KING

一 07

"And, alas, that's how we got stuck in here." Jisung said dramatically, waving his hands around, narrowly missing his cell mate's face, Chenle, due to how cramped the cell was. Lucas stared at them blankly, before saying, "You're annoying."

He turned his back on the pair, Jisung gasping offendedly, causing Rina to let out a silent laugh as she watched the ongoings. "This is why you shouldn't be overdramatic about everything, Park Jisung." Chenle rolled his eyes, running his fingers through his mint green hair.

"You didn't even say anything about what y'all did to get in here." A gruff voice said, another prisoner from slightly further down called out.

"Okay, okay, shut up." Jisung said, the brown haired boy giving Rina an exasperated look, before speaking once again. "Why are you in with a cell with two men?"

Rina shrugged, turning to Mark. However, Lucas answered for her instead. "It's not really any of your business, last I checked." He snapped.

Jisung raised an eyebrow, letting out a low whistle. "Calm down, I'm just curious." Jisung said as he raised his hands placatingly. "It's not really a normal thing."

Lucas raised an eyebrow, rolling his eyes and looking away. "Wow." Jisung huffed. "You have issues."

"Issues your miniscule brain wouldn't really understand," Lucas replied, indifference clear in his voice.

Rina watched as Jisung stood up, a furious expression beginning to set itself upon his features. "You want to go?" He yelled, a few others yelling back at him to keep his voice down. "Like you could take me down." Lucas tilted his head cockily, looking Jisung up and down through the bars of his cell.

"Lucas." Mark said, his voice low and hard as he stood up, grabbing his friend's hand and pulling him behind him. "You're going to need to shut up."

Lucas scoffed, before shoving Mark off and turning his back on Jisung, who was standing with his mouth open, in shock and anger.

"I'm going to kill him!" He said loudly, clenching his fists angrily, before Chenle pulled him back down. "The insult wasn't even that good, its not worth it." The mint haired muttered, making the corners of Rina's lips quirk upward as she tried to hide her smile.

Mark rubbed his eyes in frustration, giving Rina a tired look. She reached out, gently patting his shoulder, nodding understandingly.

"Sorry about that." Mark called out to the occupants of the opposite cell. "Don't sweat it," Chenle waved, flashing them a cute smile.

Appearances were so deceiving, Rina concluded, as she stared at the two of them. Jisung and Chenle couldn't have been older than seventeen, both having young and innocent faces, yet here they were, stuck in the second level of the King's prison.

Then again, she thought as she glanced at Mark and Lucas, these two were pretty innocent looking too. Except for Lucas, who was currently glowering angrily at the stone wall, making her shake her head.

The taller had noticeably become more irritable, almost borderline desperate for a fight. Mark, too, had become increasingly agitated. He had been getting a lot less sleep recently, she could hear him twisting and turning in the bed below her. It didn't help that the second floor was filled with more people - after being used to seeing empty cells for so long, anything seemed crowded.

But the reason for their sudden changes in demeanour was what she couldn't figure out.

Time went by slowly, the seconds trickling away like sand held in a clenched fist.

It was much noisier than the third floor, her companion of silence often being chased away by words exchanged among friends or the shuffling of uncomfortable prisoners.