House Of Cards || NCT Mafia

Chapter fifty-one : Troublemaker

The rest of the day went peacefully, most of the members doing their own things. At some point, four men got in Iseul's room. She already knew one of them, it was Ten, the man that had told her about her father for the first time.

"Apologies for my lack of tact last night," he said, bowing slightly. His face, however, remained free of any trace of guilt.

The other three introduced themselves as Jaehyun, Lucas and Xiaojun. She learnt that they were informants for the group, and she spent most of the afternoon answering their questions about her father. She also told them what she knew about the family business, but she couldn't tell them much, as she had just found out everything she thought she knew turned out to be fake.

She was grateful for the way they treated her, though. Lucas seemed really fun, and even if he joked around sometimes, she could see he was very serious about his work. Xiaojun was quieter, and didn't speak much, but he didn't look at her like she was responsible for the worst sins on this earth. Which was kind of the way Ten was glaring at her.
He remained civil, though, but Iseul could see he was trying his best not to snap a sarcastic remark at her every time she opened her mouth.
As for Jaehyun, he kept it really professional, but he smiled at her from time to time, making her feel at ease.

Once they were done with their interrogation, they gathered the papers they had been writing on and got up, heading for the door.

Lucas, who was behind the others, swiftly turned back, "You get to eat with us, tonight, dinner's usually served at eight," he winked, getting out.

Iseul smiled and instinctively looked around for her phone when she remembered it had been taken from her. She sighed and looked at the small clock on the wall near her closet. It was seven. She got up and went downstairs, making her way to the kitchen without getting lost.

Proudly smiling to herself she suddenly froze when she saw the person in front of her. Taeyong stood there, facing her, wearing an apron, wooden spoon in hand.

Quite a sight to see, really.

For a second she didn't move, her brain not comprehending what her eyes were seeing. Taeyong's deadly stare quickly snapped her out of her thoughts, however, and she cleared her throat.

"Uhm, I was coming to see if you needed any help..." she muttered.

"Well I don't," he snapped, turning away so he could go back to his cooking.

"You don't have to be so rude all the time, you know," Iseul sighed, crossing her arms on her chest.

"Maybe," he spoke, not looking at her, "but I am, so deal with it."

"Look," she took a deep breath, "if I'm going to stay here, I refuse to just sit and watch. At least let me help you cook diner."

Taeyong turned around so fast Iseul jumped a bit, and in a swift movement he was standing right in front of her, towering her with his height.

"I don't need your help," he repeated, his voice deep, "but if you want to do something that bad, here you go," he spat, throwing the apron at the girl.

He pushed her out of his way and left her alone in the kitchen, dumfounded with the black material in hand.

"Oh, Iseul?"

Kun appeared in the hallway, surprised to find the girl in the kitchen. He frowned, his eyes travelling around the room, as if he was looking for something. Well, someone.

"Where's Taeyong?" he asked. "I could have sworn it was his turn to cook dinner today."

"He left," Iseul spoke. "I wanted to know if I could help, but he clearly didn't want my assistance," she said, her tone filled with bitterness. "So I guess he just left me to cook by myself," she shrugged.

Kun let out a heavy sigh. He'll have to speak with his leader later. "Alright, well let's get to it, then," he smiled at her, grabbing himself an apron.

Iseul stood there, observing the man that already started to cut the carrots that were on the table. When he realized that she wasn't doing anything, he looked at her "Well, come on," he said, "dinner isn't going to cook itself," he chuckled. "We have twenty-one boys plus you to feed."

Iseul smiled and got to it, helping Kun with the vegetables. A few minutes later, two heads popped up in the doorframe.

"It smells nice," one of them said, joining Kun and Iseul in the kitchen. "But wasn't it Taeyong-hyung's turn to cook?"

"We took over," Kun simply replied. "Hendery, stop that!" he smacked away the boy's hand who tried to get a taste of the meal. "Iseul, meet Hendery, one of the members of our Chinese unit," he introduced.

The boy smiled at her, "Nice to meet you," he said. The other guy took a step forward, "Hello, I'm Yangyang," he greeted.

Iseul vaguely recognized their faces from earlier this day, and was glad to see they didn't seem to hate her either.

"Can we help?" Hendery offered. As soon as Kun nodded, accepting their help, he knew he had made a mistake.

In the blink of an eye, the entire kitchen was turned into a mess, chaos taking over, and all four of them were laughing loudly, having fun. Not really knowing how, they still found a way to cook a proper meal for everyone, but the festivities were cut short when a loud voice made them freeze.

"What the hell is going on?" Taeyong asked, standing in the doorway.

Kun cleared his throat, ready to take responsibility for the mess, but the leader didn't let him speak.

"Look at yourselves!" he yelled. The four of them looked down, noticing their appearance. Their aprons didn't really do the job, as a lot of food stained their clothes.

"Clean up this mess before dinner," he ordered.

Before he left, he looked at the only girl in the room, eyeing her from head to toe.

"If that's what you call helping, I'm deeply worried about how you intend to take down your father," he spat. "Clearly the only thing you can do is make a mess out of things."