It was nine in the morning the next day. Sehun nudged Jinah, but from his light and surface touches, Jinah didn’t wake up. After all, she was a heavy sleeper. He placed a hand hesitantly on her arm and shook her a bit harder. She kicked his stomach and groaned, and Sehun fell back from the impact. Baffled, he blinked several times, eyes round, in the midst of processing what just happened. Did she just – do that? He almost laughed. Then he realized just how conceited he had become in the past few years. He was surprised because he didn’t think anyone would dare do that to him since he was a Wolf. The fear dripping out from his opponents and the dominating intimidation from his presence had become a shield. Jinah, who was still ignorant of just how scary and powerful Sehun is, was ignorant of the shield too. She really was different. He didn’t know good or bad – it was too early to make that decision – but different she was.

          Sehun sighed. Today was her first day of training. She had one more morning of leisure and peace, and then everything changes. Sehun put his hand out, thinking, Might as well since she’s finding out today. After a deep breath, he released the pressure that had built up in his hand. Jinah, along with her blanket, was pushed against the window – rather, the wall with the blinds covering it – and she groaned again. “What the hell…ugh.” She scrambled around and put her hand through her hair and messed it up in exasperated irritation. “Go away, Baekhyun!” she cried. For the past week, it was usually Baekhyun that did the chore of waking Jinah up. With other gangs, it was usually Prixes who woke up the gang. But not Wolf. At least, not the seventh generation.

          Sehun didn’t know what to do and just stared at her dumbfounded. Then he remembered why he came here. “Jinah, you have to wake up. We’re eating outside today.”

         “Baek –” Jinah stopped. She shot up and met Sehun’s expressionless face. “Oh my god, Sehun…” she swallowed and blinked several times. “Awkward. Um…okay. I’m awake. And we’re eating out? Where?”

          As she got off the bed, Sehun answered her, “Italian.”

          Jinah yawned as she went to the bathroom. She didn’t bother closing the door as she normally would. Sehun caught her doing weird things – talking and gritting her teeth in her sleep, whisper-yelling in frustration at her books, wearing her shirt backwards – and he already saw her sleeping face, morning face, tired face, and whatnot. She hardly had anything to hide from him, other than the obvious. He knew of her embarrassing habits already, so it was pointless to pretend that those tendencies don’t exist. “What’s that?” she asked, just before she started brushing her teeth.

          “You know about Italy, right? About countries and everything?”

          “Eung-hng” was Jinah’s reply as she brushed her teeth. was filled with foam.

          Sehun wasn’t even disgusted by it because the other gang members did that too often, and he didn’t know exactly what ‘ladylike’ was. He never really cared either, but mostly, he didn’t know. “Italian food is food from Italy. What Italians eat.”

          “Oh.” Jinah spat the foam out. “Red and white stuff, right?” she asked, before she resumed brushing her teeth.

          “Yeah. Pasta…spaghetti, lasagna, pizza, garlic bread…do they sound familiar to you?”

          Jinah spat the foam out a second time. “Nope,” she said as she rinsed with the sink water.

          “Oh. Well. It’s good,” Sehun told her. She didn’t say anything and simply started washing her face. “See you in ten.”

          Jinah gave him an ‘OK’ sign before she began using the soap. Sehun closed the room door as he exited the room. Then he frowned. Was it just him, or did Jinah seem more friendly than yesterday? Or any other day? He let out a small sigh to himself. Jinah had just made things worse inadvertently. As if they needed to feel any guiltier about drowning her with abrupt loads of unpleasant news.

The Italian restaurant was at the markets, and luckily, they didn’t have to wait long for their food. That meant a happy D.O. The waiter was very patient and polite, and the food was delicious and the aura was enjoyable. The faint background music was foreign and wordless, but nonetheless serene and fitting. Jinah, at first, frowned at the strange-looking food. But after Baekhyun had insisted that she tried it, Jinah did, and it was one of the best things that had ever entered .

          “This is so good!” she exclaimed.

          “Ew, don’t talk with your mouth full – damn it, what the did you even learn at your dwelling?!” Xiumin scolded.

          Jinah completely ignored him. “Italian food, is it? Can we come here more often?”

          “It’s ing expensive. Are you retarded? Of course not,” Xiumin growled.

          Jinah ignored him again. It was as if he wasn’t even there. Baekhyun quickly played along. She seemed more…‘open’ today. He wasn’t going to let this chance go. “Sure! Anytime. I like it too, so we can come here whenever you want.”

          “Baekhyun, you’re turning her into a ing princess,” Xiumin spat, and rolled his eyes.

          She beamed at him before she dug in. Baekhyun looked at the gang to see how they were reacting to Jinah’s openness and friendliness. Some seemed surprised – in a good way. Others looked pleased or glad. Baekhyun felt accomplished. She really took my words to heart, didn’t she?

          As Xiumin mumbled on about how the food wasn’t even that great, Jinah said the complete opposite. The gang was a bit taken a back from her sudden openness, but no one minded. In fact, most of them enjoyed this new change.

