Chaeyoung's food remained untouched, something very unusual. She didn't feel like she could swallow any.

Every little thing Jimin had told her filled her mind.

Her failures were healthy in her head.

Images of Jimin's flesh cut open floated around in a sea of guilt within her.

Her eyes glanced at Jimin's forearm on the table covered with the sleeve of his shirt. Underneath the garment, there was a large scar. The skin had smoothed and the color had paled. But there was still a mark.

Chaeyoung still failed.

She failed to make the mark vanish. She failed herself and her brother. Jimin had comforted her, telling her that she was doing better than he had expected. It was supposed to make her feel better, but it didn't. She was a disappointment. She felt so horrible. Nothing seemed to work out. Her failures kept piling up and it was only making her despise herself even more. She was becoming more and more humiliated with herself. She was starting to believe that she really was hopeless.

Everyone was silent, but everyone else except her was filling up their empty stomachs. Quietly, they consumed the food in front of them. Neither her father nor her mother opened up their mouths to speak, to talk about whatever they wanted to talk about to her. The longer she had to wait for them to break the news to her, the heavier her heart felt. It was making her nervous, making her slightly hopeful that they changed their minds.

"I have something important to tell," her father finally began after his food finished.

Chaeyoung's expression hardened even before her father announced the main thing. Even after knowing what he was going to say, Chaeyoung couldn't help the unsettling feeling growing in the pit of her stomach.

"You no longer have to attend practices," her father said calmly, almost without any emotion. Her stomach still dropped, nevertheless. Perhaps, she hoped for a little difference for too much.

Her mother looked up from her plate. Chaeyoung felt her mother's eyes on her, like she was waiting for any reaction at all. Chaeyoung's frown deepened, eyes fixed onto her father who, in return, looked at her with no expression displayed.

"Why?" Chaeyoung croaked despite knowing what the answer would be.

"It's useless to keep going when you are not even trying to improve yourself," the man said. "You can take that off," he pointed to the pendant she was wearing.

Her hand went up to touch it. Her hand balled around it protectively. "No, Father. Please."

He shook his head gently. "I have lost count on the number of chances I've given you that you waste away just like that."

"But I –"

"Father," Jimin interrupted. "She's getting a lot better. I swear."

"Stop defending your sister, Jimin," the old man said, his voice dropped low, his face darkened. "Do you think with this unimproved skill of hers she'd be able to help you?"

Jimin let out a loud sigh and Chaeyoung chewed her lip. Her brother never really went against their father except when he was really angered. Even so, Jimin tried to reason without raising his voice, although, he'd pulled up his sleeve quite harshly.

"I stabbed myself here," Jimin said, pointing at the scar and Chaeyoung felt too embarrassed to look at the mark that she had failed to erase away. "She managed to close it up with success and look, the scar looks barely there. Most importantly, I don't feel the pain any longer."

Her father scoffed, shaking his head at it and she felt Jimin fuming beside her. She carefully tugged his sleeve, shook her head at him but it took the shake of her mother's head to stop him. Jimin stood up from his seat, the chair screeched on the floor and he left to go to his room.

"Take the pendant off now, so I can return it to your Master," her father told her with a strict tone.

Reluctantly, Chaeyoung handed the pendant to her father and he wordlessly took it from her before he left.

She sat by the window in her room, feeling unbelievably suffocated that she took her cloak and went out to head off to that one place that she knew would give her some peace, away from the eyes, ears and mouths of people.

She spent hours lying down near the pond of the Defense Sector deep in the woods, clearing out her mind until she heard the sounds of someone approaching. From far, the sound made her heart race that her eyes shot open. But the closer the sound got the calmer Chaeyoung felt that her eyes began to flutter close again because for some reason, she recognized who it was.

Somehow, she always knew how he felt about her, though, she didn't exactly know how she knew. Maybe it was the feeling.

Besides, he didn't seem to have any intention in hiding it after all, but at the same time, he wasn't really forcing it out. Every hint he let out was subtle, but it was all enough to make her truly understand that it was genuine. When he really said what was written in his heart, for a second, all her problems melted away, all her worries faded and her heart was at ease.

That was all it took for her to reveal it to him her true feelings. She found courage whenever she was with him.

Chaeyoung was touched when he offered himself for her to practice her skills. He'd always given her the strength to go on when she needed it the most and she wished she could have done the same to him. She wished she would be able to restore his health for him to be able to show his true ability to the other Defenders.

Ever since the unfortunate event that had fallen onto him, it had scratched his performance, causing him to get wounds after wounds.

She had always heard people talking about how skillful Jungkook was, and he had great potential to be the top Defender in his batch. She had seen him train as well, and despite knowing nothing in his field, she could see how the words of people had been true. They were right about him.

When she heard of what happened to him, that a fellow Defender had attacked him viciously and had almost killed him, she was beyond worried that she had waited for him on his way home. It was to no wonder why she didn't see him around the training ground for days. His wounds were extremely severe.

While she understood now that the Newcomers –the future Defenders– must go through such rough training which might or might not cost them their lives, it was no easy for her mind to accept it. Perhaps, she would never be able to accept it.

Chaeyoung bit her lower lip, her eyes gazed softly at Jungkook's calf after he showed her. Chaeyoung wished people wouldn't be so envious of him to a point they'd take him down when they were supposed to unite. "Oh dear..." she murmured with furrowed brows. "They just won't leave you alone."

