After leaving Jaehyun, Yuta and I went onto the helicopter and I wish I could say it was romantic, but it wasn’t. It was hilariously loud and I was too engrossed in my surroundings to even talk to him, but Yuta didn’t seem to mind. He had a skill of his own and he was concentrating on making sure we weren’t going to die. I found myself looking at the island SM was built on. It was a man-made island, bigger than I expected. Beyond the school were warehouses, roads and buildings that I did not expect and it was the first-time seeing places beyond the walls of the place that was educating me to kill.

Yuta was watching me closely and Yuta, like Johnny, was always hard to read. As we took a few rounds, the helicopter then landed near the transportation area.

“Helicopters need to be ridden once in a while,” Yuta told me, tugging off his gloves. “We have to often bring them up, it’s part of the maintenance process.”

I hopped off the helicopter, running my hands over the red stripes painted on it and Yuta motioned me over so we could sit by the bleachers of the race track. We were alone and I preferred it that way. I sat beside him, leaning back as we began to slowly sink into silence. Yuta turned to me for a second and then he smiled.

“Hey, Yuta,” I suddenly blurted out. “Guess what?”

“What?” he asked, and I could suddenly hear the concern in his voice.

“Just reminding you that you have a very beautiful smile,” I told him, smiling. “I hardly see you smile like that when you’re with the rest.”

“I hardly see you smile too,” he told me. “Though you don’t have to smile to be beautiful.”

“That, I know,” I said, chuckling. “Did I tell you I was on Elle magazine with Jeffrey?”

“You were on a magazine with Jaehyun?” he asked, frowning. “No, I haven’t heard of it. Why?”

“Because Jeffrey is handsome and I’m rich.” I sighed. “Back in the day, Jaehyun was scouted to become an idol but his parents were doctors so he decided not to take that route. Little did I know, he was here trying to save people.”

“Mhm. You know what I've noticed?” Yuta asked and I looked at him. “Other than the fact that you know you’re beautiful and rich, you never talk about yourself.” He paused. “Maybe besides the fact that you like Happy Feet.”

“When your friends with Jeffrey all your life, you tend to realize that it’s better to talk about him,” I answered. It was true. I depended so much on Jaehyun for emotional and physical support—in the end he was my best friend. I liked talking about Jaehyun… I knew more about him than I knew of myself. “But I’m replacing him soon.”

“With Johnny?” Yuta asked and I nodded. “Why Johnny?”

“He reminds me of Sehun,” I replied almost automatically.

There was something about Johnny that was similar to Sehun’s demeanor—someone who has more to offer than what they show you. Someone who was warm and caring but would discipline you on the spot and wouldn’t hesitate to tell you right from wrong. Sehun was like that and I loved him for it, though my personality was molded because of my brother. “And I can say whatever I want to Johnny. He looks like he’ll smack me sometimes but I know he wouldn’t try to purposely hurt me.”

“Mhm. That’s Johnny, alright.” Yuta replied, intertwining his hands together. “What about me?”

“You mean, should I replace Jaehyun with you?” I asked, lifting an eyebrow at him. “Do you want to be my best friend?”

Yuta frowned at the question, tilting his head to the side when he finally shook his head. “No, I don’t want to be your best friend.”

I wasn’t stupid. I knew Yuta’s interest in me and even if I didn’t know if I was interested in him, I knew that there was potential for it to grow into something more. And my god, did I need some spice in my life. I usually let things be and if I did catch feelings then I would—but if I didn’t, then it was simple enough to just tell him.

We were all adults.

I turned to see Yuta’s phone light up from a message and I squinted at his background photo. The moment I got a closer look, I saw that it was Mark. Yuta caught me staring and he chuckled, showing me his background photo.

“Why do you have Mark as your background photo?” I asked wondering if there was something going on between the two. Yuta shrugged, telling me that he liked cute things and that whenever he saw Mark, he smiled.

“He’s just adorable,” Yuta mused. “And I like cute things. I like looking at things and people just to think; Ah, how cute. And when I do think that, I smile. Like you, sometimes.”

