House Of Cards || NCT Mafia

Chapter fifteen : Don't judge a book by its cover

"Oh," sadly said Haechan when Jeno opened the door to their room. "You're still alive," he noted.

The boy didn't bother to answer, only grabbing the nearest pillow to throw it hardly at the other one, laying in his bed.

"Ouch!" he exclaimed when the material came in contact with his face.

"Traitor," Jeno mumbled.

Haechan frowned at the insult. "Excuse me?"

"Don't play dumb, Haechan! I know it was you who told Taeyong-hyung about Iseul!"

The youngest got up, angry at the sudden accusation. "I don't know what you're talking about! I don't even know why he wanted to see you in the first place!"

Jeno also got up from his bed he just sat on, facing Haechan. "He knew! He said someone sent him a text about Iseul and I spending the day together, and now he doubts me!"

The other boy's face showed surprise at the remark. "And what does that have to do with me, exactly?"

Jeno sighed, "You're obviously the one who snitched on me! You're the only one I told about it at lunch."

"But I didn't even know who she was until the end of the day when I crushed into her again," he defended himself.

"You don't have to know what she looks like to tell Taeyong about it!" Jeno noted.

Their voices grew louder as the argument got heated, and their yelling must have alerted someone in the corridor, because the door suddenly busted open, revealing an older man.

"What the hell is happening here? Why are you guys screaming at each other?"

"Jeno is wrongly accusing me!"

"Haechan is just a pathetic rascal!" they both yelled at the same time.

"That's enough!" said the oldest. "What happened? And I want only one of you speaking at a time."

"Ten-hyung, Haechan snitched on me! He sent a text to Taeyong-hyung about me and Kang's daughter."

Ten took a deep breath before speaking.

"Jeno, Haechan didn't do anything." He explained.

"Ah! Told you!" Haechan exclaimed, crossing his arms on his chest.

Jeno frowned, not getting it. "How do you know?"

"Because it was me." Ten answered calmly.

Before the youngest could say anything else, Ten continued, "Taeyong asked me to keep an eye on the girl as soon as I came back to Korea with WayV the other day. He told me about her working with Jaemin, and wanted me to hunt her down. That's why I've been following her around for the past couple of days, and today was no exception. My orders were clear : as soon as I saw her do anything suspicious orvet getting close to one of you, I had to warn him. Which I did."

Jeno sat down on his bed.

"But I didn't do anything wrong, I just had to teach a class and she happened to be a part of it, there's nothing I could have done about it!"

"I know. I didn't say you did. I simply texted Taeyong about her being in your class, nothing more."

"But he seemed so angry at me, I never saw him like that," Jeno almost whispered, the image of Taeyong's burning eyes still in the back of his mind.

Ten let out a sigh, "Listen guys, from what I've seen since I got back and from what I've been told, Taeyong... he's not exactly in his right mind lately..."

"Has he ever been, though..." Haechan mumbled before receiving deathly glares from the other two.

"Just, don't take it personally, alright? I have to go back to work now, or else I wouldn't bet much on my survival," Ten bitterly said.

After Ten left the two guys in their room, Jeno mumbled a quick "Sorry" to Haechan, who just waved his hand, not resentful.

"By the way, everyone is working, shouldn't we too?"

"I tried to ask Doyoung-hyung what we had to do, and he just answered that not be under their feet would be the most efficient thing we could do," Haechan snorted.

Jeno laughed softly, clearly imagining him saying that. His mind then wandered to Jaemin.

"Oh, I should probably go see how Jaemin is doing," he said while getting up.

Haechan just nodded, already going back to his game.

"Hi, Jeno," Jaemin smiled when he noticed his brother's face peaking through the door.

Renjun was at his desk, studying a medical book, and Jaemin was seated in his bed.

"How was your day? Renjun told me the students loved the art class he taught. What about you?"

Jeno took an empty chair and placed it in the middle of the room before taking a seat.

"I, uh, met Iseul today..." he scratched the back of his neck.

Renjun stopped reading and turned around, while Jaemin's eyes widened.

"She joined my class, and we talked a bit..."

"Why didn't you tell us before? That she was going to join your activity?" Renjun asked.

"I didn't know! She wasn't on the list of students I was given last week! My teacher just came up to me this morning saying that I would get an extra student today, but didn't give me their names," he explained.

"Damn," Renjun murmured. "Taeyong-hyung is gonna kill you when he finds out."

Jeno dryly chuckled, "Yeah, about that... he might already know..."

"How are you still alive?" Jaemin asked. "If it was't for Johnny-hyung, he would have put my head on a spike the moment I told him we were working together!"

"I told him I used the time we had today to find out her abilities," Jeno said.

"Ah!" Jaemin exclaimed. "Iseul is such a sweet girl, she'd never hurt a fly. I don't even know why she chose boxing out of all activities. I can't imagine her fighting anyone," he gently laughed.

Renjun smiled at Jaemin's description, but Jeno just awkwardly touched his neck.

"Actually," he started, "she's a pretty damn skilled fighter..."

The other two turned their heads towards Jeno.

"She told me her dad made her take self-defense classes since she was a child... and let me tell you, she's a quick study."

"Well, I guess it only makes sense. I mean, her dad is the head of a powerful company that works in the dark side of business. It seems normal to me that he'd make sure his daughter can defend herself," Renjun smartly pointed out.

Jaemin couldn't believe it. His coworker? The girl that everyone liked for her kindness, a fighter? No way.