It was two in the morning now.

         At the base, Suho’s team lost for the fourth time in total. Kai, Luhan, and Sehun, Team A, hadn’t lost a game so far and were on a win-streak. Chanyeol excitedly high-fived his teammates in victory. Well, half-victory. Kai planted a time-bomb and they exploded to death but they weren’t the first team killed for once.

          “Shut up! You had a 6-dead streak!” Suho shouted, finding his voice.

          “At least I wasn’t killed by a predictable mine trap.” Chanyeol stuck his tongue out.

          “You little –”

          “We’re home!”

          They turned around to see Baekhyun and Jinah kick their shoes off as they walked in with a cart. The last generation had accidentally stolen a shopping cart and hadn’t bothered to return it. The handle was so worn out the brand name was unreadable, so the current generation couldn’t return it. So they kept it, in case they found use for it. The cart was filled with so many stuffs and plastic bags that the gang was speechless.

          Jinah took a deep breath. She looked at the gang who had their mouths wide open and eyes round as baseballs. She saw that Xiumin was asleep and instantly felt better. “The more you help, the more you can eat?” she tried. She nervously waited for their response to her cheesy suggestion. She regretted it immediately as silence followed. But it wasn’t silent because the gang thought her catchphrase was stupid – it was because no one had ever prepared food for them personally, or gone out to do work for them, or do anything for them. Not since a long time. They were taught to live independently, to grow up and raise themselves. Like a machine. That was what was drilled into their heads since they were twelve.

          Sehun turned back to the screen and clicked a button on his controller. Two of the three divided parts of the screen exploded into flames. The gang all turned their attention to their screens immediately and groaned loudly in disapproval, and threw their arms up in exasperation.

          “That was cheap, Oh Sehun!” Chanyeol exclaimed. “That was so cheap and unfair! Detonating a hidden bomb while we were afg? Come on!”

          More comments like Chanyeol were spoken but Sehun just blinked at the screen. Luhan laughed. Jinah frowned at the term Chanyeol used; “Afg?” she asked.

          Baekhyun nodded. “Away from game – it’s game/gang slang.”

          Sehun got up from the ground, leaving his controller there. The first part of the screen read “YOU WON” while the other two said “YOU DIED”. Sehun let the game’s narrator dramatically announce his team the winner and got up. “Let’s eat. Food’s here.”

          D.O woke up from his slumber abruptly. “Did you just say food?”

          The gang laughed and so did Baekhyun. Jinah was thoroughly confused, but Baekhyun told her about D.O’s food obsession. They came to sit down around the dining table but Baekhyun shook his head. “We gotta unpack before we eat. We did shop, you know.”

          “The more you help, the more you eat,” Jinah added with a little more confidence.

          They hurried on over, eager to help especially since food was reward. Jinah counted the members – there were twelve including Baekhyun and herself, since Xiumin was asleep. “Three teams, four in each. Let’s get into groups before we sort out the roles.”

          Luhan and Sehun shifted towards Baekhyun and Jinah as Kai went with Lay, Suho, and Chanyeol, leaving the last team for D.O, Kris, Tao, and Chen. “Great. Hm, okay. We’ll unload everything and then Team Two – that’s Kai, Lay, Suho, and Chanyeol – put everything out of the bags. When that happens, Team Three will make sure that every single thing inside this kitchen – plates, cups, pots, so on – in the cart. If it’s decent, put them in the sink. Let’s finish that first.”

          The gang understood her and some nodded as they began doing their assigned task. It’s so much easier without Xiumin, thought Jinah, but then shook her head. Who cares? She, Baekhyun, Luhan, and Sehun put all the plastic bags on the counter where Tem Two took the items inside of the bag, out and pushed the plastic bags to the back. Jinah took the plastic bags and folded them into little triangular pieces so that they could reuse it in the future. Miss Kim had taught her this…

          Meanwhile, Team Three; D.O, Kris, Tao, and Chen, opened cabinets and drawers, taking everything out, examining them, and then put them in the cart because they knew the stuff they had in the kitchen wasn’t exactly…clean or new, or even usable safely. While Team Three continued on with their organizing, for they had quite a bit of junk stocked up, Jinah gave the other two teams new jobs. “Everything that is edible goes in the fridge. We’ll do that. You guys can put everything that is sued with foods like plates, cutlery, bowls, and pans, in the sink. If you find the dish soap or detergent and sponge on the counter – it should be there – put it by the sink. And, Team Three –” they stopped organizing for a second “–when you’re done with that, two of you go put everything in the cart into a black garbage bag. Try not to break any more of the stuff, okay? The other two – trash the old antibacterial spray and use the new one, spray it on a kitchen towel, and wipe down the cabinets once emptied and the dining table. The old spray is underneath the sink by the way.”

          “Wait, why are we putting the plates and in the garbage bag?” Kris asked. There was a bit of hesitation as Chen nudged him. When Kris frowned at him, Chen simply shook his head.

          Jinah shrugged. “We can recycle the stuff, or donate it. We’ll give it to the general Environmental Department. They’ll know what to do.”

          Kris nodded. “Okay.”

          Gang members weren’t supposed to rub their habits and lifestyles to their Prix so quickly – the previous generation taught them that. The last gen gave them a recommended  schedule in a week span, and the first day, they were supposed to take it especially easy to let their Prix get used to their new environment. Not every gang followed this rubric though. Some Prixes learned about gangs the quick way, or the hard way. But Wolf wasn’t a cruel gang, despite their image. Swearing wasn’t proper within the dwellings, and the gang knew that. But Jinah didn’t mind too much. It was just a word after all. She too, swore at the meet to Xiumin, and to Jaein. It really wasn’t a big deal, or not as much as the dwelling representatives made it seem.

