Jinah finished her cereal and put it in the sink, about to leave. She decided to go to this Rave thing. It’d be experience, right? She had a feeling it was a recurring event in a gang’s life. Why would they try to bring her if it was otherwise? “I’ll watch my mouth for dwelling slang. That’s it, right?”

           “No, actually, that’s not all,” Lay said, stopping her in her tracks. “You… kind of have to dress… err – differently…”

           She narrowed her eyes instantly. “What do you mean ‘different’?”

           “Like, you can’t go there in jeans or sweats. You have to dress like…your ceremony attires, kind of. Not exactly,” Lay explained and made wild hand gestures when she rolled her eyes and put her hands on her hips in disapproval. “We can leave there quickly. We will. It starts at six and ends at three in the morning, but we’ll slip out ASAP. I guarantee you that.”

           Jinah frowned and groaned. She considered and took everything she had just learned in. Dress, makeup, hair, heels, jewelry…could she really handle it all over again? She thought she had escaped it all since yesterday after the ceremony, but it looked like she’d have to go through it all again. And it wasn’t going to be the last time.

           “You really don’t have a choice,” Luhan said, a cheeky grin on his face. That juck just had to make things worse, Jinah thought. If anything, she hated being commanded around, or being forced into doing things.

           She glared at him, but there was no use. It was a waste of effort. Luhan was right. And when Lay asked her if she was okay with this all – going to the Rave, dressing up, so on – she didn’t even try to suppress her urge to roll her eyes. “I don’t have a choice, do I?” she snapped, and walked out of the kitchen area and went to her room to read her steam off.

           Lay raised his eyebrows at Luhan, who shrugged. Luhan had just said the truth, what was so bad about that? But Lay just shook his head. If Luhan wasn’t good-looking, he wouldn’t even be able to charm a single girl – not with his thick density in personality and cruelty with words. Well, his charismatic and confident demeanor may seem attractive… but his mocking smile would look creepy if it wasn’t on his angelic face. How ironic, Lay thought. Luhan wasn’t a jerk through and through like Kai, but he still was a douchebag sometimes. Wasn’t there something like pity or empathy with the two?

           Jinah opened her book and read. The faint scent of her dwelling room remained on the cover and pages, making a whole collection of memories rush through her brain. She wanted to go back to her dwelling now but it had only been a day with this gang. She would visit soon, even if it wasn’t today. She was so worked up by Luhan’s words, the Rave, the sudden thought of her dwelling, and the book’s plot that she hadn’t even noticed Sehun’s presence. It was as if he was a shadow. But it wasn’t supernatural – he was just easy to pass by, or ignore. Until you saw his face of course – looks like his weren’t just ignored.

           Sehun raised one eyebrow slightly at her fast breaths that were slowing down gradually, and he wondered what made her worked up. But he shrugged a bit and continued to read the book in his hands – the fact book from Jinah’s knapsack.

A few hours later, when it was around three, the gang ate lunch. Jinah didn’t say a word as the gang joked around with one another. It was just plain fish and rice with water. They were running out of water soon, so Jinah took note of that. After she finished, she wiped with the back of her hand and put her bowl and side dish and chopsticks in the sink and left to her room in silence. The gang’s eyes followed her as she left, not that she cared.

           “Why’s she so cold?” Kai asked. “I mean, I don’t really care, but you know. She was already quite cold. What made her colder?”

           Lay eyed Luhan, who acted like he was completely oblivious to it. What Luhan said wasn’t that mean, was it? Lay sighed. “She’s upset because Luhan exposed the fact that she was forced to come to the Rave with us.”

           “Well, she was going to find out sometime,” Chanyeol said with a shrug. “I don’t see what the big deal is.”

           “She’s a female. Their mind works differently, remember?” Baekhyun said as he washed down the rice and fish with drink of water. “And Callidum girls are proud as . She probably hates being forced to do things, am I right?”

           Lay nodded. Xiumin rolled his eyes. Saying that he was done, he went into his room. He was sick of all the fuss about Jinah. What was so great about her? Did anyone care about Aheun and the sibling contract? Going to a Rave without Aheun…what was the gang thinking? Outside, Tao sighed. He knew why Xiumin was unhappy. He wished the gang would be a little more supportive of Xiumin and Aheun, but they talked on mindlessly, their topic on Jinah shifting to females at the Rave.

           “What’s our motive?” Suho asked, then he his lips deviously. “Girls?”

           Chen made a face. “Suho, come on. We have a Prix.”

           “She’s not going to let any of us do anything to her,” Suho said.

