I woke up in a strange bed in strange clothes. I sat up and looked around. The shirt was noticeably too big for me and slid down one shoulder. I didn’t bother to try and fix it because I couldn’t see any point. Everything that needed to be covered was covered. I got out of the bed folding the covers neatly. I was alone in the room so I had a little snoop. I figured out that I was in Le-Taekwoon’s room but the bed appeared to be mine. My old clothes were clean and neatly folded on the little table next to my bed. There was a chair at the end of my bed, presumably for me to put stuff on. Only problem was I didn’t have any stuff. That realisation made me a little sad but my mood was lifted when I walked out and saw the guys sitting in the main room just hanging out.

Ravi was the first to see me and he beckoned me over, pulling an empty chair near him. I got the idea and went over to sit with him. I sat with with my knees hugged against my chest and observed the guys. After a few more rounds (all of which Taekwoon won) the guys got sick of playing and Hongbin and Taekwoon went over to one of the other smaller rooms. They pulled back the canvas flaps and inside was a kitchen. While they made breakfast the others tried some puzzle games to keep their minds sharp. The puzzles were painfully simple and watching the guys struggle time and time again to solve them got on my nerves. Eventually I couldn’t take it anymore and took the games off them and solved them all in less than 10 seconds flat. I put them back on the table and when I looked up I was met with 3 incredulous faces. At the same time all 3 got up and ran off in different directions. They came back with 5-6 puzzles each. Sanghyuk handed me one and without looking I solved it. Then Jaewhan handed me one. Solved it. Wonsik. Solved it. On and on it went until I’d solved all of the puzzles they had. It was too easy. I wanted a challenge. Just then breakfast was brought over by Taekwoon and Hongbin. Hongbin eyed all of the puzzles that sat piled up on the table while the other 3 regaled Taekwoon with how I’d solved each one in less than 30 seconds. I just sat staring at my hands. Man, I REALLY needed to kick this habit.

Taekwoon hushed the guys and told them to clear the table. We could talk about it AFTER breakfast and right on cue as if to punctuate his point my stomach growled loud and proud. Talk about embarrassing, but, then again I didn’t even remember the last time I’d eaten. It was just porridge made with water but it tasted amazing. I put away 3 bowls before I realised that I wasn’t going to be full any time soon.

After breakfast Taekwoon made Sanghyuk, Jaewhan and Wonsik clean up while he and Hongbin sat with me. Taekwoon put one of the puzzles on the table in front of me and I shook my head at him. He raised an eyebrow at me and I took a deep breath.

“I’ve solved all of these. They were too easy. I need something more challenging…” I trailed off at the end unsure if I should’ve said anything or not…

Taekwoon thought for a minute and told the 3 cleaners to hurry up or we’d go without them. Their pace which had been reluctant before, now became frenzied. Evidently where we were going was interesting. 5 minutes later the entire base? House? Tent? What do I even call it? Ahh stuff it, I give up. Anyway whatever it is, it was spotless. I was impressed to say the least.

Taekwoon led the way through the maze of buildings and we came to a huge… tent? It looked like a tent. Before I had time to ponder further Taekwoon went inside and the rest of us followed. There was a young woman sitting on a cushion. She looked a little like Sabriel. Taekwoon went up and spoke quickly to her. She thought for a minute and nodded then disappeared somewhere. When she came back she had a few complex puzzle tasks. I looked at them and it took me a minute to solve each one in my head. Taekwoon handed them to me and I solved them. The girl looked intrigued. She brought out more and more challenging puzzles from wherever she was going. Each one took a little longer to solve but none of them supplied me with the challenge I was looking for. I got bored. She must have recognised it on my face and in my body language because she disappeared for longer and came back with an incredible puzzle. For once I couldn’t solve it straight away. I was fascinated. My eyes lit up hungrily as I looked at it. I took it eagerly as she handed it to me. It took me a full 15 minutes to solve but when I did I let out a breathy laugh. Solving the puzzle was like scratching an itch I hadn’t known was there. She said something to Taekwoon and his eyebrows shot up. He eyed me warily but I was too busy basking in the feeling of solving the challenge to care.

I faced the girl and in a quiet voice asked if she had any more puzzles like the last one. She said she did but I couldn’t have them straight away. She said she’d bring them over to our place later because she was busy. Shyly, I asked her what her name was. With a girly giggle she told me it was Ali. Short for Alicia.

Leo stood up and left. I thanked Ali and followed him. She just smiled and winked at me before going back to the work she was doing before we came in. Turning back at the tent flaps I saw Ali smack Wonsik over the head twice and once on the shoulder. He just laughed good-naturedly and she waved her finger at him before her face cracked into a smile.

Once outside I followed Taekwoon through the maze of buildings to an outdoor kitchen area. As the smell of cooking food rolled over me my stomach grumbled. I hadn’t realised how hungry I was, it had after all been around 4 hours since we’d had breakfast.

This time I limited myself to one bowl of food even as the others got up for seconds. After refilling his bowl Taekwoon sat down opposite me. I sat and watched him as he ate his food. His hands were large but with long graceful fingers. His skin was pale and largely unblemished except for a crescent shaped scar on the back of his hand near the outside of his wrist. I asked him about it but he just shook his head. I went back to observing him. His hair was long enough that it was getting into his eyes and he’d have to flick it out or push it away with his free hand every now and then. It was a pretty dark auburn colour. As I sat there I felt the too-large shirt slip off my shoulder again. I made no move to fix it and at Taekwoon’s semi-glare I looked at my hands. He finished eating and deposited his bowl as well as mine wherever it was supposed to go. He came up behind me and to my surprise righted the shirt on my shoulders. He said something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like “too pretty for your own good”. I must’ve been hearing things. After our meal Taekwoon led us back to the dorm? That works. He pulled out a towel from thin air and handed me my clothes before leading me to the one unexplored wing of our dorm. Inside there was a makeshift shower with a sheet strung high enough to only cover from my stomach down to my calves. There was also a drop toilet in the far corner. They had a pretty good system for keeping the smells to a minimum and it was rather quiet. There was also a basin and a mirror on one wall. I put my clothes and towel down on the conveniently placed stool and walked over to the mirror.