“That’s enough for today.”

          “No, one more round.”

          “Another one after six hours? I don’t think so, Jinah.”

          Jinah groaned, rolling her eyes. “Lay, seriously. I’m perfectly fine. Luhan’s not even getting a workout!”

          “You still have a long way to go if you want to tire Lulu out, Jinnie,” Kris chuckled.

          “Exactly! Which is why I need another round.”

          Jinah made a strained noise when her shoulder was hit and she came in contact with the ground. She kicked up and with her other leg, swung it across, just barely missing Luhan’s chest. He quickly grabbed her ankle. Knowing that he had a strong grip, she didn’t try prying it out. Instead, before he could twist it and throw her off balance, Jinah kicked Luhan’s shin. He flinched and she took this chance to slam her raised foot back down to the ground, where it belonged – unti she was aiming for Luhan’s jaw. He protected his face with his forearm from her second kick, sliding to the side a bit. And then –

          Jinah’s back met with the ground again. She let her muscles release the tension as she groaned, burying her face in her sweaty hands. Luhan’s ability seemed insurmountable. In addition, whenever she barely managed to counter it with luck, he would make her pixilated by using a simple physical technique that would just blow her mind. Or, if she was doing well with the hand-to-hand combat, he would throw her off by using his ability. No matter how you looked at it, she was at the disadvantage. Luhan had more physical strength as a male, more training experience, and an ability.

          “Tomorrow,” Luhan said, wiping the faint sweat on his neckline with a towel. “We’ll continue tomorrow. You’re improving. I’ll teach you a few more tricks tomorrow.” He hung the towel around his neck before he started to go up the stairs. Jinah sighed. If Luhan ended the session, it was ended.

          Lay smiled at her. “Where’s the most severe?”

          “That prick only gave me bruises. There’s nothing to heal today. I’ll just suffer internal bleeding and soreness for days,” Jinah said a tad too bitter as she re-tied her hair, which has grown over the past month. Her black roots were beginning to grow out. Within that time frame, many things have changed, and Jinah’s hair length was just one.

          The biggest change around was probably her relationship with Wolf. It had become a whole lot less awkward. Because of Jinah’s sincere efforts to “open up”, Wolf started adjusting to her new changes and even started more conversations. At first, it seemed as if things got even more awkward and they had a lot of silences, but somewhere between the dinners and desserts Jinah had cooked for them, the grocery trips to the markets, the occasional visits to Raves and attending interviews, and the training sessions, they started to create a real, worthwhile bond.

          After a few more weeks, they started going to the movie theater, which Baekhyun had wanted to visit for a long time. Jinah was familiar with the people around town – Seonah the organizer of Raves, Taeyeon the librarian, and occasionally meeting Liha at the markets, who shyly waved but did nothing more for a greeting. Once, Jinah had thought she had seen Miyu, but she was sure that Miyu wouldn’t have dyed her hair blonde. Miyu had never been a fan of Asians with blonde hair. Brushing the misinterpretation off lightly, Jinah was dying to meet Minjung. Where was she? What did she look like now? How was she? She wanted to tell Minjung about everything – her experience, her growth, her new knowledge, everything. But she couldn’t, because no matter where she went – evening walks, midnight strolls, daylight jogs, whatever – she never met Minjung. She knew that Minjung was with a Basic gang called Claw, who often killed their Prixes. Due to that, Jinah had kept an eye on the news, but there was nothing about it. Baekhyun had told her millions of times, that every death or murder would go on the news, regardless of gender or gang status. If Minjung had died, it would’ve been on the news.

          Also, fights were unavoidable. Baekhyun refused to let Jinah fight in real gang challenges, and Luhan agreed to that. Kris thought that they should show off their strong Prix and Jinah wanted to help, but others thought otherwise. People like Xiumin would tell Jinah to make use of herself, but Jinah learned to filter his insults. Every so often, she would retort back, and then high-five Suho or Chanyeol, who would always holler, “Chomper!” Somewhere in the lines of moments like these, Jinah did, in fact, open up. She didn’t trust them completely, but she was actually quite fond of them – most of Wolf, anyway. She thought that Tao would flash her a smile once in awhile, but he always looked away much too quickly for confirmation. Sehun was the same as always – blank, dull, quiet, but nice. Not necessarily polite or kind, but he was nice.

          Lay, Luhan, Suho, Xiumin, Chanyeol, Kai, and D.O hadn’t changed much either. If anything, Chanyeol became more talkative. Kris joked around more, and if it was possible, Chen pulled more pranks in the open. He had the similar cheesy smile as Chanyeol, only Chen’s eyes would disappear whenever he smiled, and Chanyeol’s would stay larger than anyone else’s. D.O’s nagging were endless and Kai would often hit a nearby club with Suho and Chanyeol. Chen showed Jinah how to navigate her way through the Headquarters, and even taught her how to use the super computer. Of course, the super computer was very complex, but Jinah knew how to do a few things. She learned how to hack weak-security sites and camera systems, wireless connections, and access files in another computer nearby, and a little bit of coding for the computer.

