Nayeon turned to look at the guy beside her then shifted her attention back to her assignment. After a brief moment, she did the same thing again and let out a loud sigh.

"I'm bored." She tried her luck but Mark who's beside her said nothing in return. Instead he turned away, his back facing her on the small foldable resting chair. The others had told her that Mark hadn't been sleeping well lately; it's been like that every September and no one knew why. Taecyeon wouldn't explain either since he insisted that it's Mark's privacy so no one really asked. As much as she's annoyed at how he's always not talking, she did try to give him his own resting time.

She'd been stuck with Mark alone for two days. He did show some improvement since the first time she met him; at least he would grunt or hum in reply so it didn't feel like she's talking to a wall.

However, her assignment was boring her out and neither Bambam nor Jinyoung was there to brighten up her mood. Jeongyeon whom she had gotten slightly closer to for the past three months hadn't been appearing either; Jaebum had informed that her mother was sick again.

"Can we go out?" Nayeon gently kicked against the side of the chair. "Or you can rest here, I won't be far."

Mark grunted and Nayeon could understand that it's a 'no' from him.

"Please?" She tried again. "I'm going to go crazy if I stay here with only my assignment entertaining me. Or we can go to my family's cyber cafe? I know you're not on shift but you can go there as a customer. You will be able to play some game too and you won't be charged."

Still a no from him.

Nayeon sighed; of course he would object. Besides, why would he need to go to a cyber cafe to play his games? He has all the best equipment here in this gigantic truck. 

"Come on, you need some fresh air too." Nayeon kicked his chair again, not giving up. "There's nothing happening either."

Mark didn't even bother to make any sound as a response this time however, it was enough for Nayeon to understand that it's still a no.

Thankfully, Udon came to her rescue.

"I can protect you." He spoke with a small smile, turning around to look at them from the window. "I just have to park this somewhere. Mark, you can rest here and I will make sure she's safe."

Mark opened his eyes finally and a wide smile spread across Nayeon's face. She fixed a hopeful gaze at him as he glanced at the back of Udon and then to Nayeon. Nayeon could tell that he's considering and she won't let this opportunity go.

"Please? I won't run away like before."

The truck came to a stop at the same time and Udon turned around to look at the two of them again, waiting for Mark's approval.

"Fine." 

Nayeon cheered loudly and clapped her hands excitedly at the same time which obviously irritated the man.

"Shut up and leave." Mark closed his eyes with his arms folded again. "Udon, be careful."

"Definitely." The humanoid gave him an 'ok' sign before he get off the truck and opened the door slightly from the side, just enough for Nayeon to alight.

The smile on Nayeon's face never disappear since Mark's approval as she jumped off the truck with Udon's support. Taking in a deep breath, she stretched a little and looked around. Udon had parked the car by a park, a perfect place for the cooling weather. 

"Udon, come here!" Nayeon chirped happily, hooking her arm around the humanoid's and dragged him to the entrance of the park. "You deserve a break from the driving."

"I don't feel tiredness, Nayeon." 

"I know but it's just nice to have a company that actually interacts with you." Nayeon said, hinting on Mark's silence.

"Mark just doesn't talk much but he's a good guy." Udon defended the former, letting Nayeon drag him around. "He helped made me!"

"He did?" Nayeon sounded surprise since she'd never knew about this. "I know that he was with Taecyeon and his girlfriend from the start but I never thought Mark helped. How old was he?"

"I can't remember because it's not written in my memory." Udon smiled, which Nayeon had always been amazed at how humanised he could be. 

"They really did a good job." Nayeon complimented. "Do you think you will end up catching feelings for someone like how it always happens in drama?"

"Like you said, they are dramas. It's impossible, Nayeon." Udon explained in a matter of fact tone. "All I'm made up of are codes and programs; Taecyeon and Sunmi just happened to be geniuses who could come up with a code that made me capture humans' habits and facial expressions easily."

"Sounds complicated."

"It does, that's why they are ge —" Udon stopped mid sentence before his two arms dropped down lifeless. In a matter of seconds, Udon's standing in the middle of the pathway like a mannequin.

"Udon?" Nayeon stopped in her tracks too, a little surprised at how Udon suddenly got shut down. She gave Udon's cheek a few pats in attempt to wake him up but there was no response at all.

There's no way he would shut down suddenly; Mark and Bambam had just upgraded his system just a few days ago. Uneasiness crept in Nayeon as she looked around.

Something wasn't right.

Nayeon almost hated how her instinct was right most of the times when she noticed two men in complete black outfit walking towards her in both directions.

"Sorry Udon." She mumbled to him even though he wouldn't hear her. "I will ask them to come back for you."

Nayeon slowly took a few steps back, keeping her eyes on the two figures and turned tail. She should have guessed that the past two weeks of peace wouldn't last long. Filled with fear and panic, she ran towards that one direction that she needed to.

Back to where the truck was.

Nayeon secretly thanked Jeongyeon when the two men caught up to her, grabbing on both her arms each. She had managed to escape from one of their grip and kicked the other one on their thigh. However, she's forgotten that they're not humans and don't feel pain so she did the first two things that came to her mind. 

Run and scream.

"Mark Tuan!" She yelled as she run towards the truck; just another short distance and she would be safe. 

However, she's just a human running away from two humanoids.

She got caught just when she was about to reach the truck.

Mark opened his eye on instinct when he heard a distant yet familiar scream from the outside. Sitting up straight, he wanted to make sure that what he heard wasn't just his imagination.

Another scream confirmed that it wasn't. 

He opened the side of the truck just in time to watch Nayeon being dragged off by two men. He also noticed how Udon was motionless in a further distance.

.

