When Hyejoo came back after 3 days, she was quiet and seem paranoid of everything. She jumped at the slightest sounds, like banging, items being dropped, and gunshots, which commonly sounded out in the small testing facility. It didn’t help relieve Chaewon’s worry when she found bruises spread out on Hyejoo’s body. 

 

“Joo, what happened to you?” Chaewon worriedly muttered, softly Hyejoo’s rough hand with her thumb. They held hands a lot nowadays, both enjoying the show of affection.

 

“A lot,” Hyejoo quickly and quietly whispered, cautiously looking around the cell as if she was being watched and listened to, “This isn’t the first time I’ve been sent to the box-”

 

“So, mutt,” Dr. Ahn’s voice suddenly boomed from the intercom, scaring both Hyejoo and Chaewon, “Did you enjoy your 3 day stay in the box? We hope to see you there again soon!”

 

“Shut up,” Hyejoo loudly growled, “Come here if you’re feeling so brave so I can beat your .” 

 

“Joo, please..” Chaewon whispered, tightening her grip on the wolf hybrid’s hand,

 

“Okay, let’s make a deal, huh?” Dr. Ahn sneered

 

“What’s going on in your pea brain?” Hyejoo challenged, letting go of Chaewon’s hand and balling her fists, “Stay back, Chae.”

 

“So, if I win this hand to hand fight, you get to stay in the box for another week without food, but you get water! If you win, we’ll let you two disgusting prisoners go.” Dr. Ahn laughed, knowing it was a trick.

 

“Sure. You wouldn’t be able to do anything good with your damn noodle arms.” Hyejoo shot Chaewon a sad look as if she was saying sorry, and stood up.

 

Door slamming open, Dr. Ahn walked into the cell, sick grin plastered on his face. 

 

“Whenever you’re ready, Mutt.” He winked, fully aware of his own abilities.

 

Without a word, Hyejoo swiftly planted a hard punch to the researcher’s temple. Dazed for a split second, Dr. Ahn realized what was happening and jabbed an area near Hyejoo’s navel, sending the girl into a flurry of pain. The wolf girl crumpled to the ground, weakly holding her stomach, Chaewon staring in shock.

“I bet you didn’t know you had a weak spot,” Dr. Ahn sneered once more, “Don’t challenge your own creator, fool.’

 

Letting out a whimper, Hyejoo hung her head low as she was shamefully dragged back into the box never to see Chaewon for another week. Dr. Ha watched from afar, feeling bad for the hybrid. In fact, he felt bad for Hyejoo quite often.

 

Dr. Ha had been with Hyejoo ever since she was created and had seen how she changed throughout the years, the wolf girl growing emptier and more violent with each passing year. First, she had been a playful, cute little pup, but now she was turned into a quiet, isolated lone wolf. Because Dr. Ha was with Hyejoo since her creation and throughout her childhood, Hyejoo tended to listen to him more and was more gentle with him compared to other researchers. He was like a fatherly figure to her, and they both agreed on that fact. Even though they were closer, it doesn’t mean Dr. Ha breaks rules for Hyejoo. He never would let Hyejoo out of the box early, and Hyejoo accepted that. Sometimes, Dr. Ha would have a small conversation with the hybrid while she was in the box, only if he had time and wasn’t consumed by work all day.

 

Walking to the box, Dr. Ha sat on the little bench provided outside that was gathering dust, setting his clipboard aside him and let out a faint sigh.

 

“How have you been, my Hyejoo?”

 

—-

 

Yeojin let out a defeated sigh and grabbed the broom and dustpan from the closet, deciding to clean up her little experiment before Jungeun could beat her mercilessly with a sandal, slowly sweeping all the sharp shards into a pile and sliding them onto the dustpan before tossing them into the garbage bin. 

 

  Yeojin was about to put the broom back in the closet but was abruptly interrupted by loud stomping and yelling approaching the kitchen.

 

“Yeojin! What is going on?” Jungeun shouted from the kitchen entryway, hands on her hips; a single sandal sticking out of her right hand, “Yerim told me you broke a plate because you were conducting some stupid experiment?”

 

“W-well.. yes.” Yeojin stuttered in fear, wide eyes locked on the sandal resting in Jungeun’s hand, “I cleaned up the mess already but Yerim’s second colony of cockroaches are going crazy.”

 

“If you break another plate in MY household I will personally beat you down with this sandal!” Jungeun glared, waving the sandal around in a threatening manner towards Yeojin, less angry than she was a few seconds ago, “I’m sure Yerim can deal with her cockroaches.” Jungeun shuddered at the mention of cockroaches, having had a traumatic past with them.

 

Right on cue, Yerim appeared right next to Jungeun with a bright grin plastered on her face. “My cockroaches are safe! I’ll put them outside after they eat so they’ll be fine.” 

 

‘“Are you sure they won’t fall from the ceiling like last time?” Jungeun quickly asked, flashbacks appearing in her mind.

 

-

 

“I’ll be right back, keep icing cookies.” Jungeun smiled at the other girls. Ignoring chaotic yells and loud thumps from the kitchen, Jungeun walked off into the direction of the bathroom; unbeknownst to the horrible fate waiting for her.

 

She was only halfway up the stairs when she heard a distinct scratching noise coming from Yerim and Yeojin’s room. Not knowing any better, Jungeun quickly went up the stairs and approached the room. She was the mother of the group after all. She had to keep the house clean and keep any pests out of the mansion, right?

