“I….” Ella’s mouth moved, but no words came out.

No one ever stepped into his room. Ever. And for some deviant he decided to take in to do just that when not a single member dared to cross one of the few concrete rules he placed amongst themselves was inexcusable.

Ten’s anger came in many, many forms. There was the moderate to severe level of anger where he let everyone know exactly how he was feeling. Then there was the severe, which meant total silence and even quieter ways to punish s. Yangyang had once ignored his commands on several missions thinking he had the upperhand in how missions should be carried out. Ten’s grudges were fed to the pits of hell within himself that slowly seethed with metaphorical boiling bubbles. As punishment, he wrote out on Yangyang’s schedule to be quarantined on base for three weeks and to clean all the members’ gear. Not once did the younger male confront the leader knowing damn well he ed up.

“Follow me.” He commanded, not bothering to throw his shirt back on since there was no point in hiding something if it was already seen. He would show her who was dominant.

Ella did not dare to respond in fear of provoking him even further than she already had. She noticed, though, that there was a V branded on the side of his neck. Her eyes widened at the realization of who he was—he was the same guy who she had seen at the alleyway. She covered in shock and tried to hide her surprise when he turned around to check if she obeyed.

She was led down the staircase and into a hidden door between the living room and the kitchen. Ten had then led her up another set of stairs before making a left into the training where every single member of WayV began their journey. As much as he seemed to be a from the way he walked, he had at least some courtesy to hold the door open before her before locking it, so it was just the two of them.

“I’m going to teach you a lesson, Ella Lee,” he had his back turned towards her as he bandaged his hands with so much fury contained inside.

“Wrap your hands,” he motioned to the wide variety of bandage wraps he had on the table.

Ella Lee was in no position to argue. With Big Head 2, Ella knew she was able to make him tick for her own enjoyment. But this guy… radiated command and ordinance. There was nothing soft about him save for his eyes but even then did they carry a glint of danger. His body was well toned and hardened with striped muscles running diagonal from underneath his arms to his abdomen. She wrapped her hands quietly, suddenly feeling like a delicate, shivering flower caught in the middle of a snowstorm—she felt out of place.

Ten gazed onto her expectantly. She appeared to be so small before him.

“Show me what you got, Miss Lee,” there it was again. That sudden increase in Ten’s chest blooming into accelerating rates of beats per minute that he had no idea why it would occur when it was only Ella’s last name and not his despite sharing the same letters and arrangement.

As Ella finished wrapping her hands, one foot was in front of the other with her back straight. Her right hand was outstretched and aimed with her right leg a step back. Her left hand was behind her right with her left leg in front of her. She knew how to protect herself even if it meant killing the person in front of her.

Ella’s face was taut and in full concentration as Ten mirrored her. A smirk glazed over his mouth as he easily shuffled in front of her, throwing out jabs at the air to make her cornered. She, however, had only shuffled two steps back before growling and placed her left hand by her face to throw out a punch to his face to only hesitate. A mistake.

The male only grinned and advanced onto her where he no longer had his feet in position and moving; they stood still and planted far apart from each other but only enough to box her in against the wall with his arms placed on either side of her head. Ella bit the inside of her cheek, with her eyes glowering and hands in position—she wouldn’t let some guy just do this to her. She wouldn't let some guy just do this to her... 

Ten removed his hand from the wall and gently gathered hers and lowered them. Her brown orbs were almost the color of non-reflective black. But they were beautiful in their mystery. She was a wondrous, free woman in a world where there were preposterous rules to follow where if you didn’t obey, you died. Somehow, that black was inviting. It was more astonishing than the night sky that held the stars and planets. If a black ocean existed, that’s what she’d be. Something so dark, enticing, an abyss. Yet, so free and fluid like water’s caress in one’s own shower.

Ella stared at Ten’s own eyes. His were almost like the devil’s. They were so cat-like it’d be impossible to think he could possibly have good intentions if he was to be bound by hell. But just like the devil, she didn’t notice the sinister actions tempting her. She just saw a man whose face was merely centimeters away from brushing her nose with his.

No sin became of it, for Ten merely leaned to the side to whisper in her ear, “I want you to fight me, Miss Lee. Not allow me to seduce you. You must have been a seductress in your past life if you would allow any man you didn’t know so close to you like this,” and exited the training room as if he was never there to begin with before Ella had the opportunity to kick him where it hurt most for being such an .

Ella exhaled. It felt like she held her breath when Ten was so, so dangerously close to her. She didn’t even know his name, yet he was the first person she had ever allowed to get so near to her without being defensive.

“He knows. How could he possibly know?” she muttered with her brows furrowed, gazing expectantly at the door to confirm the stranger was not coming back and turned to unwrap her cramping and sweaty hands after only a brief scuffle. A male figure was in her peripheral view, and out of protection, she grabbed him by the neck and squeezed. Chenle gasped and tapped her repetitively. Ella reluctantly let go and stepped back, wondering how the hell he had gotten in here.

“Boss-“ he wheezed, placing a hand on the table for balance.

“Boss will be back after his meeting,” Chenle’s face contorted with annoyance. He hobbled out the same exit Ten took, leaving Ella speechless and powerless in a world she wasn’t even sure she knew anymore. Tears welled, and Ella wiped them away knowing damn well a bunch of salted water never did anything to fix a problem but make it feel worse. She began to wrap her hands with a new set of wrapping, this time in hot pink. There was no possible way they would have left the door unlocked. So, she did the one thing she could do and walked over to the hanging bag and swung.

-

“Looks like someone is in love~,” Chenle singsonged as he rounded the white corridor to find Ten dressed in a suit with his hair slicked back. A Rolex submariner dawned his left hand. Suddenly, his hobbling disappeared and retained the original gait he had. Ten gave him a dirty look.

“Yes boss,” Chenle bowed his head shut his mouth and walked ahead to open the door to Chenle’s hacking lair with hundreds of data protected by bulletproof and fireproof glass walls.

“Ella is pretty much a normal girl. Except, her parents were drug dealers and never told them about their actual jobs. The SUJU clan is after her, boss. They were under the assumption she had also died along with her parents. But this doesn’t make any sense, does it?” Chenle pondered aloud.

A million things were running through Ten’s mind before he came to one conclusion.

“It wasn’t SUJU who killed her parents,” Ten concluded as he paced from one end of the office space to the other, then back again.

“How can you be so sure?” Chenle scattered the various photos of Ella’s past on the desk. Ten casually stuffed his hands in his pockets and glanced at Chenle as if he should have known the answer.

“I saw the war SUJU tried to off us today. They would’ve made sure we were dead on the spot. This means that they didn’t kill her parents if she was there. Someone else did, and SUJU only heard of her whole family being dead. These photos—” he gestured to them.

“—are taken by the killer,” Chenle rubbed his eyes with both the tips of his fingers, “How are you going to explain this to Kung ge? What are you going to do about this?”

“Well clearly find the killer. Lele you know this is probably one of the gravest infractions a Wayzennie can make. Mark Ella Lee as terminated and forge one of the bodies down in the morgue as her. In the meantime, I’ll dig some info out of her and keep Sooman happy with the progress of taking down SUJU. By the way, have you gotten anything on him so far?”

“Other than he is the heir to being the founder of NCity, no.” he stated.

Ten twisted his lips. There had to be a reason why WayV, NCT Dream, and NCT127 were chosen as Governors. What was it? What could he possibly want with a bunch of deviants who never desired being a governor in the goddamn first place? Why, as a punishment, be something and do things that they were not?