Most gangs went to Pacem and Caritatis. They had the thinnest and calmest, most submissive girls out there. Jinah immediately searched for Minjung, and she found her. The two began talking as usual, just having a normal conversation in tight clothes. But then Jaein and Yooni decided to join them.

          “Hey Minjung, Jinah,” Yooni said, wiggling her fingers in a girlish way. She was wearing a gold dress with ruffles. Yooni had a screwed up face, a screwed up back, and very wide hips, she needed the ruffles to look feminine. She was skinny nonetheless and had very long legs, but it didn’t make her a better or smarter person. “We thought if we stood next to you, the boys would look in our way. You know. Because you guys look absolutely ridiculous.”

          Jinah laughed coldly. “If you need the effect of my ugliness for attention, then clearly you’re not as pretty as you think. Check Pacem out – they’re swarming with gangs. Why don’t you go over there and see if anyone even tries to look at you?”

          “We’re being resourceful. Oh, and, you and Minjung are equally ugly, don’t worry. It’s not just your ugliness we’re getting help from,” Jaein giggled, Jinah’s arm.

          Jinah snorted, smacking Jaein’s hand away. “Don’t touch me, and quit dragging Minjung into this. You don’t even deserve to be in her pure presence. So,” she lowered her voice down to a whisper, “ off.”

          “Ouch, violent. Careful, or you’ll scare the boys away~” sang Jaein. “But it’s okay. I’m here, so at least they’ll give you a glance?” she fake-smiled and touched Jinah’s arm again.

          Jinah shoved her back, and Jaein almost tripped over her stilettos. Deeply blushing, almost as red as her ty dress, she quickly regained balance. She was lucky Yooni was there or she’d be on the ground with a broken ankle. “I said don’t touch me, you filthy trash. Oh, and,” Jinah let out a ludicrous chuckle, “your legs still look thick and short, even with your ten inch heels.”

          Minjung was too appalled to have said anything to Jaein and Yooni, Jinah knew. The two usually targeted Jinah two on one. Whenever something happened, Minjung told a Miss. That was trouble. They knew to tell someone was to seek for help, a sign of weakness, and Jinah’s pride would keep her from doing that, unlike Minjung, who didn’t care about prides. So, the two targeted Jinah. Jinah always bit back though. Always.

          “Jinah’s so much prettier than you es,” Minjung snapped, finally realizing that Jaein and Yooni still bugged Jinah. She thought it was over after their apology a few years back, but apparently they didn’t mean it. What a fool I am…how could I have not noticed? Minjung thought. “She’ll get guys coming to her voluntarily before they even look at you.”

          Yooni snorted. “Riiiiight. And pigs fly.”

          Then, a guy was walking towards the four Callidum girls. Yooni giggled, “He’s cute.”

          Jaein laughed too. “See what I said? Resourcefulness and beauty.”

          Jinah rolled her eyes, just as Jaein was about to greet the guy. She smiled and batted her eyelashes, “Oh, hi there,” she said in a disgusting voice, a hand on her hip – oh that was not where your legs started, girl! “What gang are you fr –”

          He walked right past her. Instead, he was looking at Jinah. Completely stunned, Yooni’s mouth dangled open, and Jaein looked horrified. Even Jinah was surprised. Jaein may have an ugly personality, but her face wasn’t as screwed up as Yooni’s. Minjung smirked and mouthed, Told you at Yooni and Jaein, like she knew that his gaze was always on Jinah. And maybe she did.

          “You’re the Callidum girl, right? Shin Jinah?” he confirmed. He had an arrogant smirk on his face, but it was cute. It was like a sideways smile more than a smirk, actually. His reddish brown hair was gelled up sideways, the same direction as his smile. His teeth rows were apart, Jinah noticed. Minjung knew it was a sign of positive surprise. It’s in the muscles, Minjung had told Jinah. Muscle-memory. When someone’s feeling positively surprised – you know, surprise parties, unexpected good mark – their mouth just opens, and then they smile, but their teeth aren’t together. Well, most of the time anyway. Especially when they find someone really attractive. Their mouth just opens, and their teeth rows just don’t touch.

          Jinah nodded. Get yourself together. Just because he likes your makeup face doesn’t mean you’re chosen. “Yeah. I mean, yes. I am Shin Jinah…s-sir.”

          He grinned wider. “I’m Suho. I’m from Wolf.”

          Yooni’s mouth was so big and Jaein’s eyes were so big. It was hilarious. Minjung was smiling like crazy, giving winks and making hearts behind the boy’s back, which Jinah could see. Wolf was a Top Gang. A Top Gang liked her makeup face? What the heck?! Was that even possible? This was so unreal, how could…what?! Was this even real?

          “Hi,” Jinah said as calmly as she could. She hid her hands behind her back and pressed her fingernails into her palm. Sweat was accumulating on her palms. Get yourself together, Jinah!

          “Will you come with me?”