          She clapped her hands once and turned to the sink where already, Team Three had dishes an cups piled up. The newly bought detergent, dish soap, and sponge was by the sink. “I’ll do the dishes…right after I get the rice cooking. When you guys are done with that, just dry the dishes I put in the rack and put them back in the cabinets and drawers, okay?”

          “Aye, aye, captain,” Baekhyun mockingly saluted her, making her smile a bit, and he was glad to see it. He didn’t know what motherly love was, for his mom had passed away after giving birth to him, and he didn’t have a particularly special bond with his father either. He had no idea where his dad was, but from the instructors, Prixes were supposed to be toys. But from the last generation, Prixes were a non-biological mother or sister. That’s how the last Prix was like. Baekhyun preferred the latter option.

          From the last generation, they were taught many things. One of them was that females were actually very fragile beings, no matter what dwelling they came from, how they looked, who they seemed to be, and so on. “But ‘fragile’ doesn’t necessarily mean stick-thin and quiet,” one of the previous gang members had told them. “Not always.” But no one in the gang seemed to fully understand that, not even Lay. But the previous generation had guaranteed them that when they get a Prix, they would understand. Baekhyun had high expectations for Jinah. And if somehow, she was fragile too, even with her barricaded eyes and cold attitude, then he and the gang should do their best to make her feel welcome. The last gen also told them that they didn’t have to always be romantically involved with their Prix, whether she or they were loyal or not. That was a relief for Baekhyun – no one from the gang had real experience with a girl other than Lay, who grew up with his childhood friend and although she was sent to a dwelling, they wrote to each other and kept in touch. He had never forgotten the feeling which he failed to explain, or her name. But he hadn’t seen her since twelve, and that was the last time they secretly met up. They were caught once and they learned to never try meeting up again. Sometimes, Lay would ponder on about her, but it was futile. He didn’t even know her last name, or where she was now. Xiumin was the only other person who had experience, for he had a sister, but he was clueless when it came to romance too. He knew that his sister was insecure and sensitive. That was it.

          Jinah washed the rice and put it in a bucket that came with the cooker, and placed it inside the device. The instructions said that it would take approximately forty minutes. That was enough time, especially when twelve pair of hands were at work. Luhan and Baekhyun were figuring out where to put the food while Sehun physically did the work. That didn’t take long and it was over soon. They trashed the old sweets that were stores in the fridge, for they were way past expiry date. Kris took out all the things from the top cabinets for he was the tallest, and Chen decided whether to put them in the cart or the sink, and Tao took out everything else and helped Chen decide. While his friends worked, D.O hungrily stared at the cold kimchi stew. Suho and Chanyeol kept bumping into each other and hitting the other and bickering so they hardly got work done. Lay volunteered to wash the dishes so that Jinah could warm up the stew and he asked Kai to help him dry. Accepting Lay’s offer, Jinah poured the kimchi stew into a washed large pot and put it over the fire. D.O almost drooled at the scent. When the old wooden spoon was washed, Jinah stirred the stew, the delicious aroma of Miss Han’s cooking filling the room. It reminded the gang about their hunger, but for Jinah, it reminded her of her old dwelling and the times back there. She wished she could have appreciated the women there more. Running through the ceremonial course didn’t even sound that bad anymore, as long as she could see Miss Kim and the rest again.

          Without being told by Jinah, Sehun and Baekhyun helped Lay and Kai with the dishes. Luhan briskly held Jinah’s bent arm until she flinched – he let go of her then, which was almost immediately after. “How’s it coming?”

          “Uh, good,” Jinah replied. She sounded normal, but she knew that he could sense her tension, because he smirked. Why was she feeling breathless again? Well, when a guy is this close to you, how can you not be, she thought. She still wanted to slap herself for getting tense like that. Where was her pride?

          He nodded and leaned against the counter beside her. His mouth was still uneven because of his smirk. Jinah kept her eyes on the stew and stirred. He could do whatever he wanted – what did she have to do with it?

          “Say, what do they teach you at the dwelling? Anything about gangs or whatever?” Luhan asked in his sweet but not tender voice. “You know… maybe some common traits between the gangs or… certain – ah, capabilities?”

          “Not really. Only your ranking system. We were told that Prixes are the maid of the gangs, that we must do whatever the gangs please. Patience and tolerance of ourselves is a gift, which was why Caritatis and Pacem were so popular – selfless and peaceful, submissive.”

          “And Callidum?”

          Jinah chortled softly. She shook the liquid off of the wooden spoon, smacking it against the rim of the pot, and put it aside. Then she covered the pot with a metal lid. Her hands trailed down to the oven handle. “We’d do anything for knowledge.”

          Luhan leaned in, testing her. Jinah’s grip tightened on the oven’s handle. “Anything?”

          “Well, yeah…”

          “And pride?”

          “What about it?”

          “What would you do to protect it?”

          “Anything. Well, actually,” Jinah averted her eyes to think. “I can’t really say. Some Callidum girls don’t really protect their pride as much as others. I’m not Callidum’s leader, so I couldn’t say.”

          “But you? You pride? What length would you go to protect it? What if your pride and chance to gain great knowledge clash? Which would you choose?”

          Jinah felt slightly overwhelmed at Luhan’s sudden bombard of questions, especially since the talkative one was Baekhyun and Luhan didn’t seem like the type to behave this way, but she just shrugged. “It would depend by situation. As for Callidum in general – it would be the difference in personality and personal values. I have never come across that situation, not that I know of. Why?”

          Luhan sank back leisurely. He gave her a small smirk. “No reason.”