Lucas POV

"Where are you going?" Mark asks. "You're all dressed up."

"I have a date with Jieun."

"Hyung."

"I'll be fine." I said. "She's not dangerous."

"You don't know that."

"Have you guys found anything bad about her?"

"No." Mark shakes his head.

"Then?"

"Jieun showing up with a gun in her hand during our negotiation should suffice as proof."

My phone buzzes catching my attention.

Jieun

Meet you in front of Baskin Robins.

Ok

I look at Mark. "You have nothing to worry about." I pat his back and walk out. I leave my car behind because Jieun doesn't like attracting attention. I decide to walk because Baskin Robins is only a few blocks from our house.

Mark POV

We were sitting quietly in the living room when Yuta shouts, panic evident in his voice.
"Taeyong hyung!"

"What?" Taeyong hyung ask. Yuta runs into the living room where the rest of us are. He connects his laptop to the TV with the HDMI cord. There on display was was an e-mail of a video. He plays the video.

There was a group of people gambling in a VIP room. They were laughing and having fun until suddenly someone dressed in all black enters the room by breaking through the glass window. The person starts shooting everyone immediately. The last male crawls away in fear but the door was locked. The person in Black walks over and grabs him by the hair. They pull out a knife and sliced the gambler's throat. The unknown murderer turn towards the camera and shot it, ending the video with static.

A chill went down my spine.

"Who sent this?!" Taeyong hyung yells out with anger. Yuta immediately starts working. Multiple black windows open up with green codes and suddenly black boxes with the words ERROR shows up. Yuta continues typing. ERROR. ERROR. ERROR.

"!" Yuta shouts. "I can't find the origin. I'm sorry."

We all look at each other. I could feel the tension rise in the room. Dreamies are huddling together, afraid of the content.

"What's going to happen now?" Johnny asks.

"Are we going to die?" Jisung asks. "Like that."

"What we need to do is keep our guards up. Don't go anywhere alone." Taeyong hyung said looking around. "Where's Lucas?"

"He-he went on a date. With Jieun." I stutter out.

"! I'm going out to look for him." Taeyong hyung says. "All of you, stay." He runs out into the night.

Lucas POV

As I get closer to the destination, I bump into a female making her fall onto the ground.

"I'm sorry." I apologize picking her up.

"I'm not~" The girl swoons. "What's your name, handsome?"

"Lucas." I reply quickly and try to walk away but she grabs onto my hand.

"Wait! I think I twisted my ankle." She pouts at me.

"Uh, I-"

"I can't walk." She said, limping and falling back on to the ground. I look around. There's no clinic near here.

"Can you call a friend?" I ask.

"My friends are waiting for me in the club. If they come out, they'll have to pay to go in again." She holds onto me. "Please, take me there."

"O-ok." I nod. She wraps her arm around my waist, to support her.

"Hey." Someone said turning me around, without warning, punched me in the face, making me fall onto the ground.

"Ah!" The girl screams.

"What are you doing to my girl?!" The guy shouts. Three guys stand in front of me looking me up and down.

"I wasn't-"

"Baby." The girl hugs the guy. "He was trying to take advantage of me."

"What?" I scoff standing up and dusting myself. "Lady, please, you're ugly."

She gasps and her boyfriend pushes me back. "How dare you call my girl ugly?"

"What's wrong? I was just speaking the truth."

The guys punches me and I punch him back. His two friends step in and kick me in the abdomen making me fall onto my knees. One punches me another time in the face and another kicks me. I stand up and punch one of them in the face then knee another in the abdomen. The boyfriend kicks my chest and I stumble backwards. He grabs me by the collar and is gonna punch me again when we hear whistling. We turn to look and the cops were running towards us.

"!" The guys shout running off with the girl. Someone runs up to me, grabs my hand, and runs for it. We run two blocks down and she pushes me into a dark alley pressing her body against mine.

"Sh."

"Jieun." I whisper.

