Mark POV

I stare up at my ceiling in silence.

'Don't let your feelings for Donghyuck ruin his relationship with NCT.'

'You won't get to see him anymore and NCT loses a member, or hell, all of Dream.'

I let out a sigh. "What can I do? These feelings are 9 years old." I look at my digital clock reading 9pm. I let out another sigh and walk downstairs to clear my mind or grab a snack, anything to keep my nerves calm, when I catch Dream's arrival.

Haechan walks into the house with the rest of Dream in tow. They playfully push each other back and forth whilst giggling. Jaemin and Haechan puckers their lips and opens their arms, leaning in. Noticing my presence—and glare—Chenle slaps their arms away and nudges them, noting my presence on the stairs. They all spot me and stand perfectly still, their hands to themselves, as they look up at me hesitantly.

"Uh, hey Mark hyung." Jaemin breaks the silence.

Ignoring Jaemin, I make my way down the stairs to stand in front of Haechan. "We need to talk." I grab his hand and pull him towards my room.

"Hey, what the—hey!" Haechan pulls his hand from my grip. "What is wrong with you?"

"We need to talk." I repeat. He looks at the others.

"Then say it here, if not, we don't need to talk." He says, hiding behind Jeno. I stare at him behind Jeno.

"U-um, Haechan, just—"Jeno stutters out.

"Forget it." I said, heading back to my room.

Haechan POV

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Jeno shouts when we reach Dream's shared bedroom.

"What?"

"Are you trying to get me killed? Did you see the way Mark hyung glared at me?!" Jeno screeches. "That's it. I'm on Mark hyung's black list. I'm dead. If I die, we all know it's Haechan's fault."

"Stop exaggerating." I roll my eyes. "He's not gonna kill you."

"Keep this up and he might." Renjun states.

"Haechan, just don't cling too much to anyone." Jaemin says. "For world peace."

"It's not that bad."

"Yeah, only you can say that because he's not thirsty for your blood." Chenle deadpans.

"He's thirsty for something else." Jisung says unexpectedly, making us choke on our saliva.

"Do you even know what you're saying?!" I cough out.

"Well, Chenle said thirsty so I wanted to say it too?" Jisung tilts his head innocently in confusion.

"Wow~ it's amazing how stupid you are." Renjun says while giving Jisung a thumbs up.

"Ok, let's forget that for now. Renjun, how is your side doing?" I ask.

"Better than you." Renjun sass.

"Can you not."

"Well, I'm not wrong." Renjun shrugs. "I have a bug, in the living room, the conference room, and even the security camera room. What have you done?"

"You put one in the security room?" I asks.

"Problem?"

"Bugs interrupts airwave frequencies."

"Yeah?"

"What are you trying to say?" Jeno asks.

"If anyone picks up a phone call in any of those rooms, there will be static and bad signal, resulting in the hyungs knowing that the room is bugged."

"Well, ." Chenle breathes out. "That sounds terrible."

"Well, isn't there...I don't know." Jaemin shrugs. "A way to make the bug not interrupt the airwaves?"

"Even if there is, Ten hyung haven't taught me." Renjun answers.

"Well, we're screwed." Jisung states. "Thanks a lot."

"Hey, at least we're doing something. What about you? You're not doing anything!"

"Let's not fight." Jaemin says. "Please."

"I say, Haechan should hack—"

"No." I cut Jisung off. "They'll find out immediately."

"Should I...take off those bugs?" Renjun suggests.

"No." The others shake their heads. "We need to know what's going on when we're not around."

Jieun POV

I stare at Haechan concentrating on his laptop from behind the counter. He has papers scattered around the table as if he was a busy college student. What is he doing?

"Haechan-ah." I call out to him but he doesn't answer. "Haechan." I try again. "Haechan."

"Hm." He replies but does not take his eyes off the laptop screen.

I walk over to him. "What are you doing?" I whisper in his ear making him jump and close his laptop immediately.

"N-nothing!" Haechan says with a shake of his head.

"Am I that scary?" I chuckle. "Don't you think that jump was a bit exaggerated?"

"I-I'm busy. I-I have to go. See you later noona!"

I watch Haechan shove the paper work and laptop in his bag. I wave to him with a smile as he exits the coffee shop. Were those html codes?

My phone buzzes in my phone pocket and I look at the caller letting out a sigh. Calling me in for work at this time of day?

"Kun, I'm going out. I won't be back today. Sorry."

"It's no problem. There's a reason why I was hired." Kun replies.

"Thanks. You're a life saver." I say, grabbing my things and running out.

Lucas POV

"I'm choking! I need—where's Jieun?" I ask Kun as soon as I realize that Jieun is not around to hear my pick up line.

"She had something to do so she left."

"Where did she go?"

