House Of Cards || NCT Mafia

Chapter thirty : ... as they're used to stab you in the back

Jaemin opened the door to his room, signaling for Jeno to sit on his bed.

"What is it?" Jaemin asked, eager to find out what was so important. He knew Jeno like the back of his hand, and could read his face like an open book. Even though Jeno was trying to maintain a straight face, Jaemin knew better. He was troubled.

"It's about Iseul..." Jeno began. "I know you believe her to be innocent in this, completely oblivious to the mafia world..."

Jaemin sighed, "But...?"

"But you have to realize too many things link her to this... you have to, Jaemin. Because the longest it'll take you to finally open your eyes, the hardest you'll fall."

"Get to the point, Jeno," Jaemin said, already having enough of this.

"You already know about all the weird coincidences that connect her to our enemies, and yet you still don't seem to consider the possibility of her being one of them, so maybe this will," he marked a pause. "I saw her wearing a bracelet with their emblem on it, Jaemin. It's a symbol of affiliations."

The boy stayed silent, his ears ringing. His eyes grew wide for a second and he held his breath. His face was losing its color, and Jeno grew worried. He knew Jaemin wouldn't react well at the news. Because now, he couldn't ignore the fact that Iseul was associated with this world, and on the wrong side of it, on top of that.

Not that there were good and bad guys in the dark world they lived in, but let's say there was bad, and worse. The people Iseul was seemingly attached to, however, were clearly in the latest category.

"Jaemin?" Jeno called, his voice gentle. "It was his symbol on it, I'm sure of it, I've seen it up close..."

"I heard you!" Jaemin suddenly snapped.

His numb state had been replaced by pure anger, rage, even. He clenched the bedsheets in his fist, needing to physically express that animosity taking over his body. He trusted his brother with his life, he knew for sure Jeno wasn't lying to him. And as much as Jaemin wanted to believe deep down in his heart that his friend was good, a perfect angel that had been dragged into this mess by a stroke of bad luck, he had to face the truth.

Iseul wasn't who she said she was. But then again, he was never really honest with her either.

"I can't believe she would be linked to this... and to those monsters..." he muttered.

Jeno put a brotherly hand on his shoulder, trying to calm him down.

"I know it hurts... but it's for the best, trust me," Jeno uttered.

"Oh, yes, I know, don't worry," Jaemin dryly chuckled. "At least now I don't have to feel bad about hurting her feelings anymore."

Jeno let out a heavy sigh. Jaemin was rarely angry but when he was, the person who caused it better run fast.

Soon enough, each Dream member joined them in the room, after learning the news by their older brothers downstairs.

Donghyuck was the last one to get in, jumping on Renjun's bed and earning a slap on the shoulder from him. "So, is this the part where I get to say, 'I told you so'?" he asked, his tone filled with sass.

Mark threw a pillow at his face to make him shut his mouth.

"No, clearly not the right time, dumbass," Renjun snapped.

"Alright, so let's make things clear, please," Chenle requested, sitting on the ground next to Jisung. "Iseul, the daughter of Kang, the head of the largest company that has connections with the underworld, is also linked to Park Mi-Seok, probably the most hated person by Taeyong-hyung," he resumed.

"Yes, that's pretty much it," Mark replied.

Jisung raised his head so he could look at Jaemin who stayed silent on his bed, his eyes looking farther away than the wall in front of him.

"Are you okay, hyung?" he quietly asked, not wanting to draw attention to the boy. Jaemin looked down at the youngest, his eyes shortly showing affection noticing the worried frown on his face before returning as cold as ice.

"Yeah, I'm fine, why wouldn't I be?"

Jeno who was still next to him heard his reply and looked at him, "You know it's alright to not be feeling okay, we'd understand," Jeno whispered.

"That's the thing, Jeno", Jaemin spat, earning looks from everyone in the room, "You don't. You don't understand what it feels like to be betrayed by the one you considered to be your best friend. To be stabbed in the back like this."

Jaemin's eyes had a burning flame in them as he spoke.

"I love you guys more than anything, you know that," he admitted, "but sometimes, I just... feel the need to disconnect myself from this life, from all of... this. Sometimes I need to feel normal, to act normal. I could do that with Iseul. With her I could be someone I can't be here. No matter what I do, who I speak to, everything always brings me back to the mafia world. Until I met her. She was my getaway, you get it? Her friendship meant more to me than you could ever imagine. With her, I didn't need to talk about missions, about weapons or anything a twenty-year-old guy shouldn't even know about. We would just laugh or talk about the smallest things. But now I discover that she's somehow related to the worst person we've ever heard of, and it's breaking me," his voice trembled.

Everyone had listened to his outburst, his face still showing the complex emotions Jaemin was currently going through. None of them had ever imagined it was that deep. That he cared so much. But now that they knew about it, it was too late. They couldn't do anything about it but find a way to make their brother feel better. Jaemin always was the supportive one, it was time for them to return the favor.

That's how the seven of them ended up spending the night together, watching movies and throwing popcorn at each other, forgetting for a few hours the mess their life was.