Limitless || Mark Lee

Chapter 15

"Good, everyone's here, now we can begin."

Taeyong spoke from the head of the table as Johnny walked in with all of them. They all took their seats at the table, Mirae taking the last available one at the other end, directly across from Taeyong.

"Mirae? What are you doing here?" Jaemin asked, confused, when he saw her sit down.

"I actually asked Johnny to bring her." He said to the younger, turning his gaze on Mirae with a nod. "Thank you for coming, Mirae."

She just dipped her head in response, still confused, and slightly nervous, as to why she was here. From her left, Xiaojun reassuringly squeezed her hand, mouthing a quick "you're not in trouble" which calmed her rapidly beating heart.

"We have a very pressing matter to discuss, and I usually would've consulted more of you first, but with Doyoung's return I felt it appropriate to just do it now."

Mirae's eyes widened as she stared back at Taeyong.

Why am I here for something so important? Am I even supposed to know about gang stuff?

"As all of you are aware, Mirae helped out with our last mission and was a huge contribution to the success of it. She also saved Mark's life while Doyoung was away."

She made brief eye contact with Mark, who had been staring at her since she walked in. The moment her eyes flickered to his, he tore them away to focus on Taeyong, Mirae going back to staring at the intricate designs on the table.

"So, in light of all of this, we wanted to formally ask you, Park Mirae, if you would join NCT as a full gang member."

She ripped her gaze away from the table in front of her to stare at Taeyong. Her jaw literally dropped when the words left her mouth. All eyes were on her as she stared, dumbfounded, at the boy across from her. His gaze was icy, serious, and focused but she could tell it was a question not a demand.

She opened her mouth to answer but the others quickly beat her to it. Her friends literally sprung out of their chairs the second Taeyong finished speaking.

"No. Absolutely not." Jaemin spoke first, leaning on the table with his dark eyes full of fire. "Mirae is not getting involved in this."

"Taeyong how could you even ask that?" Renjun continues, staring at the leader with a mix of disgust and horror.

"Hyung, we agreed to keep her safe. This is literally the opposite of that."

"Exactly! Jeno's right. She's not trained for this, and she shouldn't start. It's too dangerous!"

"Haechan, boys, please listen to Taeyong." Jaehyun stood from his seat, attempting to calm them down.

Mirae thought back to their earlier conversation and it all made sense. Jaehyun knew. He was trying to gauge her response before reporting back to Taeyong. He must've felt her looking at him and flashed a apologetic glance her way, knowing that she would've connected the dots by now.

"No. There's no way. I might've brought her into this mess but we are not going any further with this." Jaemin spoke with a growl, his knuckles turning white from how tightly he was gripping the table. She had never heard him speak with that tone of voice before, the pure assertiveness of it shocking her.

"Jaemin. Sit down. All of you. Take your seats and listen at least, you'll have your time to talk later." Mark spoke from beside the dreamies.

They all looked at their team leader, obviously annoyed but sitting down nonetheless. Mark shifted uncomfortably in his seat, Mirae couldn't tell if it was because he was still opposed to having her around or what, but she could tell that something was bothering him.