[Neo Zone] Population: 23 Kids

Like A Hawk

Mark shifted awkwardly as he waited for the taxi he had arranged. The undercover police officer that had flown with him from Canada had never once stopped watching his every movement, and while on the plane he could ignore him, now that they were in the open it was a lot harder to ignore.

Annie tugged on the hem of his shirt, "How much longer?"

"Not too much longer."

The poor girl looked absolutely exhausted. It was an extremely long flight, and she spent as much of that as she could watching as many movies as she could.

Scared she was going to fall asleep standing up, Mark picked her up and put her on his hip. She nestled her face into the crook of his neck, completely unfazed by the police officer staring at them to make sure nothing happened.

Back in Canada, Mark had run across some information and it took a very long time to sort out with the government. Almost two months, actually, and he used the excuse of his grandparents and his parents needing help with them for awhile. That was just so no one got their hopes up.

Basically, Annie had been lost in Canada. She somehow ended up on a plane there and no one noticed. After learning that running into her a second time, Mark figured he had to do something.

So after being background checked to make sure he wasn't a child trafficker, and the government made sure her parents were most definitely not in Canada, Mark was given permission to fly back with her to Korea. Under heavy supervision, of course.

Carefully climbing into the taxi with Annie still on his hip, they headed to the Limitless Cafe with the police officer. Annie fell asleep on the way there, but Mark figured a couple minute rest was all she needed to be energetic again.

The power of being five.

"After searching the place and asking a few questions, I will be leaving and the case gets turned over to the Korean government." The police officer reminded Mark, and he nodded.

Because Annie had been neglected enough to somehow get on a plane to Canada, her parents were going to be under investigation and it was all going to be a whole ordeal. If her parents were found unfit, they'd ask relatives and then Mark's parents could foster her once they returned to Korea.

For now, she was going to be at the Limitless Cafe.

Mark awkwardly nodded to the police officer as he exited the taxi, struggling to handle Annie and their luggage. Not that Annie had any, but he was struggling. And the policeman offered no help.

"Are we there yet?" Annie sleepily whispered once she heard the bell above the door ring.

"Yeah, but you can keep sleeping."

She shook her head, rubbing her eyes. "No, 'm awake."

"Is that a Mark?!" Chenle screeched.

Annie re-buried herself into Mark's neck at his volume level, making Mark smile.

"I don't know, are you a Chenle?"

Chenle smiled as he opened his arms for a hug, just now noticing Mark had a kid with him and was being followed by a very serious looking man.

"I know you were gone for a long time, but I didn't think it was nine months."

Mark rolled his eyes, "This is Annie. The Annie Jaehyun met at that one fair. It's a whole ordeal I'll get into later."

Mark turned to the policeman, almost having forgotten he was there.

"Johnny should be upstairs in the kitchen. He runs the place."

The policeman didn't even nod as he followed Mark's instructions. Jaehyun came running down two seconds later, the brightest smile on his face.

"Annie!"

Annie picked her head up, matching the energy in Jae's smile as he took her from Mark's arms.

"Hi, Jaehyun. Nice to see you again too. I really am so happy to be back." Mark quipped.

Chenle laughed and hugged Mark instead as Jaehyun continued to ignore him jokingly. He was too focused on getting Annie her favorite kind of cupcake.

"Where's everyone else?"

"Upstairs, basement, Moonwalk. The usual."

Mark nodded, heading upstairs first just to make sure no one was too intimidated by the police officer.

"Mark~" Yuta sang as soon as he saw him.

"Yuta~ Jungwoo~" He returned, stumbling back a bit as Jungwoo launched himself at Mark for a hug.

"If we knew you'd be coming back like a criminal we never would've let you go." Doyoung teased, taking his hug once Jungwoo decided to let go. Which was at least a minute after he first latched onto Mark.

"For a very good reason, though. Annie's in the cafe with Jaehyun."

Doyoung, Yuta and Jungwoo immediately ditched Mark, heading to the cafe to finally meet her. The policeman left after asking Johnny a few more questions, finally allowing Johnny to give Mark a hug.

"We've been Markless for so long its weird not seeing you through a screen."

Mark smiled, "I'm so glad to be back too. I thought I was going to die of boredom."

"I think we're glad you didn't," Johnny playfully pushed Mark out of the hug, "Now go find the others before they get upset."

Giving Johnny a mock salute, he headed to the basement. Annie was still being doted on and introduced to everyone, Jaehyun acting as a translator.

Smiling as he headed downstairs, Mark was met with the sight of Haechan playing with Daegal in the middle of the room. He froze and was about to head back upstairs and see if anyone wanted to head to Moonwalk with him, but Haechan looked up and made eye contact with him.

The two stared at each other before Haechan broke the silence.

"I didn't know you were coming back today."

"I didn't want to make a big deal of it."

Mark was about to turn around for a second time, Haechan stopping him once more.

"Can you- Can we talk? Just for a bit?"

Deciding that since Haechan hadn't started an argument with him already he was safe, so Mark complied and sat down next to Haechan. Greeting Daegal of course too.

He also couldn't walk away when Haechan sounded so broken.

"You were gone a long time."

"I thought you would have been celebrating."

Mark gave Haechan a pointed glare, but it quickly fell from his face.

Haechan was crying. The Haechan was crying in front of him. Sunglasses on the other side of the room too.

Not knowing what else to do, Mark pulled Haechan into a hug. It was awkward, but it was all he knew how to do.

"Can we be cool again? I missed you."

Mark hesitated for only a second. "Yeah, we can be cool again."