Dreams That Scar (nct dream)

-5-

Mark POV

"Are you okay?" I asked Seon Ah next to me.

She didn't respond but continued staring at her plate of Alfredo.

I looked over at Renjun from across from me, silently signaling to the girl beside me. He diverted his gaze to her for a moment before shrugging.

"My mother is here, stand please." Isabelle said and stood up gracefully.

Seon Ah didn't seem to be listening, so I pulled her up by her arm to stand, not saying anything to her while I kept my hold on her protectively.

She shook her head then looked at me, almost like she was snapping out of her daze, "sorry..." she whispered. I only responded with a nod and then tilted my head towards the opening to the dining room.

MoonByul squeaked once she spotted the beautiful woman walking into the room, all of us bowing to her including the servants and her children. Her short brown hair was tied up in a half braid while the rest of her hair cascaded down to her shoulder blade. She looked like a queen.

"Welcome," her eyes made their way to every person in the room. She smiled as she opened her arms out, her long, green dress riding up a little after lifting her arms.

"Pretty like her daughter," Haechan whispered, wiggling his eyebrows next to me.

I nudged him to stop while he smiled like an idiot. Eventually, we all sat back down and began to eat our food silently.

"Seon Ah," Jisung called out to her, catching some people's attention at the table since he broke the silence. He held out a cookie towards her mouth. "You have to try this, it's so good," he said in a happy tone.

However, Seon Ah didn't seem happy at all, not even grateful. She had barely touched her food and now she was looking at the cookie like it was a bug. "I don't want it," she said softly, looking at Jisung then the cookie, pushing it away from her.

"Seon Ah, you love cookies," Jisung motioned for her to eat it once again, his eyebrows furrowing slightly in confusion at her behavior.

"It's really good," Isabelle commented from beside her, smiling widely.

Seon Ah looked at her, then me before taking the cookie from jisung, placing it on my plate, "I don't want it," she repeated once again.

She continued to eat her food like nothing happened while the rest of us wondered what happened to the girl that would finish every box of cookies we would bring home. I made eye contact with Jaemin, who was across from me, watching how he had the same confused expression that I had.

"So you all live together?" Anne asked before taking a sip out of her carbonated water, bringing us out of our concerned states of mind.

"Yes," MoonByul answered for us.

"How does that work?" She said, interest beaming through her voice.

"Mark and I have a website, as you already know, and we work off of there while the others stay home and help out."

"Isn't it hard to feed 9 people?" She glanced around at all of us.

"Everyone contributes," I answered this time, sending her smile.

"Well hell," Anne stood up and raised her glass, "live with us!"

My eyes widened at the sudden offer, looking at the others around the table like I couldn't believe what she just said to us. "Us?" Renjun spoke up, unable to hide the shock in his face. Before anyone else could voice what they were thinking about, Moonbyul spoke up in response to Anne.

"Why would you offer that to us?"

"Because I want you to work with me MoonByul." She gently placed her hand on her shoulder and stood staring into her eyes, "I need to always be in touch with you so living with me will be much easier. Will you?"

MoonByul glanced quickly at the rest of us and then looked back at Anne, "okay."

Okay? Why would she say okay to a woman we just met?

"Moon-" I tried to speak up, only to have her look at me with a gaze that told me to shut up and we'd talk later.

I could tell I wasn't the only one that was shocked. Renjun also tried getting her attention and so did jeno, who were the closest to her. All she did was shush them and motion towards Anne.

"My maid, Scarlet will help you all to your rooms," Anne gestured toward a girl in a black miniskirt and white blouse, who ended up bowing to Anne briefly before going to stand by the opening of the dining room.

"What about our stuff?" Chenle asked, eyebrows furrowed.

"My guys will get it for you," she smiled towards him, "enjoy your stay here!" With that said, she bowed and left the room, all of us sitting there speechless while she did.

Moonbyul stood up first, followed by the boys beside her then all of us walking behind her, and behind the maid who led us to the rooms.

As we walked up the stairs, I felt a hand hold mine, which made me look towards my side and see a scared Seon Ah. "You okay?" I asked her.

"I don't want to live here, Mark," she whispered to me, looking around as if she was scared of anyone else hearing.

Jaemin, who was walking behind her, managed to hear enough to where he stepped up to hold her other hand, rubbing the back of it with his thumb. "You'll be with us, so it's okay. Maybe it'll just be temporary."

I agreed with him. "You'll always have someone around, okay? And-"

"No, Mark," she spoke up in a serious manner, making me furrow my eyebrows in concern. "These people... they're bad.. really bad... I- I-"

The sound of Isabelle walking closer behind us managed to make Seon Ah be quiet. I noticed how she let go of my hand just to hug Jaemin's body. I hadn't seen her act this way since she was way younger. However, now it seemed like she couldn't be left alone.

"Seon Ah, are you okay?" Isabelle spoke up, making the other girl nod her head rapidly. She extended her hand out to caress her hair. "Maybe we'll become great friends one day, even sisters."

-

"That clock only chimes when it's 3." The maid said, noticing my stare at the clock at the end of the hallway.

"Am or pm?" I asked.

"Both," She turned around and kept walking.

There are 5 floors in the mansion, the 4th and 5th floors are the bedrooms.  Renjun, Jaemin, Seon Ah, Jeno and I are all on the 4th. MoonByul,  Jisung, Chenle, and Haechan are on the 5th along with Anne and her children.

We all proceeded to our bedrooms and got ready for bed. It was hard adjusting to everything. Even jeno had to come to the bathroom with me just for us to feel comfortable in the new house. I wondered how our first night would go, if any problems would arise.

Eventually, my eyelids became heavy, my thoughts weighing in on my sleep and causing me to slowly but surely drift away from reality.

Until I heard a scream.

~~

I hope you like this story so far! I have a lot of chapters written already and just have to edit them, but please try and give feedback if you guys have anything you want to say or possibly add to the plot? I'm always open for new ideas and suggestions!

Enjoy!