Kai ran a hand through his already-messy but still-attractive black hair. “One woman is frustrating enough and now we have two?!”

          “Why are you even here?” Jinah asked in sudden realization. She sounded sharp and bitter, but the bitterness was not directed towards, not even his words. She was ticked off by Luhan’s behavior, and her voice couldn’t hide it. Her knack of saying words to piss people off didn’t help the situation either, especially as a female. “All of you. Why are you all here?”

          Kai snorted in disbelief. “This base is ours, woman. Not yours. Just because Luhan favors you a little—”

          “No, I didn’t mean it like that,” Jinah said, taking a few steps back in terms of her speech. She sighed. “Why are you guys here, at the base, right now? Shouldn’t you guys be underground at the Rave? That’s why you guys woke up early today!”

          “Chanyeol the Great Idiot got the wrong dates. We wasted nine hundred bucks at 4MINUTE & SISTAR. Of-ing-course they tell us that the Rave isn’t tonight after they prep us up. ing .”

          “Hey! I can get confused too!” Chanyeol exclaimed.

          “,” Kai said, shaking his head at Chanyeol. He took a swig of what suspiciously seemed like a bottle of gin.

          “Kai, is that alcohol?!” Jinah exclaimed.

          “Yeah. So?”

          “Gosh, didn’t I tell you to limit how much you drink?! You already drink so much at Raves! You’re seventeen. If you start getting into bad alcohol habits now, and it continues to your adult years, it’ll end up clogging your arteries, and you’ll be at a higher risk for cancer, amenia, cardiovascular diseases, cirrhosis, and—”

          “More importantly, is Aheun on her way? With Xiumin and Tao? Where’d you meet them?” Baekhyun asked, concern written all over his face. He didn’t seem to care about all the possible outcomes of drinking that could lead to Kai’s future death or illness. Of course, the truth was that there was just no stopping Kai from doing what he wanted.

          “Shouldn’t we hide Jinah?” Chen suggested.

          “Aheun’s fine. I don’t see what the problem is,” Jinah said truthfully.

          “Idiotic woman,” Kai muttered.

          “You met Aheun?!” Chen asked. “Oh my gosh, is Aheun still alive?”

          “There’s nothing wrong with Aheun,” D.O said, agreeing with Jinah and ignoring Kai and Chen. He sank back into the couch and made eye contact with Jinah. “It’s just you who might be troubled. Xiumin will start directly comparing you two, and he’s going to be a lot harsher with his words now that Aheun’s actually here in body.”

          “It’s not like I ever cared what the prick had to say,” Jinah said casually.

          “You should never care about Xiumin and what he says,” Baekhyun told her. “Not only are they usually untrue, but I really like the way you are. Never change to please Xiumin.”

          “I’ll never change to please anyone,” Jinah corrected him with a grin.

          “But hey,” Chen started. He jerked his chin towards Jinah and Luhan. “Why are you guys holding hands?”

          Jinah and Luhan looked down at their hands. Jinah took her wrist out of his slacked grip as fast as she could. “We weren’t holding hands!” she cried out. “He was dragging me here with that scary-Luhan-face of his—I never consented to this!”

          “It’s true,” Luhan shrugged. “Not that I was against it.”

          A similar reaction to when Luhan announced Aheun’s acceptance to Wolf through sibling contract took place, only this time, Jinah was a part of the reaction too. At first she gaped, and then she smacked his arm. “Nonsense, you bitter, bipolar prick.”

          He chuckled, and the gang’s reactions became more dramatic.

          “Wait a second,” Suho frowned. “How did the sibling contract get accepted without the leader’s signature? Luhan,” he frowned at the blonde, “Did you sign it?”

          Luhan sighed. “Ages ago. It’s not like I couldn’t. It was before the ceremony meet—how was I supposed to know we were going to find Jinah? But that’s not important right now—just now—”

          Suddenly, they heard the jade statue move from above, which meant Xiumin, Tao, and Aheun were here, at the base, right now. In a matter of minutes, they’d be down here where Luhan and Jinah were standing.

          “, Xiumin has the worst timing,” Luhan swore.

          Chen grabbed a pillow from the couch and hugged it. He whispered to the nearest person to him, Kris, and whispered cautiously: “Luhan said the word.”

          “Meeting. Tomorrow at ten in the morning,” Luhan said, but then he groaned and shook his head. “I mean tonight at three. Don’t. Tell. Xiumin… but bring Tao. Got it?”

          The gang nodded in response. They stayed still for another minute or so before Xiumin, Tao, and Aheun appeared at the door. That’s when Sehun took Jinah’s arm and went inside their room. Luhan went into his. Chen gave Aheun an awkward smile before escaping to his room. Kris saluted her before he followed him in. Just when Luhan came out of his room to go into Sehun’s, Suho said hi to Aheun before turning his attention to the TV. Chanyeol did something similar. Kai gave her an attractive smirk out of second nature before he shifted his gaze from the former Pacem girl to the TV. Baekhyun, D.O, and Lay, however, got up to properly welcome Aheun to the base.

          “Hi Aheun,” Lay greeted her kindly, flashing her his benevolent smile. “I hope you’ll find the base comfortable. It seems like you already went to the markets,” he commented, looking at the plastic grocery bags in their hands. “Well, since you have your brother, you can have him tour you and explain things, right?”

          “I still have some things to sign and figure out with the counsel,” Xiumin said, sounding strangely affable. “I was hoping that the responsible leader, Lu –”

          “Tao, you can do Xiumin’s role, then,” Baekhyun cut in. Then he glanced at D.O. “Or D.O. I’m sure both will be pleased to help you. You don’t mind, right?” Baekhyun gave her a small, genuine smile.

          For the sake of peace within the gang, Aheun nodded. “Definitely. No problem!”

          Xiumin glared at Baekhyun, who glared right back.

          D.O cleared his throat. “Once Sehun clears his space, you can share a room with Jinah. I think. Yeah, probably.”

          Aheun smiled apologetically. “Sorry for the inconvenience.”

          “Nah, don’t worry about it,” D.O said. “Just relax. It’s your base, too, now.”

          “Thank you, D.O.”

          Baekhyun’s phone beeped. Curiously, he checked the screen. All thirteen – well, now fourteen – members of Wolf were at the base. Who could it be? ‘Get the breads from the car’, Luhan had sent. Baekhyun sighed and shook his head at the phone. Cold again, Luhan. Cold again. Then, he wondered, what would Luhan possibly want to talk about at three in the morning? Excluding one member?

-----------------------------------------

A/N:

   How are you guys????? I've been caught up in so many exams, but today's exam felt pretty good and figured I should probably update! Once again, and as always, thank you for your perceptive observations, feedback, and support <3 <3 <3

   Also, just wanted to put it out there - I find it surprising every time someone says that an update from me made their day/makes them feel better/etc. It means a lot to me to know that people are genuinely interested in this story (for more than just the romance, for more than just EXO) and they put in the effort to let me know. And, to those who don't have accounts! I make this story open to non-subscribers specifically for you guys. I remember when I was just a fan of this site and really appreciated when stories I loved were open to non-subscribers. No matter what reason you may have for not having an account on this website, it doesn't matter to me. Thanks for reading!:)

   And of course, definitely, my subscribers are absolutely precious to me as well <3 Thanks again, everyone! ^^

-deardeerhan