"Are you ok?" She asks and I nod. We hear footsteps run past us. After awhile, she peeks out, left and right before pulling me out of the alley.

"Ah." I touch my abdomen where they kicked me.

"Are you ok?" She asks again.

"I'm fine." I nod. "Jieun."

"Hm?"

"Is it hot here or is it just you?"

"Really? A pick up line at this time?" I nod and she shakes her head. "Let's get you home."

"But the dinner-"

"Screw the dinner. You're hurt." She looks around.

"NCT's house is close by." I said. "Jieun."

"Hm?"

"Your hand looks heavy? Can I hold it for you?"

"You could barely hold yourself up. How are you gonna hold my hand, idiot." She said supporting me home.

Mark POV

We all sit around, tension still in the air.

"Yo, Dream!"

"Let's be dope, fighting!" They reply in sync.

"Yo, Dream!"

"Let's be dope, fighting!"

"Go to your rooms." I order.

"But-"

"Go."

"Ok." They nod and leave to their room. I look at the others. "Let's all calm down. This might be a prank, or they sent it to the wrong person?"

"Hackers do not send contents to wrong people. It's intentional." Yuta said.

"We'll figure things out." I reassure them. "Let's go to our rooms and do our own things, ok? Relax." Everyone nods and disperse to their rooms leaving Johnny and me. Suddenly we hear loud knocking from the door. We look at each other and slowly sneak to the door. The knocking turns into pounding. We open the door and Jieun was holding a limping Lucas.

"Help me." She says out of breath. "He's heavy." Johnny helps support Lucas into the house.

"What happened?" Johnny asks.

"I don't know. Ask him." Jieun shrugs then motions to Lucas with her head. Lucas explains what happens and Jieun laughs. "NCT really likes trouble, huh?"

"I need to use the restroom." Lucas says in a whiny voice. Johnny and I support him to the restroom. Johnny volunteers to wait for Lucas to finish, while I walk back towards the living room, but is interrupted by the security room.

"What are you doing?" I ask walking in, to see Yuta.

"Watching the cams." He replies. Jieun sits on the couch alone and looks around. She looks at the large NCT photo hanging above the big screen TV. She stands up to take a closer look. Suddenly, the cams are filled with static. "Hey!" Yuta shouts.

"What's wrong?" I asks.

"Something disrupted the cams' signal." Yuta said. "Go check on Jieun."

I nod and run back to the living room. Jieun steps away from the photo and turns to me. Was she touching the photo?

"That looks like Kun, the worker in my coffee shop." She said making me gulp. Oh, that's why. "But it can't be. His address is different from this house." I let out a sigh of relief. Thank goodness we own many houses around the city.

"Uh, you should sit down." I gesture to a chair and she complies. I also sit down in a couch adjacent from the one Jieun is sitting in. She is staring at me in a way that is quite hard to explain. She's smiling at me with a gentle warmth and fondness in her eyes. One that I've seen her give to Dreamies. Ok, never mind. That was easy to explain. I fidget awkwardly and she chuckles looking away.

"How are you?" She asks catching my attention. "Last time, it was you. Though, you weren't as beat up as Lucas."

"Ah. I'm fine." I nod. Lucas and Johnny joins us in the living room.

"Cheating on me?" Lucas asks.

"We're not even dating." She looks around. "Do you guys have a first aid kit?"

"WinWin!" Johnny shouts and he comes running down the stairs.

"Yes?" We point to Lucas. "What happened to you?"

"We need the first aid kit." Jieun said.

"Wait here."

"Can I come along?" Jieun asks making us all look at each other in hesitation. "You don't trust me?" She chuckles. "I won't be able to attack you in your own home. Even if I do, the other 10 will kill me, don't you think."

"Come with me." WinWin walks to our conference room. They both return with the kit.

WinWin is about to patch Lucas up when Jieun stops him.

"I'll do it." We all look at her and WinWin hesitates making Jieun chuckle. "I won't kill him. This is your first aid kit. You should know that there's nothing in here that I can kill him with, right? Plus, you're all sitting here."

