Stronger || NCT mafia au

Chapter 12 | "we're friends"

"Jihyun!"

Her eyes widen as she hears her name being called turning to the door as Jaemin pushes himself onto his elbows and looks around. Suddenly a figure rounds the corner, stopping at sight of the two on the mat.

"Jihyun, what are you doing?" She lets out a sigh of relief when she recognizes the voice.

"Jae, what the hell. You scared us. What are you doing here?" She shouts back as Jaehyun begins to walk towards them.

"You've been here for over two hours, its 7 pm. I got worried that something happened. What's going on here?" He says, approaching the pair and looking skeptically at the boy underneath her.

Realizing the position they were in, Jihyun quickly scrambles to her feet, lending Jaemin a hand and pulling him up as well, both of their cheeks flushing red before Jihyun clears her throat.

"Nothing, Jae. I was just helping him train, we were sparring and I pinned him." she shrugs off nonchalantly. Jaehyun raises an eyebrow at her before staring at Jaemin with a cold glare.

"and who's this? Since when do you train with students? I'm sure one of our members would've been happy to help you out." Jaehyun growls, his features darkening as he continues to lock eyes with Jaemin, neither breaking eye contact. Jihyun looks between the two, hiding her smirk at Jaemin's confidence, which was obviously angering the older boy.

"I know all of you too well, it's good practice to fight someone new. Plus, Hongjoong says Jaemin's one of the best ground combat student in level 1, he pinned San, you know. He even pinned me for a bit." She smirks as she sees the shock that flickers in Jaehyun's eyes before he quickly covers it.

"Well practice time is over, I came to bring you home." He says to her, still not taking his eyes off of Jaemin. "And you" he says, nodding his head towards the boy, "don't you have work to do, rather than flirting our leader?" He sneers at Jaemin, his words dripping with venom.

Jihyun slides under the elastic barriers and off the combat mat, walking to up Jaehyun, waving her hand in front of his face.

"Jae, ease up. We weren't flirting, we're friends now." Jaehyun's eyes widen in disbelief as he turns to look at Jihyun.

"And friends help one another out. It was just training. If anything you should be happy that theres a student dedicated enough to want extra practice." She turns away from him, going to grab her stuff from the bench and a bottle of water. The two boys continuing to stare one another down.

She walks past Jaehyun, shoving her bag into his arms on the way and slinging her jacket over her shoulder. She approaches Jaemin, who's now sitting on the edge of the combat arena, his legs hanging over the edge as he tears his gaze away from Jaehyun and back to the girl in front of him. She smiles at him as she hands him the bottle of water.

"I've got to get going now, but why don't you meet me here, same time tomorrow?" She whispers quietly so Jaehyun can't hear. Jaemin smiles and discreetly nods his head. She dips her head to him, tossing him a towel while sending him a wink.

She turns back to Jaehyun, grabbing her bag back as they begin to walk out. Jaehyun wraps an arm around her waist, pulling her tight against his side, sending another glare at Jaemin on the way.

"Bye Jaemin!" She calls out, briefly looking over her shoulder.

"Bye Jihyun!" She smiles to herself as she feels Jaehyun tense up next to her.

"What did he just call you?" He growls lowly, turning his head to look at the smaller girl.

"My name. Unless you know an alternate meaning to 'Jihyun'." Jaehyun lets out a sharp sigh in response, tightening his grip on her as they walk out of the building and towards his car.