          Jinah looked at Minjung, who was wildly closing repeatedly and dramatically. Then she realized what it meant. Jinah closed her own mouth and swallowed. An open mouth was not graceful. was dry. She wet her lips – her tongue returned sticky and glittery. Bad choice. She had forgotten about the lip gloss. Jinah tried a smile and nodded. This was her best shot. “Yeah, sure. I mean, Yes, with plea –”

          “No, keep the casualty. It’s cute,” Suho said. He put his hand on her exposed back. She flinched – she didn’t like random people touching her so freely, but she shoved her words of protest and pride down. This was her best shot.

          She linked arms with him all the sudden and turned around, only to look back and whisper just audibly, “Resourcefulness and beauty.” She winked at the gaping Yooni and Jaein.

          Then she walked on with her arm linked with Suho’s. She caught a lot of attention. Suho was a looker, and he was part of a Top Gang. Wolf was – so high – up there – oh goodness. Was the dress always this tight? She could hardly breathe now. Calm down. Calm down.

          When she knew Jaein had probably stomped away and tried to seduce some random guy with Yooni, she pulled her arm away. Suho raised an eyebrow at her, “Keep linking.”

          “No thanks.”

          He frowned. “Keep linking.”

          “No. Thanks.”

          Both his eyebrows were raised by this time. “You’re one of those proud Callidum girls, I’m guessing? I said keep linking.”

          “I said no thanks.” She knew she was practically saying her own death sentence now, but her pride was her pride. If she had to fake her way for a Top Gang, then she’d rather stay in the dwellings and sleep and eat all day. No, you don’t, a voice said. You don’t want to disappoint Miss Kim and the rest…

          He stared at her for awhile, then laughed. “Oh my, the gang’s going to love you.”

          Jinah frowned at him. “What?”

          “Do you know why Wolf hadn’t chosen anyone for twenty-two years?”

          “H-Huh?”

          “Wolf hasn’t chosen anyone for twenty-two years,” Suho repeated. “Generations passed and no one really found anyone to our liking. And the reason for that is… well, everyone has to agree, and there’s one statement Wolf has, that applies to when choosing our Prix – that, I can’t tell you, but releasing is annoying. All that paperwork…damn, no way.” He chortled. “Other than the minimum of five minutes of having a girl at our table unwillingly during the two meets, we never had anyone more. That girl that’s put on our table – that’s at the very end of the meet. They’re brought to us. But I picked you first, right off the bat. I went out to specifically get you. It’s quite shocking. That’s why so many people are staring at you.”

          Jinah blinked twice until she registered what he had said. She looked around, and he was right – envious girls, males fearing – their eyes were on her. Or Suho. Both ways, her direction. She was not used to this.

          She heard him smirk. “That red-dress found a trash gang. She’s looking this way – are you still not going to link?” Trash gang was slang for Basic gang, or gangs that weren’t worth being with.

          Her frown deepened. “Do you think I’m that pathetic? Doing whatever I can to make someone miserable?”

          He shrugged. “You linked me first.”

          She had no answer to that.

          He stuck his arm out. “Are you still not going to link?”

          She looked straight at him in the eye, and came down to a decision. “So, Wolf. Twenty-two years. The rules with the minimum and everything… can you tell me more? We weren’t told this, any of this,” she said, keeping her arms still unlinked.

          Suho sighed, but he talked. “There’re always a few girls that either aren’t called over to a table or are too shy to go to one. Those get put into gang-meets within the last ten minutes of the second meet. There’s a limit to how many Prixes we can have, but most gangs have about five or six. But we Wolf, we’re picky, so we have zero currently and have for the past two decades. You should feel honored.”

          Jinah snorted. “Because you like my makeup face?”

          “That, and, many others.” Suho’s eyes trailed down her face and below, and Jinah felt uncomfortable. When he didn’t keep talking and just stared at her – somewhere, she cleared . He looked back up and shook his head. “Right. Anyways, there’s that. Wolf’s been an all-male gang for twenty-two years. The last Prix was released. They realized how much paperwork it took and we just…well, raised our expectations. There’re twelve members in our gang right now.”

          Jinah nodded. “Anything else I need to know about before I sit down there?” they were nearing the white table, where, unmistakably, eleven boys were sitting with unique hairstyles and dull expressions. She felt something hit her pride, but she pushed it away. Her pride shouldn’t matter now. Nope. Put it away, put it away…

          Suho laughed. “Watch out for Luhan and Kai. They’re usually the ones to make the girls cry.”

          Jinah’s eyes widened. “Jerks?”

          “The worst,” Suho said. Then looking at Jinah’s expression, he laughed again. “I’m exaggerating. They do make girls cry though. Kai’s just a douche. Luhan’s just…” he let out a laugh that was crossed between amusement and reminisce, a weird combination. “He’s just cruel. Harsh. Smiles sweetly but his words sting, a lot like you Callidum girls.”

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Fourth > < I actually have quite a few chapters already written and I'm posting them one daily/every other day, so I hope you have as much anticipation for this story as I do! It's only the fourth chapter and the plot and everything isn't actually introduced though it is slightly hinted, I hope you'll continue to look forward.

Thanks for the subscriptions and comments! ❤

-deardeerhan