tie Jongin down when he didn’t like being treated as a sick person. He especially hated it when Sehun came and mocked him for being so weak and fragile. “Don’t give me that look or I’ll poke the wound to make sure.”

“Nice threat, but that’s not going to work, Princess,” He chuckled lightly, “Can’t I watch your training sessions at least? I heard the Elites’ head Seung-something is quite good in sparring. Don’t tell me your dearest Luhan can’t beat him in one round or that will shame us all.”

“Of course not,” I snorted with clear disdain. Out of all the Elites, Jongin and Luhan had it going for the longest and their relationship was only one-step better than Jongin and Sehun’s. “Luhan wouldn’t lose. And for your information, his name is not Seung-something, it’s Seungcheol.”

“Yeah, I don’t care whatever his name is,” He stated it plainly. “So the training?”

I raised my eyebrow and he mirrored it defiantly. Jongin had been staying on the bed for too long and he didn’t like it one bit. “You’re gonna fight if I allow, wouldn’t you?” I sighed and shook my head, but then he supported his head with his head and challengingly smirked at me. “Don’t give me that look, Jongin. It won’t work.”

“Oh, I believe it’s working just fine,” He snickered.

I gave up my hands in surrender, knowing that he got me there and handed him the long-forgotten tangerines. Jongin didn’t complain and ate it heartily. “If I say you can… Will you promise not to cause any trouble?” He shot me a look. “And by trouble, I mean no physical activity that will possibly cause any injuries.”

“That isn’t hard,” He laughed and lied back down.

“Okay, actually I take that back. I know you, Kim Jongin, and there is no way you would be so agreeable. How about I rephrase what I just said?” I threw a wicked grin that knocked him off-guard. He clearly didn’t expect me to be quite so devious as to compromise again until I got the better end of the deal. “You must stay out of any physical activity, provoked or not.”

“And what do I get out of it?” He sneered in pure disdain.

“Err…” I thought hard and shoved something onto his hand, ”More tangerine?”

“Look at you being so sweet and all,” Now that was pure sarcasm and I found myself liking it more than I should have. “Hey, Princess… Now that I’ve noticed, since when did you start calling me by my full name? You’ve only ever done that to Kim Joonmyun and you don’t even call him that anymore.”

“Why?” Instead of replying, I stared down at the bright orange color of the sweet tangerine and suddenly, they seemed much more interesting than Jongin. Actually, anything would be more interesting than this conversation right now.

“Just because,” He got up from the bed, but I held onto his wrist and stopped him. I felt a slow, small blushes forming on my heated cheeks, but I refused to gaze away no matter how loud my heart beat. Jongin didn’t seem so confused. He didn’t even stare at my hand and just held my stare as we both looked at each other.

“Not now. Dr. Jung hasn’t finished checking you yet and the training won’t start in about fifteen minutes, “ I finally blinked and glanced at my watch. My hand was still on his wrist as he slowly, hesitantly shifted and sat on the bedhead. “And I think you might be interested to hear this – Joonmyun, Minseok and Jongdae are joining, though,” I coughed and whispered, “I doubt Minseok will last more than fifteen minutes – ten, at most.”

“Kim Joonmyun can fight, too?” He sounded very much amused.

“Yeah, well, maybe not as good as you or Sehun, but he is quite something,” I recalled and smiled fondly. “Joonmyun is more of a brainer than a fighter, but you know the general procedures of being a heir. He has to learn how to protect himself in a sufficient level.”

“You sure I can’t take part in the training, Princess? Because I sure as hell would challenge him for one round at the very least – if he is not badly beaten, that is,” He smirked. I swore sometimes fighting was all he thought about.

“No, Mr. Arrogant. And I’m sure that if you challenge Joonmyun to a strategy test, you would lose hands-down,” I raised my eyebrow, defending Joonmyun in his stead. Jongin snorted and tilted his head. He didn’t look so amused by my statement and that was understandable – Kim Jongin didn’t like being looked down upon.

“I wouldn’t be so sure if I were you, Dear Princess,” He said, just as Yunho came in with a tray of tools. In contrast to his usual calm and composed manner, Yunho looked radiant and dare I say, excited. He took a winged butterfly injector which honestly looked very painful, and a small blood tube.

“Dr. Jung, what are you going to do?” I asked carefully.

“Taking a blood sample,” He answered it happily and checked his injector. My face paled, “What for?”

