The blue flames coating his fists did not exactly disappear even after the last training session for that day ended. Yugyeom gripped his shoulder, silently warning him not to find trouble. His face was stoic all the time he let the men torment his ears with their scorns, yet his insides burned intensely.

"Why do you have to train so hard, Jeon? Is it so you can be just like your father?"

Cackles.

"Pay them no heed, Jeon," Yugyeom said with a lower voice, forcing him to move away from the training ground.

Everyone else except Jungkook, Yugyeom, the guards and those men had already cleared out of the area. The trainer had already disappeared from there. A perfect opportunity to let them know that he was not one to mess with. He wanted so much to land a couple blows to their mouths.

"Come on, Jeon," Yugyeom's fingers dug into his shoulder. "You said it yourself that it's no use to feed them. They choose to be fools, so let them be."

His grandfather's words came back to his mind. Entertain their foolish antics and you're no different than them.

His grandfather wouldn't like the idea of him fighting with the rest of the Newcomers. More fighting wouldn't exactly cut him out of the list. He would still stand a chance to be the official Defender. Though, if he was unlucky enough to get new severe wounds, his chance would be slim. Perhaps, even slimmer than before when he was left with two wounds so terrible he nearly died.

He still had a long way to go to end his days as a Newcomer. If he gained another awful injury that would really put his life on the line, he might as well be cut off from the list. He would probably end up like the other Newcomers who didn't make the cut, only serving as guards, most of them. You're still a Newcomer, he reminded himself repeatedly in his head.

He could no longer let Chaeyoung heal him even if she'd plead him with her eyes. And obviously, even if he was on the verge of death, the Healing Sector couldn't possibly accept him.

Because, he was still a Newcomer.

Jungkook's balled fists loosened and the flames gone. He took a deep breath and sighed heavily, letting Yugyeom pushed him away from the loudness of the men behind them.

"You've changed, Jeon," yelled one of them. "Never expected that you'd be afraid!"

Even when Yugyeom said a few things to let him know that those were just rubbish and he shouldn't pay much attention to any of them, Jungkook felt the fire in him only grew stronger.

After he had his dinner with his grandfather, Jungkook's silence only thickened that his ears muted any sounds, unaware of what the old man was saying. When he finally heard his grandfather's voice, it was after the old man threw him the stone bowl. The bowl hit him directly on his head, causing his eyes to turn bright red and fire began to wrap his whole arms.

The old man only watched him with dull eyes, unaffected by him fuming. "If you won't stop letting those fools get into your head, you're going to destroy my house," his grandfather said monotonously. "And I have no time to rebuild it."

The old man walked over to where the bowl had landed on the floor, took it to his hand and Jungkook felt his grandfather's eyes on him. "If you still wish to live here under my roof, control your anger and learn to be wise." Just as he thought it was over, his grandfather added, "Do not be like him."

Him.

Though the fire around his arms had gone out, his anger still wouldn't dissipate. Jungkook's hand gripped the arms of the wooden chair he was sitting on and one of it shattered.

His eyes settled on his grandfather who had been watching him and ire flashed across the old man's face. "Get out," the old man growled lowly.

Jungkook punched the table hard with his fist and furiously stomped his feet against the floor as he brought himself out the house. He didn't even know where he was heading to. He just walked and walked, ignoring everything else that was happening around him. His feet finally slowed down when he walked past the woods. Moon in the water came into his view and that was when he realized where he was.

He sat on the ground and tried to calm himself down. I'm not like him. I won't be like him. Jungkook exhaled heavily, uncurled his fingers from the grass he'd gripped, and he ran his fingers into his own hair, gripping them instead.

When he lifted his eyes to look at the water in the pond, Jungkook felt a strange feeling of longing. He longed for something to soothe him, to ease his anger, to wash away the pain inside of him. Even for just a few hours, he wanted to be calm again.

He stood up from the ground, took off his boots and stripped off his clothes until he was completely bare. He set his eyes on the water alone as his feet brought him forward and slowly, he entered the water, submerged until the water reached below his chest.

The water was cool, but the temperature of his body flooded with anger that made the water slowly warm up. Jungkook sighed loudly, closing his eyes as he took the water into his palms and washed his face. He pushed his face into the water for a few moments, lifting up his head and felt calmness slowly making its way into him. He did it a few times until he heard something from behind him.

Sound coming from the woods. Sound of grass crunching. Sound of a breathing.

He breathed out heavily, exhaustion and frustration followed along his warm breath. With closed eyes as he refused to turn around in the water, Jungkook said, "Leave me alone, please."

He expected something cool and soothing, like the soft breeze in the morning yet what he heard was icy, sharp and piercing. "No."

"If you wish to find some peace, come another day," Jungkook said. "I wish to be here all night and I wish to be alone."

There was no reply but he knew that he wasn't left alone yet. "Chaeyoung," he sighed, wiping the trickling water off his face. "There is really nothing for us to talk about anymore. Go home. Don't waste your time here."

If they were to talk about it, what difference would it make? Like what she said, what could he have done? What could they do? Even if there was something that they could do, he really couldn't figure out what it would be.

"And you are wasting your time asking me to leave," she replied from behind him. Her voice was somehow serene yet the icy tone lay bare. Jungkook frowned softly at her stubbornness.

He could tell that she'd stepped closer to the edge of the pond from the soft sound of the grass crunching underneath her feet. Something light dropped behind him. Some shifting on the grass. And then, silence.

His brows furrowed. Did she take his clothes away from him? Did she hide them? Jungkook blew air from his nose and turned his body around.

His eyes landed on a piece of silky garment on the ground. His eyes shifted upward slowly, higher and higher. Under the bright moonlight, it wasn't difficult to make out what he saw with his eyes.

Chaeyoung stood bare in front of him, putting a halt to his breathing. The only cover she had on her body was the parts where her long blond hair was.

Around him, the water rippled and light steam began to rise. The water no longer warm, boiling as heat spread across his body upon seeing her standing with her dress on the grass, pale skin bare. His lips separated slightly yet he was out of words. He forced his eyes to stay staring into hers, bringing himself backward when he saw her wordlessly moving forward toward the water.

By the time she dipped one foot into the water, the mist around them grew. Far back in his mind, the conversation he had with her brother surfaced.

It wasn't only her voice that was icy cold. Her blue eyes reflected just the same. Her eyes held none of the calmness he'd always seen. What actually happened? Anything happened to her had obviously caused her to come to the pond, finding the peace she'd need just like any other time. Jungkook swallowed, narrowing his eyes slightly, trying to see her clearly over the thick fog.

When the fog finally thinned out, she was already submerged in the water, a couple feet away from him. The temperature of the water balanced. Warm and harmless. Neither was it biting cold nor burning hot. Just right.

And for some reason, every chaotic thing happening within him, the burning, the eruption of his anger, everything seemed to cool down even faster than how it had first been when he'd went into the water.