23 guns | nct mafia

8

— chapter eight: it's too early to say goodbye —

the next days donghyuck mostly stayed in bed. jeno and renjun payed him a visit every day and when he was with them, it felt like nothing had happened. renjun was talking about how he missed his art class while jeno said, mark had offered him martial arts lessons because jeno missed dancing and it was the closest he would get to his usual dance practice

the two were just like donghyuck now under the protection of the nct mafia, not bound by a contract but taeyong convinced them to stay with the mafia. he didn't want to risk them getting captivated again. the two were currently staying in yangyang's and donghyuck's room as donghyuck was still sleeping in the 'mini-hospital' as he liked to call it. yangyang had apparently found somewhere else to sleep but donghyuck wasn't exactly sure where that was.

the chinese also came to visit him as well as taeyong and on occasion johnny and jungwoo. donghyuck became close with all of them. none of them blamed donghyuck in any way for what happened which somehow only made him feel even more guilty. it was his idea and therefore his fault. his fault that johnny got a bullet through his shoulder, his fault that taeyong had to worry now about renjun and jeno as well, his fault that his father was mad.

he hadn't spoken to the last man yet but taeyong had reported that apparently his father wasn't happy at all. he was mad with taeyong for not being able to catch the kidnappers. donghyuck asked taeyong several times to speak with his father to explain that it was him at fault, not taeyong but the latter always denied his request.

"don't worry about." was the usual response along with one of taeyong's warm smiles and donghyuck couldn't bring himself to insist. to be honest, it felt good to know that he was out of his father's reach.

after a week or so donghyuck was released from his 'mini hospital' visit. when kun delivered the news, donghyuck couldn't help but hug the other and thank him over and over again. the chinese male patted his back, saying that it was alright and there was nothing to thank him for.

"now here's the bad news." kun said after donghyuck let him go. the younger groaned and rolled his eyes. of course, there was bad news.

"yangyang is leaving to china along with a few other's. we have a lab there and some new clients have required a new.. drug you might say." the chinese spoke.

"no!" donghyuck exclaimed "is he already gone? i want to say goodbye." to his relief kun shook his head and said "no, his flight goes later today. he's still here, currently packing. feel free to say goodbye whenever you want."

donghyuck literally sprinted out the door, completely ignoring kun's advice to take it slow. however he got stopped by mark, whom he literally ran into.

"whoa there, take it slow." mark said as he held donghyuck by the shoulders. the latter wiggled free and scoffed.

"what are you doing here?" he asked.

"kun didn't tell you?" mark questioned.

"didn't tell me what?" donghyuck asked, confused.

"that he's going to be your guard now. taeyong just wants to make sure and since we can't keep you in here all day, mark is going to be your guard until we catch whoever wants to harm you." kun's voice was heard. donghyuck's eyes widened and he looked from mark in front of him to kun who was leaning against the door frame.

"no way. you can't do this." donghyuck said, still thinking of this as a joke. sadly, neither mark nor kun were laughing so he took that this was reality.

"nah, i'm not doing it. tell taeyong i appreciate it but no thank you." he said. mark gave kun a look and noted "told you he would act like a child." the older man shushed him and walked up to donghyuck.