She went back over to the couch with a bowl and a spoon. She ate while watching the other eight game. Kris and Lay were killed by Sehun. For a beginner and a rookie gamer, Jinah was pretty good. Sure, most of her kills were accidents or luck, but it still didn’t change the fact that she was a whole lot better than Chanyeol, who had been gaming since he first found out about it. Two whole years. Jinah didn’t even get two weeks.

          “So after I wake up, you’ll tell me right away?” Jinah asked Luhan quietly. She was quiet for two reasons. One, because it damaged her pride just a bit to ask, because it showed how desperate she was to know. Second, because she knew better than to disturb D.O when he was gaming. At other times, D.O would tell others to shut up fairly quietly. But while he was gaming, he became a monster.

          Luhan also replied quietly. “Yes.”

          She didn’t push it. At least now, she knew that she was going to get some answers. Next, she had to find out about Tiff’s and Minjung’s whereabouts, visit her dwelling, and maybe visit Soyu and Bora. She had to return the charm bracelet that Soyu let her borrow for the interview today. Jinah mentally shuddered, remembering Cheonsa’s face. Even if she wasn’t with Cheonsa anymore, Jinah’s dislike grew for the middle-aged woman by the minute.

          “You don’t hate us, right?”

          Jinah frowned at Luhan upon the question that popped out, out of the blue. “What?” she said. He didn’t say anything. He was sincerely waiting for her answer. She blinked and before she could get lost in those pensive eyes, she asked the question again to herself mentally before she came up with a verbal answer. “Uh, no… why?”

          He shrugged, and faced the TV screen again. “Just checking. Don’t mind Xiumin – he’s like that because of his sister.”

          Answers. An opportunity with answers. “Yeah… what was her name? Ahri?”

          “Aheun,” Luhan corrected nonchalantly. “Xiumin’s worried about her. She’s a Pacem.” Jinah nodded at his words. She didn’t know what type of ‘answer’ she was getting, but she listened anyway. She hardly knew anything nowadays anyway. Luhan took a side-glance at Jinah and sighed. “There’s always this rivalry with a ‘Pure Prix’ and ‘Half Prix’. You are the Pure Prix, the one that the gang chose officially. If Aheun gets in, or we get a Prix through a challenge or whatever, they’re a Half Prix. They’re of lower value because they weren’t our first Prix. Well,” Luhan half-laughed and half-smiled, “Thorn’s Pure Prix is of ‘lower value’ than you because their current Prix wasn’t their first choice. But, you know.”

          No, I don’t know, thought Jinah, but she didn’t say it out loud. Instead, she asked, “Why are you telling me this?”

          “If she gets accepted,” Luhan locked eyes with Jinah. “She might bear a grudge against you.”

          Jinah nodded slowly. She still didn’t get it. Was he warning her? She was already used to people not liking her – Jaein, Yooni, Miss Park, Xiumin…and she could tell neither Miyu nor Tao were a fan of hers either. She didn’t really care. It didn’t affect her in any way. “Okay.”

          He gave her a nod, as if ending the conversation, and watched the game progress. Kai and D.O were repeatedly shooting each other. Judging by ammo, Kai was at the disadvantage, but Sehun, his teammate, was quickly coming to his aid.

          After another hour, Jinah had no purpose of staying up. Besides, she wanted to sleep so she could quickly wake up and get the answer she wanted: common traits and capabilities of the gang. But when she got up, Baekhyun did too. He caught her wrist. She frowned, but didn’t say anything as he dragged her to the kitchen. She was not only tired, but she had a feeling she was going to get more answers, only that these would be worth remembering.