           “See? Suho likes s!” Chanyeol said, earning a smack on the head by Kris. Kris didn’t like his gang mates arguing. It was tiresome and annoying, and because both Suho and Chanyeol were loud, their arguments were always ear-splitting.

           “Money?” D.O guessed.

           “We got a load from Smoke last week,” Baekhyun said, shaking his head.

           “Is it for entertainment?” Kris asked. “Seriously, after the lame face-off with Thorn yesterday, I wouldn’t mind a fight with a good gang. I can’t believe Thorn was ranked a Middle gang…they ! And if they show up…well, Suho can do enough anger-sparking with his skinship with Jinah.”

           Sehun quietly ate his food as he listened to his gang talk it out.

           Baekhyun nodded at Kris’s suggestion/question. “I think entertainment. Fang’s coming. They have trashy for Prixes – bringing Jinah would be a fresh slap to their faces.”

           “Some of them are hot,” Suho said, and Baekhyun smacked the back of his representative’s head because he knew a snappy comment from Chanyeol was coming up if he hadn’t done that.

           “Hey, can we pick a fight with Thorn? Beat the crap out of them?” Kris asked, and then both Suho and Chanyeol took this chance to hit the back of Kris’s head.

           Kai scoffed, “Kris, seriously? What would we be fighting them for? It’s not even worth it. And we only have one Prix.”

           “Maybe two,” Tao said. He wasn’t going to let the gang forget about Aheun.

           Lay shrugged. “We’ll see at the Rave tonight. I’m going to go make a few calls so that her hair and makeup people will be taken care of. Don’t worry Chanyeol, it’s a new place, so you won’t be seeing…um, you know. In the meantime, think of a general dress idea for Jinah. We’re leaving here in twenty. Be ready.” Lay left the table, taking his phone out as he did, and instantly dialed a number. “Hello?”

           Chanyeol nudged Chen. “What are we wagering if we’re fighting – anyone?”

           Chen shrugged. “Probably money. What else? We can’t put our Prix on the line. That’d be too risky. Plus, it wouldn’t hurt to have some extra cash, right? Jinah went shopping yesterday and today. What if she goes again tomorrow? I’m sure her – um, feminine needs, haven’t been fulfilled yet. I sense a major cleanup coming up.”

           Chanyeol groaned. “Seriously, why can’t we use the upstairs room? The maids come in to clean that place up.”

           “Furtive reasons,” Baekhyun answered simply. “So, the dress for Jinah – what are you guys thinking?”

           “Green looked good on her,” D.O said thoughtfully. “That’s how she caught our eye, right?”

           “It was how she shoved the other girl and looked like a monster, but yeah, she did look good in green,” Chen said, nodding. “That was a shocker. I didn’t expect her to glare so fiercely, and shove another person like that. She is a female after all.”

           Kai smirked. “Just perfect to be our Prix, hey?”

           “Or how about red? Mimi wears red dresses,” Suho said. He put up an arm to defend himself from Kris. “What? I’m just suggesting!”

           “We’re not trying to make her seductive, we’re trying to make her – oh.” Chanyeol frowned. “Oh. Well, red wouldn’t be that bad… it’s going to be dark anyway.”

           Luhan shook his head. “No, not red. Let’s go for black. She looked good in black.”

           Chanyeol’s jaw almost dropped. “D-Did you just –”

           “–c-compliment –” Suho stammered.

           “– a girl?” Baekhyun finished. The three stared at Luhan dramatically. Even Kai and Sehun had their eyebrows raised. Luhan wasn’t the type to contribute to conversations. Yet he did, and he had been since yesterday. It was only a day span, but enough to shock the rest. Jinah was different, she was special. She was their Prix for a reason. But they didn’t know she was this special.

           Luhan shrugged it off coolly. “It’s not a big deal, is it?”

           “Yeah it is, you’re Luhan!” they would have said, but they didn’t. Luhan was a gang member. They shouldn’t treat him like he’s a king or anything. He was their leader, but a human being. They should include him like they would for a different gang member – Lay would always scold him, so they just nodded it off.

           Luhan leaned back in his seat, his wooden chair slanting back and watched s fidget in amusement. He knew they thought of him as a cruel person. He didn’t mind. He didn’t care, really. It was DE, wasn’t it?

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Weak ending! >< For the next few chapters, it'll be preparing for the Rave, so the endings will be..uh, weak. /siiigh. & note that Luhan's regular disposition and attitude change with Jinah are two different sides of him. Mm.. yeah huehue

-deardeerhan