          Jinah went to her room and showered quickly. Aheun’s sibling contract was still in progress of being analyzed. Apparently they were still in the process of going through her files and records, and debating whether or not it should be accepted. Now and then, Jinah would wonder how things would change when Aheun came around. From Chanyeol, she sounded like a naïve princess. From Xiumin, she was a precious and perfect girl. I’ll find out in time, thought Jinah. By this time, Jinah had adapted to modern technology, such as phones and special gadgets. She familiarized herself with the markets, and it didn’t take her long to map it all out in her head. It was simple, really. There was a pattern, and of course, Jinah being Jinah, had it all memorized very soon.

         Smoke was a common gang that Wolf fought with. Whenever Smoke challenged, Wolf took it and always took money with them. Smoke was a Middle Gang, but they were much richer than other Middle Gangs, and was actually a former Top Gang. Once, Cougar challenged again, but this time, Wolf won fair and square. Minhyuk had spat on the ground angrily, with several cuts and bruises, and a broken arm. His last words were hissed through his bloody teeth, “I’m not done yet.” Wolf had suffered severe injuries, too. Lay quickly healed the most injured ones while Jinah attempted to tend to the simple ones, or helping Lay out by bandaging small cuts, rubbing alcohol to the exposed wound, or setting up the first aid kit for Lay. She stayed away from Xiumin, though, and Lay stealthily got Xiumin fixed up first so that Jinah wouldn’t have to deal with him. Thoughtful and caring as always, Lay never failed to make things easier for Jinah. Sehun would randomly poke her, and she would just stare at him with a frown, and he would just walk away. Every time that happened, which wasn’t often, it left Jinah utterly bewildered. It was the same every time. She decided that it was Sehun’s way of trying to be more social. It was funny. Cute, even. Kai would just slap her arm out of the blue, and when Jinah raised her hand for a slap in return, he would grin and speed off. Of course, Jinah landed a hit. Kai seemed way too shocked and had to skip dinner that night to process the fact that a female had just hit him. From then on, whenever she tried to hit him back, he teleported a meter away.

         Luhan was… spontaneous and unpredictable, but simple at the same time. He was all about opposites, and he was one of those things that Jinah couldn’t map out or classify – an enigma, he was. No stereotypes or assumptions fit him. Call him cold and cruel, but that’s not all. He had his caring and worried side, which came out sometimes. You think he’s an arrogant jerk that makes girls cry? Maybe, but he can notice the smallest discomfort and make it better. At other times, he was completely oblivious and blurt out blunt things. His smiles had double meanings, and every single one was eerie but alluring.

         Chen pulled pranks all the time, and do all sorts of things to annoy his gang members. He was still scared of Jinah’s “angry face” and when Jinah was in a bad mood, he would distance himself from her. He had a childish laugh, which went well with his childish face. When Chen got serious, however, Jinah noticed a very dramatic aura change. The atmosphere around Chen was superior, serious, and even dark. When Chen was losing in a one-on-one spar with a gang member, he would really angry and release a huge static charge. Blue lightning would then shock his enemy, turning most of his opponent’s clothes and the first layer of the ground into crisp and ashes. Kris talked more, and he was kind of like Chen, only less dramatic and immature. He joked around, but when he got serious, he was serious. His sharp eyes made him look scary and charismatic. But one look and you knew he was not an easy target – or perhaps it was his giant height?

         Wolf helped. Over the course of two months, they bit down their pride a bit for their female Prix. Unlike other gang members, they tried to match their levels with a female. So what did Jinah do?

         Jinah tried waking up early with an alarm. It half-worked. Sehun would wake up to turn it off, and then wake Jinah up. Jinah would spend about twenty minutes on her bed, rolling from side to side with zero motivation to get up. But once her vision and head had cleared, she would get up and cook breakfast. Occasionally, if Sehun felt like it, he would help out, but not much. He wasn’t a cook. The only things he could make with luck were pancakes. But Sehun would set the table or get her bowls. It was helpful. D.O also taught Jinah how to use the laundry machine, and she would do the dishes instead of Lay. Slowly, Jinah was doing what she was supposed to do, as a Prix. However, she kept her boundaries and pride intact. Every time someone made a ist joke, she wouldn’t make the next meal or clean up until the person had apologized, or done the chore themselves. She would also accept some offers from some Wolf members that wanted to help. These volunteers were usually Lay, Baekhyun, and D.O. D.O talked more than before, and he was actually hard-working. Before Jinah came around, she could tell that D.O did most of the house chores, considering that he was the only one who was familiar with the laundry machine and dishwasher.