"Yah, I'm just a worker, why would I ask her that? Even if I did, she's not gonna give me a direct answer."

I look around the empty coffee shop. "Areum isn't here either."

"Seems so."  Kun shrugs.

"So they're both gone?" Taeyong asks when I told him the news.

"They're not gone, just...not in the coffee shop."

"They must be on a mission." Ten says. "They are King, after all."

"We don't know that." Taeil states.

"Well, they're both gone because they have errands to run, right?" Doyoung asks. "You can kill people in broad daylight, y'know."

"Guys!" Yuta shouts running down the stairs. "Did you see the news?"

"What news?" Jaehyun asks as Yuta turns on the TV.

"Earlier this morning, Song Hyunshik, CEO of Traders Enterprise was assassinated. He was on his way to airport when the assassination happened creating a ruckus. The suspect has yet to be found." the anchor lady states.

"Song Hyunshik is a big wig in the black market." Yuta informs us before we asked any questions.

"Isn't this too coincidental?" Johnny asks.

"Why do you say that?" Yuta asks confused as we fill in the details. "Let me get this straight, Areum and Jieun are not in the coffee shop and Song Hyunshik is dead?" We all nod. "Well, ."

"That doesn't confirm anything." Taeyong says.

The others all look at each other and did not utter a word.

"Taeyong hyung, if I can speak my thoughts." WinWin starts, grabbing everyone's attention. "You're not letting your feelings cloud your judgement, are you?"

"WinWin." Mark whisper shouts.

"I agree with WinWin." Johnny states.

"Johnny!" Mark shouts.

"Taeyong, I understand what you're trying to do. You think you can seduce the answers out from Areum, but I don't think it's working. Did you ever think that she could do the same to you? And maybe, you're the one falling instead?"

"I'm not—" Taeyong starts to argue but falls silent. "I need time to think."

We all look at each other and start leaving one by one to give Taeyong space.

I lay in bed while staring at the ceiling in deep thought.

'If Jieun is part of King, that makes Areum her partner.'

'I'm a bad person, y'know?'

'How can you still be so optimistic after killing a person?'

'Lucas, you're not a bad person.'

'I think you're a great person. Better than me anyways.'

I sit up in bed and toss my body back into the lying position. "Not like I can find her."

No POV

Donghyuck stares at the encoded screen then pinch the nose of his bridge.

"Yuta hyung, I'm going blind. I've been staring at the screen for so long."

"As a hacker, sitting in front of the screen is life."

"My fingers are hurting and they're starting to cramp."

"Welcome to the hacker life. Keep it up and get used to it."

"You've got to be en kidding me." Donghyuck groans.

"Give up?"

"No." Donghyuck states, popping his fingers, getting ready to start encoding again.

"Why are you working so hard anyways?"

"For NCT."

"Right." Yuta nods walking out of the room. "NCT."

Haechan watch Yuta disappear from the room before turning back to his laptop and heaving out a loud sigh.

"You know, if you keep this up, one of these days you'll have to start wearing glasses." Haechan looks up from his laptop.

"Johnny hyung."

"For you." Johnny hands a plate of food to Donghyuck.

"Thank you."

"Oh, don't thank me. Thank Mark. For some reason he didn't want you to know it's from him."

"I see."

Johnny takes a seat next to Donghyuck.

"Did you need something, hyung?"

"You should talk to Mark, y'know. I don't know what's going on, but please talk it out."

Johnny leaves the room and Donghyuck lets out yet another sigh.

Knock. Knock.

"Come in." Mark gives permission for the other to intrude his room.

"Hey." Donghyuck's soft voice whispered out.

Mark looked away from his book to face Donghyuck. "You knocked. How rare."

"Hey, what does that mean?"

"You usually just barge in. What's up?"

"Nothing. Just needed a little break from coding." Mark silently nods in understanding. The two young men sit in silence until Mark breaks it.

"The marks are disappearing."

"Y-yeah." Donghyuck stutters out, trying to look at his own neck on instinct. Obviously he can't see it. Silence falls on the two men, yet again.

"Uh, thanks for the food."

"Johnny told you." Mark sighs out.

"Yeah...and uh, the other night...you wanted to talk. What was it about?"

"Right, um...us, I guess." Mark shrugs. "I mean, things between us aren't the same anymore."

"Not the same? What do you mean?"

Mark lets out a sigh. "About that night—"

"D-do we have to talk about that night? I mean, it's not even that big of an issue."

"What are you saying? It's a very big issue."

"Can't we just continue like normal? You know, we can still be bros."

"Bros. You think we can still be bros after that?"

"Why not?" Donghyuck shrugs. "I mean..." Donghyuck trails off seeing Mark's sharp stare and his shoulder deflate as he look at the ground in defeat.

