ᴄʜᴇʀɪᴇ ༄ ʟᴇᴇ ᴛᴀᴇʏᴏɴɢ

十五

The next day at lunch, they all decided to eat inside Ten's room. They decided to call room service, so that no one would hear their conversations. Renxiang was still in shock, refusing anyone's comfort or skin-ship except for her brother's.

They were now all seated. The twins on ten's bed and the others on the small couch or at the small chairs the room had. The food was already there and everyone was eating, but no one talked. Neither Kun nor Ten said anything at the moment, deciding that it would be best to tell them after they ate.

After 20 minutes of silence, Kun finally spoke up.

"We started back in 2015," he started. He paused, thinking, then continued. "I just got out of high school back then. Ten's family and I were in Korea, then found out about some mafia happenings there. Yes, we actually didn't care. But then we met Doyoung."

"He isn't an elite like us. But sure as hell he's smarter, more vicious. He came to us so suddenly, telling us he knows us. Ten & I were kind of confused, but realized we were kind of famous in the elite's world. So we thought that he only knew us by name."

"Turns out, he did some research on us." Ten butts in and continues, "he researched everything about us. He told us we had potential, bribing us to join the mafia."

"And you guys agree so suddenly?" Renxiang spoke up, getting irritated at their stupidity.

"We were young and dumb, Renxiang, we-"

"And to think you guys are the most responsible people I know." She said, huffing and crossing her arms. Kun sighed.

"Look, we're sorry, okay? Can we just explain what happened?" Ten asked. The twins nodded, letting them explain.

"NCT already had plans to form their China unit since 2014. At that time, NCT's leader was Park Chanyeol who's now in EXO, the brother mafia group of NCT. By 2016, they made someone else the leader." Kun explained.

"How did the others get recruited?" Renjun asked.

"They researched about us at the same times, but decided that it was best to train them first. They were all recruited the same, except Sicheng was recruited by the leader himself when he came to China."

"I know it's really a lot to take in, and we're sorry we didn't tell you sooner. We want to protect you guys, okay? We don't want you both to get involved in the mafia world. Especially you, Renxiang. We know you guys are tough cookies, but we really don't want all of us having our lives at stake every time a mission or an attack comes out." Sicheng said to them. Renxiang stood up, telling them that she'll head to her room. She needed alone time to take all of it in. She felt like crying, the emotional stress as a result of what's happening taking the best of her.

Renjun then stood up, "I think we both need time. It's already bad you guys are in a freaking mafia group, but then you guys, the people we literally grew up with, didn't have the guts to trust us on keeping it a secret. Especially you, Lucas. And to think that we're cousins." And with that, he left to go to Renxiang.

When they left, Xuxi shed a tear with head down low. He thought to himself that he's a bad cousin because he never told them. Hendery noticed this and comforted his friend.

"You aren't a bad cousin, Xuxi. We know you wanted to protect them too." All Xuxi did was nod, not able to speak or his tears would flow like a river.

Renjun and Renxiang were now in their room, separate from each other, thinking. Both of them felt betrayed and untrustworthy. The people they grew up kept a really huge secret from them for 5 years already. It got Renxiang thinking that if they hadn't knocked or if Hendery hadn't slipped, would they even have a plan to tell them?

"I'm going out." Renxiang announced, taking her bag with her. This had Renjun's attention, making him look at her.

"Where to?"

"Itaewon." She stood up, getting her heals. And for the first time, Renjun said,

"Let me go with you. I want to drink too."