BETRAYAL <NCT OT23>

T W E L V E

Everyone wore a confused face as they observed Jaemin walking around the house while biting his nails just a minute after he woke up, his face looks like he's worried and panicking. "Guys! Have you seen Jeno?!" Now everyone realized why Jaemin is acting that way, Jeno was nowhere to be found. "No Jaemin, but we will help you look for him." Haechan replied as he stood up from his seat, calling the other members to join the search for Jeno.

Some went outside, the others searched room by room, while Jaemin and Yangyang stayed in the kitchen, waiting for their members' words and hoping for Jeno's safety. "Jaemin, I-I need to talk to you about something..." Yangyang gently held Jaemin's shoulder, fear and guilt covered his entire body and mind. "What? What is it?" Jaemin curiously asked. He was confused by Yangyang's unusual behavior, he felt uncomfortable but he didn't seemed to get the hint Yangyang's body gave. "It's about Jeno..." Jaemin's face lightened, a huge wave of hope just hit his entire soul. "What?! What happened to Jeno?! Is he okay?! Where did you found him--"

His words were cut off when he observed Yangyang's face once more. "... Yangyang?" Jaemin's mind were now filled with more questions. What happened to Jeno? Should he expect bad news? Is it something he should be worried about? Is Jeno the murderer? "Please answer me Yangyang, I'm worried about my best friend." Yangyang was slowly covered by his own guilt, he didn't want to admit it but he didn't want to lie either. So whatever the outcome is, he have to accept it, it's now or never. "Jaemin, J-Jeno... He died, just l-last night..." Yangyang witnessed his member in front of him change his expression, his guilt was then replaced by fear. "How... Did you know when he died? How did you know that he died?" Jaemin finally found something really suspicious about Yangyang, he gave him a glare, making the younger intimidated by him. "Answer me Yangyang."

"I-I killed hi--" Yangyang jumped in fear as Jaemin grabbed his shirt like a rag doll, pinning him on the counter with high force, making him cough as his back hit the corner of the counter. "YOU PIECE OF SHIT! WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!" Jaemin continued banging Yangyang's back against the counter even until the blood came out of his mouth. "P-Please! Just let me explain--" Jaemin wasted no time listening to Yangyang's explanation, he grabbed the kitchen knife Taeil forgot to put in its place. He landed the sharp edge of the knife right in his throat, making the blood mercilessly come out of his skin. Jaemin did it again,

And again,

And again,

And again.

Those brutal thing that Jaemin did to Yangyang made him drink his own blood, his whole body shook violently underneath the older as he stabbed his throat, then his shoulder, then his chest, and then repeatedly stabbed his throat once again. "YOU BASTARD! YOU BASTARD!!"

"Jaemin?!" Mark got extremely shocked at what he just witnessed, blood splattered everywhere, and Jaemin was the cause of it. "JAEMIN! STOP THAT!" In the blink of an eye, Mark ran towards the two and held Jaemin's arms to stop him from stabbing the younger that was obviously dead by now. "LET GO OF ME!" The chaos they just did made the others come downstairs to see what happened, and just like Mark, they got shocked at what they witnessed as well. "Jesus Christ! What happened?!" Doyoung yelled as he helped Mark holding Jaemin's arms, Jaemin's strength is not what they expected, his anger must've ate him whole. "Let me go you shit! Why are you stopping me?! That bastard killed Jeno!"

"Jaemin you need to calm down! Please!" Mark begged, still holding his arm, his tears are already threatening to fall. "LET ME GO! THAT BASTARD KILLED HIM!" Because of Jaemin's unusual strength, the others ran to take him away from Yangyang's dead body. "Hyung, calm down..." Jisung begged, also in the verge of crying. Jaemin's ears got blocked by his anger, he couldn't hear his members' beg and cries. Jaemin's blurry vision then slowly turned into darkness as he felt something hitting behind his neck.

Jaehyun temporarily knocked him out. While he was unconscious, they cleaned up the kitchen, and carried Yangyang outside. Doyoung, on the counter aggressively ruffled his own hair as he let out a frustrated sigh and groan. Things are now getting so messy. "Hyung, what do you think? Did Yangyang killed all of them or just Jeno?" Haechan leaned against the counter, facing Doyoung with curiosity. "I don't know Haechan, I'm still thinking okay?" Haechan immediately understood what the older was feeling, so he walked out of the kitchen and talked about it instead to the others.

Around five minutes later, Jaemin fluttered his eyes open, stains of his tears dried up on his face, and his hand that were covered in Yangyang's blood began to dry as well. Mark, Haechan, Renjun, and Jisung ran towards him when they noticed him gaining his consciousness. "Jaemin hyung... Are you okay?" Jaemin's eyes became teary once again after hearing Jisung's voice, he covered his eyes, and sobbed in disbelief and sadness. "Jeno was a good guy. Why do we have to go through this?!" Jaemin sobbed. The remaining NCT Dream members then reached him for a hug to comfort him, which is kind of effective. "Jaemin, you got some explaining to do." Doyoung approached the younger. "Y-Yes, Doyoung hyung..."

•

"P-Please, I don't wanna die." Jaehyun begged as he was dragged by an unknown person outside the house. He couldn't run away, he couldn't even scream for help. "Please, what do you want from us?" Jaehyun still got no response from him, leaving him no choice but to not talk at all.

The man tossed Jaehyun on the ground, making him groan in pain. "Stay right there you brat, or else I'm going to make your suffering harder." Since Jaehyun became desperate to escape, he ignored the man's command and tried to run away, but a sharp thing just stabbed into his stomach, making him roll on the ground again. "I told you to stay right there! Are you fucking deaf?! Do I have to do a sign language for you?!" Jaehyun began to sob, holding his open wound the man has given him. "Please, I don't want to leave my family." Jaehyun begged once more.

"You already did left them, didn't you? For how many years, since your trainee days, and now you're rarely visiting them. I'm sure they'll be fine." He moved his fingers side to side as he walked a distance away from Jaehyun, telling him to look around. He didn't even noticed that his hands and feet are now tied. "You are about to experience what hell feels like!" He let out a laugh that terrified Jaehyun. When he turned around to see what the man is trying to show him, he panicked. Lots of wood and other materials that can burn are surrounding him, and just beside the killer were two gallons of gasoline. "Ah! No, we are already in hell! The mistreatments, injustice, invalidation, all of it! They're living with us!" He then poured the first gallon around the materials.

"You don't have to worry about our members, they are all sleeping, and they are all too coward to come out this late." He then poured the second gallon into Jaehyun, the other half was poured beside him. He then grabbed Jaehyun's face in a harsh manner and poured the remaining liquid into Jaehyun's mouth. "Swallow it." Jaehyun shook his head, tears are mercilessly falling due to his fear and the harsh taste of the gasoline. "I SAID SWALLOW IT!" Jaehyun got no other choice but to do what exactly he has told. After that, he received a grin from the man he had no idea who.

"No, please... I'm begging you..." He cried once again when he took a step backwards and lit his lighter.

Jaehyun's face turned into horror and shock when he dropped the lighter, making the fire instantly light up like a hot, and inescapable wall. As the light became brighter, bigger and closer to Jaehyun, the face also became more visible to him. The horror in his eyes never left Jaehyun, he couldn't believe that he was betrayed by the man he didn't expect to betray anyone. A smirk was formed on the man's lips as the fire began to touch Jaehyun's skin, making him scream in pain and beg for mercy.

"Hm... Hot, literally hot." He laughed while looking at Jaehyun slowly got devoured by a huge body of fire as if it was an entertaining show.

He stayed there until there was nothing left but just ashes.