asylum°nct dream

asylum - thirteen

  The seven brothers and three sisters kill time at the private room of the game cafe they're in- 3 hours spare before their movie.

  "You guys are good at this," Mei Lien praises Jeno and Donghyuck who are playing chess.

  Mei Zhen who is sunk inside the extremely soft beanbag at the corner of the room, watches as well. "I don't even know the rules."

  "Yay! I've got three full sets!" Xing cheers at her win.

  Mark, Renjun and Jaemin acknowledge the girl's third win in a row.

  "You're good at this," Jaemin says, collecting the Monopoly cards to shuffle them before distributing.

  The door opens and in comes Chenle and Jisung with trays in their hands. "Here you go," Chenle voices when he lays down the tray with light pastries on the table.

  Meanwhile, Jisung's tray is filled with sweet beverages.

  Jaemin takes his peach juice. He didn't order coffee. Shocking. It's thanks to Mei Lien who says too much caffeine is unhealthy.

  "So, where to next?" Jisung questions when he plops onto the beanbag beside Zhen's- quickly sinking in.

  "I wanna buy new hoodies," Jeno suggests. "Moonlight scratched most of mine."

  Mark nods. "Aight."

  Zhen's phone vibrates and she fishes it out.

ancient joon:
Are you all out with the boys right now?

yup

ancient joon:
Alright. Don't hang out for too long
Come home before 9 okay?

  "Who's that?" Jisung asks as he looks at the conversation. 

  "It's Uncle Joon," Mei Zhen replies.

  Jisung stays silent as he continues to observe. Zhen replies with an 'okay' and puts her phone back in.

  The male sitting beside her, shifts his gaze away. A frown is on his face, annoyed.

-

  "Here?" Xing silently mutters, standing upon a globally renowned clothing store.

  The shop doesn't only sell clothes but, shoes, bags, accessories, as well. Some of which they can DIY.

  "Come on," Jeno invites with a smile when he approaches her side. Gently, he wraps his arm around her shoulders and ushers her in.

  The close proximity between the two makes the girl's heart race.

  As soon as the group of 10 enter the shop, the employees' eyes widen and they start to scramble.

  The customers become confused at the sudden haste.

  "Sir Lee, I did not know you and the other sirs are planning to visit," the manager says, greeting the brothers.

  Sir Lee? Sirs? The sisters whip their heads at each other, sending telepathic messages.

  "It was spontaneous. Jeno here wanted to buy some new hoodies," Mark tells.

  Instantly, the employees scatter, grabbing many different hoodies to present to Sir Jeno.

  "You, sirㅡ You guys own this brand?" Zhen asks in disbelief and Chenle nods.

  "Wait a minute, doesn't that mean you guys own..." Lien begins to list down popular brand names.

  "Yup. Our...father was the late Hee Yeol. The owner of Lee's Enterprises," Chenle answers.

  No wonder, their house is a mansion, Zhen realizes.

  "Excuse me, miss? Would you like to look around?" A staff suddenly, approaches her.

  Zhen quickly shakes her head. She ain't got enough of them cha-ching for this.

  "How about light snacks then?" The staff asks.

  "You serve food here?" She blurts out in shock and quickly clasps her mouth.

  A chuckle is heard and she looks at Hyuck.

  "Pick whatever you like. It'll be on us," Hyuck insists.

  "Butㅡ"

  Hyuck nods at the staff handling Zhen and she bows respectfully before bringing Zhen to the female clothing section.

  Both Xing and Lien are in the same situation and after a while, they're finally done.

  The brothers with only one bag each but, the girls have about 4 to 5 bags each.

  And they didn't even pick many. Most of them are chose  by the brothers and employees. Talk about being persistent.

  "I'll tell the driver to bring these home," Mark says and calls their driver.

  "We should go and eat now. It's already 12," Jaemin tells.

  They stop by at the food court on the highest floor of the mall where the cinemas are also at.

  "I'm a bit scared. Like, it's a thriller but, the trailer was so cool," Xing whispers at the one sitting beside her, Jeno.

  The latter smiles. Even in the dark cinema, his eyesmile shines. The commercials start to play. 

  "Don't worry. It's just a movie. I'm right here," Jeno comforts.

  "Yeah," Xing says with a smile that equally shines like Jeno's.

  The movie starts and even from the beginning, it's already so scary. From jumpscares to dramatic sound effects.

  Halfway around the movie, it becomes more scarier and it shows the murderer coldly sawing the body of the victim into pieces.

  Xing's brows bend in both discomfort and fear.

  Meanwhile, Jeno's reaction is the total opposite of hers. He watches the movie expressionlessly. His eyes are hollow, as if he's used to such a scene.

  Suddenly, a loud bang! is heard and Xing whips towards Jeno, shutting her eyes while her hands grab Jeno's arm.

  The action makes Jeno's expression change so instantly. He looks down at the girl with her eyes closed and his hand gently pats her head as he smiles warmly.

  His once empty and emotionless eyes now, filled with care, love and obsession.

  Oh, how much trouble the sisters have tied themselves into.