“Just for research,” Yunho honestly replied and wiped Jongin’s arms with alcohol. “It’s very rare that someone could inherit a dominant blood of Genbu and Seiryuu, though his mother’s side is probably more prominent than his father’s. If I am able to do a little bit more research on it and decide the benefits, perhaps the intermarital affair would be encouraged in the future.”

One of my hands gripped onto his hand and the other onto Jongin, creating a gap between them. I was so close to slamming it down onto the table. A hiss slipped out of my mouth before I could stop it and I forced myself to calm down. Even Jongin looked surprised by my sudden outburst.

“Lady Sena,” Yunho tried to interrupt and was clearly frightened that he’d done or said something wrong.

“Dr. Jung,” I spoke through my gritted teeth and faked a smile. “Thank you for this one week. Jongin is fine and healed, so I will tell my Elites to take care of him from here onwards. Now if you’ll excuse me, we have a training to attend.”

“But Lady Sena, this research…!” He insisted and even went as far as grabbing my hand. I was about to brush it away, but Jongin had beat me to it and flung Yunho onto the wall. It was meant to be an act of self-defense, but facing an opponent without any martial arts background, he would inevitably hurt Yunho in the process.

“My apology, Dr. Jung, excuse us,” I immediately walked out, knowing that Jongin would trail close behind. We hurriedly rushed down the hall, and once we were out of the hearing distance, I let out a sigh of relief.

“What was that about? Weren’t you insisting that I stayed in the infirmary until told otherwise?” Jongin questioned. I didn’t need to look back to know that he was frowning heavily, his eyebrows furrowed and his thick lips pursed into a straight thin line of confusion. “Is there something they shouldn’t know about my blood sample?”

“It’s just something I don’t really tolerate from doctors and scientists,” I asked when he finally caught up and walked beside me. “Of course there is something. We are the cream on top of these clans. Do you wish to be kept caged in the laboratories when they find out that your blood might have something to it?”

“Are you sure there is nothing else?” Jongin clenched his fists.

“Is there supposed to be something else?” I barked back and almost hit him in the process. His pretentious foolishness didn’t help to calm down my anger. I suspected that he knew as much to avoid being caught and caged, since we were treated like subjects of research since our early childhood, but he didn’t pay much attention to it.

“There is no need to get so defensive,” As he walked, he continuously glanced at me. I was starting to feel a bit more conscious. It was uncomfortable to be stared at. Out of nowhere, he asked with a wide playful grin, “If I flirt with you now, how would you react?”

“Why are you asking?” I tried to sound distant and careful, but my inside was exploding with this timed bomb I didn’t know of. It felt just like a first crush; full of silly giggles and red blushes. My eyes couldn’t find its way back to him, nor could I focus on the floor we were walking at. I was just very much aware of my heartbeats.

“Oh, you might not know, but your face is tomato red now,” He burst out laughing. The last time I’d seen his childlike smile was a few months ago when we were visiting Luhan in Singapore. But somehow, it seemed to affect me much more now. I would have stared longer if I could, but I had to refrain myself before he truly found out the confusion I felt.

“It is just a little bit hot now,” I argued and touched my cheeks. They were warm.

“Sure,” he sarcastically slurred his word, sneered and eyed me up and down. “Maybe that’s why you are wearing jackets in a full-blown air conditioning room.”

“Thanks for pointing it out, Mr. Obvious, now shut that pretty mouth and open the door for me like the gentleman you are,” I scowled at him and stopped in front of a thick metal door. The frame was delicately designed with gold paints on one side, forming a large turquoise if one looked further.

“Whatever you wish for, Princess,” Jongin chuckled and obliged. He went ahead and pushed the heavy door. Once it was opened, it revealed a hall almost as large as our training room in the Seiryuu’s house. The difference, however, was in the tools they provided. They had all kinds of weapons needed, all kind of machines and even a small cafeteria and lounge by the side.

“Sena!” Luhan ran and almost crushed me with his hug. I saw the attention had been shifted by our arrival. The first man I came to notice was Sehun, then Taeyong. They were all dressed appropriately for the session. “Oh, and he is here, too. Aren’t you supposed to be bedridden for another week, Kim Jongin?”

“Wouldn’t you be happy for that?” Jongin chuckled and went to the bench alone. I looked at him in worry and peeled myself away from Luhan, “Kim Jongin, remember your promise!”

He threw me a wide grin and said nothing anymore.   

A/N: And that's Jongin being his random normal self.