WinWin hands the kit to Jieun and she turns to Lucas. "Strip."

Lucas gasps, covering his body with his arms. "What are you gonna do to me?"

"Nothing that you're imagining." She laughs.

"I'm kidding." Lucas said. "You know, you can do anything you want to me. Anything." Lucas pulls at his clothes, revealing his abdomen.

"Tsk. I wanna hit you." Jieun raises her hand in a fist threateningly.

"Ahem." We clear our throat.

"We'll uh...leave you two alone." Johnny said and we all return to the security room.

"It's working again?" I ask Yuta.

He nods. "It was out for 15 minutes or so."

Lucas POV

Jieun breaks an ice pack and harshly press it against my abdomen, making me scream out in pain. "I'm sorry. Are you ok?"

"I'm fine." I choke out.

She grabs a gauze, wetting it with hydrogen peroxide and cleans the cuts on my face.

"Ah, I can't believe they punched this ugly face. Now you're uglier."

"Don't you mean handsome?"

"I know what I said. I meant to say ugly."

I laugh. "You're the first girl to call me ugly."

"Congratulations." She said dabbing my face with alcohol on a cotton swab.

"Tsk. Ah." I flinch at the burning sensation.

"Does it hurt a lot?" She asks, brows, furrow in worry.

I shake my head. "I'm fine."

"I'm sorry. It's all my fault for being late."

"I'm fine." I assure her.

"I'm really really sorry."

"Hey," I grab her hand. "I have you caring for me, so I think it worked out pretty well." We stare into each other's eyes and we slowly lean in, our lips, centimeters apart.

"What are you doing?" A voice ask startling us both and she pulls away immediately.

"Jisung." Jieun clears . "Dreamies." All six Dreamies were standing there, staring at us. "I uh...was patching him up." She nods. Jisung looks at me and I just shrug.

"What happened to you, hyung?" Jaemin asks.

"You know just...fell off an elephant."

"He got into a fight." Jieun corrects my sarcastic response.

"Let me guess...it had to do with a girl?" Haechan deadpan.

"Yeah." Jieun nods. "Right on."

"You flirted with a girl and her boyfriend beat you up?" Chenle asks.

"Hey! Don't just make up a random scenario." I said. "That's not how it went down."

"Then what really happened?" Jeno challenges.

"Well, uh, I guess I'll get going." Jieun said pointing to the door. "Bye."

"Wait, noona!" Renjun calls out. She turns back. "Uh, we'll be sleeping over for the next few days."

"Ok." She said. "Bye." She walks out the door.

"Why are you guys gonna sleep here for the next few days?" I asks.

Dreamies all turn to me. "To keep an eye on you." Haechan replies.

"They're just kidding." Jaemin said. "We're kinda in a crisis right now."

They tell me about the video that was sent to Yuta.

"Hold up. Taeyong went out to look for me?" I ask and Dream nod in response. "And he's not back yet?" They shake their head. I pull out my phone to call him but it takes me to voicemail. I try again but there was no answer.

"Hey. Can you guys get in touch with Taeyong hyung?" Mark asks coming down the stairs.

"I tried. My call didn't go through." I reply.

"Me neither. We still have to talk about the precautions we should take because of that video."

"Ten!" I shout running up the stairs despite the slight pain I'm feeling from my injuries.

"What?" He replies from his room.

"Can you track Taeyong down?" I ask.

"Yes." He said. "But why should I?"

"We can't get in contact with him. After the video, he went out alone. Just track him down, dammit."

"Ok. Ok." Ten said getting to work. "He is four bus stops down from our house."

"Let's go find him." I said to Mark. He nods in agreement. "You're coming with us." I said pulling Ten along.

"Eh? Why?"

"You're the one with the gps."

"Can we go too?" Dreamies ask us at the door.

"You guys stay." Mark orders.

"But-"

"Stay." Mark and I chorus making Dreamies look down in disappointment.

We drive to the destination.

