The encounter with the two rebels left my mind spinning. I had never once allowed my mind to wander off to the point where I wasn’t aware of my surroundings. This had been the first time I was caught off guard, which was why it bothered me so much. I was seconds away from being the Nightcrawlers meal, and then the boy with merciless dark eyes and R bandana hanging from his front pocket saved me.

I didn’t understand why he did it, but I am thankful he did. Rebels weren’t known to help others; they had their own agendas and didn’t care about anyone but their own kind. I let out a violent shudder as I thought of his eyes that gazed right through me. It felt like he had ripped inside of me and stole something that didn’t belong to him.

I arrived back on base just before dawn. Good, that meant I had an hour and a half of sleep. I looked above at the watch tower and called for Taemin’s name and he let me through the gate. When it was closed, he sauntered down the spiral stairs and studied me, making sure that I was okay and that I hadn’t been bitten out there. Once he gave the okay sign, I walked away quickly, muttering him a quiet goodnight. I don’t think he heard me but I was in no mood for small talk and the exchanges of smiles. My body was exhausted and I couldn’t bring myself to force something I didn’t feel.

As I marched down the hall toward my dorm, I finally remembered about all the calls I had earlier on my watch. I held it to my lips and spoke quietly so no one heard me, “On.” The watch , the screen lit up in blue and I was greeted with four missed calls. A frown came upon my lips while I twisted the door knob. I flicked the lights on, my frown turning even deeper when I saw that all the missed calls were from Kai. I’ll make sure to make it up—

“Where were you?” The unexpected voice startled me, and I tore my gaze away from my watch to see Kai, lying comfortably on my bed with a grimace on his face. It was kind of hard not to spot him, considering that he was the only person in my all white dorm.

Instead of screaming, I let out a breath of exhale. Now this was the second time tonight that I had been off guard. What was going on with me? “I went out to the city… sorry for ditching,” I said. I took off my jacket and laid it on the chair, feeling all of the sweat and cold nerves escape out of me.

“You went out to the city by yourself?” He sounded angry, his voice rising at an unusual pitch.

“AC on,” I said, ignoring his question. I hate to admit it, but when Kai is angry, I get a little scared. The big white system on the wall , and no more than two seconds later, I felt the coolness of the air condition swarm around my room until every inch of my room was chilled.

I knew I couldn’t hide away from answering the question, so I turned to him and nodded with the biggest, fake smile ever. “Totally, I kicked tonight.”

“That explains why your hair is so messy,” said Kai, as he examined me. I said nothing as I went to my drawer, took out my change of clothing and shuffled to the bathroom. I closed the door and started changing. Though we were separated by a door, I could still hear him speaking as if I was right next to him. That’s the worst part of the training center, thin doors. Everyone gets to hear when you take a poop, how lovely isn’t it?

I heard him clear his throat.

Oh god, it must be serious. He must be really upset with me if he cleared his throat like that.

“Look, it’s totally cool that you are such a hard worker, Mia. It’s admirable.” His voice started to relax, but there was a grip of tenseness in his tone.

I listened very carefully to what he had to say, all the while changing into my baggy shorts and t-shirt.

“But do not go out in the city by yourself. It was okay when we went together, because we were together. We could’ve helped each other. What if something were to happen to you out there tonight? None of us would’ve been there to save you. None of us would’ve known what had happened to you or if you were okay or not. You know me, I’m never one to look on the negative side of things, but when you go out so recklessly like this, and don’t even bother to give me a call, it worries me. A lot.” He paused, thinking of a right way to put his words together.

I the tap and washed my hands thoroughly, as I waited for him to continue.

He spoke slower now, accentuating every word he was saying to make sure I was listening to him. “As your best friend, I feel like I am obligated to tell you that you made a stupid choice by hunting on your own tonight…” he paused, waiting to see if I was going to say anything, but when I didn’t he continued, “We all know how great of a Hunter you are, Mia. But sometimes you have to think before you take action of certain things. The world is full of indefinite possibilities, and that last thing we would want is to lose you over one dumb choice such as this.”

I felt a prick on my heart, and I repressed my sigh. I was too exhausted to argue back with Kai. In a way, he was right. I made the decision to Hunt on my own tonight, so if the nightcrawler really did get to me that would’ve been on my . Death is inevitable in life, but sometimes, through the choices we make, we are the ones who choose how we end.

I turned off the tap, dried my hands and then slid the door open, and when I did, Kai lifted his face and met eyes with me. The look of concern was evident in his face as he stared at me. “I am not calling you stupid, I am just saying your choice was dumb,” mumbled Kai, as if he was afraid that I was going to get mad at him. He had this scared look that a child would have after telling a grown up that they didn’t really like the food they made.

For some reason, I felt my lips tugging into a smile. I went to my bed and sprawled across the mattress on my tummy. He followed me with his eyes as he adjusted his body so that he was facing me on the bed. “Stop looking at me like that. Okay, I admit, I am wrong. I made a mistake today.”

“You’re not mad at me for being honest?”

I gave him a bizarre look. “Who gets mad at someone for being honest?” He gave me a look, as if there were people who did get mad at their best friend for being honest. I clamped my lips shut, pondering the idea.

“I was afraid I would hurt your feelings…” Kai’s expression didn’t change. It was like he was waiting for me to yell at him.

I flicked his arm, something I’d do often when he thought too much of a situation. He over analyzed too much. “It’s literally impossible to be mad at my best friend.” 

And then I let out a silly laugh, “Truthfully, I thought you would be mad at me for not picking up your calls.”

“Yeah, actually, I should be.” This time he flicked my forehead, causing me to whine in protest. “Next time, where you go, I go. Got it?”

I feigned a sigh, and looked at him with soft eyes, “I didn’t realized I had a third parent.” I was just kidding though, I really did appreciate how much he cared about me. As much as I hated it when he nagged at me and repeated the same things twice, a part of me knew that he was only doing it to make sure I understood what he was saying. There was no one else like Kai in this world, and I am glad he and I got to meet under this kind of circumstance. I didn't want to imagine how life would've been if I had never met someone as understanding and caring as him. Although I tend to stress him out and get an earful in return, I knew it was all love.

It's very important to have someone in your life to put you in your place. And Kai was that person for me.

“You don’t. You got a best friend. When we do prohibited stuff, we do it together.” He lifted his fingers to flick my forehead again when I blocked it with my hands.

He paused and then let out a laugh, seeing how funny I looked. The humour soon left his face, remembering that I had gone off on my own again. His lips turned into a straight line as he asked, with concern etched onto his face like a tattoo, “You were alone… weren’t you scared?”

“I’ve been trained for this,” I told him. My head hit the pillow and I was beginning to feel sleepy, but I kept my eyes locked on Kai. “I am not afraid of being alone anymore.”

Something strange crossed his features, almost similar to a flash of hurt, but a moment later his stiff body relaxed and he slid down next to me. He lifted one arm up so that his head can rest on it. His eyes searched my face, “You didn’t get hurt, right?” He looked so worried that I almost wanted to reach out and pinch his cheeks and tell him that I was fine. But it was Kai, and our friendship wasn’t like that.

“Na, come on Kai. It’s me, Mia. Nothing can ever hurt me.” I didn’t have a window in my room, but I knew that dawn was soon breaking over. But for some reason, I wanted to stay up and talk to Kai about my adventure tonight. But when I saw him yawn, I yawned, too. “Did you really wait up for me all night?”

He nodded without hesitance, his eyes growing big like saucers as he tried to shake off the tiredness off of him.

I lau