City of Secrets | kpop mafia au

Chapter 1

The muggy warm night air hung around Maddie's fingertips, staying stagnant around her body, almost like a suffocating blanket she couldn't take off. She let out a long slow breath into the smoggy air, enjoying the feeling of the warm summer air entering her lungs, so similar to the same feeling of the cigarette she was craving. The gentle methodical rhythm of the city bubbled like a stream beneath her, London never standing still, especially in mid-august when it was teeming with tourists.

She perched on the small rooftop just outside her bedroom window, it was always a safe space for her despite the vertical drop either side. Heights had never bothered her, the threat of falling only making her want to stand closer to the edge just to prove she could. She had done ever since she was a kid, climbing trees all the way to the top and dangling off the flimsiest branches much to the dismay of her parents. They would yell and tell her to behave, but her big sister would always smile at her and tell Maddie she was brave.

"Maddie!" A voice barely above a whisper disturbed the night, causing her to search for the source of the voice, until her eyes rested on the pretty brown haired girl hanging out of the window next to her, allowing her to let out a breath she didn't realise she was holding in.

Her best friend Alice smiled at Maddie perched on the small space of roof outside her window, getting comfortable on her window seat in order to continue their conversation. Alice's family had been their neighbours for as long as she could remember living in the London apartment. They had quickly become best friends, Alice's quiet temperament perfectly matching Maddie's wild personality. They went to the same schools growing up, liked the same music and had done everything together.

"Couldn't sleep either?" Alice questioned as she lifted her warm thick brown hair off the back of her neck.

"I haven't been able to get a good nights sleep all week" Maddie replied with a sigh "I'm scared shitless to be honest." She pulled a cigarette out of her jean pocket resting it in between her lips, the familiar feeling bringing her some sort of comfort.

"There's no need to be, you've always been smart" Alice reassured as she too looked out onto their shared view of London, once she turned back to face Maddie she immediately noticed the cigarette resting unlit on her bottom lip, "but you promised to quit, come on Mads."

"I have quit" Maddie replied - a little too quickly to be completely believable, but embarrassed at the thought of her best friend being disappointed in her. "It doesn't count if it's not lit" she argued, sliding the cigarette back into her jean pocket not wanting to upset her friend. She could tell that Alice wasn't convinced but luckily her friend decided to leave it be for now.

The pair stayed in a familiar comfortable silence, the hum of central London at night filling the air with a musical irregularity.

"Alice?"

"Hmm" Alice hummed in reply.

"If my exam results aren't, well aren't what my parents are expecting they... they might send me to Korea" Maddie admitted, the thought that been circling her mind finally coming out. "Izzy says she loves it there - the culture and everything, and obviously my dad went to university in Seoul. I think they're hoping it will straighten me out or something. They've been arguing about it pretty much every night."

Shock filled Alices eyes, quickly followed by confusion at what Maddie was saying.

"But why would they want you to go to Korea?" Alice asked, fiddling with a frayed edge of the ancient baggy t-shirt she wore. "When Izzy said she was going to do her post-grad in Seoul your dad lost it. We could hear the arguing through the walls - all that stuff about him not supporting her and that she was foolish girl. It lasted for almost the entire summer last year."