House Of Cards || NCT Mafia

Chapter ten : Fight like a girl

"Harder !"

Jeno yelled to the guy in front of him, while gripping the punching bag and keeping it in place.

The student punched harder into the black material, sweat dripping down his face, brows furrowed in concentration while the rest of the class sat a few meters away.

"Alright, that's enough for now" said Jeno, to the relief of the guy who slowly started to feel the pain in his fists, reddened by the effort.

"So, now that we saw the basics, let's move on to the next level : combat. I need a volunteer."

Almost right away, all hands were up, well, except one. Iseul never really liked public demonstrations. Class presentations always were something she tried to avoid.

Jeno eyed the group of students, eyeing every one of them until his eyes fell on one of the only girls in the course. She kept her head low, hoping that would somehow save her from being chosen.

"Kang Iseul" Jeno's voice echoed through the large gymnasium.

The girl raised her head at the sound of her name being called, silently cursing at whatever supernatural being was the source of her misfortune.

She looked the young man standing in front of her in the eyes, before slowly getting up from the ground. She walked in his direction to join him on the matting.

When she was close enough, he quietly whispered "Don't worry, I know you're hurt, I'll go easy on you".

The girl scoffed at the remark before answering "You're actually lucky that I'm hurt so I will go easy on you".

Jeno's eyes widened in surprise, but before he could ask her what she meant, Iseul suddenly grabbed his arm and kicked his knee from behind to make him loose his balance. The move reached his goal because the young man abruptly fell on his knees. Iseul then proceeded to twist his arms behind his back so he couldn't defend himself, allowing her to push him to the ground, her foot on his throat.

The whole thing happened in less than ten seconds, shocking everyone in the room, Jeno first. When his brain finally understood what had just happened, he quickly got back on his feet, dusting himself, slightly coughing.

Iseul just stoodthere, not knowing what to say. Her reflexes took over, something that hadn'thappened in a while, and she debated with herself whether or not she shouldapologize. After all, this was a fighting class, right?

"Wow" was the first thing Jeno said, interrupting the whispers going around the other students, impressed by Iseul's performance.

Iseul just scratched the back of her neck, quite embarrassed by the sudden attention.

"You ever fought before ?" asked Jeno to the girl.

She shrugged.

"My dad made me take self-defense classes since I was a child..." she vaguely answered.

"Alright" nodded Jeno, an impressed look on his face.

"Well considering this is what you're capable of when you're injured, I can't wait to see you fight when you're not" he said before sending her back to her place.

The class continuedfor a couple more hours, and Iseul actually started to enjoy it. The otherstudents were really nice, and she got to learn quite a lot. Jeno was passingby every little group that were formed to give advice or correct a move, buthis eyes always seemed to come back to Iseul. He grew curious about her.

At some point, Jeno dismissed the class for lunch break. The students quickly gathered towards the doors, the physical activity having created a hole in their stomachs. Before Iseul could leave though, somebody grabbed her arm to hold her back. She turned around to be met by Jeno's chest when someone pushed her from behind, probably a really hungry student.

She quickly distanced herself from the boy, to look at him with a questioning face.

"Have you ever thought of joining the campus' boxing club?" he bluntly asked, taking her off guard.

"Uhh... not really, no" she quietly answered.

"You should. You could be a real asset to the team. Plus, a girl would be nice, in this sport there's not a lot of feminine representation."

His tone was quite weird. Iseul noticed that he hadn't been the same towards her since he discovered her name earlier this morning. She had just met him today, yes, but the way he looked at her with kind eyes when she first talked to him wasn't the same as the way he looked at her just now.

He seemed more distant, less friendly, the sparkle in his eye smile had disappeared as well. But he still was civil to her, not acting like a jerk, but rather like a teacher would speak to his student.

"To be honest, I don't think I could manage joining any club at the moment..." she answered. "I'm quite busy with school and..."

"And your job at the shop, yes." He cut her mid-sentence without realizing it.

Iseul frowned, surprised.

"How did you know...?"

Jeno cursed himself. He didn't mean to say that, it just slipped.

"Uh, I'm Jaemin's brother. He's you coworker, right?"

Nice save, he congratulated himself. A half-lie. A family specialty, apparently.

"Ah, yes, right. Anyways, I don't think I'll be able to join, I'm sorry. I really enjoy today's class that far, though." She sweetly smiled.

"I understand, if you ever change your mind, tell Jaemin."

Iseul nodded before leaving to meet Chaewon.

Too bad, Jeno thought, we could have seen each other more often.

The young man shrugged before leaving too, his stomach craving whatever Kun cooked for his lunch.

"Alright, how was it? Tell me everything!"

Iseul chuckled at her best friend's behavior.

"I actually really enjoy it! It reminds me of my self-defense class."

Chaewon nodded "You mean the one your dad forced you to attend since we were children?"

"Yeah"

"Okay, enough with the sweaty details, I want gossip! How is Jeno? Did you talk to him? Isn't he hot?"

Iseul almost chocked on her sandwich. The two girls were seated on the grass, enjoying the warm sun on their skin and the fresh air.

"We talked a bit, yes."

She proceeded to explain to her friend what had happened, from the rude boy that pushed her, to the proposition of joining the boxing team. At the end of her story, Chaewon slightly hit the other girl on the back of her head.

"Stupid girl" she mumbled.

"Ouch, Chaewon! What was that for?"

"You said no. How could you say no to Lee Jeno?"

"I told you, I don'thave time for an extra activity. Especially not one that's gonna literally suckall of my energy."

"Girl, no one has ever said no to him before. Or to any of his brothers for that matter."

Iseul scoffed while shrugging her shoulders.

"Well, there's a first time for everything."

Turning her head in the opposite direction, Iseul let a small surprised sound as her eyes landed on a boy walking towards the gym's doors.

"What is it?"

"That guy" Iseul answered while pointing to the young man "he's the rude jerk that pushed me earlier today, the one I told you about and didn't event stop to apologize or see if I was alright"

This time, it was Chaewon's turn to be surprised.

"Iseul, that's my vocal class teacher, the one from my activity for the day. He's one of Jaemin and Jeno's brother."

"Wait, seriously?"

"Yeah, Lee Haechan."

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So,

How do you like it so far ? :)