“You think I’m cute?” I asked, making a face. Now, that was new. I was called a lot of things—beautiful, pretty and even y at times when I dressed up. But cute? I reached up and knocked him on the head. “You okay, bro?”

“Now, now. You’re the type who wants what you want, says it and you know how to compliment yourself well,” Yuta told me, a hand going to pat my head. “You remind me of a child that is begging to be loved and when you don’t get that, you ask for it. It shows how simple you are, and I like that.”

Well… I didn’t know about “begging to be loved” but I wasn’t going to break his bubble.

“I like attention,” I told him and he nodded.

“I know.”

“And the only way to get attention is to ask for it,” I said and he paused.

“I see your childhood has taught you that,” he said to me and for a moment, a searing emotion washed through my body and I could feel a small jolt in my chest. “There will be people who give you attention when you ask for it, those who give you attention only when they need you, and those who don’t; even if you beg. It’s important to be cautious of who to ask it from.”

“Deep,” I answered and he chuckled, a hand going to tilt my chin up.

“You don’t have to ask it from me,” he told me, a finger going to rub my cheek softly. “I’ll give it to you even if you don’t ask.”

Ah, this man.

What a sweet talker. ­­­­­

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I went back to my room and the sun was starting to set. Orange, reds and pinks plaited the sky and I thought I would have a peaceful rest but I walked in on Chenle freaking out. He was pushing everything to the side and I caught sight of a mop and a broom by the door. Much to my surprise, everyone on my floor was doing the same thing. Jeno had ransacked his things from under his bed and was shoving everything in his closet. Jisung was crying.

Why was Jisung crying?

The only people who seemed calm were Doyoung and Taeyong who just arrived at their dorm and was watching everyone act like there was a zombie apocalypse coming. I knocked on my door to see Chenle whip around to grab me.

“DANA! Where have you been? We’re in deep . And I mean—deep .”

“Okay, what happened?”

“There has been a surprise dorm check and Xiaojun is coming to check the cleanliness of the dorm,” Chenle told me, his eyes panicky. “You don’t understand, Dana. You don’t… That guy… He’s—Sweep the floor! BURN YOUR HAIR!”

“What?” I asked, Chenle throwing me a lighter. “Calm down, how bad can it be?”

Chenle was not even talking to me, grabbing a cloth to wipe his computer table. I saw Doyoung chuckle with Taeyong, both of them not looking like they were worried at all. Those two were known to be very clean and Doyoung and Taeyong took turns cleaning their rooms almost every day.

“NO!” A scream sounded from Jisung’s room and when I peeked through the doorway, I saw Xiaojun with a checklist. He was twirling a red pen in hand and Jisung was stamping his foot onto the ground. “You can not take away my ant farm!”

“Jisung has an ant farm?” I asked Chenle who told me that I should be worried about when Xiaojun comes to our room.

“It’s not an ant farm if the ants don’t have a cage and are all over the place,” Xiaojun said and I realized that Jisung didn’t actually have an ant farm. He just liked having ants in the room and regarded them as pets. “We need to conduct a disinsectization. ASAP.”

[Ticking everything off the list!]

Xiaojun shook his head, putting “X’s” down the list and I saw Jisung slam the door shut as Xiaojun began to move to our room. Chenle froze by the door when Xiaojun appeared in front of our door, sniffing the air when he began to glower.

“Disgusting,” he said, going back to the checklist. “Mold. I see particles in the air. No, no. Not good.”

Where? How could he tell? I opened my mouth to say something when Chenle jumped onto me, both of us falling down onto my bed as the younger male covered my mouth with his head. Xiaojun walked in, a hand dragging down the walls as he squinted onto the floor.

“Oh Dana, your hair falls so much. At this rate, you’ll be bald by thirty.”

“WHAT?” I managed to say, pushing Chenle away, a hand going to touch my head. Xiaojun turned and looked at my head. What was this guy saying? I wouldn’t be bald by thirty! All that money I spent at salons! “What are you—”

“I see your receding hairline,” he answered before he turned and walked to the computer table. My jaw dropped open and Chenle gulped, Xiaojun leaning forward to inspect the table. It looked clean because Chenle had wiped it with a cloth before, Xiaojun frowning at Chenle.