          “To finish what Luhan was trying to say…” Baekhyun started. “Aish, that idiot. He never gets his point across. Not everyone’s a genius like him, you know? Jack…” he sighed, and Jinah blinked at him curiously. “Simply put, we’re not a very big fan of Aheun. Well, some of us anyway. She sticks to Luhan like gum, no joke. Well, tries to anyway. She – he – oh my god, I at this.” Baekhyun messed his hair up in frustration. He took a deep breath before he tried explaining again. “I – no one, expects you to be all sunshine and rainbow with Aheun. I mean, sometimes, I just really want to scream at her face, but she’s just naïve. A bit too naïve, but what can she do? Innocence and purity are rare things, almost nonexistent, and even I have this protective instinct for her. She just can’t help but be really dumb sometimes. Just like how you can’t help but be distant with us, which leads to another point Luhan-the-Great-Idiot didn’t cover. When he asked you if you hated us, he wasn’t ‘just checking’. Well, he might’ve been, that’s not the only reason. You – it’s not hard to tell that your natural personality is different from the attitude you’re giving us. And by ‘attitude’ I don’t mean, like, sassy attitude. I mean behavior. The way you’re acting. It’s okay to open up, you know. And…” he smiled at her, like the way Lay smiles. Gentle, genuine, and soothing. “You’re really pretty when you smile. Even prettier when you laugh. I think you’re pretty even with that frown of yours, but I like it better when you’re happy.”

          Jinah blinked twice, her lips apart. She didn’t know how to react to this.

          Baekhyun stuck his tongue out to the side and averted his eyes sheepishly. “If you need to talk, we’re here. I know Xiumin can be a prick at times, but he’s just disappointed. In us. See, we were supposed to choose Aheun. But of course, Suho found a brilliant girl instead, who completely outshines Aheun.” He winked at her.

          Jinah frowned at the last bit. “Don’t say that. You don’t even know me.”

          “Well, I want to get to know you, so you have to help me by opening up. Plus, I think I know enough about you and Aheun to safely assume that you’re a whole lot more fit to be Wolf’s Prix than her.”

          Jinah bit the insides of her cheeks, feeling anxious. “Is she really that bad?”

          Baekhyun sighed. “Not really. She’s just the type to get on my nerves. She’s just your typical Pacem girls. And, to be honest, I really hate Pacem girls.” He growled, “They’re like a million copies of the same thing – over and over and over and over again. It’s annoying, predictable, and boring as hell. I actually thought about visiting Intrepidus last year. Anyways, main point is, you can really let your walls down. You’re suffering too. Acting like that every single day… it must be hard. I understand that it’s not easy to suddenly change personalities, so you can take your time. But you can start changing. It’s tiring to distance yourself from everyone, isn’t it?”

          Jinah didn’t meet Baekhyun’s eyes. She looked to the side, to the key plate on the wall. She pushed her tongue to the side of her cheek as she took Baekhyun’s words into consideration. She remembered how she was like at the dwelling – serious at times, but still playful. Perhaps a little cold, but cheerful and bright to people she liked, like Minjung. Helpful and willing. Open to opportunities, enjoying daily life. Why was she restraining herself so much? Gangs, base, being a Prix, being away from Miss Kim and Callidum really depressed her and even scared her. She hated seeing people get hurt because of her, no matter what the circumstances were. But Wolf (except for certain exceptions) was nothing but nice and supportive of her. She remembered the blank and empty words she said at the interview – about how much of a help Wolf was to her when it came down to adjusting and adapting. She also realized how there was some truth in those spurious-seeming claims. They really were patient with her, dealing with such a brat. I should really stop acting like a kid…

          Jinah cleared . Even if she acknowledged that her distancing was in vain halfway herself, didn’t mean she was used to the words that Baekhyun had said so sincerely. Thus, her answer was simple and stoic as ever: “Okay.”

          Baekhyun gave her a winning smile, despite the one-syllable answer. He opened his arms to hug her in the heat of the moment, but then his eyes widened in pure shock and fear as he quickly retracted his arms. “S-Sorry. I d-didn’t mean t-to – I mean – I – uh, s-s-sleep well!” With that, Baekhyun hastily turned around and left.

          Jinah watched him run back to the couch. From the questioning look on Chanyeol’s face, he had probably asked what happened. Baekhyun shook his head as a response, keepinghis eyes glued on the TV screen. Baekhyun’s cheeks pinked in embarrassment. Jinah let out a small laugh, shaking her head lightly at his reaction. Let my walls down, huh?

          Luhan heard the door to Sehun’s and Jinah’s room close, and checked behind him to make sure that Jinah had entered the room. He smacked Baekhyun’s arm, who was sitting next to him, to physically show that he wanted to talk. Chanyeol had lied back down on Baekhyun’s lap and was pouting like a child. Baekhyun slowly changed his gaze from the TV screen to Luhan. Luhan hesitated for a second, but he said what was on his mind anyway. “I’ve been thinking for awhile…”

           “About what?” Baekhyun asked, his eyebrows knitting slightly. It was rare for Luhan to initiate a conversation vaguely. Whenever Luhan started a conversation, it was usually direct and straight to the point. His answers were vague and generic, but not his inquiries.

