bad alive {dong sicheng}

30

22 boys and 2 girls surrounded taeyong as he was trying to read his morning newspaper and they were being so loud that the glass of orange juice in his hand was threatening to spill all onto the carpet he had already cleaned twice that morning.

"ENOUGH" he yelled and the chaos died down for exactly five seconds before haechan had seemingly punched renjun in the shoulder for amusement.

taeyong covered his ears with his hands, "do i run a mafia or a circus?" he asked himself.

"a circus," keni told him, briefly pausing her own screaming to answer his question honestly. 

"that was a rhetorical- whatever, what you all WANT?" he screamed to get their attention.

"we told you! let's all go get boba! family bonding time!" johnny exclaimed.

taeyong glared at the tall man, "of all people why are you the one pushing this idea forward? don't you have work to do?"

"don'T yoU hAvE woRK to DO?" johnny mocked, "if you aren't coming, we are going anyways and then it would just be 23 clowns without their ringleader rounding them around. imagine the chaos we could get into."

taeyong sighed, standing up and putting his bucket hat on, "as long as you all call me the circusmaster."

keni snickered ans was the first to bow down, "as you wish my circusmaster."

taeyong already was regretting his decision to even come along as he watched all 23 gang members try and fit into the boba shop door at the same time and then screaming at each other. he could see the employees on the inside staring at the group with dirty looks and he covered his face in embarrassment. 

it took lucas alone, 15 minutes to decide on his drink and in total the entire group spent about an hour ordering their drinks. taeyong was sitting at a table, his eye twitching as he watched jungwoo and jaemin do aeygo contests and yuta trying to cling onto mark and winwin at the same time. he rubbed his temples and breathed in and out aggressively before someone set a taro milk tea in front of him.

"relax taeyong, it's not everyday they can just go out like this and enjoy themselves. they mostly coop themselves up working for the gang," jaehyun reasoned and patted his friend's back. 

kun also joined the pair, sitting back and watching the chaos unfold, "you know, i'm worried about winwin."

"when are we not worrying about him," taeyong pointed out and kun rolled his eyes, pointing.

although yuta was wrapped around him like a koala bear, winwin had his eyes trained on to a bench near the boba-shop window, where a specific girl sat with her head on lucas's shoulder, singing a soft song as lucas pointed at the clouds visible out of the window, naming different shapes and laughing cutely.

jaehyun shrugged his shoulders, "he did it to himself, although i have to say, keni is really pretty."

kun gave him a look, "do NOT go for her too, we do not need an ayeri pt 2."

taeyong sighed, "why doesn't he like, make a move? he just sits there and watch lucas take all of his chances."

"who knows the way of the male mind," a wise voice said and all three boys turned to stare at hendery. 

"hendery you are a male with a male mind as well," kun pointed out.

"precisely my point!" hendery said confidently and the three older boys shared glanes, collectively scooting away until it was a safe enough distance. 

hendery sniffed, "no one understands me."

the door to the boba shop rang, signalling a new customer and the shop owner groaned loudly, "not MORE people."

however the women that walked in had no intention to grab a milk tea. she marched straight over to taeyong, an indescribable look on her face as she stuck her hand out, "chen liu. is the famous nct up for a mission? i pay amazingly well."

"where have i heard that name before?" kun muttered to himself as he surveyed the line of buff bodyguards that stood behind the strange woman.

seeing the situation, the rest of the gang members stopped screaming or whatever they were doing and gathered around in a semi circle, staring at the newcomers.

keni nudged winwin, who had managed to edge himself in between her and lucas, "what's going on?"

"she wants us to do a mission for her," winwin explained.

"do we usually take requests like this?" keni inquired, believing that they didn't.

winwin shook his head, confirming her thoughts. it didn't escape his notice how the woman seemed to stare at a keni, even when speaking with taeyong. her eyes never left the girl and although no one else seemed to notice, winwin felt uncomfortable. this woman was here for much more than a mission. he moved in front of keni. 

"i believe we have a deal," taeyong smiled at chen liu. 

chen liu smiled down at taeyong's outstretched hand. he was anticipating a handshake but the woman had other ideas. she held out a hand, gesturing that winwin moved aside. winwin reluctantly stepped to the left a centimeter.

chen liu smiled eerily at the girl before her. she even stroked her hair, "what a beautiful girl you all have here. you treat her well?"

taeyong was absolutely bewildered by the question. 

kun stood up, "very well," he forcefully pushed the woman's hand away from keni.