"We're here." Ten said. We step out of the car.

"Where is he?" I ask.

"I don't know. He should be around here somewhere." Ten replies. We look around.

"Guys!" Mark yells and we run up to him. He picks up something off the ground. "Taeyong hyung's cellphone."

"." I breathe out. "Let's go back home."

We run into the house.

"Guys! Emergency!" I yell and most of the members come down to listen to the news.

"What is it?" Doyoung asks.

"Taeyong-" There was a knock at the door interrupting me. Ten opens the door and Jieun was standing there.

"Hi. Um," she looks at everyone in the living room. "Am I interrupting something?"

"No." I shake my head immediately. "No."

"Uh, well, I dropped my cellphone here." She said. We let her in and she looks around the couches.

"Guys! Emergency!" Yuta yells running down the stairs. "It's Taeyong hyung. He got kidnapped." Mark and I clear our throat telling him to shut up. "What? This is an emergency!"

"Taeyong got kidnapped? That's possible?" Jieun asks, standing up with her cellphone in her hand.

"Uh..." Yuta trails off. The rest of us face palm.

"I guess I'll uh...leave now." Jieun said pointing to the door. "Oh! Dreamies. Do not go on the rescue mission. It's dangerous." She walks out the door and we all let out a sigh glaring at Yuta.

"What? I didn't know." He shrugs.

"Ok. We need to know who took him and come up with a rescue plan." Jaehyun said.

"Right." Yuta said showing us the contents of his email. "Someone sent me this video." In an empty room, there was someone who's hands were chained to the wall with a bag over their head. A person in a black ski mask walks over to the chained prisoner and takes the bag off revealing Taeyong hyung.

"Ok. A 10 second video. Really?" Haechan said. The others nudge him.

"We need to rescue him." Mark said.

"We do." I nod. "Do you know who took him?"

"Not yet." Yuta replies. "Whoever sent this video did not have an IP address. I'll have to trace it by hacking. I'll tell you guys when I get it."

"Ok." Jaehyun said. "For the time being, let's all stay calm."

"How? Our leader is gone!" Doyoung shouts.

"We have Mark." Johnny points out. "He always comes up with great plans."

Jieun POV

I enter the coffee shop.

"Good morning." I greet Kun.

"Morning." He greets with a tired smile.

"Is it just me or you're not as cheery this morning?" Areum asks.

"I have some problems at home. That's all."

"Oh. Do you need time off?" Areum wonders.

"No." Kun shakes his head. "I need to be here."

"If you need time off, we'll give it to you." I said.

"No. I'll be fine."

"You sure?" Areum asks.

"Positive." He assures us.

Areum and I look at each other then shrug our shoulders.

"Alright. If you need time off though, don't hesitate to tell us." I said.

"Thank you." He says and attend to a newly arrived customer.

"Your hand looks heavy. Can I hold it for you?" Lucas asks sitting down next to me. Areum raises her brows with a smile, lightly shaking her head, and looking out the window.

"You've used that on me already. Are you sure you can be here at this time?" I ask him.

He shrugs. "Why not?"

"Well, because of...that?"

"What's that?" Areum asks.

Lucas and I look at each other. "It's nothing." He answers.

"Dreamies aren't gonna be there, will they?" I ask.

"I don't know. We're still coming up with a plan, but we have yet to find out who kidnapped Taeyong."

"Wait. Taeyong got kidnapped?!" Areum shouts.

"." Lucas covers his mouth. "Ugh. I should go now."

"You knew that he got kidnapped and you didn't tell me!" Areum yells.

"It's not my problem." I shrug. "If Dreamies are not involved, it's none of my business."

"What about the rescue mission?"

"I don't care as long as they don't include Dreamies."

"Yah. How can you be so heartless?"

"So? What are you gonna do about it?" I ask. "What do you want to do about it?"

**********

Happy Holidays! Merry Christmas! 
I hope you all have a wonderful holiday with your family and friends.
Thank you for reading.