            “About what the host sort of brought up. And from the question that Jinah asked, I’m sure that what Cheonsa said bugged her. You saw the way Jinah clenched her fists when Cheonsa bluntly stated that she didn’t know, right?”

           Baekhyun nodded thoughtfully. “Yeah, Cheonsa really was trying hard to piss Jinah off without making it obvious. Maybe she saw Jinah’s encounter with Dongwoon? The news is dull lately. Maybe she’s just feeling greedy for a scandal.”

            “Maybe. But it doesn’t change the fact that Jinah actually doesn’t know. I think we should tell her…” Luhan said, “…and start, like, tomorrow.”

            “What?! Seriously? You want to start tomorrow? But –”

            “It’s only been a week, I know, but still. I promised her an answer when she wakes up, didn’t I?”

           Baekhyun sighed and shook his head. “You planned this out! I knew something was up when you made a reckless deal like that.” He leaned back so that his head rested on the top of the couch. Baekhyun closed his eyes to ease his body. “Can’t we just enjoy one more week of peace? Teaching and training her all of that is going to be really tiring. Do we have to do it now?”

            “Yes.”

            “Why though? She can manage perfectly fine without knowing. You saw how she punched Chunji. I’m sure she’ll be fine.”

            “Byun Baekhyun.”

           Baekhyun opened his eyes at Luhan. Luhan was serious. Really serious. Baekhyun grabbed a fistful of his own hair, and then smacked his face with his hands and left it there, covering his face completely. Then he answered through his skinny, long fingers, his voice muffled, “Fine.” Baekhyun groaned at his own agreement. His hands slowly lowered, sagging his face. “Why can’t we just keep her in her little bubble? With her laughing and smiling like that – when we gave her the present, I mean… she looked so happy. I think we might be seeing more. Do we have to ruin it already?”

           “She has to find out sometime.”

           “Can’t that ‘sometime’ be later?”

           “It’s going to happen anyway, so why not now?”

          Baekhyun growled. “Teaching her means she’ll know. Once she knows, we have to train her. Once she trains, we have to risk her in our fights. Our fights.” He got on his knees on the couch and raised an index finger in front of Luhan’s face, who frowned but didn’t flinch. “One more day. Jack, please, just one more day. Let’s take her out to eat lunch tomorrow and have fun at the markets – I don’t know, watch a movie or go shopping or something – and then the next day we’ll train her. No, we’ll tell her that night. Okay? That night. Tomorrow night. No complaints there.”

          Luhan sighed. “It’s not like she’s going to get an ability, Baek. What are you trying to protect her so much from anyway?”

          Baekhyun smiled sadly. You really had to ask, didn’t you, Deer? “She reminds me of her. You know, the way she was before she found out.”

         Luhan’s eyes widened ever so slightly. Luhan swallowed and faced the TV screen. Chen was hiding from Tao, who was lurking around the pixel warehouse with a huge shotgun with full ammo. “Morning. We’re taking her out to eat breakfast in the morning. We tell her right after that. When that’s done, we begin training her.” On the last word, Luhan turned to Baekhyun again, wearing a stern expression.

          From the look on Luhan’s face, Baekhyun knew that this was the best deal he was getting. So he nodded, acquiescing. “Okay. Morning. Nine. Training begins at twelve.

          “Eleven.”

          Baekhyun groaned again. “You’re really eager to destroy her happiness, aren’t you?”

          Luhan faced the screen once more. The game had ended. “No, that’s not it.”

          The brunet snorted. “Then what is it?”

          The reaction from the eight players was similar as always – unsatisfied looks, happy expressions, dull faces, and defeated ones, all a mix because of one result in one game, ranging because of personality. So what’s hers? What’s her personality like? Luhan gave Baekhyun a faint smirk, one that hinted anticipation. Baekhyun’s eye grew in size as Luhan said, “I’m simply eager to crack the shield that’s keeping her from the rest of us.”