ANL - mark lee

10

aeris head was spinning as she walked around the large house. eventually she reached back to her room, walking over to the window to open it. once it was opened a breeze flowed through the room and she dragged a chair over to sit next to the window.

the cool breeze blew strands of hair out of her face as she hugged her knees to her chest, observing the night sky. crickets cherped and frogs creaked in the woods that surrounded the property.

however, the sounds of nature was interrupted by her door creaking open.

"go away jaemin, I don't need a pep talk," the girl mumbled, too tired to look back.

"actually, it's not jaemin,"

the girl looked back in shock, seeing the leader stand in her doorway. she was quick to stand up from the chair in response.

"relax, I just wanted to talk. can you come with me?" taeyong asked. aeri nodded in response and slowly followed the man. she observed as they walked past his office and instead to a doorway that concealed a flight of stairs. the stairs ascended up at a steep angle and another door was at the top. the pair quickly climbed the stairs and taeyong opened the door for the girl behind him.

she quickly stepped through and looked around. it was a small flat area on the rooftop, not much was there. a railing sat near the edge as a safety precaution, but other than that the place was empty.

aeri was quick to approach the railing, being able to see the city lights over a tree line. it was like something you'd see in a movie.

"it's beautiful isn't it?" taeyong asked, joining the girl at the railing. she only hummed in response.

"it's not mark's fault that I got all cut up ya know, I lied about the whole blackbelt thing," aeri confessed quietly.

"yeah, we heard".

"oh, so you heard everything?" the girl asked, glancing over at taeyong.

"yeah, we did".

"I swear I don't know what I did to make him hate me so much and when he was yelling I just let my emotions get the best of me"

"I understand. mark is stubborn and he has a lot of frustrations, he's just chosen to take them out on you right now," taeyong explained, never taking his eyes off the city.

"wow lucky me," aeri chuckled sarcastically.

"I didn't bring you up here to talk about that though. we know you're smart, and we know we've cause you a lot of pain. we want to offer you safety, but there's only one way to do that,"

"you want me to join your gang," aeri had connected the dots faster than taeyong was explaining. the lack of reply from the leader told her all she needed to know.

"you don't have to take the deal, but if you don't we can't keep having you here and we can't guarantee your safety. you can take as much time to think as you want,"

"i'll do it."

"are you sure? there isn't any going back after you commit," taeyong explained, yet the girl had already made up her mind.

"it's not like I have anything else going for me anymore," she chuckled dryly.

"okay, we can talk more about in the morning as well. feel free to stay up here as long as you want, only you and I know about this place and i'd like to keep it that way. a little getaway if you know what I mean," he now spoke with a smile.

"yeah, I get it,"

"good, and aeri," she hummed in response, "I hope you find us as more a family than just a gang".

aeri didn't have to turn around to know that he had already left, the door clicking shut behind her, confirmed her guess. rather than follow the man, she instead stayed leaning against the railing, until the sun began to rise.