Eniola should’ve been celebrating, but instead, the air was tense inside their dorm late at night after the first main game.

“Why is everyone so quiet?” Jay finally asked.

Eniola glared at him.

“Do you want to know?” Eniola shouted. “What you did back there really put us in jeopardy. We could’ve lost.”

“We won, didn’t we?” Jay says, raising his hands. “Rogue won the second round. We’re safe, regardless of how we got there.”

“You were supposed to give it to Theo,” Iris said. “He was closer and it would’ve made the most sense. But you took it on your own.”

“Listen, Jay, we can’t afford to take those risks when we’re 30th place,” Theo said. “One mistake and we could’ve lost again, and we could’ve gone home. You were lucky you got away with it this time”

“Listen, guys,” Jay repeated. “We won. I did what was best for the team.”

“You wanted to look good!” Eniola yelled. “When you’re a part of Rogue, you put away your pride and your ego and do what’s best for the team, not for you. That little show, regardless of what it led to, can’t happen again.”

Jay hung his head. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want to ruin this for anyone.”

“It’s fine,” Theo mumbled when it was clearly not. “You just almost risked that entire game for us. Nothing big, you know.”

“Please, just be more cooperative. Hopefully, we can whip you into shape during training sessions.”

They all left it after that, but Eniola shot a glare at him. She felt he was acting like Keone, and that just brought back a lot of memories for her: she didn’t have the energy to unpack any of them.

But in some ways he was different.

Her eyes darted to the countertop where Jay was sitting. His shaggy hair was once again tied up in the small topknot she liked. Her gaze lingered, even though he was only looking at his phone.

He glanced up and caught her eye. He flashed the same toothy smile.

It occurred to Eniola that she was staring.

At Jay? Hell no.

She didn’t like him. He annoyingly insisted on calling her ‘sHoRtY’ all the time and teasing her with that infuriating smirk of his. They had barely just met days ago. Jay was not someone she was interested in. And he acted like he was better than everyone, acting like SCOPE was just a game for attention and the numerous girls he flirted with.

Even in the unlikely event that she liked him, her parents would never allow her to date, especially Jay out of all people.

And then it hit Eniola that she was over-analyzing a problem she didn’t care about. She didn’t like Jay. They were simply teammates.

Eniola called her teammates. “Who’s going to upload a recipe to Wendy so that she can cook?”

🎮

“Come on everyone, get ready,” Theo said, walking out into the hallway. Everyone was chilling, sitting on the couch exhausted from yesterday’s side challenge siege. Eniola was sprawled on the beanbag, scrolling through her phone absentmindedly. The third day of a round is always a rest day for training sessions and chilling out.

“Another training session?” Iris groaned. “We literally just had one.”

“No training,” Theo told them. “Howie called us in for a meeting.”

Eniola’s ears pricked up. She put down her phone and stared at him. “Howie? Why does she want to see us?”

Theo shrugged his shoulders. “She wants us at the arena for a special meeting. We need to go now. I bet it won’t take that long.”

Lucia suddenly came down, following Theo into the hallway. “Okay, let’s get this over with. Wait, where’s Jay?”

“I’m right here,” he called from the hallway.

They all exited the dorm, Jay coming out last. Eniola hated leaving and coming back to the dorms because of the complicated tunnels and what lay beneath their feet. Her breath shuddered when she looked down.

“Do people regularly get called into meetings?” Eniola almost jumped at the sudden intrusion. Jay had moved his head until it was almost nestled into the crook of her shoulder.

“Please never scare me like that again,” Eniola mumbled, as a strong woody waft tickled her nose. She softly inhaled his scent and her eyes fluttered to a close before she abruptly snapped them open. “I’m already anxious enough with these floors and Howie’s ominous meeting invitation.”

He reached a long arm out to her. “Take it if you’re scared.” She considered it for a second before taking it anyway. These floors were scary as hell. She would take anyone’s arm to get down.

“So like I said,” Jay began again. “Do people just get called to meetings?”

“Usually if they did bad things,” Eniola said, which did not soothe the look of anxiety on his face.

He leaned down to a whisper. “Do you think someone found out about us going to the ALTSCOPE arena?”

“No,” Eniola said, although it sounded more like trying to tell herself. “We went fully anon.” That seemed to satisfy him, and she went back to just hanging onto his arm.

They piled into the elevator, and it sunk them onto the floors. When the doors slid open, Eniola pulled away from him finally.

In a minute when they got back down, Theo and Iris and Lucia were already out in the white autocar waiting for them.

A shout brought Eniola up short. She looked over, seeing a woman fighting against androids that were forcibly restraining her. Jay froze, eyes widening.

“Ma’am, this is a private property that you have no right to be on. If you do not stop resisting, we will call the police,” the android said, its tone emotionless despite the situation.

“Please! I need to see my son!” she screamed, pushing back against the android. Her narrow eyes were bloodshot. Her black hair was escaping from an extremely messy bun, and her skin looked faded and pale. She looked east Asian, possibly in her 30s.

Her frightened eyes darted around until they settled on Jay. She paused and screamed again. “He’s right there! My son!”

Eniola’s eyes widened as she went rigid. The woman finally forced her way past the androids and ran to Jay as she might hug him. Only he stepped back and she tripped onto the floor with a thud. Eniola covered a gasp coming out of her mouth. Her sobs grew louder as she curled herself onto the floor. She struggled back to her feet and reached out to Jay. She was tiny compared to him, but she went on her tip-toes and cradled his face in her hand.

“Jay-adul,” she crooned. “It’s me. Your eomma. I found you, now we can be together.”

He recoiled and forced her hand away. “Why are you here?” he said in a low voice.

“To find you,” she said. “Please, tell them to stop harassing me.”

“You shouldn’t be here, Soyeon,” he says, calling her by a name. “Does my dad know where you are?”

“He doesn’t need to know, adul-ssi,” Soyeon said. “Please!”

“I’m sorry, but you need to go,” he said coldly, then faced the androids. “Please escort her out. Don’t call the police.”

She slumped onto the ground and sobbed heavily, gripping her hair in her hands. Jay moved away from the androids that picked her up and took her outside.

Eniola felt like she shouldn’t be seeing anything, but she couldn’t move.

He seemed dazed as he faced the ground and puffed out his cheeks. He looked around and then met Eniola’s eyes with a gaze that could burn holes through her. Then he simply walked out as nothing happened.