𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧ˡᵉᵉ ʲᵉⁿᵒ

05

The hottest debutant of the year, Lee Jeno effortlessly won his first race against ten other racers on a midsummer's night, immediately gaining the attention of the public. The 2nd placed racer, however, did not seem to be satisfied with their achievement.

"Luck was on your side today, newbie." Their voice under their helmet sounded muffled, way too unclear to figure out if they were a male or a female.

Lee Jeno removed his black helmet, a matching one just like his brand new car, Chevrolet Camaro. The male shook his head and ran his long and slender fingers through his dark hair, adjusting them back to how it was before he had decided to wear the helmet.

An inaudible gasp left the other racers mouth and they immediately took their helmet off as well, widening their eyes and stepping forward to check if their eyes were playing tricks.

"No freaking way." Yuhwa rolled her eyes playfully, earning a small smile from Jeno. "You do racing? Illegal racing? You belong to NCT?"

All Jeno could do was, nod.

"Wow, Lee." She meowed. "You just keep getting hotter and hotter."

"Quit it, Seo." Jeno grabbed his car keys and turned around to head back to his teammates. They all waited for him under their green tent next to the racing track and started to cheer as loud as possible, Chenle's dolphin screams included.

Jisung had prepared his signature victory drink, capri sun in a wine glass with a drop of gin. He poured in a few amount of ice cubes before handing it to their newest member.

"Cheers." Jeno thanked the youngest before taking a sip and a seat. "Wow, impressive."

"Secret Park recipe, only Chenle knows what I put in there." The brunet winked.

Before Jeno could comment on that, Yuhwa barged in and dropped herself into a chair next to Jeno, lifting her feet and placing them on his lap. He could only roll his eyes out of annoyance but didn't attempt to push her feet. The male had gotten used to her ways of sitting after spending three days in detention with her so there was no use in complaining either.

"Why are you here?" Donghyuck questioned while trying to sound as sweet as possible but his tone failed him, giving away the bitterness it had held.

"Rude. I'm here to congratulate our champion." Yuhwa smirked.

"Do it and leave us alone." Renjun mumbled.

"Oh no, why are you so harsh on me today?" She batted her eye lashes. "Because I almost beat the newbie in the 00's line race?"

"Almost." Jeno winked. "You're still a sore loser, Seo."

"Hey now, who's calling my sister a sore loser?!" A man entered the tent wearing all black. He had his blond hair slicked back as if he was in some important business meet, which he was, with the leader of NCT.

"JOHNNY!" Yuhwa squealed with happiness, clasping her hands together and walking towards the male.

"Lee Jeno? Was it you?" Johnny asked. Jeno nodded.

"You're right. Congratulations by the way, you were on fire tonight." He winked, leaving his sister standing alone to get himself a drink. "Jisung, the usual please."

"Coming right up, J." The nineteen year old boy flashed a smile before preparing Johnny's drink, Adonis.

"Thank you." Jeno smiled as Johnny sat next to him.

"You lot have school tomorrow don't you?" Johnny started with a sigh. "I'll try to convince Taeyong to adjust your schedules on the weekends. The Dream team needs to focus on both education and racing. And Seo Yuhwa, I will tell mom if you do this on school nights again."

Yuhwa groaned unhappily. Although she disobeyed in school, acted like a bad girl, she could never go against her brother's words. He can get real scary whenever he gets angry, and that, she did not want to see.

"How come Yuhwa's not in NCT?" Jeno questioned.

"They're all annoying, that's why." Yuhwa glared at the Dreamies before shifting her gaze onto Jeno. "I'm going solo, darling. Wanna join me? We can be partners in crime."

"No way we're giving away one of our best racers so easily." Jaemin protested. "Go find some other dude or a girl."

"They're not as cool as Lee." She sent another wink, still watching Jeno like a hawk.

"Ew stop being a flirt." Chenle complained while Jisung handed Johnny his drink.

"Thank you, Ji." Johnny smiled. "Guys pack up your things and drive your own cars back to our headquarters garage. Kun's team is back from China and Hendery wants to update the systems."

"Sick!!!" Donghyuck punched the air out of excitement.

"Update?" Jeno questioned.

"Hendery is a mastermind, you see. He's crazy but in a good way. He can update your car into something even more amazing and crazy." Renjun started to explain. "He belongs to the Chinese subunit of NCT, WAYV. They do racing mostly in China."

Seven cars left the track after a few more conversations, leaving Johnny standing under the tent alone with his sister.

"You need to stop this, Yuhwa." Johnny warned. "I saw how you handled today's race. You almost had a car crash while carelessly speeding up with no control."

"You can't tell me what to do with my hobby, John." She turned around to face the tent's green wall. "I had a rough day today. Exams are stressing me-"

"Then take a break. You can't disappoint our mom again. Remember what she said?"

Yuhwa knew exactly what he meant.

"No more racing if I fail this semester." She whispered, heart breaking into pieces while imagining future without cars or victory.

"Exactly. You have to focus on what's happening in school, do what normal 18 year old girls do and just..."

"Just what, Johnny?" Now there were tears in her eyes. She turned around to face him with a pained expression. "I can't stop smoking, racing, acting like a jerk or a flirt, drinking, crashing places, going to parties, failing school and doing many other things I'm not supposed to be doing. I'm already ruined, Johnny. I can't go back to the way I used to be. It's too much and you know it. Everything in my past self reminds me of her."

Johnny gulped, regretting his choice of words.

"Whatever. I have school tomorrow and I need my sleep." She sighed, grabbing her belongings and stepping out of the tent. Johnny knew she wasn't heading back home, she was barely there anyway.

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IT'S JOHNNY'S BIRTHDAY ZJSZNNSBZSJ HAPPY BIRTHDAY KING