Nope, she didn't go home that night, at least not when I was still awake tossing and turning trying to induce amnesia of the times I made a total moron out of myself.

I couldn't explain how or why I became too nervous around her. I thought maybe my brain was jarred by the shockwaves from the fiasco at the firing range the other day. Or was it her tears and how she looked so shattered that day? Nah, that's just way too dramatic.

Just when I was about to accept my stutter-filled fate, I received a message from Uncle GD reminding me of the week's training schedule and the first trial mission. Training was my idea, but the trial missions were Uncle GD's. Before we proceed with the first phase of the true purpose for regrouping Seulgi's team, he wanted us to go through a series of trial missions to ensure our readiness. But I know that not only was he testing the group's disposition and preparedness, he was also, if not mainly, trying to test me.

Many times, he discouraged me from taking this path. And many times, I've actually considered just forgetting the mission altogether- my father, destroying the academy he built, the retribution for the pain from a ruined family, the abandonment and the lives he derailed. But then I'm reminded of my mother's death. The death she herself plotted. The death that caused my hiding. The death that rooted from my father's greed.

After a brief conversation with Uncle GD, there was a renewed sense of urgency to finish what I've started. I realized how distracted I've become. I realized that I don't need to please or be at peace with anyone. I don't need to apologize for anything. Besides, they work for me. I am the very reason for their decent living condition. I practically saved them and I don't deserve the ungrateful treatment, not from Jennie, not from anyone.

I saved you, it's time you show respect and gratitude. Tomorrow, I will be back in control.

---

In the morning, I was awoken by Lisa's knocking. "Jisoo-unnie, are you alright??"

I hastily swept my bed for my phone and discovered it was already 9:15am; and I've snoozed through all the alarms, missed the morning jog, skipped breakfast, and I'm late for the day's training. Wow, what a phenomenal way to start taking control...

I almost jumped out of the bed and scampered to change clothes and fix my uncooperative hair to a ponytail.

"Yeah! I'll be out in a few!" I yelled trying to hide my I-just-literally-woke-up voice.

"Oh, okay. There's still food downstairs."

I took a deep breath and hastily got out of the room. But as I hurried toward the stairs, my eyes caught the unmistakable silhouette propped in the veranda. There she was, with her book, her silence and her eternal condescending aura. It didn't help that she was wearing white clothes, because her skin luminesced a mesmerizing glow.

I was relieved that she was back and I felt an urge to slid myself through the window to talk to her. But my mind was blank and all I could do was look at her, notice her every move, watch her hair quiver to the wind, and be overwhelmed by her surreptitious character.

So, there I was at 9:25 in the morning already dispirited by Jennie's mere existence, with my frozen mind and an unconsciously walking body, I missed a step on my way down the stairs.

The next few seconds of my unconventional descend to the first floor was a total blur. All I heard was my internal panic and a loud thud. The thud was actually my forehead hitting a metal panel before my body managed to ensnare itself among the railings three steps from the bottom.

"Jisoo-YAH!!!!!"

. Guys, you don't need to amplify the embarrassment by calling my name.

"Present!" I raised my hand like reflex trying to conceal the humiliation by playing cool. "I'm alright...! I'm alright...!" Dammit, I'm not alright but I have to it in and pretend I'm superhuman.

"Well, that was an unorthodox way of climbing down." Even from an upside-down view, I knew that was undoubtedly Chae.

"Someone's drunk early in the morning..." No, Joohyun, I'm not drunk! But I might as well be after what happened.

"Oh my god... Are you alright?" Lisa immediately ran up and carefully pulled my legs from the gaps of the railing.

"Don't tell me that's an addition to your morning exercise?... I'll support her head. Pull her arms... careful. Let's sit her up first. Can you stand up? Is there pain anywhere?"

“Seulgi, I'm fine. Really. I just missed a step." I smiled and walked casually to the kitchen counter silently checking if I broke a bone.

"You mean nine steps." Chae clarified.

"Yeah, I meant I missed one... and the succeeding. Hehe..."

I thought I was convincing being fine until Lisa blurted, "Jisoo-unnie, your arm, it's bleeding!"

"Oh yeah?" I twisted my right arm to see its back where an awful-looking abrasion about 5 inches-long was. "Oh, I'll clean it later." I acted nonchalant and proceeded to eating.

After 10 seconds into my breakfast, I could feel the throbbing on my forehead and the searing pain over the scrape on my arm. But I had to project an unwavering composure especially that I could hear Jennie's heavy steps as she approached us in the kitchen.

I did not acknowledge her presence and just continued painfully eating, literally. She passed by us and went straight to the refrigerator. I tried to ignore her and the memory of the voicemail I left her last night hoping she did not listen to it at all. Everyone just gathered around the counter and watched my soon-to-be-tragic acting.

I didn't realize that Jennie was already standing next to me. She laid a carrot on the table and a toolbox I didn't notice she carried earlier before she held my left hand. Boy, her hand was icy cold but it was heavenly soft. She laid a cold bag on my hand and lifted it to press hard on my already aching forehead.

"AAAAHHHHHHWWWK." I screamed my guts out to the pain. It happened so fast that before I could properly come to my senses, I was already biting the carrot's stout end.

"Just bite