Jungkook chuckled softly and Chaeyoung looked up at him, seeing him smirking down at his calf. "If only they know that all the wounds they've caused on me would only help me..." he said.

"I understand the envy," she said softly, thinking of her own feelings over her situation, her ability as compared to her peers, to her brother. But it was insane how those Newcomers couldn't take Jungkook's reputation as a motivation.

"I just don't understand how they think it is all right to ruin a fellow Newcomer. It scares me to think of how it is going to be later in the battle with the real enemies." She gently placed a finger around the mouth of the hole at his calf, her eyes shut tightly for a moment as she let out a shaky sigh. Her fingers slightly trembled. "It scares me to think of what else they have in mind to torment you."

Chaeyoung's tensed body relaxed when she felt him holding her trembling hand. The firmness of his hold carried an assurance. She opened her eyes slowly and met with his soft gaze. There was a smile so calming and pleasant to see on his face. And there was a soft blush rising on his cheek when he was about to say his response, a blush that was almost transparent to her eyes.

"Don't I have you now?" he asked with a lifted brow. "They can try to destroy me all they want. They would all be useless attempts and a waste of time," he laughed softly, his finger softly brushed against the skin of her cheek, pushing the strands of her hair away and continued, "especially when I have someone... someone who will always mend me, put back together all the pieces of me even when I don't want to."

She found herself smiling, slowly it grew wider. Her face felt warm at the words he told her. So was her heart.

Finding herself unable to look him in the eyes, she decided to face down and begin the healing process on his calf. When she was done with it and it was just like what she had expected, a light mark left on his skin, her lips parted to mutter her frustration.

Jungkook gave her no chance to do so when he quickly attached his lips to hers. With his calloused hand, he cradled her face delicately. "Thank you," murmured him against her lips after pulling back a bit.

For once, Chaeyoung didn't feel the urge to let out her frustration over her failure. His eyes spoke to her silently and in a way, she understood that he wanted her to be proud of her own achievement.

"My pleasure," she replied with gladness.

When they finally walked home, it was very late that there was barely anyone other than the people from the Defense Sector walking around. He walked her home but stopped at the entrance of the Healing Sector, being denied entrance by the guards of the sector since he was a Newcomer without any other eligible people of the Defense Sector with him.

When she had walked toward her quiet house, she expected them to be all deep in sleep. Chaeyoung opened the door slowly, careful not to make loud noises as she stepped in but was surprised to see her mother standing, looking at her with concern in her eyes.

"Where have you been?" her mother asked, slowly approaching her with a soft frown. "Do you know how worried I was?"

Chaeyoung's eyes dropped to the floor briefly. "I needed some air."

It was only silence, then. A kind that made the air uncomfortable. She wanted to go straight to her room since her mother didn't seem to have anything else to say. She was just standing there without a word. All of a sudden, the worries came back alive in her head and she recalled what Jimin had told her, every little bit of it. Her insides shuddered.

The lump in her throat grew bigger. She swallowed hard before she asked, "Is it true, Mother?" When her mother said nothing to respond, she expanded her question. "Is it true that you and Father have found me a husband?"

She listened to the change in her mother's breathing. The older woman inhaled deeply, held it and released it heavily. "Yes," she breathed. "Chaeyoung –"

"That is why Father said the practice is over for me," she stated disappointedly despite the blank look she threw at the floor. Everything Jimin told her was true and confirmed. What did she expect? Jimin never lied to her when it came to serious matters. Even when her brother lied to her of something, at the end of the day, he'd always reveal the truth to her.

She looked up, then, and she met her mother's apologetic eyes. "Were you telling me the truth when you said you believed in my potential, Mother?"

"I do believe in you," her mother said breathily, like the current situation had exhausted her mind. "I have always believed in you. Trust me, Chaeyoung, I never want this to happen to you. Your father is stubborn and he..." she paused, sighing heavily as she raked her fingers through her long hair. "He won't listen to me anymore. He doesn't listen to whatever Jimin has to say as well. There is really nothing I can do to change his mind."

Chaeyoung was rooted to her spot, unable to find words to say or strength in her feet to walk away. Her mother held her arms gently. Softly, she said, "Only you can change it."

Chaeyoung let out a light scoff as she looked away. "How? How am I supposed to change his mind when he won't give me a chance?"

"If you wait for him to give you a chance, you will never be able to prove yourself. Don't wait for it to come to you, my dear," her mother told her. "Take it. Take the chance instead of waiting for it."

She shook her head softly. "I still failed to meet his expectation, Mother. No matter what I do, I will never be what Father wants me to be. Taking the chance is not enough. There is nothing that I do is ever enough for him. He will never be satisfied with me." Chaeyoung held her breath, feeling her eyes were about to shed a tear again. She began to walk away from her mother when the latter softly spoke behind her.

"The energy of both should be equal. When your mind is controlled by something else, it may fail to deliver the amount of energy it supposed to have during the process."

Chaeyoung paused in her steps as confusion began to sit in her mind. Her head slightly turned to look at her mother from over her shoulder.

"Remember," her mother briefly stopped, inhaling deeply before she spoke more, "your heart is not enough to make it work. Healing needs both your heart and mind."