The Hidden Card || NCT MAFIA

Chapter twenty-two: Sweet dreams

Taeyong's heavy footsteps echoed through the house, suddenly coming to a stop when he finally reached Kun's wooden door.

After knocking to inform him of his presence, he quickly got in, closing the door behind him.

"Jeno told me you wanted to see me," he began, walking over to the younger male whose back was facing him. "I know you want to have a proper conversation about what happened, but you said it could wait until morning..."

When Kun still didn't react, Taeyong frowned and slowly approached him.

"Kun? Can it wait until morning?"

"I'm afraid it can't, no."

Judging by his stern tone, Taeyong knew that Kun wanted to talk about something important. Not that what had happened earlier this evening wasn't, but he just knew this was about something else.

"What's that?" he asked, pointing at the box on Kun's desk.

"I was hoping you could tell me."

He pushed the box so Taeyong could see what was inside, and, judging by the look on his face, he had recognized its content.

"Are those..."

"Iseul's belongings, yes. I wasn't sure until now, but your face just confirmed it."

"Where the hell did you get that?"

"It was sent to me. Well, to us, I just happened to be the one finding the damn box in front of our door."

Taeyong's eyes turned dark as Kun spoke, and he clenched his fists.

"People really are testing my patience tonight," he mumbled, anger filling his tone.

"What do you want me to do?" Kun asked, waiting for orders.

Taeyong took a deep breath, "Don't touch anything until Ten's here to help you track who the hell sent this stuff, alright?"

"Understood," Kun nodded. "Are you going to tell her?"

"Of course not, she already has enough problems to worry about. Not a word to Iseul, am I clear?"

"At this rate, I won't even be allowed to talk to the girl anymore," Kun scoffed.

"I'm sorry, what was that?"

Kun didn't look away from his leader's deathly stare, "Come on, hyung, face it. We're keeping so many things from her it's not healthy. And it's not only you. Now, we're all involved and you're asking us to lie to her as well. You might be comfortable with this, but I'm not, and I'm sure that WayV isn't either."

"Well then I guess you better get passed it, because I'm not exactly giving you a choice," Taeyong snapped back.

Without another word and with large steps, he reached the door, ready to leave the room.

"Where are you going?" Kun asked with a sigh.

"I'm going to ask Taeil-hyung why the hell he didn't tell me that someone had delivered a package in front of this house."

Kun didn't flinch when Taeyong slammed his door shut, and prayed that his leader wouldn't be too harsh on their technology engineer.

Taeil was too busy typing at a fast speed to notice Taeyong's presence behind him. He wasn't always very aware of his surroundings, too focused on his computer screens, and the younger male had to clear his throat to make Taeil look up from his computer.

"Taeyong?"

"A package was sent at this address earlier this evening," he began, taking a seat next to the oldest.

"Alright...?"

Confusion was written all over Taeil's face, but he waited until Taeyong finished his explanation to finally speak.

"I want to know who, and why I wasn't informed of someone delivering something on my doorstep."

Taeil furrowed his eyebrows.

"No one was here tonight, I would have seen it."

"Well clearly you haven't."

Taeyong's words were harsh, but not as much as his tone, and Taeil gulped.

"Taeyong, I can guarantee you that no one was here. I've fixed our alarm and security system and if anyone walked through our gates to reach the front door, I would have known. In fact," he added, "they wouldn't even be able to reach the gates without me knowing in the first place."

"So what?" The leader rolled his eyes as he leaned back in his seat, "I'm just supposed to believe that the package just appeared out of thin air on our doorstep?"

"Listen," Taeil sighed, getting tired of Taeyong's behavior, "if you don't believe me, see for yourself."

Clicking on different windows, Taeil found the latest recording, and played it on one of his multiple screens for Taeyong to look at.

It was pretty dark, but the modern technology allowed them to see things pretty clearly. Well, there weren't many things happening anyways. Taeil was right, no one appeared on the screen.

"This video could have been tampered with, though, right? I mean, like it happened before?"

"No, I checked already, no sign of anything suspicious. I don't know who put your mysterious package in front of the door, Taeyong. I would have seen it, and you too."

The leader rubbed his eyes. This had been a long day, and he needed a couple hours of sleep or else he'd break down.

"Alright, I'll deal with that later."

He got up from the chair and closed the door on his way out, leaving Taeil alone again.

"Oh, you're welcome," he mumbled grumpily before going back to his work.

Lazily dragging his feet to his room, Taeyong had to try his hardest not to let out a yawn as he opened the door, only to stop in his tracks almost immediately. His eyes widened in surprise, but soon turned soft as a smile appeared on his tired face.

Laying right there on his large bed was Iseul, all curled up in his bedsheets, eyes closed. He took off his shoes before grabbing a few things and heading to the small room next to his bed.

He closed his eyes when the hot water hit his face, making his muscles relax, and he let out a soft sigh of ease.
Once he was done with his quick shower, he put on a plain shirt with shorts and walked back to the room where Iseul was still sleeping. Taking the time to observe her a little, he then carefully joined her on the bed, his hair still wet from the shower.

Iseul seemed to sense his presence, because she instinctively scooted closer to him, his scent calming her nerves. Taeyong smiled to himself as a warm feeling spread in his chest, and he wrapped his arms around her small frame, gently kissing her forehead.

"Sweet dreams, baby."

—-
Damn, I'm so single it hurts to write this