The Hidden Card || NCT MAFIA

Chapter twenty-nine: Trust the right people

Park was pacing in his office, hands behind his back.

"Do you understand what you have to do?" he asked the person in front of him, raising an eyebrow. His tone wasn't harsh, but threatening nonetheless.

They nodded, a lump in their throat preventing them from speaking.

"Good, then we're done."

The meeting had been quick, but it had somehow felt like hours and they almost ran away, scared to stay in the presence of the psychotic man. Park just laughed and turned to one of his men standing next to the door.

"Make sure everything's done as I said."

Just as he was done speaking, his phone rang in his pocket. A sadistic smile spread across his features as he looked at the number displaying on the small screen.

"I wasn't expecting you to give me a call so soon," he spoke, a hint of mockery tainting his tone.

The person on the other side of the line didn't seem to share his amusement, but he didn't seem to care.

"I see..." he trailed off. "You keep surprising me everyday."

He paused, letting his interlocutor speak, and eventually hummed in agreement.

"Well, I guess it can be arranged... This evening, eight o'clock. I'll be at my usual restaurant, I'm sure you know where to find me."

Without another word he hung up and straightened his tie.

"I'll come back late, tonight, if anything happens, call me," he instructed the only man left in the room.

At the same time, down in the basement of their house, Jeno let out all of his conflicted feelings through punches. He was so absorbed in his fight against the poor dummy that he failed to notice someone joining him on the mat.

"Who is it?"

The sudden voice startled Jeno and he violently turned around, ready to punch the intruder. He calmed down once he realized it was only his brother, but his muscles were still tensed under his shirt as drops of sweat ran down his temples.

"What?" he asked, catching his breath.

"Who is it you're imagining when punching that dummy?" Jaemin asked, unphased as he handed him a bottle of water.

Jeno nodded as a thank you and grabbed the bottle, emptying it in a second.

"My bet's on Taeyong-hyung," Jaemin added when Jeno didn't answer.

"Well you lost, then," he finally spoke, "Because I'm just picturing myself."

Jaemin frowned and tilted his head, "What? Why?"

Jeno shrugged and let his body rest against the wall on his right, avoiding Jaemin's gaze.

"I guess you could say I fucked up."

"What did you do?"

There was no judgment in Jaemin's voice, simply curiosity.

"I..." Jeno cleared his throat, "I might have admitted to his face that I loved Iseul..."

He let himself slide against the wall to finally reach the ground, letting his head fall back as he closed his eyes.

He waited for Jaemin to react, say something, but he remained silent. After a few seconds, Jeno opened his eyes again to look at his brother. Jaemin didn't utter a word and sat down next to him, resting his forearms on his knees.

When he finally spoke, Jeno couldn't tell what he was thinking as his voice was empty of emotions.

"I thought you liked her as a sister."

The black-haired boy let out a heavy sigh, his chest moving up and down to the rhythm of his breathing.

"I thought so, too."

"What happened?"

"I don't know."

Jeno softly hit the back of his head against the wall and covered his face with his hands.

"I just... I thought I didn't like her this way, but lately, I don't know, things have changed...and when I see her with Taeyong-hyung it just makes me feel-"

"Angry? Sad? Frustrated?" Jaemin finished for him.

"Yeah..." Jeno whispered, surprised, "How did you know?"

Jaemin chuckled, "Because I used to feel the same way about you."

Jeno looked at Jaemin, his eyes filled with nothing but sadness and regret.

"I'm sorry," he added.

Jaemin raised his eyebrows at him, "What are you sorry about?"

"Well, I know you liked her and maybe you're thinking that I lied to you about liking her as a sister, but I swear I thought I did. It's just..."

"Don't."

Jaemin cut him off before Jeno could finish.

"I know you didn't lie to me, you wouldn't do this to me, and besides," he added with a smirk, "you have a tell so I would have know."

He smirked and Jeno frowned, "I do not have a tell."

"You do."

"What is it?"

Jaemin scoffed, "I'm not telling you! Or else you'll stop doing it."

Jeno playfully hit him on the shoulder, a soft laugh escaping his lips. He was grateful for his brother. The light atmosphere slowly faded away, though, and both of them regained their composure.

"How did he react?" Jaemin asked.

Jeno shrugged, "I don't really know, to be honest... Kun-hyung got me out before he exploded, I suppose..."

Jaemin nodded, Kun had always had their back.

"So what now?"

Jeno sighed, "I don't know... I messed up about something else too, actually, so I guess I'm going to have to regain hyung's trust."

"What are you talking about?" Jaemin frowned.

"I hid a note from all of you threatening Iseul, because I was foolishly thinking I could take care of it myself."

There was shame tainting Jeno's tone and he looked down.

"That was clearly not your smartest move, indeed..." Jaemin approved, "but Taeyong-hyung will know what to do," he added with confidence.

Jeno admired the trust his brother put in their leader, and felt ashamed he hadn't felt the same way when he had found that note.

"There's something else," Jaemin spoke softly as he observed the other boy's face. It wasn't a question, more like a statement.

"It's nothing, I just feel like lately Taeyong-hyung has been keeping stuff from us, and I guess that's why I slowly started to lose trust in him... I just wish he trusted us enough to tell us about it."

"Look," Jaemin replied, putting a comforting hand on his brother's shoulder, "If there is something that I know for sure about Taeyong-hyung, it's that he's not only great at what he does, he also tends to be overprotective sometimes. He has a tendency to always want to do things by himself, because that's what he had to do before all of us came along to form the family that we are today. I'm guessing this is just him having trouble getting rid of an old habit."

He looked at Jeno in the eye and added, "I also know for a fact that the man loves us. More than anything. We're his family just like he's ours. The thing is, he's so good at hiding it that we tend to forget about it, but every decision he takes, and every move he makes, he does it for us. Stop doubting, if you're right and he's not telling us something, I'm sure he has a good reason, and he'll tell us when he's ready, alright?"

Jeno swallowed down the lump in his throat and nodded, meditating Jaemin's words. He was right, he had to trust his leader. Doubting him would lead nowhere, and he was his brother too, after all.

They were family; if they didn't trust each other, then who?

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