“Crowd,” he said and Chenle straightened up. “Did you wipe the table with shampoo and not a cleaner? I see the bacteria infesting on here. No, no.”

Chenle didn’t say anything, Xiaojun ticking the boxes with all “X’s” before moving away from our room. He gave out a loud sigh before going to Doyoung and Taeyong’s room.

“Ah, my favorite room,” he said and I saw Chenle run a hand over his face.

“That wasn’t that bad,” I told Chenle who looked at me like I was crazy. “Why? It’s just a checklist. We’ll just have to reclean the room next time.”

“Xiaojun is going to give the checklist to Doctor Zhang,” Chenle said, shuddering. “Dana, if you think Xiaojun is a bit weird… Doctor Zhang is— He’s exactly like Xiaojun except that he’s a Doctor and he has more power than Xiaojun so he’ll probably conduct a full-blown deep cleaning for the rooms and that means I won’t get to see my computer for… I can’t be away from Bob!”

“You named your computer “Bob”?” I asked but Chenle looked genuinely upset so I tried to comfort the kid.

“Okay, calm down. I’m sure it won’t be that bad,” I tried to tell Chenle who mumbled that he had to get ready for the next day. He was going to move everything from his computer to his laptop and that he was sure that something was going to happen.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

[Jaemin getting food to eat]

I went to class normally the next morning and finally went to have lunch. I sat with Jaemin who seemed to have gotten his dose of Jeno the night before, so he wasn’t following him like crazy. I later heard that Jeno was in the lab and he told Jaemin to stay back and that was why Jaemin wasn’t trying to follow him the whole morning. I sat across from Jaemin, eyeing the forger’s food that was filled with fries and a hamburger with so much rice. Forger’s had a variety of food unlike assassins and I found myself envious of their ability to choose what they wanted to eat.

We stuck to a certain amount of rice, fruit, salad. Ten had to take in vitamins because he refused to eat fruits. I reached over to take one of Jaemin’s fries but the male slapped my hand away and I made a face.

How selfish!

“Don’t you know how to share?” I asked and Jaemin gave me a look, shaking his head and wagging his finger at me. “What, don't you have any siblings?”

“A female twin,” Jaemin replied, putting two fries up his mouth so they were like vampire fangs. “But I killed her. Drowned her in the shark tank.”

I blinked. Well, that took a turn. It was that moment, Jisung had appeared and somewhat heard what Jaemin said. Jisung gasped, placing his tray beside me before speaking.

“You drowned your sis—” Jisung’s words were cut off by a hand that was placed on his mouth. I saw that it was Renjun who glowered at the young male, whispering something to his roommate before walking away with his tray. Probably to eat with Tae-il since both of them had bonded through their love of psychology.

“Yup. Killed her. Fed her to the giraffes,” Jaemin replied, shrugging.

“Wasn’t it drowned her in the shark tank a moment ago? Now it’s fed her to the giraffes?”

“Yeah. She was buried alive under an avalanche.”

It was obvious Jaemin was so used to lying, he said it with his face deadpan, different from his usually smiling face.

“Is there a reason why you lie about her death?” I found myself asking and much to my relief, Jaemin didn’t seem like he was uncomfortable with my question. Or maybe he wasn’t uncomfortable because he was never going to answer it.

“Same reason why Renjun doesn’t talk about his past,” Jaemin said. “He can never say the “S” word to me. And I can’t say the “M” word.”

“The “S” word?” I asked, Jaemin mouthing the word “sister” silently to me without verbally saying it out. “Oh. What’s the “M” word?”

“Mother,” Jaemin replied. Wow, these kids were ed up. I thought I was ed up, but I couldn’t remember most of my childhood. At least I could say the word “brother” and “parents” without getting triggered unlike these two.

