Echo || NCTau ||

34 - Shout

"What do we do now?" Jaemin whispered and glanced towards the hallway as everyone gathered around the kitchen table. "Honestly, I don't think that we stand a chance against her if she decides to do something."

While sitting down, the others followed his gaze despite the hallway being empty – Yeoreum was securely locked up in Haechan and Renjun's bedroom at the end of the hallway. There even was a chair wedged underneath the door handle despite it being locked and the fact that they had tied her hands and legs before leaving her.

So far, she had been easy to handle. She had followed Jeno and Haechan to the apartment and hadn't resisted one bit when they locked her up, but that didn't mean that she wouldn't try something later.

Haechan's heart was heavy. He couldn't stop thinking about the utter devastation of Yeoreum's cries and the emptiness on her face but that didn't lessen her betrayal.

Chenle's eyes were raging with fury. "My auntie knows some people. I can get someone to come here in three hours and make sure that she will never bother us again."

Haechan's hands curled into fists.

"Coach Lee told us to keep her until he settles things out but is that safe for us?" Jeno frowned. "I think that we should contact the pack and ask for their input. They don't know about any of this so shouldn't we tell them?"

Jaemin leaned on his hands. "Didn't he tell you to not tell anyone, though?" He turned to Haechan, tilting his head. "Why is your dad involved in all of this in the first place? It can't be just because he is her boss, right?" He nodded his chin towards the hallway.

Haechan rested his forehead in his hand.

"Apparently my dad was friends with her parents. I think that her entire family is connected to organized crime, so maybe my dad knows about it?" He shrugged half-heartedly. "Before opening the gym, he used to work for the government. He never really explained to us what he did while working there but maybe it had something to do with this kind of stuff because he acted very confidently when he arrived."

Despite talking calmly, he couldn't stop berating himself for what had happened. He was an idiot – it had been foolish to trust in Yeoreum so easily. She didn't even need to put in much work before he was willing to do whatever she wanted. He had begged her to teach Jisung. A shudder traveled through his body; he had almost gotten Jisung killed because he was curious about a girl.

Jaemin saw the tension in his shoulders and patted his back. "I guess then we should wait to hear from your dad before we do anything if you think that he knows what he's doing. Meanwhile we'll just have to hope that she doesn't get any ideas now that she's back in the house."

Chenle scoffed. "So, you say that you'll trust her to not try anything?"

Jisung placed his arms on the table.

"Didn't you see her eyes when she got here? She looks like she died with her mom", he spoke up softly. "I'd be surprised if she has moved an inch from where you left her before locking the door."

Chenle's eyes defied his words, not buying it.

Jisung looked around the room before focusing on Haechan, whose normally warm eyes were filled with anger towards himself and the girl they had imprisoned. "She's a criminal and tried to hurt me but, based on what I saw, she had no other choice. She's only one or two years older than I am, right? Considering how young she is, she might have been in a similar situation as I was when I was forced to work for the poachers." As he stared down Haechan, there was old grief and guilt in his eyes that made him seem older than he was. "Her mom just died. It's clear that we can't trust her but that doesn't mean that we can't show compassion for her loss."