ORPHANS: NCT DREAM

11 | painting late

AERI

finally painting the small details, by patting sponge on it, and small dots. i was done, done with my painting and i felt proud of myself, really proud. i smiled at myself, slowly leaning back and looked at the full picture of it.

"beautiful." i muttered.

bang.

someone barged in, i saw sister with a grumpy face on. "aeri, what did i say about this? go to bed, it is past your bed time!" she angrily scolded me, opening the door widely for me to leave.

i placed the brushes, and walked towards her, slowly bowing and apologizing. "sorry sister, it would not happen again, i promise."

she scoffed, rolling her eyes. "sorry is not enough, that's what you always say. you never keep your promise, go and don't waste my time." she said with an annoyed voice.

once i entered the hallway, i let out an exhale and relaxed myself. i could hear nothing but silence, orphans must have fallen asleep now.

once i reached the far end, i slowly opened the door by twisting the doorknob. i didn't wanted to wake the boys up, but unexpectedly they were still up.

they sat in the middle, and a circle. it looked like they were planing something, because they were whiserping and lowered their voice.

once i opened the door, they all looked up at me in sync. mark smiled, waving his hand. "aeri hurry and close the door." he said, i did what i was told and approached the circle.

"what's this about? i thought you guys were already sleeping." i said, renjun looked up at me. "no we were talking, please sit if you want to join."

i smiled happily, this reminds me of something back then. when we were still small, laughed and talked happily.

i the he circle bigger, and sat beside mark and jeno. when my butt landed on the floor, they all went silent and leaned closer to each other.

"okay, so me, and donghyuck already searched everywhere in the room." renjun informed the leader, mark sighed nodding slowly.

wait, are they really back with it again? not this again.

"okay, the two of you keep searching in her bedroom." mark pointed at the both of them, they both nodded. "jisung, jeno and chenle try to roam around the orphanage again. there might be a secret room."

mark looked at me. "me and aeri would check the office." he smiled, i knitted my eyebrows and shook instantly.

"who said i would join this?!" i asked loudly, making the boys startled. they all sighed out of sadness, and waited for someone to respond at my sayings.

"we can't do this without you." jisung whispered, almost like pleading. i gritted my teeth angrily. "i thought we talked about this last month? not continuing this plan, we might get caught and it's dangerous!" i warned.

jeno shook his head. "it's not that dangerous, as if we are robbing a policeman's bank. we just get an easy punishment, it's to clean." jeno said, disagreeing with me.

i pursed my lips, played with my fingers. it's not because of the punishment...

"we don't have to do it with her." hyuck simply said, not even making eye contact with me.

i looked up at the ceiling. "so, who cares if we find our files? it's not like our parents want us back, that's why we are here because no one wants us. we've been here since we were little, and no one wants us, just get it!" my voice increased, mark placed a finger on top of my lips and hushed me.

"shh." he calmly hushed. chenle looked down, a frown on his lips. "o-our parents doesn't want us back?" he asked, looking all scared.

hyuck looked at me angrily, and slowly comforted chenle. "of course they do, aeri has just lost her mind." he whispered, rubbing his palm on chenle's back.

"i haven't lost my mind hyuck, i am just confused." i honestly said, biting my lips and was scared if they would ask why i was.

they did.

"why?" jaemin asked quick.

i squeezed tightly at my shirt, and gulped before speaking the truth. "i- i......" i sighed. "i just thought you guys would like to say together, just like we promised when we were little. stay as a family together, only us and don't get adopted."

i felt cheeks burning, i was somehow embarrassed and felt like i was about to cry. they watched me, as if i was crazy.

"we were little aeri." renjun spoke. "we were kids." he spoke again. "we were children." he repeated.

"we change noona." chenle said.

i felt like someone crushing my heart.

"b-but we promised...." i stuttered, pursing my lips together and tried to hold the tears back.

hyuck scoffed -laughed. "seriously aeri, please grow up." donghyuck plead, giving me a serious face.

"w-what?" i whispered, felt like everything was breaking a part.

"promises are meant to be broken." he spoke simply, and easily. he just said that bluntly.

i feel like every word that comes out from hyuck's mouth, cut me like a knife and go deeply down my skin, down my heart. why has he been like this? why is he so different now?

why are you hurting me?!

mark sighed, slowly grabbing my hand as support. "it's true aeri, we were kids back then. we change, change our ideas and opinions." he stood up, grabbing both of my hands after seeing my eyes started to get teary.

"we can't live like this. have a life here forever in this orphanage. the food, that oat meal is not enough. we need a new life, family and we need a normal life to live like other kids." mark spoke the truth, mark never wanted to hurt someone but now he is just being honest.

"we need to separate." he said, and he had no idea how much that broke my heart.

the word separate, made my tear roll down my cheek. i could see their expressions were shocked, they haven't seen me cry for a long time.

note: hello guys, i am listening to regular lol, fav song in that album? idk if i asked this already, maybe it was on my other book but whatever.