The next two weeks I was trining with Minho non-stop. He always sent someone else to the Maze, while he stayed behind to teach me. He didn't let me rest even for a bit. I felt exhausted and it showed on my performance too. I was tired and he wasn't happy with anything I did. He kept nagging me about running faster, reacting quicker to situations, memorising better. Whatever I did was always wrong. I honestly felt like he did it on propose to make me want to give up.

"Enough!" I shouted at him through one of our exercises. I was sitting in the grass panting. I wanted to do it and I wanted to do better, but his continuous nagging got on my nervous. "Enough already!"

"Is that all? Are you giving up? I thought you would keep up longer than this." He had a smug expression on his face.

"No, I'm not giving up. I'm fed up with you." I kept trying to normalise my breathing. I stood up and walked towards him. I only stopped a few inches away from him. "I don't mind training, I don't mind reaching my limits or even going over. I, however am fed up with your behaviour. What is wrong with you? You aren't making me train, you are trying to sabotage me." I shouted at him.

"I don't know what you are talking about. I thought you wanted to improve yourself." He said as if he was completely oblivious to my theory.

"You very well know what I'm talking about. You have been training me for weeks, I have been improving, even I see that I do not need as much rest as before, but you keep coming at me with insults instead of complementing my work. I'm not saying you should be all nice and sweet, but your non-stop nagging is destroying my determination and you are completely aware of it, so don't play dumb with me." I pushed on his chest. "You are trying to make me give up."

"If you can't do it, then don't, but don't blame me for your weakness." He hissed as if he was holding back his temper.

"Hey guys, what's going on?" Newt walked up to us. "I'm feeling some tension here." He said with a smirk on his face.

"No way captain obvious. If you didn't say that we wouldn't have realised." I groaned in annoyance. "I'm fed up with your little friend here." I pointed at Minho. "He is trying to sabotage me. He is trying to make me give up."

"Did you give up?" He asked simply and I shook my head in response. "So why does it matter?

"Because he doesn't let me go into the Maze. He does nothing but nags me all day long and I'm losing patience."

"I saw you have improved, but he is still your Keeper, he knows better how to prepare you for what's behind the walls." He explained and I just groaned.

"Wipe that smug grin off your face!" I said to Minho.

"Sorry, can't do that." He smirked and I just wanted to punch him.

"Don't be surprised if one night I break into your room and suffocate you with your pillow." I hissed at him and he just laughed.

"If you had as much power to do so, you would already be in the Maze. But seeing you so worked up it seems you still have energy left so why are you wasting it on arguments?" He asked and I hated that he was right. I could have spent my energy on more useful things, but I didn't know if it was worth it.

"Slim it, I don't care what you are saying. I'm leaving." I said and left the two of them behind. I saw Ben returning to the Glade and ran up to him.

"Hey can I interrupt you for a second?" He nodded in response. "When you finished in the Map Room, can you help me out? I know you are tired, but I could use some advice." He had a gentle smile appearing on his face and slowly nodded.

"I will be out in just a bit. Wait for me and we can talk while eating. I'm starving." I returned his smile and sat down next to one of the biggest trees while waiting for Ben. He didn't take long, I only waited about 15 minutes. As I wasn't a runner, I didn't get a watch yet, therefore I could only guess the time.

"Come on up." He said reaching for my hand. I accepted his help and stood up. We started walking towards the kitchen, grabbed a plate each and left. It was more comfortable to talk without the eager eyes following us. We sat down next to the camp fire that was out now and started munching on our food. "So what's up?" He asked.

"I'm very tired, Ben. I have improved so much. Even I can see it. I can go for hours without panting like a maniac, I don't have to stop to rest because I ran out of breath, my reaction skills became faster even I was surprised at how quickly I did on his tests, but he keeps nagging me, telling me I'm still not good enough, that I should be giving up." I sighed and stuffed my face again.

"I think he is being over protective." He replied simply.

"What do you mean? Overprotective of what?" I frowned as I didn't understand what he meant.

"Of you." I laughed silently. "I'm serious. We never had a Runner who was a girl. It's something new and he is unsure of how to handle the situation. I don't think he looks down on you, just because you are girl. He is just saying it to make you give up. I think he simply doesn't know what to do. Believe me, he is aware of how much you have improved through out the weeks, but he isn't sure if he should let you go already so he keeps wasting time." Ben's words made me think very seriously. If what he said was all true, then I didn't know what else to do. It just confused me even more. "Give it a little more time and he will give in eventually. He can't keep training you forever when everyone sees your improvement. And I mean everyone talks about it, Y/N." I narrowed my eyes looking up at him. "Yes indeed, they talk about how fast you've became and how well you've been handling the pressure since you started training. And Minho very well knows that there are eyes on you. So he will have to give in sooner or later." I sighed in frustration and hid my face behind my hands.

"I'm just tired of playing around. I feel like I'm getting nowhere." I shook my head and started massaging my temple. "I know I'm getting better, but for what, when I can't use it?" He gently put his arm around my shoulder.

"You will be off the leash soon enough. Don't stress over it." He reassured me.

"Thank you." I smiled feeling better than before.

"What are you two up to?" I heard that annoying voice and I groaned. We looked back to see Minho standing behind us. "I thought you should be resting as you are going back into the Maze." He targeted Ben. "And you have training tomorrow, so why are you sitting around instead of getting some rest? You are always complaining about that anyway." I rolled my eyes and stood up along with Ben.

"Good luck!" He said and walked away while giving me a wink. I chuckled at his cheeky behaviour but I turned back to Minho, the smile disappeared from my face in an instant.

"Don't you get tired of nagging me? Don't you have better things to do as a Keeper?" I asked with clear boredom in my voice.

"Don't you have better things to do than talking back?" I sighed and walked around him heading to the kitchen to place the dirty plate on the counter. I had no more energy left to fight with him.