The Road to Defeat

NINE

Hard work pays off

Chloe left later that morning because she had to go to work. This house seemed to be calm today, Emily and Lauren were hanging out on the couch playing Mario Kart. The two of them were yelling at each other because of how competitive they were. Emily could tell that some of the boys, specifically Namjoon, was upset when Chloe was over. The last thing Emily wanted was to start conflicts in the group, so she decided that being honest about her feelings and approaching everyone was the best way to handle it. Emily made sure to talk to Taehyung after Chloe had left, since she wanted to make sure that the boys weren't mad at her or anything. She understood why they would be upset about her letting a stranger into their home but this was now her home too and Emily felt she had the right to have friends over. Thankfully, Taehyung wasn't upset or anything and Emily made sure that the boys weren't overly bothered with her or anything. She promised that she never intended to tell anyone about the mafia secret.

There was a knock on the door not long after the two girls had given up on the game, both out of energy from their highly competitive states. Taehyung winked at Emily as he passed the living room, making his way to the front door. Taehyung always seized his chance to flirt with Emily. He was always very playful in that way but Emily loved it. The girls stayed quiet, curious to whom was at the door, when they heard a deep, yet soft, male voice. They couldn't help but share curious looks to each other as the voice they heard was an unfamiliar one. Once they noticed the footsteps were coming their way, the girls made their best attempt to hide the fact that they were spying on Taehyung and their mystery guest. Lauren couldn't help but let her curiosity get the best of her, so she looked toward the men as they passed by the room. However, once she looked towards them, she made direct eye contact with one of the most beautiful men she'd ever seen. Lauren's face flushed, and she automatically looked away when the man winked at her. She wasn't used to any form of flirtatious behavior and it honestly made her feel flustered. Lauren focused her attention towards Emily as the men continued passing by, heading toward the meeting room where the rest of the boys were.

"Oh my god, that guy is so sexy!" Lauren said in an excited whisper to Emily, who was kind of in shock. Lauren was always around a lot of men considering it was the majority gender in the mafia, but she never looked at any of them as more than brother figures. Emily was quick to look at Lauren in disgust .

"Ew Lauren, he has a goatee!" The two girls couldn't hold in their laughter at each other, realizing they had very different types when it came to guys.

The two girls were very curious about this man neither of them had seen before, and because of their boredom, they decided to spy on the boys today. Fortunately for them, they already knew that the boys were, and had been, in the meeting room all day. The girls waited a while before approaching the room quietly, standing on either side of the door they attempted to listen in on the conversation. There was no yelling at all and in fact everyone inside the room was talking so quietly they couldn't make out much of what was being said. However, before they got a chance to retreat back to the living room, the meeting room door opened quickly. Emily was quick to run and hide from the awkward situation. Lauren's eyes grew in shock. Once again she had locked eyes with the gorgeous mystery man, this time in a much closer proximity. It felt like she was frozen in place, even if she was able to move this was an awkward situation to just run away from. The man nodded toward her, bowing slightly. Although it didn't make much difference because his tall frame still towered over her small stature. Taehyung found the entire situation hilarious, he smirked and raised his eyebrows to Lauren quietly making fun of her. As Taehyung followed behind the man to the front door, all Lauren could do was pretend to kick him as he walked away letting some of her frustrations out.

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"Okay Emily you're not going to be able to hurt anyone if you keep punching like that," Jeongguk told her, half amused. She laughed along with Jeongguk, taking the situation lightheartedly. She knew that she wasn't going to be good at this right away, but she did hope that with practice and time she could become good at it. Emily looked back towards the house, where Taehyung was watching as Jeongguk attempted to train with her. Jeongguk was in front of Emily, holding the punching bag that Emily was learning to punch.

"I'm afraid I'm not cut out for this Kookie, I'm really trying," Emily told Jeongguk truthfully. She couldn't help but second guess her choices on whether this was really what she was supposed to be doing. Jeongguk just shook his head toward the girl in front of him, he wasn't expecting her to be amazing.

"Girl, stop being so negative about it. This isn't something that comes easy to everyone, you have to work for it. More importantly, you have to want it." Emily was thankful for Jeongguk's words. She knew that he was very talented at these things, so the encouragement meant a lot coming from him. With the words of encouragement still fresh in her mind, Emily got into a fighting stance.

"Let's do this."

Taehyung smiled proudly while watching his friend and girlfriend train. Emily was going to be a great addition to their mafia group.