One Bad Decision • NCT

I

You're back home by 9:30 A text from Johnny read. Mark's phone pinged again.
Sharp.
The music was loud; obnoxiously loud. Mark rolled his eyes at the texts and decided to leave them on seen. He'd always been close with Johnny up until recently, in the sense that they were more like flat mates than brothers. Mark appreciated that he cared, but the extent of his brother's protection often seemed more constricting than thoughtful. Johnny though, felt as if he could never do enough to unsure his brothers safety. Now that the two of them had moved away from their parents, the older felt it was his responsibility to take care of mark. They'd moved from Korea only a few months ago – Johnny for work and mark for school – but Canada was starting to feel a lot more like home. Fortunately enough for mark, the whole 'growing accustomed to a new place' situation was made much easier by Haechan. Lee Donghyuck – or Haechan – was another scholarship student from Korea, Mark's childhood best friend. They'd always dreamed of studying abroad someday. Canada was a dream come true for the both of them. Unlike mark, he lived with his parents and unlike Johnny, they had not given him a curfew.

Mark peered across the room, three or so girls were walking away from Haechan looking more disgusted than anything else. It made him laugh as Haechan shrugged and continued yammering on to Renjun who appeared more than happy to listen. Haechan sat down next to mark and laid down a glass of punch on the small circular table.
"So what did I miss?" mark smiled pressing the red plastic solo cup to his lips
"Apparently Canadian girls don't appreciate good humour" He complained. Renjun seemed to feel sorry, starting to pat his peer on the shoulder
"You are really funny, they just don't understand your jokes"
"They seemed pretty giddy when you were talking Renjun" Mark winked
"Shut up mark, they were laughing because they thought you were cute" suddenly Renjun's face turned a pale pink shade, the blush was so obvious that it could be seen clearly even in the dimly lit party hall. It was spacious, nonetheless, every square inch of it reeked with the burning stench of sweat and strong alcohol – the type Johnny always swore he'd call the police if ever he found any at the apartment – it was hardly bearable but mark stayed, for his friends. The entire school had come for the 'high school orientation' party. More than half of the students at McAllister prep were foreign scholarship students, it made the three feel much more welcome.

A tall blonde fourth year approached the boys. Mark could tell who he was immediately tell who it was, the girls behind him had been going on about how hot Wong yukhei was all night.
"Renjunnie" he beamed, they weren't wrong.
"Lucas!" Renjun jumped up happily shaking his hand, Haechan stood up behind him.
"Guys, this is Yukhei. He's another student from china, we even did our exams together!"
"You just said his name was Lucas, Alzheimer's kicking in grandpa?" Haechan hummed earning a subsequent laugh from the stranger
"No haha my English name is Lucas, most people couldn't get the pronunciation right"
"Yeah, Canadian people tend to do that" he joked. Lucas laughed again, louder this time.

It wasn't even that funny,
Mark hadn't stood up, he didn't plan on it. The pink bean bag he was reclined in was comfortable enough, occasionally looking up from his phone to glare at Lucas, wishing it would annoy him or stop him talking to Haechan; although it had absolutely no effect. He would never admit to jealousy anyways. Meanwhile their conversation aimed back at Renjun:
"...literally he was so confused when we did the entrance exams"
"Oh god no"
"Please continue" Haechan said mockingly putting his hands together laughing deviously like your typical movie villain. Lucas started to tell the story till he was called out by one of his friends

"Lucas! Beer pong!" he nodded at the person who returned to a rectangular wooden table surrounded by other loud fourth years.
"That's my cue, here let me get your number and I can tell you about Renjun later"
"haven't memorised my Canadian one, give me yours though" he smiled awkwardly. Lucas put in the number and gave it back. Renjun quickly looked at Mark then back to Haechan
"Oh I haven't introduced Mark yet have I?" He asked clearly not sensing the tension
"Hi" mark said blankly not bothering enough to stand or maintain eye contact as his gaze hovered over the screen of his phone.
"It was nice to meet you Haechan, bye Renjun" was the last Mark had to hear from him. Both of the boys sat down, resuming to their drinks. Mark was almost fuming from the ears until Donghyuck halted his train of thought
"He has a kakaotalk account linked to this number"
"his profile is a zootopia character, bet you he's a furry" he continued. The mood lightened as they all laughed, cringing at the very thought of it. The conversation soon slowed to zero, the only talking that could be heard over the blaring sound system was the seniors jeering loudly, and almost every single one of them was drunk beyond comprehension. Haechan had had enough of the empty conversation and decided to break the ice

"So have either of you heard of the Morton's' place?"
"I haven't" Renjun cooed, furrowing his right eyebrow in confusion.
"Well it's over on Ivy lane, the outside's crustier than mark's feet"
"Haechan, shut up. Also since moving here, when did you get time to find dodgy places in Canada?" Mark was in no mood to get in trouble today, he recognized ivy lane as one of the many areas on Johnny's ever-growing 'places mark isn't allowed to go' list. Haechan however, had a familiarly evil twinkle in his eye as he listed reasons the house was so terrifying to his friends. Renjun was leaning on the edge of his seat, looking half horrified half interested.
"I heard it's haunted, it was a motel in the 60s. I bet there were loads of gangster related murders"
"We live in Canada, I doubt anything that interesting happened in Calgary. Besides, I'm sure that's where the seniors go to get drunk" mark said sceptically. Although the idea of a haunted motel was fun, it was highly improbable. Haechan groaned in boredom before continuing.
"They say whoever sets foot in there goes psycho"
"Then you won't change, we can't go" Renjun complained placing his cup back on its coaster.
"I mean it is getting boring" mark said trying to convince the younger to go with them. He checked his watch, still an hour till curfew.
"We can walk to Ivy Street, check the place out then I'll walk you both home. Come on, we'd get to learn more about our town" he hummed. Renjun wouldn't pass up the chance to go sightseeing. Haechan smiled in appreciation and began to plan the trip
"So I have the place on google maps, should take about 7 minutes to get there. We can go look inside and still be back before Mr Goody two shoes over here's bed time"
"Haechan, shut up. What's it called? The Morton residence?" mark read off of the location page. Haechan nodded as Renjun peered curiously at the phone. A lanky dark haired guy appeared behind the three making them jump back in surprise as he spoke.

"You're not actually thinking of going there are you?" Haechan looked back at him with a confused, annoyed expression.
"Who even are you?" he asked turning off the phone
"Lee Jeno, third year class president. It's a pleasure to meet you" the boy smiled looking not nearly old enough to be a junior. The younger boys each introduced, themselves not half as politely as Jeno did.
"Oh you're all scholarship students right? Welcome to Calgary. I transferred here from Seoul two years ago. But I was serious. You shouldn't go around the Morton house" his expression quickly changed from welcoming to warning. Mark nodded awkwardly but had his heart set on seeing what everyone was so cautious of.
"Thanks for the tip, we'll be careful!" he said before turning around, Haechan and Renjun followed suit as they walked towards the exit. It wasn't until they heard the footsteps loudly against the cold hard concrete following behind them that they realised Jeno had been right behind them the whole time.
"Hey! Thanks but no thanks" Haechan whined not wanting to sound rude but coming off as so.
"You guys aren't going in there, no way am I letting that happen"

End of chapter 1.