ᴄʜᴇʀɪᴇ ༄ ʟᴇᴇ ᴛᴀᴇʏᴏɴɢ

三十七

She knocked at WayV's assigned room at the mansion with Ten opening the door for her to come in. Turns out, when she arrived at the movie room, the show was already finished and Ten headed to their room, to which Jaehyun told her. 

"Missed you, Chittaphon," she said, hugging him. Ten smiled, patting her head and closing the door.

"So, any specific reason why you went to our room?" He asked. She shook her head no.

"Just wanted to thank you, you know? For always being here since we were kids. Even now that we're old and in a mafia, you're still here." Ten smiled again hearing her words. 

"It's nothing love. You'll always have me here, alright? Even if you like someone else." Renxiang froze, looking up at him.

"What do you mean? Ten, who would I possibly-" she herself stopped talking when she realized who it was. She sighed, letting go of the hug.

"I can let you go now, Xiang. To be honest, every time we show affection to each other, I just feel like it was like old times. Not us as a couple, you know? But us as just close friends who grew up together and stood by each other's side. You get me?" Renxiang nodded, feeling the same. Every hug they had, every cheek or forehead kisses they gave, it just felt the same. Renxiang was somewhat sad upon their small breakup (even though they weren't actually together). She enjoyed being held by Ten with the label of them 'dating'. But she was happy, too, with obvious reasons. 

She sighed, nodding and embracing her friend.  "Thank you, Ten," she said, smiling. 

That night, she went to her room, deciding to sleep there. She told herself she can handle it, but nightmares of what happened still haunted her, making her wake up from her sleep, sweating and afraid. She went downstairs, careful not to wake anyone up, and went to the living room to watch shows and try to sleep on the couch. 

A few minutes later, Taeyong couldn't sleep because he was too busy doing his final thesis paper. It was harder for him since it was gonna be their final paper, having it to be an individual work. He decided to take a break and go down the kitchen to get something to eat and drink. When he passed by the living room, he heard that the tv was open, signalling that there was someone awake too.  He checked to see who it was, but heard soft snores. He saw that it was Renxiang, sleeping peacefully while hugging herself. Taeyong shook his head and went up to his room, getting a blanket and two pillows for the girl. 

He went back to the living room with the things he got and put the blanket over the sleeping girl's body, the pillow under her head, and the other on her arms to cuddle with. With that, he looked at her once more and kissed her forehead lightly, proceeded on going to the kitchen until the sleeping Renxiang grabbed his arm while she was having dreams.

"Don't-don't leave me alone Taeyong. Please don't give me to Yuta, please, please! Please don't!" She screamed, crying in her sleep. Taeyong's eyes widened, quickly caressing her head and comforting her.

"Cherie, shh. I'm here, I'm here. I won't give you away to that bastard. I'm here, you're safe, okay? Baby, you're safe now. It's okay," he whispered in her ear and continued to caress her hair and kissing her forehead. A few minutes later, she became peaceful once again. To make sure her dreams don't occur again and that she'll sleep peacefully, Taeyong decided that he'd bring her to his room. He decided to pull an all nighter, finishing his papers in his office so that Renxiang can have his room to herself.

☠︎︎☠︎︎☠︎︎

The next morning, Renxiang woke up lying on a bed. How'd I get here? Wait, this isn't my room, she thought. She sat up and browsed the room, only to realize later that it was Taeyong's room. In a state of panic, she looked beside her to see there was no one. She then looked underneath the sheets and saw she was fully clothed, so she sighed in relief. She sniffed the sheets, thinking that it smelled like its owner. 

She went out of the room and went to Taeyong's office, thinking he was there. And he was, seeing that he was sleeping on the couch with arms crossed. She shook her head when she realized that he stayed up all night to work on things, not even minding to put on sleeping clothes. She ruffled his hair slightly, making him shift his head a little. She chuckled and went down to get breakfast.

Some of the members were already up, which was a surprise because it was still too early and a Sunday. Doyoung, Shotaro, and Sungchan were quietly eating, still wearing their sleep clothes. Doyoung noticed her and waved, making the other two greet her as well. Renxiang greeted them back and proceeded on getting food from the chef.

"What's the food today, chef?" She asked. Their chef was nice. He's been serving the Lee's since they were kids, so Taeyong decided to get him as their cook.

"American breakfast today, Miss Huang. First is three waffles, bacon, and two eggs. Second choice is breakfast burrito. For drinks we have coffee, hot chocolate, and orange juice. What would you like?" He asked while beating an egg.

"I'd go for breakfast burrito and the coffee. Thanks!" She said with a smile.

"No problem, miss Huang. It'll be out by 5 minutes, the maids will serve them up to you at the table." With that, Renxiang thanked him again and went to where the three men were.

"You wanna go with us later, Xiang? I'm gonna buy clothes for Taro and Sungchan at the nearby mall." Doyoung asked the approaching girl, making her nod and smile. She sat beside Sungchan, realizing they haven't really got the chance to talk.

"Is the breakfast burrito good?" She asked him since he was eating one. Sungchan nodded, smiling while muching again on his breakfast.

"It's amazing, noona. Did you get one?" Renxiang nodded, smiling.

"Oh, by the way, are you okay now? You know, with everything that happened for the past days. Everyone was very worried about you, especially Ten-hyung, Renjun-hyung, Kun-hyung, and Taeyong-hyung."

"I've been better. But yeah, I'm kinda okay now.
Renjun and I talked about it and agreed that I should go to a therapist, since, you know, the trauma and all that stuff." Sungchan nodded and as if on cue, her breakfast came and they all sat and ate.