          But her change also reminded them of the imminent dread. Luhan had told Lay about his plan and Baekhyun didn’t try too hard to back him up. Lay, understanding Luhan and where he was coming from, agreed, and told the others while Jinah was sleeping. Some opposed – people like Chanyeol, Tao, Kris, and Chen thought they were going too fast, afraid to overwhelm her. But Suho and D.O thought Jinah could handle it. Xiumin didn’t even care and he went to sleep early. This time, Tao stayed with the gang to discuss this. He wasn’t a big fan of Jinah’s, but to start that after just a week…that was too much. And then there was the risk of Jinah blurting everything out to Aheun if – no, when she gets accepted.

         For most of the time, Wolf talked about nonchalant things, and enjoyed themselves with food and lightheaded conversations. Baekhyun played with his food, hardly touching his food as he flashed the others a small smile when their eyes landed on him. No one seemed to notice his discomfort, though. Even Jinah was somewhat engaging in the conversation, giving her two-bit once in awhile.

          When they were done, Suho paid for the gang and they left the restaurant. Just to make Jinah a bit happier, Baekhyun insisted on shopping for clothes. But Jinah declined, saying that the gift they got her yesterday was more than enough. On top of that – she smiled. I really need to get used to this, Baekhyun thought, returning the smile. He could see the effort behind her smiles; she was really trying to be more open. Perhaps she was trying a bit too hard, and perhaps it was a tad too obvious that she was forcing herself, but he appreciated her earnest endeavors. So now…he just had to – “Let’s go see a movie? I’m thinking suspense horror. Gotta burn off all those calories with the goosebumps, right?”

         Luhan shot him a dirty look.

         “Let’s just go to the base,” Jinah said with a sigh, rubbing her eyes. “I still haven’t slept everything off yet. Do you see this face?” she pointed at her nose. “It’s swollen. It means I need more sleep.”

         “Jinah, you slept for almost nine hours. That’s more than the rest of us. If I can go, then so can you!” Baekhyun said.

         “No, I can’t. I can’t handle talking as much as you or your stamina. Yeah, no. Base. Let’s go to the base. I’m so friggin’ tired, goodness…”

         “Wait, how about…” Baekhyun hastily racked his brain for something – anything. He sparked up brightly, pointing an index finger at the sky for emphasis. “Oh, yeah! Jinah, there’s a new romance-comedy movie that came out yesterday. Let’s go to the theater and –”

         “Base,” Jinah dictated.

         Baekhyun pouted but Jinah ignored it.

         Luhan cleared his throat as he took Jinah’s wrist and looked at her watch. “It’s half past ten. About time.”

         Jinah saw Baekhyun and Luhan exchange a look, as if finalizing a decision. Baekhyun looked dejected, and Luhan seemed normal. She frowned a bit, but she didn’t question it. Something told her that she was going to find out soon…and her intuition told her that it wasn’t going to be very positive.

         “Aye, is that Wolf?”

         Wolf turned around upon hearing their gang name, which was basically like their own name. Twelve guys. One girl. A gang. Judging from their expensive attires, they were obviously a Top Gang. Jinah narrowed her eyes at the girl – was that…?

         “Haha, it is Wolf! Wow, their Prix is prettier up close…”

         “Long time no see, Wolf!”

         Jinah frowned. She went on her tiptoes to look at the familiar jet-black hair. Only she had it completely straight and brushed like that… “Liha?”

         “Jinah?”

         It was her. Liha from Callidum. Liha the quiet, studious girl who never really stood out. Liha who was really smart and had top grades. Liha, who was the third Top Candidate of Callidum. Meeting Liha meant that Jinah was given a second chance – for some real answers about Callidum and everyone from there.

         “Hey, that’s Wolf’s new Prix. Jinah, right?” a brown-haired boy came up to them. Wolf was on their guard. The boy chuckled and came closer. He leaned right in and Jinah leaned right back. He commented, “You’re real cute.”

         Jinah grimaced and Chanyeol pushed him back. “Don’t even think about it, Minhyuk.”

         “Say…you guys haven’t had a Prix for awhile, right? You wouldn’t mind not having one for another year, right?” the boy, Minhyuk, teased.

         “I don’t like what you’re saying or what I think your words are implying,” Chanyeol glared at him. “Do as I say while I’m being nice – go back to your base.”

          Minhyuk raised an eyebrow. “And if I say no?”

         “Minhyuk, come on, let’s not!” a black-haired boy from behind called. “We already have Liha. We don’t need more.”

          “She’s quiet as hell!” Minhyuk retorted. “Come on, Sungjae, not everyone’s as patient as you are. Who cares about patience anyway? That’s what girls have to have. Not us. It’s a useless trait.”

          Jinah’s eyes thinned at the brunet’s words. So they were another typical DE ist gang.

          “They’re a Top Gang,” Sungjae stated blandly.

          “So are we. We already decided on this. Stop arguing.” Minhyuk glared at Sungjae, who turned away. Then, Minhyuk faced Wolf. He shifted his weight and looked at them with a raised eyebrow. “We saw your interview. You guys are really good at acting, aren’t you? Damn, maybe you can get actors as official jobs when eighth gen comes in.”

          “What are you trying to say?” Suho looked at him with great suspicion. He had more than just an inkling as to where this was going, and to what Minhyuk wanted.

          “Challenge. We’re challenging you for your Prix.”