ANL - mark lee

11

aeri woke up in her bed the next day with the sun shining through the curtains. she vaguely remembers dragging herself back to the room when the sun had risen. her thoughts were interrupted when the door swung open to reveal a smiley jaemin.

"ri! wake up," he exclaimed, jumping onto her bed.

"i'm awake jaem, no need to shout," the girl grumbled.

"well someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed," the boy grumbled right back.

"shouldn't you be resting or something? didn't you like just get kidnapped yesterday?" the girl
snapped back.

"I told you, they didn't do anything. and if you are going to be in a bad mood all day then i'll just leave,"

"no,no, stay. just give me a second to wake up," the girl replied, feeling guilty.

jaemin nodded silently and laid down next to her on the bed, staring blankly at the ceiling.

"did you mean what you said yesterday? ya know, about wanting to die," he asked quietly.

"no, of course not. it was just in the heat of the moment. besides, if I died who would be there to smack renjun," aeri replied, earning a laugh out of jaemin.

the pair sat in silence for a few more minutes until aeri sat up.

"so, what's your big plan for today?" she asked, facing jaemin.

"well first is making you take a shower because you smell awful. and then after that I thought I could show you around the house, and introduce you to everyone," he explained.

the girl rolled her eyes at his first statement and stood up, "if you want me to shower, then go get me some clothes because I literally own nothing here."

jaemin nodded and left the room, leaving her to shower. when she entered the bathroom she removed her shirt, exposing her bandaged stomach. as she slowly removed the wrapping she was surprised to only see a small line left across. however she could not say the same for her cheek. which looked irritated around the cut.

aeri sighed and quickly moved to the shower, letting the icy water turn hot against her skin. she was quick in and out of the shower, rinsing off any dried blood from yesterday. after turning off the shower she was quick to wrap herself in a towel.

jaemin had left her another pair of clothes on her bed which she quickly changed into.

upon hearing a knock on the door the girl voiced a "come in".

"well are you ready for your, grand tour?" jaemin asked with a smile, holding the door open. aeri rolled her eyes at his antics and stood up from the bed, following him out of the door.

"we will work from the ground up, literally. starting with the basement. the basement is where almost everything gang related is located, besides taeyongs office," jaemin explained, "now we'll first go to the medical room and see johnny so that he can treat the cut on your face".

aeri nodded along, following the boy. the idea of this being her new home seemed absurd. her family had never been overly wealthy, living a comfortable life style. eventually, the pair reached the basement.

"so, this is wear johnny's office is. hopefully you won't be needing it very much," jaemin stated, opening the large door into the well lit medical room.

"who is it?" johnny's voice called from afar.

"jaemin and aeri!"

upon hearing the names, johnny quickly exited a storage closet that was in the back of the medical room.