"Hyuck, look at me." Mark lift Donghyuck's face up by the chin and they stare into each other's eyes. Their eyes trail down to each other's lips and they both slowly lean in, molding their lips together. Mark pries Donghyuck's lips open with his tongue before invading his oral cavity.

"Mm~" Donghyuck moans and he can feel his cheeks heat up. Not wanting to lose, Donghyuck the bottom of Mark's lip. Mark smirks and returns the favor and nibbling Donghyuck's lips leaving the boy breathless.

Knock. Knock.

"Mark. There's a meeting." Jaehyun says—without entering—and walks off. The two young men pull away from each other.

"Bros don't kiss and they definitely do not sleep with each other. You're not a bro."

Donghyuck watch Mark leave the room and he falls back onto Mark's bed while biting his lips. He can feel them tingling.

"Stop blushing. You're not a girl." Donghyuck whispers to himself before pulling himself out of his trance and sitting up. "Wait, there's a meeting."

Donghyuck rushes down to the meeting room to find it locked. "Are they...having a meeting without me?" Donghyuck runs out the door dialing a number. "C'mon. Pick up, Renjun. Did you just hang up on me?" Donghyuck gasps calling Renjun again.

"How dare you call me in the middle of class? This b—"

"Shut up and listen to your bug." Donghyuck cuts Renjun off.

"Huh?"

"Listen to your bug! The hyung's are having a meeting without me!"

"I-ugh." Renjun sighs and hangs up the phone.

Donghyuck runs all the way to the school to find the rest of Dream running towards him.

"What's wrong?!" Donghyuck asks.

"Jieun noona is in trouble."

Jieun POV

I stare at the screen before me and pinch my brows. I need a break. I walk out to a restaurant and a waitress led me to a table.

"Thank you." I say and my phone buzz in my pocket. I pull it out looking at the caller ID. "Nana." I answer.

"Noona, where are you?"

"At a restaurant. Why?"

"Y-you're not at the coffee shop?"

"Not at the moment, no."

"Are you going to go back to the coffee shop today?"

"Why do you—"

"Are you?" Jaemin cuts me off.

"No. I'm not. Why?"

"That'll be all." Jaemin hangs up and I stare at my phone in confusion. What is going on?

I look at the time and leave heading back to the coffee shop. When I arrive, Dream is staring Kun down.

"Noona! You said you weren't gonna come back!" Jaemin shouts.

"Well, you were so weird over the phone." I said. "That and, are you boys cutting class?"

"No! Of course not!" They chorus.

"I-It was self study!" Renjun explains.

"Y-yeah. And uh...uh, we thought we should v-visit you." Jeno stutters out.

"Why did you boys feel the need to come visit me?"

"Uh, b-because...because," Chenle peeks at Kun and avert my attention to Kun for a split second before turning back to Chenle. "We just wanted to see you, really." He shrugs.

"Well, you saw me now, so go back to class already."

"But—" The boys look at Kun. Again, I follow their direction and glance at Kun.

"What? You boys need to talk to him?"

"No." They shake their heads.

"Then go." The boys trudge towards the door and look at Kun one last time before leaving. I shake my head and sigh out. "Sorry about that. They can be a bit weird sometimes."

"No worries." Kun says. "Did you need something? Why did you come back?"

"Nana, er, Jaemin called me. He was asking weird questions so I just came to check things out."

"Where did you go? Did you go with Areum? Was it important?"

"I went to work. Alone." I answer looking at Kun dead in the eye. "You know, it's good that you're not a cop. Otherwise, I would think that you're interrogating me."

"O-of course not." Kun chuckles. "Why would I?"

"Exactly. Why would you?" I ask and my phone rings in my pocket averting my attention. " I have to go back." I rush towards the exit and turn back to Kun. "I trust you." I smile at him before returning to work.

No POV

Dream walks to the park and takes a seat at the playground structure.

"Why did Jieun noona show up?" Donghyuck asks.

"Because Jaemin was so weird over the phone call." Jisung accuses.

"I just wanted to make sure she was not in the coffee shop and safe!"

"She made us leave her alone with Kun. I hope she's ok." Chenle says. "I'm worried."

"Kun, if Jieun comes back, question her of her whereabouts. If she says anything remotely suspicious, kill her."

"And Areum?"

"Do the same."

"As long as she didn't say anything suspicious." Renjun starts. "She'll be fine."

"Why did she have to come in at the worst time?" Jeno asks no one in particular.

The boys sit at the playground in anxiety as they wait for school to be over.

**********

"How is it, Kun? Are you ok?" Taeyong asks over the phone.

"Kinda." Kun huffs out with a shaky breath.

"Why do you sound like that?" Johnny asks.

"Jieun's stare felt like she could see through my soul; it sent shivers down my spine. That's a first for me and my heart was pounding nonstop. Maybe, Jieun is a dangerous person after all."