Limitless || Mark Lee

Chapter 17

When Mirae woke up the next morning, she barely remembered anything that happened last night, the exhaustion clouding her memory.

That was a crazy dream last night.

Mark was a hazy thought lingered in the back of her head. She couldn't make sense of it and brushed it off as a dream. Despite that, his words resonated in her head, solidifying her feelings and her mind was made up. She had quickly gotten ready and went towards the large meeting room where the rest of the gang was.

As she approached the door, she heard shouting. The shouts were angry, threatening, and made her flinch slightly from the volume of it coming through the door. Their were multiple voices overlapping so she couldn't tell who was speaking, but she had definitely heard her name. Taking a deep breath, she pushed open the doors.

Taeyong was sitting at the head of the table, frustration written clearly all over his face. Jaehyun and Johnny were standing on either side of him, no doubt having been two of the screaming voice she heard based off of the anger literally radiating off of them. Kun's eyes flickered around the room in panic, obviously trying to calm down all of the enraged boys.

All of her friends were on their feet as well. Jisung and Chenle had tears in their eyes, Renjun was breathing heavily, Haechan had his eyes screwed shut and was rubbing his temples with his fingertips. Jeno and Jaemin matched Johnny and Jaehyun, the younger boys faces turning red from yelling, their muscles tended and their knuckles white from how tightly they were gripping the table.

The second she walked in, the yelling stopped and all eyes turned too her. You could hear a pin drop with how quiet it became, the only noise being the heavy breaths of the boys as they tried to calm themselves down. Taeyong was the first to speak up, his gaze boring into her skin.

"Yes, Mirae?"

"Okay."

"Okay?"

"Okay. I'll join your gang. I'll join NCT."

She tore her eyes away from Taeyong, unable to read his gaze. Her friends stared at her with looks of horror on their faces, their jaws literally dropping. Instead, she let her eyes drifted around the room, eventually landing on Mark. To her surprise, he was staring right back at her, a strange mix of relief and guilt lingering in his eyes.

"Mimi, please dont do this."

She looked at her best friend, Jaemin still on his feet and staring at her with such sadness written all over his face that she felt the tears about to form in her eyes. Quickly she blinked them away and hardened her expression.

"I have to."

"No you don't!"

Jisung spoke up this time, his voice breaking as the tears spilled over onto his cheeks.

"It's too dangerous! You're not supposed to do this! You'll never have a normal life, Mirae, if you even survive through it all. Please say no."

She watched as Chenle gently hugged the younger boy, a pang in her heart as she could see how badly her friends wanted to save her from this, but it was too late. All eyes were on her, filled with pity at the younger girl.

"I'm sorry, but I made my choice. This is what it has to be and I'll give it all I have."

A heaviness settled around the room. The other boys were happy that their new friend was to be joining their family, but they knew the sacrifice she was making and how terrible the whole situation was.

"Well then, welcome to NCT"

"Thanks, Taeyong. I'll do my best."

The leaded nodded at her as he rose from his seat, dismissing the meeting and walking out of the room. As soon as he left, followed by Jaehyun and Johnny, Xiaojun immediately ran over to her, pulling Mirae into a tight hug.

"I'm so sorry, Mirae. You shouldn't be forced into this, but we'll keep you safe. It's going to be okay."

"I know, Junnie, I know. I'll figure it out."

"You're a strong girl. Don't forget it."

He pulled away and held her at arms length, a reassuring smile on his face as he left the room with most of the boys, leaving her alone with her 6 best friends.

"Are you guys mad at me?"

At the sound of her voice, so small and vulnerable, all the boys looked up.

"No, of course not! We could never be mad at you over this."

"Not at all, Mirae, this isn't your fault."

"We'd never blame you, Mimi. It's Taeyong we're mad at."

They all walked over to her and pulled her into a group hug, crushing her small frame between them.

"No matter what, we're going to keep you safe, alright? We promise."

- - -

The boys left her alone for most of the day, seeing that she still needed time to process the new life she just committed to. Mirae stayed in her room, scrolling mindlessly through her phone.

She looked through the photos of her and her school friends and her family. She felt a pang in her heart knowing that it would never be the same. Putting down her phone, she checked the time. It was midnight already but she still couldn't sleep.

The memories from last night lingered in her head. She was still unable to separate Dream from reality and was convinced that Mark's appearance was all in her head.

But something tugged at the back of her mind. Why did it seem so real? Why did it impact her so much?

Eventually she couldn't take it anymore and decided to just check. She walked to her closet and pulled back her clothes on the hanging rack. To her surprise she saw what looked like it could've been a door.

Taking a deep breath, she pushed on the panel and it moved. Shocked, she pushed harder, eventually opening up the hidden door all the way and walking into the dark hallway.

She didn't let herself venture past the light streaming in from her closet, still too afraid and shocked by it all to go exploring alone.

The biggest shock of all came when she heard footsteps approaching her and a figure began to come into her view.

"Hey, Mirae, I was just coming to check up on you."

"Mark?"