 

  Well, Jungeun regretted all her decisions as soon as she pushed open the door and walked through. She flicked on the light, flood of cockroaches fleeing from the bright interruption. They went up the walls, down the vents, under Yerim’s bed, out the window, they were in every crevice, searching for their owner. 

 

  Frozen in fear and shock, Jungeun looked up at the light as the room suddenly went dim and bright again; only to see thousands of cockroaches crawling on the ceiling, some falling down and pelting the ground below. Yerim’s cockroaches had bred and created an army only Yerim could control. Unfortunately, Jungeun was witnessing the worst of it.

 

She ran out of the room like hell, screaming and crying for help, and almost fell down the stairs; Jinsol meeting her at the bottom to attempt to calm down her wife.

 

“What’s wrong?” Jinsol furrowed her eyebrows in worry, wrapping her arms around her wife and pulling her close.

 

“Yerim’s room.. cockroaches.. thousands..” Jungeun stuttered out, scanning the vicinity for those rotten insects, looking like an asylum patient.

 

“My roaches!” Yerim exclaimed all the way from the kitchen, sprinting towards the direction of her cave and hopping up the stairs.

 

“What did you see?” Jiwoo tilted her head, biting into a cookie in the shape of a swan.

 

“Cockroaches falling from the ceiling, running everywhere,” Jungeun tightened her grip on Jinsol, “I don’t feel safe here, we need to buy gallons of raid.”

 

“I can’t bre-“ Jinsol gasped, her grip loosening on Jungeun.

 

“You are not killing any of my roaches!” Yerim shrieked from above the stairs, “They are trained and well-behaved!”

 

“Yes we are! You literally broke Jungeun!” Sooyoung shouted back, walking into the living room and wrapping her arm around Jiwoo’s shoulders.

 

“We still keep Yeojin and she’s not trained or well-behaved! That’s not fair!” 

 

“Yerim come down here this instant!” Jinsol shouted back, regaining her breath, “Do not bring any roaches down here!”

 

Audible huff coming from Yerim, she sternly told her roaches to stay, and stormed down the stairs. Strangely enough, her roaches indeed did stay upstairs; not a single one even going onto the first step.

 

“What?” Yerim crossed her arms, being genuinely upset for the first time ever.

 

“Let’s come to a compromise, okay?” Jinsol softly said, rubbing circles on a traumatized Jungeun’s back, “If you find a place for your roaches outside, you can keep them and they can multiply all they want. We just can’t find a roach in the mansion ever again, all right?”

 

“Fine. I’ll see if my cockroaches will be okay with that.” The fruit bat hybrid nodded, less angry she was a few seconds ago, walking back up the stairs and clapping her hands together. From downstairs, you could hear Yerim calling a roach meeting complete with ‘any questions?’ and calling on roaches who apparently had questions with the arrangement. Eventually, Yerim did come down the stairs but immediately went outside to look for a place for her cockroaches to stay. 

 

The next day, not a single cockroach was found anywhere in the mansion. Jinsol had thoroughly searched Yerim and Yeojin’s room, searching for any stragglers, only to come up empty.

 

“Thank you, Yerim.” Jinsol smiled, giving Yerim a hug as the two reached the bottom of the stairs.

 

“Of course! It was getting crowded anyway.” Yerim beamed.

 

“Yeah! Thanks for traumatizing Jungeun!” Hyunjin called out, mouth stuffed with bread.

 

“Be quiet, Hyunjin!” Yerim shouted back, heading to the door to check on her roaches in their newfound home.

 

-

 

“No. my roaches won’t have a party again. Don’t worry Jungeun!” Yerim grinned, fully aware of the phobia she had given the girl, walking over to the fridge to grab some fruit for herself.

 

Yeojin put the broom away in the closet and wiggled her fingers at Jungeun, making her let out a yell and lightly smack Yeojin on the shoulder. 

 

The two roommates left the kitchen and ran upstairs, doing god knows what, leaving Jungeun alone.

 

—

 

“I’ve been okay, struggling.” Hyejoo quietly replied from inside the box.

 

“I’m sorry to hear that. I wish I could do more.” Dr. Ha sighed.

 

“Just talking to me like I’m normal is good enough, thank you.”

 

“Of course.”

 

-

 

“What have you always wanted to see outside of the testing facility?” Dr. Ha asked the hybrid, truly curious.

 

The two had been speaking for a while now, time flying by. They had chatted about what interests they’ve had and how they’ve felt, quite an interesting conversation between a subject and a researcher. 

 

“I’ve always wanted to use one of those… what do you call it?” Hyejoo enthusiastically spoke, “A virtual reality headset? Yeah, those look so fun.”

 

“Interesting. I’ve always thought those were disorientating, hard to adjust to.”

 

“Maybe one day, if I ever get out of here, I’ll get my hands on one.” Hyejoo yawned, wired bed frame’s whine sounding out from inside the box.

 

“You should get some rest, some testing tomorrow as always.” Dr. Ha softly suggested, already gathering his belongings and getting up from the bench.

 

“Oh yeah, see you soon or whatever.”

 

“As always.” Dr. Ha smiled, having genuinely enjoyed the conversation, never thinking he could talk about his ambitions and thoughts to many people; much less a subject in some sketchy research facility. 

 

I’ll get you out someday, I promise.