Stronger || NCT mafia au

Chapter 65 | "act fast"

The council split up and headed to the dining room where Kun had started to lay out food for the rest of them. The members were all seated around the long table, Jeno and Jaemin sitting at opposite ends. Jihyun walked into the kitchen to help Kun with the last of the food, then walking back into the dining room to take a seat.

She looked around the table for any open seats, seeing that Jaehyun had sat beside Jeno and the two were talking quietly. She noticed Jaemin looking at her, patting an open seat next to him.

"Hey, everything okay?" He asks as she slides into the spot beside him.

"Yeah, just a council meeting. I have a feeling that Jeno's going to be upset after our announcement."

"Wait, Jihyun, I'm totally fine. It wasn't a big deal please don't do anything bad to him, seriously like-"

"Jaemin." She cuts off his nervous rant, "it's okay, it's not that bad. We're just switching up the partners a bit." She says with a laugh, smiling when she sees Jaemin let out a relieved breath.

"Oh ok, I thought you were gonna kick him out of NCT or something."

"Oh come on, I'm not that mean, but it's cute that you care." He feels his cheeks heat up, looking away from her.

"Okay everyone." Taeyong says, standing from his seat. "I have an announcement. In light of recent events, the council has decided to rearrange a few partnerships." The members looked around in shock, many stealing glances towards Jeno.

"To maximize the safety of the gang, Jeno will not be partnering with Jaehyun. Shotaro will no longer participate in most active missions, meaning that Jihyun, Sungchan, and Sicheng will group up as necessary. That is all." Taeyong said, sitting back down.

The room was silent for a second before the quiet chatter began again. Jeno was not only hurt but angry. He looked up from his plate and stared at Jihyun, a fire in his eyes.

"Don't look now, but Jeno's staring at you." Jaemin whispered to her after stealing a glance down the table.

"I know, I can feel it. He seems mad." She mumbled back.

"Yeah I think it's safe to say that." Jaemin laughed back lightly. "Don't worry I'll protect you."

"Mmhmm thank you. I'm sure that hello kitty bandaid in your face will scare the hell out of him." She said teasingly.

"It's all that we're left in the box okay!" He replies with a small pout.

"Awww don't worry, it's cute." She laughs back, poking him in the side.

The pair continue to converse quietly, smiling and laughing in their own world as dinner progressed. Many of the members took notice of this, smiling and exchanging glances with one another. They were happy for her that she was showing interest in someone and they all liked Jaemin too.

However, there was one person who watched with a frown, tightly gripping the table in front of him. Jeno stared at the pair with jealousy in his eyes, anger practically radiating off of him.

"Jeno." Jaehyun laid a hand on the younger boy's shoulder, causing him to tear his angered gaze away from the pair at the other end of the table.

"Jihyun doesn't take well to jealousy. If you want any sort of chance with her, you gotta cool it." Jaehyun breathes out, staring into Jeno's eyes with a stern expression.

"Right. I've gotta act fast before I lose her."

- - -

The next few weeks go by smoothly for the most part. Jihyun and Jaemin are basically attached at the hip. You rarely see one without the other. They always sit together at dinner, often going on walks in the garden afterwards. The members have walked in on them asleep and cuddling on the couch at night.

Neither one has outright confessed, and they still seemed to be shy around one another in that aspect, but the gang knew. They saw the way she looked at him, the fondness in her eyes that was different than the way she looked at others. They saw it in his eyes too. The entire gang has fallen in love with Jihyun and Jaemin's closeness... well, all except for Jeno.

The only time Jihyun was pulled away from Jaemin, aside from gang responsibilities, was when Jeno was there. They had all made up with one another but he still tried his best to steal her away from Jaemin. He would often ask her for private training, to which she always agreed. They'd go off for a bit, which bothered Jaemin at first, however she always would return to him afterwards.

The rest of the gang knew that the two of them would end up together, but Jeno was in denial. He was determined to fight for her love until she rejected him or made things official with Jaemin. Aside from the internal fight between the two boys, things had been peaceful.

"Hey Jihyun?" Ten walked into the main room where she and Jaemin were currently having a bottle flipping contest.

"What's up, Ten?"

"I need to talk to you about something."

"Yeah sure." She replied standing up, "this isn't over Na."

"Whatever you say, Jang."

"You guys can flirt later, come on Ji."

She followed Ten out of the room with a small laugh, the older boy wiggling his eyebrows at her. They went quickly to his office, shutting the door behind them and taking a seat at his desk.

"So what's up?"

"I have some news. Every since our encounter with Bangtan, things have been quiet. I've been watching them and all affiliated groups closely and it seems that one of their smaller allied gangs is preparing for something." Ten says, pulling up a screen.

"It turns out their leader had a hit put on him and was killed a few weeks ago. It seems that they believe NCT did it." Jihyun recoils in shock.

"What? There's no way. I know that Sungchan and Sicheng were taking hits but they wouldn't take one on another gang leader, especially a Bangtan ally, it's too risky."

"That's what I thought, but just to be sure, I checked their hit deposits." Ten slid a piece of paper in front of her.

"Sungchan's last hit, the day you woke up, clocked him in for 1.5 billion won."

"You're joking." She breathed out, taking a look at the paper. "Oh my god." She quickly pushes the paper away from her. "But you don't know that for sure. Some government officials will have hits in the billions and hits on me are always between 5-10 billion won."

"Well let's ask him if he remembers anything. If he killed Junsik, this could mean war." Ten said, sending a quick text to Sungchan.

"Come on in" Jihyun called once she saw the tall boy pop his head into the room.

"Sungchan we have a quick question for you about your last hit from a few weeks ago."

"The one on the day Ji woke up?"

"Yes. Do you remember anything about it?" Jihyun asked nervously, silently praying he didn't do it.

"Not really, it was just some random guy."

"Do you have any memory of what he looked like?" Sungchan paused. Thinking for a moment before answering.

"Black hair, boxy face, maybe 5'9""

"Does the name Junsik, Kim Junsik, ring a bell?"

"Oh yeah! Kim Junsik! That's it! I couldn't remember, why?" Ten and Jihyun stare at him in a mix of shock and horror. "What's wrong...?"

"Sungchan." Ten says with a frustrated sigh, "you killed the leader of one of Bangtan's biggest allies."

"I-I what?"

"We need to act fast." Ten says, turning to Jihyun. "They've been meeting with Seventeen a lot these past few weeks. We need to figure out what that's about and fast, or else this could be a bloodbath."

"I'll call the rest of the council. Get everything ready." She says, quickly whipping out her phone and dialing Taeyong's number.