I continued to eat, dropping the subject when a sound on the speaker came on. It was the voice of a female I did not recognize, the female speaking into the mic.

“Oh, it’s Rosé noona,” Jisung said and I remembered that Rosé was the Vice of Medics and Labs. She was clearing before she started to speak.

“Calling all students. Calling all students. Your room evaluations have been sent to Doctor Zhang and he has decided to put the school on lock down. The school will go through intense cleaning and all students must all gather in the gym after lunch. This is a Code Blue—”

The sound of the microphone moving sounded and her voice was replaced by Xiaojun.

“Code Red,” he corrected. “You all are disgusting and you live like pigs.”

I saw Jisung turn red at the announcement.

“I knew this would happen,” he told me softly. “They are going to kill all my pet ants!”

After lunch we all gathered in the gym, Lucas and Jackson were allocating students. Forgers, Assassins, Medics, Hackers and Profilers, and Strategists all stood in different lines for a roll call. They were going to put the building under disinfection and I could already see men in suits and masks walking around the hallways. I saw a man come up on the bleachers, clearing his throat before speaking into the microphone.

“I have seen your evaluations and I am utterly disappointed,” Doctor Zhang said, Xiaojun standing beside him, looking very proud. “Yangyang, you are a disappointment to the Clean up Crew. The fact that you clean for a living is beyond me. You will have to stay in the gym until the school is done with the cleaning process. Tents and small bags for the night are given.”

Xiaojun was nodding at whatever Doctor Zhang said when he began to shout a roll call. When it was done, he walked down from the bleachers and everyone began to part to make way for him, their gaze strained onto the ground.

“Jeffrey…” Doctor Zhang said suddenly, stopping in front of Jaehyun who looked nervous. Jaehyun shuffled. “Where is your lab coat?”

“Washing it, sir.” Jaehyun said almost automatically. “I have to bleach it—”

“Jeffrey,” Doctor Zhang mused, turning to my best friend who looked like a child caught cheating on a test. “Why do you have to bleach it if it’s already white? Did you, perhaps, spill something on it?”

“Uh…” Jaehyun blubbered.

“Fail!” Doctor Zhang sang, moving away from Jaehyun, Xiaojun repeating what Doctor Zhang said to a T.

“Fail!” Xiaojun said to Jaehyun before following Doctor Zhang as he headed towards the door when the door of the gym slammed open and came in a very furious-looking Johnny. Johnny’s long legs brought him towards Doctor Zhang who stopped and stared down the forger.

“Why are people at my lighthouse?” Johnny demanded, Doctor Zhang placing a hand on Johnny’s shoulder.

“Johnny. Everything on this island has to be clean,” Doctor Zhang to him, patting his cheek. “Don’t worry, boy. We won’t go up to the second floor. Whatever you keep up there.”

"Yeah, don't worry," Xiaojun the parrot, repeated.

“Let them clean and leave,” Johnny demanded.

“No can do, Johnny boy. We all know we have to spray every corner of that lighthouse. The mold growing under the sink! Ooh—” Doctor Zhang had a certain flair to him. “Now go and help the younger students put up the tents, Johnny. Don’t be mad. It doesn’t suit you.”

"Yeah, it doesn't suit you." Xiaojun followed. 

Johnny opened his mouth and was about to say something when Doctor Zhang turned and began to walk away, motioning for Xiaojun to follow him. Xiaojun gave a smile to Johnny who glared at him, following the doctor out of the gym. I guessed the only person who could sleep in his own room would be Xiaojun because he was always clean.

It took a few hours to wait for the younger students to put up their tents while the older ones waited. While I was waiting, I sat beside Jeno who was on his phone. Jaemin was prancing from tent to tent, bothering people and he seemed to have made a few friends in the forger community. One of them would be Jungwoo, a forger I hardly see around. I wondered if he was always going on missions, or if he just wasn’t given much to do.

I saw Jaehyun with Jungwoo, the male’s face turning serious as he pulled Jungwoo into his tent. We were to sleep with our room mates and Chenle told me to wait until he finished putting the tents up. By the time all the te