The Hidden Card || NCT MAFIA

Chapter twenty-five: To go behind one's back

"Ma'am?"

The deep voice had spoken from the corridor, coming out a bit muffled because of the closed door. The woman turned around gracefully, and said, "Come in."

A man dressed in black made his way into the room, making sure to avoid any eye contact with the person standing in front of him.

She was the kind of woman with a powerful aura and natural grace. She didn't even have to try to look flawless. She looked so young despite being in her fifties, -not that she was old- but she still had a sharp mindedness, typical of young people. Her eyes, however, held a certain wisdom, as though they had seen so much. Which was the case. The woman had seen a lot of things, and with time, she had learned to turn her experiences into wisdom and used her cleverness to fulfill her goals.

She didn't seem welcoming, though. Even the warm red color of her dress and matching lipstick wasn't enough to erase the cold feeling coming out of her in waves.

The man froze, waiting for her to give him permission to speak.

"What is it?" she asked, her voice showing no sign of the frustration that she was feeling.

"Our men gave us their first report on Park Min-Seok."

"And?"

The man gulped, "He's looking for you ma'am."

The woman scoffed, "Of course, he is. I'm an obstacle he didn't think would be a problem. But now I'm standing in his way. Is that all you had for me? Because if so, that is really disappointing."

The man didn't budge when he heard the sharp sound of her heels hitting the ground as she made her way to him, slowly.

"N-No, ma'am. We also know that he's been seeing someone. We have proof that he's making an alliance to get rid of you."

"Who?"

"Lee Taeyong."

At the mention of NCT's leader's name, a deadly smile blossomed on her lips, but it didn't reach her eyes, cold as stone.

"Everything is going according to plan, then. Good."

The man bowed, taking it as his cue to leave. He hurriedly made his way out of the room, leaving Kang Min-Ju to stand alone, like she had always been.

While her mother was slowly planning to outrun everyone in the race for power, Iseul was outrunning Haechan in the race of their video game.

"Ah!" she exclaimed, raising a victorious fist in the air, "I got you!"

Donghyuck rolled his eyes in annoyance, "Only because you cheated."

"Oh, come on," she laughed, "don't be such a sore loser."

He scoffed, "That would imply I'd be a loser in the first place, which I'm not. I didn't lose, because you cheated. It's easy to win if you don't play by the rules."

"Is he sulking because he lost again?"

Iseul and Haechan turned around at the same time at the sound of Jeno's voice.

"I didn't lose!"

"Well, that answers my question," Jeno replied with a hint of teasing in his tone.

"You wanted something?" Donghyuck asked, still upset about the game.

"Yeah, I wanted to talk to Iseul, actually."

"Sure, I'll leave you guys, I can't stand being in the same room as a cheater, anyway."

Iseul simply laughed in response. She was glad to finally be on good terms with him, and she actually enjoyed their little bickering. She felt as if they were siblings.

"What did you want to talk about?" she asked when she noticed how serious Jeno's face had turned.

"I wanted to know if I could do anything for you? I mean... You might think that we haven't noticed, but we know that you haven't been yourself lately... I wanted to know if I could do anything about it. If you ever need to talk... I'm here."

Iseul was surprised by his words, she didn't think he cared that way, and it made her feel warm inside.

"I appreciate you worrying about me, Jeno, thank you. But to be perfectly honest I don't really feel like talking right now..."

"Of course," he spoke with his famous eye smile, "I get it. I can help taking your mind off whatever it is that is bothering you, though."

"What do you have in mind?"

"I see you've been practicing a lot lately, maybe you'd like to train with me, like we used to before? I actually tried to offer you to come with me this morning, but you weren't in your room..."

Iseul's eyes suddenly focused on the ground, suddenly finding the carpet really interesting.

"Um, yeah... I went for a walk."

Jeno scoffed as he crossed his arms on his chest, "Iseul, if you don't want to tell me where you were that's fine, but please don't lie to me."

His tone wasn't accusing, but rather pleading. He genuinely didn't like the idea of her lying to him.

"Sorry," she mumbled. She didn't really want to tell him she was in Taeyong's bed, because that's where she spent the night. She felt like it was too early, she didn't know if Taeyong and her were in a proper relationship to begin with, after all. It would only make things more complicated if she told the truth.

"That's fine. So, do you accept my offer? That way we'd get to spend more time together, I feel like we haven't in a while."

"You're right," Iseul admitted, feeling guilty.

It's true that she hadn't been spending as much time with them and with Jeno in particular lately. She had put a distance between them for a reason she didn't know herself. It just felt right to get some space.

"I get it, don't worry," he spoke in a gentle voice as if he was reading her mind, guilt spreading on her features. "I understand you need your space and time."

Iseul felt grateful for Jeno. He was so patient and understanding with her, it felt good to have him by her side.

"Thank you for being such a good friend, Jeno."

The boy simply smiled, but the word "friend" made him feel weird inside. He just shrugged it off, not thinking much of it.

"So? Is that a yes?"

Iseul didn't have to think about it, "Yes, of course I'd like to practice with you."

Jeno showed her his purest eye smile, making her laugh, but Taeyong, behind the door, was clenching his fists in frustruation.
He knew his members better than anyone, and he knew that Jeno wasn't just being friendly. Whether he was aware of it or not didn't really matter.

"Hyung?"

The man turned around to meet Jungwoo's worried gaze.

"What is it, Jungwoo?" he sighed.

"We hid the box filled with Iseul's stuff."

Taeyong nodded, "Good."

Jungwoo seemed to hesitate, but finally spoke up again, "Are sure you want to go on with your plan, though?" he asked.

Taeyong shot a furtive look at Iseul and Jeno laughing and looked back at Jungwoo.

"Yes, I'm sure. Go search Jeno's room."

"How do you know he's not going to catch us going through his stuff?"

"Oh, don't worry," Taeyong scoffed, anger building inside him again as he looked at the Dream member having fun with Iseul, "he'll be busy."

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Hi, uni is killing me, I don't have time to write or do anything other than working so I apologize for the late update!!
If any of you planned on going to law school, you can say goodbye to your personal/social life, cause you won't have any...
Also, I'm sorry for the mistakes it's really late and I'm falling asleep as I write aha