ANL - mark lee

15

"that was hell." aeri looked across her room at jaemin.

he only chuckled in response, "I remember my training days. I am glad i'm done with those."

aeri flexed her hands, observing the blisters that were forming on her palms.

"I got flipped on my ass, you would've loved to see it". she informed the boy.

"tell haechan to record it next time, i'll cherish it forever."

jaemin laid on her bed, tossing a small ball towards the ceiling, while aeri sat cross legged on the chair near her desk. coco purred at jaemins feet, fast asleep.

"i'm bored." jaemin stated.

"you're the one who came in here." aeri replied in the same dry tone.

"you don't leave your room ever. I wanted to see what was so interesting in here, but it seems that you like to sit in brain numbing boringness." jaemin teased.

"well then mr. fun please tell me what we should do to escape such brain numbing boringness."

"well, I don't believe you've seen the dreamie cave."

jaemin sat up from the bed, showing a toothy grin. aeri eyed him suspiciously, but followed him out the door.

the pair walked through the hallways, eventually ending up at a door. a spray painted sign hung on the door, "dreamie cave. keep out!"

jaemin smiled back at her before opening the door. aeri's jaw dropped.

a large tv covered the side wall, large couches facing it, while foosball, pool, ping pong and darts sat on the other side of the room. a small basketball hoop hung from the wall on the far wall.

"woah."

jaemin chuckled "yeah, taeyong wanted to give us a space to just hangout so he had this room made. pretty sweet huh?"

"ya think? this is sick jaem!" aeri rushed across the room, grabbing a ping pong paddle, "rumor has it i'm pretty good at ping pong"

"oh you are so on." jaemin grabbed the other paddle and soon an intense game arose.

as the game went on, the number of bodies in the room increased and soon all the dreamies sat around the room. it was eventually decided that aeri was the ultimate ping pong champion.

the boys resided to their rooms soon after, having to wake up for school in the morning.

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aeri's alarm went off the next morning when the sun hadn't yet risen. a few snooze buttons later and she was late. within two minutes she managed to put on training clothes and get halfway to the training area.

halfway.

meaning: she was late.

she had barely entered the room when the complaining voice of mark entered her ears. however, he wasn't complaining to her.

"I don't understand why I should have to train her if she can't even respect a time requirement."

as she rounded the corner she could see that he was talking to taeyong, who quickly made eye contact with her.

"we'll, i'm sure aeri has a good reason. right, aeri," he spoke in a cheerful manner.

"I- overslept?" aeri replied unsurely.

"well isn't it nice to see how much she respects all of our time" mark rolled his eyes.

moments later, haechan entered the room.

taeyong glanced at mark, "haechan, why are you late?"

without sparing a glance, he walked to the fridge, "overslept a little"

taeyong gave mark a hard stare before exiting the room, "train her."

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2 months later:

"I want everyone's final reports," taeyong sat at the head of the table looking over a group of his members.

winwin spoke first from the opposite end of the table, "she's strong in guns, doesn't seem to miss," 

to his left, doyoung spoke next, "she's exceptional in knives. it's definitely her strongest skill."

kun soon confirmed that she understood the basic tech within the gang. and johnny followed soon after telling of how she would be able to handle minor injuries.

finally everyone, in the room turned to look at the one boy who hadn't yet opened his mouth.

"she's shit at hand to hand." mark stated matter of factly.

across the table jaehyun muttered lowly.

"what was that?" mark asked defensively.

"I said, maybe she just has a shit teacher."

marks chair screeched across the floor as he reached across the table at jaehyun.

"enough!" taeyong yelled, shooting warning glances at the two males, "i'm clearing her for the field, she will continue to train her hand to hand. aeri will be a member of dream, final decision. thank you all for your time, you may leave. mark, a word?" taeyong finished sharply.

everyone quickly sensed the tension within the room and exited, leaving the two.

"what?" mark asked, annoyed.

"you may not like her, but she's now a part of your unit. and as the leader of that unit if something falls apart because of her lack of skill in a certain field, that falls on you. are we clear?"  taeyong spoke evenly, but the anger in his voice couldn't be missed.

"yes, sir." mark said quietly, exiting the room.

this girl would be the death of him.