House Of Cards || NCT Mafia

Chapter twenty-six : Nightly worries

Iseul tossed and turned in her bed, unable to fall asleep. Her mind kept coming back to things she wishes she could ignore, making her feel anxious. Breathing deeply, she decided to get out of bed to get a glass of water.

Quietly coming down the stairs to reach the kitchen, she realized the lights in the living room were still on. Carefully walking on her toes to try not to make a sound, she recognized the voice of her mother.

"No way. I won't let you."

Her voice was firm, but quiet, as if she didn't want to wake her daughter up.

"Think about it, honey," this time, it was her father's voice. Iseul was used to her parents fighting by now, but she had never understood the source of their fights. Every time she asked about it, her parents would avoid the question. She hid behind the door, listening closely.

"She's old enough, now," he said, trying to convince his wife.

"She's just a child. I want something better for her than this...crazy life," her mother said.

Iseul frowned. Were they talking about her?

"She wouldn't be defenseless. We've made sure she had the best fighting teacher, a great education, and a quick-witted mind."

Her mom sighed. "But what about enemies? It's not like we built our business by making friends," she sharply noted.

"Yes, well you don't become the best in our field by being kind and naive."

"But that's exactly what Iseul is, though. She has a heart of gold, you can try to convince yourself all you want, you'll never make her something she's not. She wasn't made for this life, and that's a good thing. No mother would want their child to live this way."

Hearing her name, Iseul had now confirmation that they were talking about her. But what was that about? What life? The family business? It seemed to be more serious than that.

"We'll teach her. You know we're not that old, we still have time before we let her take over."

"No," she severely said. "I won't let you turn our daughter into one of your pawns."

Iseul wanted to confront them, but the sound of a ringtone cut her before she could do anything. "It's Park," Kang Kyung-Ho said. His wife hummed in response, still mad at her husband behavior.

Park? Iseul thought. Park Min-Seok?

"Yes? How was your first day back in school?" her father laughed at his own joke. "Good, don't forget to keep an eye on my daughter to make sure no one gets to her, alright? Especially not those Dream kids. Try to find out their identity as soon as possible. We need to show them who's in charge."

Iseul didn't understand a word of what her father was saying. Who were those "Dream kids"? And why did she need to be protected from them?

She wanted to listen to the rest of the conversation, but the sound of her mother's steps getting closer made her run back to her room without making a sound, completely forgetting about her glass of water.

After what she had just overheard, she didn't close her eyes the whole night.

In his room, Jaemin couldn't fall asleep either. He kept thinking about what he had said to Iseul and how her face showed her sadness. Then he thought of Jeno who would spend time with her when he didn't even want to, and how life was overall unfair.

"Could you please stop moving around?" Renjun sighed. Jaemin stayed still, not bothering to answer. "Think of how tomorrow, we'll all be going to school together with Mark-hyung," Renjun tried to calm him down. "Just like the old times."

Jaemin took a deep breath, feeling guilty. He had been so obsessed with what was happening with Iseul and his brothers that he didn't even think about how that would mean he'd get to spend more time with his older brother.

Maybe Donghyuck was right when he said he was a hypocrite. Family did come first, and he forgot about that for a couple hours.

Sighing to himself, he finally closed his eyes, forgetting about everything.

The next day, Mark, who had his own room, was woken up by two loud beings jumping on his bed like maniacs.

"Mark-hyung, wake up, wake up!"

Ah, the sweet sound of Chenle's dolphin screams to wake up in the morning.

"I'm awake, I'm awake!" Mark said, rubbing his eyes.

"It's so cool that you can come with us to school!" Jisung said, smiling wide. "Well, technically we're still going to high school, but we still get to make our way there together, just like before!"

Mark smiled. He had missed doing this too. He liked his position in NCT and the part he played in the group, but he loved spending time with his Dream brothers. He still felt like a kid whenever he was with them.

"Alright, let's have breakfast, I can't go back to school on an empty stomach now, can I?"

Everyone was now seated around the large table, eating the breakfast cooked by Renjun. Mark had offered to do it, but the others had quickly shaken their head no, making sure to keep the oldest as far away from the kitchen as possible.

Jaemin, who was sitting at his usual spot next to Jeno, was grateful his brothers acted like nothing happened the night before. He was feeling happy, but that feeling was soon replaced by annoyance when he saw Jeno's phone light up.

He didn't want to look, but the phone was literally right in front of him, and he couldn't help but to notice the name that displayed on the screen.

"Iseul"

Jeno noticed Jaemin tense up next to him, and realized the source of his behavior was his phone. Looking at it, he briskly took it away from Jaemin's sight, and pu it back in his pocket.

"Oh, because you guys text each other now," he scoffed. "What's next, sleepovers at her place?"

"Come on, Jaemin. I'm not trying to steal your friend; I'm just doing what I've been told."

Jaemin didn't answer, still salty about this whole situation.