Insouciant | Mark Lee

21~ Found Out!

Mark was stressed over the fact that Aera received a threat from someone unknown. He started doubting himself whether he could protect her or not. Trying not to overthink the situation, he tried falling asleep as in the morning he has to wakeup for the training. In no time soft snores left his mouth as exhaustion took over.

~TIME SKIP~

Aera peaceful sleep was broken when someone tried waking her up. "Ughh... no.. go away" she whined. Mark did not listen and kept on attempting to wake her up. "Aera I swear to god please wake up. Hyung will kill me if you don't wake up," he continued shaking her. "MArkk~~~ nooo, I don't want to wake up." she whined and ended up cracking her voice. "Fine, you're not gonna wake up?" He asked and she replied, "NO! You want an answer in Spanish? Noh." Aera snickered at her own reply and went back to sleep smiling.

That's it. Mark lost his patience. He was done with Aera's whining. He lifted the duvet off her. A plaintive cry left Aera's mouth. Mark threw the sheets aside and lifted her up in his arms. She jolted at a sudden movement and opened her eyes just to see herself in Mark's arms. She was a blushing mess right now. "MARK LEE, PUT ME DOWN. I SWEAR TO GOD I'LL PUNCH YOU IF YOU DON'T DO THAT!!!" Aera practically started screaming. "I won't do that, Taeyong will mess me up. I'd rather take your punches, thankyou very much." Mark replied to her sassily.

She stopped struggling in his arms and just let him carry her wherever peacefully. "And we're here." Mark said as he put Aera down.

Aera took a glance around and saw a large basement filled with gyming equipments. There was boxing ring in the center of the basement, a heavy looking metal sleigh which had two strong looking ropes tied to it, three tread mills, some weights and many more stuff. In short it was a fully equipped gym. A suitable one for a 23 member gang.

"Hmm, I am impressed. Now if you excuse me, I'll go and get the remaining amount of sleep." Aera said and tried sliding out of the room sneakily. Unfortunately Jaehyun saw her and held the tip of her hoodie, restricting her movements. "And where do you think you are going young lady?" Jaehyun asked her. "Ugh, I need to sleep. I want to complete my sleep. Pleaseee~" Aera started whining and stomping her feet. "No you are not going anywhere." He said and started dragging her back in the basement.

Aera looked at Jaehyun and flashed him a smile as she batted her eyelashes, "Please let me go, OPPA~" She internally cringed at her own sentence. On listening to her, Jaehyun wore a disgusted expression on his face and said, "Eww, don't do that." "Yeah nevermind, I cringed too." Aera ended up agreeing with him. Jaehyun just chuckled and nodded his head in disbelief at her antics.

"Yo okay, so why am I being trained again?" Aera asked, confusion lacing her voice. "For your own good Aera. You live in a gang house you should know how to fight or defend yourself," Johnny explained to her. "But I got y'all. I know I am safe with you guys," Aera said with a little pout on her face. Jaehyun chuckled at her expressions. He ruffled her hair and retorted, "No doubt you got us little one, but nothing is wrong with learning some defense techniques."

Aera slumped her shoulders as she agreed with the older ones. "Okay, ok. I am up for it. Let me change then," Aera said. Jaehyun and Johnny nodded and left. She turned around and looked back at Mark. "What?" he asked her and raised a brow. She did not say a word but just spread her arms wide.

"What is it?" he questioned her. "Pick me up Mark, I am sleepy", she said. "Oh hell to the no, you are not a kid. You can walk," he retorted and started walking. Aera ran and jumped on Mark's back. Mark almost lost his balance by the the sudden weight on his back. Instinctively, he held Aera's legs and secured them infront of his stomach. Aera was shocked by his reflexes, "Yo no doubt you're an ace." She poked his stomach by moving her legs back and forth and continued, "damn, are those abs what I'm feeling? Never thought you had them" and she made a whistling sound.

Mark just shook his head and sighed at her chirpiness. "And why are you so chirpy again?" he asked her. "Because you ruined my sleep and now I'm going to annoy you for the rest of the day," Aera said and grinned.

~TIME SKIP~

Everyone was done with their practice sessions. They were sitting together and having their breakfast. Taeyong broke the silence on the table, "So Aera how was the first day of your training?" Aera sighed and said, "I'm tired and sleepy and hungry because of it. But anyway I had my personal carrier," she swayed her head nonchalantly. "Carrier, who was it?" Yangyang asked back. "Oh your Ace, Mark." she said and flashed a smile to the boy. He placed his head on the table because of the embarrassment.

"You jumped on my back, I was not carrying you willingly," Mark said in a duh tone while rolling his eyes. "Shut up, while rolling your eyes, search for a brain up there, you might find one," Aera replied sarcastically. The table burst out in laughter.

In no time Renjun barged in the living room. All of them turned to him. He was panting. He caught his breath and said, "I found out, I found out the one."

A/N : They finally found out something 👀