         Jinah, of course, continued to read, study, and take notes. Her visits to the library were frequent, and she considered Taeyeon a friend, despite the seven-year difference. Ever since she found out that Sehun had a similar theory as her, it motivated her to research more about abilities. She was missing something, forgetting something – but didn’t know what. When her determination began fading, she explored other subjects, such as technology, psychology, biology, physics, and more. She also became a decent gamer – far better than Chanyeol, of course, and good enough to not be a nuisance. Her strategic-wired brain gave her many advantages. She could plan on the spot and implement those plans with her controller. She also managed to watch both the first and second movie of Casper Johnston, and understood what it was about. The first one had been a rescue mission for Princess Mimi, acted out by Hyuna of 4MINUTE. The second one had been a retrieval mission, for gold and precious jewels. The bad guys had been jailed, and the good guys – Casper Johnston, Princess Mimi, Maximilian the Nerd, and Tom the Idiot – were rewarded. Even if the characters are supposed to be foreign, the actors and actresses were Asian. No complains there – the whole movie was spoken in Korean after all. A little bit of Greek and Latin here and there, or foreign codes, but the dialogue was mostly in Korean.

         Jinah also trained hard. She really did. Gradually, she was getting back to her fit body of fifteen, when she had the AIT model figure at Callidum, before her rigorous study sessions began and took away her toned body figure. At the back of her mind, she kept reminding herself to visit her dwelling, but always failed to do so. Miss Kim had been right – she was too busy to visit. But of course, as much as there were things that were able to change, others didn’t. Like Jinah’s original personality, or Luhan’s snide smiles, or Chanyeol’s tendency to bicker with Suho. But things were okay. They were pretty good, actually. Jinah could now imagine her, living like this, for the next ten years. She still half-preferred the dwelling life with Minjung and Miss Kim, and she wanted to go back in time to be nicer to Liha and Miyu, but knowing that these thoughts were futile and would change nothing, she tried making the best with Wolf, which wasn’t terrible. Xiumin was, but he was just nervous about Aheun and the sibling contract. Even if Jinah knew the reason behind his rude attitude, she had no intention of dealing with him.

         “You’re so obsessed with training,” Baekhyun said as soon as Jinah came out of her room, fresh and clean. He was with Kris and Luhan, watching TV. It was some kind of fashion show with the new trends for this month.

         “I have to, or how will I catch up?” Jinah answered as she plopped down on the couch. She had lost some weight, but her muscles began weighing her down again. Not that she cared, of course. As always, Jinah could care less how her exterior looked. She did, however, care about how her insides looked. She tried being kind, but it was hard when she wasn’t used to doing things out of her way to help.

          “Oh yeah, Jinah,” Kris said. “The pay for the poll came in. Your share’s with Sehun.”

          Jinah blinked. “What poll? What share?”

          “Remember the poll? At the interview with Cheonsa? On Nation News?” Baekhyun asked, refreshing her memory. “There’s always a poll for the best gang. We won. You played your part. If you hadn’t done as well as you did, we might have lost to Fang and their dressed-up and luxuriously-caked Prixes.”

          Jinah scoffed. “There’s a poll for that? How ridiculous…”

          “You don’t want the money?” Kris raised an eyebrow.

          Jinah cleared . “I didn’t say that. How much?”

          “Two-fifty each,” Baekhyun replied smoothly.

          Jinah whistled, adding up the total. “Wow. Three thousand bucks for a stupid poll. What a waste of money.”

          “Hey! We put a lot of effort into you and our reputation, alright?” Baekhyun said and pouted.

         Jinah snorted and used her index finger to push Baekhyun’s head further away. “I know. So stop acting like a kid – you’re being a Chanyeol and Chen.”

          “Do we have some soda?” Luhan queried as he got up from the couch. He headed for the kitchen and opened the refrigerator, answering his own question, which no one had bothered to answer. “Jinah, let’s go get some soda.”

         “What, why?” she said. Baekhyun got up and went to his room at this moment while Kris chuckled, and Jinah continued, “I’m tired. I don’t want to go out. Plus, we just showered. Do you want to wash up all over again?”

         “I want soda,” Luhan stated simply and stubbornly as he grabbed the team jacket and slipped into it. He grabbed the keys from the key plate. Baekhyun came out of their room at this time and tossed Luhan something – a wallet. “Let’s go,” Luhan said, catching the leather wallet. “We’re leaving.”

         “No I’m not. You can, but I’m not,” Jinah said with equal obstinacy. She didn’t feel like washing up again. She crossed her legs and slid next to Baekhyun, as if finalizing her decision. There was no way she was showering a second time, or sleeping with outside germs.