𝑩𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒍𝒍 //𝑺𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒚 𝑲𝒊𝒅𝒔 𝑭𝑭//

~𝟭𝟬~

The next morning, I woke up with Hyunjin still in the chair next to my bed, fast asleep. I smiled as I listened to his soft snores. I got up and went to the bathroom, taking a quick shower. When I was finished I put my pj's back on and walked out to find Hyunjin awake. He rubbed his eyes, his hair standing up in weird places.

"Good morning sleepyhead. Sleep well?"

"Actually yes. This chair is very comfortable."

I smiled at him. When he left, I quickly got dressed and went downstairs. Lee Know, Jeongin and Chan sat in the living room, and I guessed the reason was that they didn't know what to make for breakfast. They all looked up at me as I approached.

"Good morning, Ava. Sleep well?" Chan asked.

"Actually yes."

"Oh, could I talk to you about something?"

I stopped in my tracks at his question, turning to him.

"Is something wrong?" I asked.

"No, everything's fine. Just follow me."

I followed him into the kitchen like instructed. I took a seat at the island, him standing opposite me. He leaned with his elbows on the countertop.

"It's about your probationary period." My stomach dropped at his words.

"Did I do something wrong? Are you... firing me?"

"No, no, nothing like that. It's just.... you know how you still had the rest of this week and the week after that?"

"Y-yes?"

"Well, the commander has shortened it. You only have till the end of this week."

"Okay, what does that mean?"

"It means, if we want to have you ready by the end of the week, we'll have to start training, like, right away."

He straitened up and started walking to the sliding door leading outside. I hastily followed, unsure of what was going on. He walked past the pool and around the back of the house, and I struggled to keep up with my much shorter legs.

"Wait up," I said, and he slowed down, looking back at me.

"Training for what?" I asked.

"There are some things we need to teach you before you join our team. A lot of our missions will be much more dangerous then you're used to, with much higher stakes. So, I need to make sure you're ready."

We kept walking until we reached a sandy clearing not too far from the house. Chan walked over to a big shed at the edge of the clearing. He rustled around in there and emerged with a large rubber dummy. I rushed over to help him carry it. Once we were all set up he made me stand in front of the dummy and started circling around the big rubber thing and me.

"Now, I want to see how well you can defend yourself. Some hand-to-hand combat. Play as dirty as you want."

I was unsure of what he wanted. With my previous team, I never practiced on dummies. They always made me practice on them. For a more real experience, they had said. But now, I was suddenly unsure of my abilities. Especially with Chan watching my every move like a hawk. I breathed out a shaky breath and squared my shoulders. I looked over at Chan, who nodded. I threw the first punch, the rubber giving way under my knuckles. The scabs on my hands - from trying to break my door down - started cracking and flaking off. I kept throwing punch after punch, adding a kick or an elbow to the gut every now and then. I grew aware of Chan still moving around the dummy, watching me. After a while he told me to stop, and I heard a round of applause erupt from behind me. I turned to find the rest of the team congregated at the edge of the clearing, watching the show. I laughed softly at them, then turned back to Chan.