In a swift movement, Mark rushed up to the nearest screen in front of him and a curse came from under his breath when he realised that Udon's system had been hacked. He then tracked the location of Nayeon and same thing, the system had been hacked and he couldn't locate her anywhere else.

He had to now resort to the old fashion way and to make things more efficient, he managed to reactivate Udon. To prevent Udon from being hacked again, Mark instructed the humanoid to continue driving and to tap on others' wifi as he goes. 

"Just keep me updated if you spot anything in the security camera." Mark gave a command to Udon before he jumped off the truck and ran towards the bicycle rack. On instinct, he had observed the surroundings earlier and the bicycles were the fastest way of transport.

He had no choice but to 'borrow' one for the time being beside, driving a truck would be too slow and obvious. 

"Bam, where are you?" Mark asked immediately when Bambam picked up his call.

"Lectures just ended." 

"Good." Mark interrupted as he continued to pedal at full speed, keeping his gaze on the road. "Track my phone and come to wherever I am."

"What—" 

"Nayeon got captured." Mark explained before the younger boy could even ask. "Again."

"Didn't Jeongyeon taught her some moves?" Bambam put on a bluetooth earpiece as he ran out from the university side gate and at the same time focusing on his phone. 

"Udon was by her side and was shut down." Mark added for Bambam's benefit. "How can she fight against two androids? Beside, Jeongyeon was never a good fighter."

Just at that moment, a black car caught Mark's attention. It was just a quick glimpse but that was definitely Nayeon being forced into the car. 

Yet, none of the two figures got into the car with her. Feeling that something's not right, Mark hung up on Bambam with a quick 'I will call you back' and pedalled fast towards Nayeon's direction.

The black car started moving on its own which surprised Nayeon who was still inside it and before she could even react to what's happening, the car sped up.

"Damn it." Mark cursed under his breath when he noticed the car speeding up. Right in that direction was the main road and it wouldn't just be Nayeon who would be in danger.

If only he had his laptop with him.

Fortunately, Udon decided to give him a call right at that moment.

"Someone's controlling the car with a special programmed code. Almost like a toy car." Udon stated. "The car's system had been both hacked and tampered."

"Can you stop it?"

"I will be able to but the impact would be great and Nayeon might get into serious danger."

"Stop it." Mark commanded firmly, his eyes still on the speeding car and he could tell from the back window that Nayeon's really scared. "I will get her out."

Mark sped up too, pedalling with all his strength and thankfully was able to reach the side of the car. Nayeon was screaming in the car as he tried his best to get her attention.

"Nayeon!" He yelled for the third time and Nayeon finally looked out of the window, obvious tears flowing down on her cheeks. "Open the door!"

Mark exaggerated his hand movement, making sure he mouthed the words clearly so Nayeon could get he meant. At the same time, as reckless as he knew he was, he tried to grab onto the grip of the car door.

Nayeon watched the man from outside, unable to comprehend what he was doing in her current frantic state. He was trying his best to keep up with the speed of the car, occasionally slowing down but he always managed to catch up even if it's just a brief short moment. It took Nayeon a while to understand what he was trying to say; she knew it was crazy but she'd rather choose crazy over death.

Mustering all the courage that was left in her, she opened the door and immediately she could hear the wind gushing into her face.

"Give me your hand!" Mark yelled, glancing at her briefly and then at the front as the main road came into sight. "Hurry up, I will catch you!"

Nayeon who was holding tightly to the hand grip, shook her head at first.

"Nayeon, hurry up!" Mark shouted and again, he was slowing down by the car. However, he pedalled harder and held out his hand. "Trust me!"

Nayeon's hands tightened on the hand grip before she slowly let go a hand timidly. Squeezing her eyes shut tightly, she held her arm out and within that three seconds, she felt her other hand loosening on the hand grip then a strong pull on her arm. The next thing she felt was her body hitting the ground with a thud.

The screeching sound of the tires was what happened next. When she opened her eyes, the car had stopped and Mark was beside her, the bicycle he was riding on lying a little further away.

"Are you okay?"

That three words made Nayeon burst into tears and wrapped her arms around the questioner's waist tightly. Of course, Mark was surprised at her actions but the girl seemed to not notice as she wailed loudly, her tears wetting his shirt.

"I thought I was going to die!"

For a while, Mark didn't know how to react. He could have pushed her away but he knew that Nayeon was really traumatised. It took him a short moment but, he ended up doing the same thing he would always do when he was younger.

"It's alright." His voice was gentle as he rubbed Nayeon's back gently and gave her a few pats on her head. "You're safe now."

"It's okay, Jisung. You are safe now. " Twelve years old Mark gently pat on the tear-stained cheek of the little boy in front of him. Both of their limbs filled with obvious scars and bruises; on ten years old Jisung's left leg was a fresh wound that was given by their aunt earlier.

"It hurts..." Jisung sniffed, trying his best to hold his tears in. They were in a dark basement but he knew that if he made any sound, the two of them would end up getting hit again. "And I'm hungry."

Mark said nothing as his own stomach grumbled slightly; it's been almost a day since the two of them had any food to eat. He rested a palm on his stomach and then looked at his brother's face, coming to a risky decision.

"Stay here." Mark stood up from the floor and when Jisung wanted to stand up with him, Mark gently sat him back down on the floor. "I will be back with food soon so just stay here quietly."

"But—"

"I promise I won't get caught."

 

-

' i honestly forgot to update. i've been sick and busy with work so i went straight to bed almost everyday when i'm back. so here's the late update, and some markyeon development. is anyone of you still following this story? i know i haven't had time to develop more characters (trust me, you will get more jeongyeon soon.) but if you've got to choose a favourite character/scene, which will it be? share your thoughts!!