ʟᴀᴄʜᴇꜱɪꜱᴍ • ᴊᴜɴɢ ᴊᴀᴇʜʏᴜɴ

Part 36

The main hall of the mansion was brimming with life, the loud and quiet voices echoing around the huge space. It was brightly lit up, and every single member of the household had gathered. And Sebin had absolutely no idea why. She had come out of her- no, Jaehyun's room out onto the hallway upon hearing the commotion and peeked from the upstairs railing. But despite listening in to the many conversations being held all at once, she was still clueless about what was happening.

Suddenly, she heard the shutting of a door somewhere nearby and upon turning her head, Sebin noticed one of the many Chinese members who operated for NCT. He didn't seem to have noticed her, dusting off his black hoodie whilst walking in her direction.

"Hey, Dejun!" She called him, forcing him to look up. Sebin swallowed hard, seeing his usual strict and uninviting expression laid out on his face. 

But surprisingly, he skipped the staircase and walked over to her, both of them now facing the chandelier.

"It's Xiaojun for you." He muttered under his breath, leaning against the railing just like she was.

"Right, sorry." Sebin apologized hurriedly, not wanting to keep him waiting. "What's going on?"

"One of our members is going on a solo mission." Xiaojun grumbled out, looking down into the crowd.

"Who is?"
"Doyoung."

"Why is it such a big deal?" Sebin frowned in confusion, staring at his side-profile. "Isn't it just a mission?"

"It's a long term one. We may not see him for months." Xiaojun explained without holding much interest in their conversation. 

"Oh. That's pretty sad." The girl acknowledged without much feelings either. She had never managed to get close with Doyoung, and finding out about his departure didn't really impact her much.

"It's whatever. The issue is we won't have a bookkeeper until he comes back. Which is going to be in a while." Xiaojun remained emotionless as his eyes drilled into Doyoung almost menacingly. It's probably not because they had a bad relationship or anything, that was just how the boy looked at people. It was VERY intimidating.

But Sebin completely forgot about that, like every time curiosity takes over. "Ohh, what is a bookkeeper?" She asked, voice suddenly acquiring much more interest. 

Xiaojun turned to see her hopeful and wonderous eyes staring directly into his, a weird lack of fear of consequences looming in the air. It was rare for him to see someone stare at him with such boldness.

But that didn't shake him as usual and his face remained the same, stone-cold. "Why do you want to know."

"Doesn't a bookkeeper handle like documents or whatever? When I got an internship one summer during my college years, I was in charge of that." Sebin pointed out, internally burning with flame.

Even she herself had absolutely no idea why she suddenly wanted this job so badly. For acknowledgement? To prove herself? To be able to learn more about this unknown to her world, that was so dangerous, yet so pulling? There was not much thought put into her words, as if they were just meant to spill out. 

But Xiaojun wasn't convinced as he continuously stared at her with bored eyes. "Okay, so?"

"So... so..." Sebin started malfunctioning, in disbelief that he didn't get the hint at all. And from his expression, she realized that he actually did, but did not believe in her nor did he care. 

Short and weird syllables continued slipping out of her mouth as she tried to find the right words to express what she wanted to say, but was interrupted by the front door shutting with a loud slam to it.

The sudden noise grasped everyone's attention, and as they turned towards the source of it, there stood a tall, skinny figure. Despite the mark and hat only leaving his eyes uncovered, everyone immediately realized who it is.

"Jaehyun, you're back." Haeun exclaimed with a large smile, pushing through to get to him. "How did the mission go?"

"The job is done." Jaehyun hummed, not really sounding like he had much care in the whole ordeal. "That bastard deserved it." He added on, eyes temporarily shifting towards the girl that he spotted upstairs, before turning back to Haeun.

"And? Did you get the documents?" She asked and Jaehyun simply nodded, shaking the shopping bag in his hand.

"Easiest thing to get."
"Good job. I guess you're off the bad behavior list now." Haeun exclaimed with a bright smile, taking the bag from him yet Jisung quickly swooped in to grab it for her because it seemed heavy.

"Ew disgusting." Renjun snorted watching the love birds' interaction.

"I'll be off." Jaehyun announced, giving Doyoung a simple goodbye before beginning to make his way up the stairs.

As he got to the second floor, where his room was, he turned to find Sebin and Xiaojun leaning against the railing, her passionately asking him something. Something annoyed him about it, seeing how easily she could get along with anyone, even one of the coldest people he knew. Xiaojun's deep and tense eyes overlooked her as he stared right into Jaehyun's. He was surprised to see the surprised anger within those eyes, directed right at him, although it was probably unknowingly. 

Xiaojun pulsed his lips together, for once trying to hold back from a chuckle, which was immediately picked up by Sebin.

"Oh, does this mean that I have a chance?" The girl exclaimed, lips widening into a radiant, happy smile. 

But Xiaojun's expression simply fell as he stood back up, shoving his hands into his pockets. "I think I'm not the one you should be talking to." He said in a lower, more urging tone.

At first, it filled Sebin with confusion until she noticed his eyes shifting between her face and something behind her. She turned to find Jaehyun's back to her whilst on his way back to his room.

"Oh, Jaehyun! Wait for me!" Sebin yelled out with urgency, leaving Xiaojun alone and running towards the other male.

Ooo is he jelly?

Also, spoiler, you'll see where Doyoung went in another soon-to-come book ;))