c h i l d ' s p l a y • NCT mafia au

#11

She cried.

And cried.

And cried.

Hyejin was in the corner of a room, sobbing.

Her position was similar to her brother's, knees glued to her chest and her head buried in her palms.

Her wails bounced off of the bare, concrete walls in echoes, only amplifying her loneliness.

The air was thick, and she didn't know whether it was hot or cold because flushes of both kept imprinting her skin.

Her body shivered but beads of sweat raced down her forehead.

And despite the loud, body-wracking sobs she let out, no tears fell.

She wanted them to, though.

She wanted her tears to fill her eyes until they fell to the ground, filled with emotion.

Because she wanted to let go–let go of it all; the sadness, the anger, the frustration, the confusion–all of it.

She wanted to let go so her head wouldn't be clouded.

So her chest wouldn't struggle to rise and fall.

So the flames would stop licking at her skin.

So she could focus.

Eventually, her crying ceased, her throat being too swollen to continue.

So she sighed.

Screwing her eyes, she let her vision adjust to the darkness–her eyes stinging, limbs limp, and hair pins and needles that pricked into her skin.

I need to get out of here, she thought to herself as she steadied her breathing, calming down her raging heart.

Hyejin stood up—a little too quick—making her head spin and blots of black drown her vision, but she managed.

She walked over to the door that lead to her brother, not attempting to open it as she watched it lock only a few hours ago.

She let her back slide down the door, resting her head against it.

"Jowoon? Can you hear me?" she croaked, voice unsteady, but as steady as she could make it.

Shuffling was heard in the other room, sounding rushed and urgent, before a voice was heard, "I can hear you..." he trailed off, but Hyejin could hear him loud and clear.

"Jo, we need to get out of here" Hyejin said, a determinant spark flickered in her eyes—and despite Jowoon not able to see the girl, he knew it was there.

"I know that. But thanks for stating the obvious, Einstein" he chuckled, trying to bring light into the situation.

"One of the guys here is in NCT–actually, no, you wouldn't understand that–one of the guys here can help us, his name is YangYang"

Jowoon raised an eyebrow at this, but nonetheless trusting his sister.

"I think he's gonna come by to give us food. We'll talk to him when that happens, I guess" she continued, gears shifting in her head as she clearly was trying to figure this out herself, too.

As if on cue, the main door to the room she was in creaked open, a familiar face poking through.

"I got you both food" YangYang said, scrunching his nose at Hyejin's attire, "This time Daejung hyung told me to" he continued, unlocking the door to Jowoon's room and handing him a plate before begrudgingly locking it up once more.

"YangYang" Hyejin said, making him look at her, "We need to get out of here" she finished, her eyes wide and pleading.

The boy only smirked, a small chuckle leaving his lips.

"Don't worry... it's happening" he gestured his thumb behind him, "Out there" he looked back at the closed door, Hyejin following his gaze.

As he said that, gunshots and groans were heard out the door.

Soon, the door creaked open once more, only this time, to a sweaty, panting, staggering, Lee Taeyong.

"Let's go. This is one base—once word gets out that this happened, all the bases will come for us" Taeyong rasped, raking his hair back.

Some of his hair was matted to his skin with the sweat, his lips were parted as his chest rose up and down.

The stagger was from a wound in his leg, though not from a gun, blood came out of it and soaked that part of his jeans.

He pulled Hyejin up, signalling for YangYang to unlock the door to Jowoon's room.

Jowoon got up and joined his sister.

They all walked out the door, stepping over bodies that leaked blood onto the floor, all of them grimacing at the metallic smell that filled the space.

Finally reaching the front door, Hyejin was immediately in someone else's embrace, their hands stroking her hair.

"God, I thought I lost you" Renjun said, tightening his grip around her.

She pulled away, "I'm okay, Jun, I'm okay..." she said, hands on his shoulders.

____________________

"Daejung left a while before we came, so he's not dead" Ten explained to the group of men behind him, leaning in his chair.

"But good news is that we eliminated a good amount of people from that base. They have three bases in total—in Korea, that is. But I don't think anyone is stationed in Japan's base and they only store their weapon stock in the US one" Donghyuck carried on leisurely, turning his chair to face the group.

"So what's the plan?" Mark asked, subconsciously turning to their leader.

"We should just wait it out. I don't wanna start a fight if not necessary. Hyejin and Jowoon were mere hostages for them...but they might attack us for killing their men" Taeyong replied, hands crossed over each other.

"How's Hye' doing? Where is she?" Renjun piped up in concern, pushing through the crowd.

Taeyong faced him, patting him on the back reassuringly, face softening at the boy's expression.

"Jungwoo's getting a rape kit done on her, don't worry" he answered.

"What about Taeil? He got shot pretty bad" Jaehyun mused as he shoved his gun in its holster.

"For now, Taeil will be stationed in the medical unit with Jungwoo–his injuries are too severe for him to be out on the field" Taeyong said before turning to Mark, "Alright, Mark. Please direct everyone to their stations for the day, I need to run through some stuff with Kun about WayV. Can someone check on Hyejin?" Without waiting for an answer, he left the room.

Mark immediately took his spot, clutching his tablet close to him.

"Alright, Renjun?" he started off, eyes scanning the room for said boy until he appeared right in front of him, raising an eyebrow, "Check on Hyejin. You're on Hyejin duty for today" Renjun went away with a curt nod.

"Ten, Hyuck" he read off of the tablet, "Decide between yourselves on which one of you will work on security and which one on our current case" he looked up as he ordered them.

"That's it for today. Nothing crazy planned out...WayV's staying here for a while, Dream has training slots with Yuta. The rest of you are in your usual patrol stations..." he trailed off, tapping the screen, "Doyoung. Except for Doyoung. Hyung, you have a meeting with Red Velvet, talking about the treaty... I'm sure you've prepared for that already" he sent a smile to all of them before walking out the room, everyone else filtering through, as well.