Strawberry Cake [EDITING]

🍰【f o r t y】🍰

Haechan watched fondly as Minjun walked around the kitchen, occasionally stopping to try and peak onto the counters. Haechan chuckled from his seat.

"What are you doing?" Haechan asked. Minjun turned to his papa with a slight frown and walked over to him.

"Where did Uncle Smiles go?" He asked sadly as Haechan scooped him up into his arms. Haechan furrowed his brows.

"Well, he said he was going outside.." Minjun's frown remained.

"What about daddy? Is daddy back yet?" Minjun asked softly. Haechan rubbed his son's back with a small sigh.

"You know what, how about we text daddy and tell him to come inside hmm?" Just as Minjun began to nod, the front door swung open, Renjun, Jaemin, and Jisung walking urgently into the kitchen.

"Where's Jeno." Jaemin asked urgently as he frantically scanned the kitchen. Haechan's smile disappeared, his eyes widening.

"I-I thought he was outside with you.." Haechan said. Jaemin felt tears sting in his eyes as he looked around and shook his head before turning around and running out of the house.

"Jaemin!" Renjun called after him, knowing that splitting up wouldn't do them any good. He sighed as Jisung bit his lip to hold back the tears. Haechan stared with wide eyes at the floor. This was his fault. If he hadn't been so careless-

"Papa, why is everyone sad? I-I'm... I'm scared...." Minjun murmured, his lip quivering. Haechan shook his head and held his son close.

"It's okay Minjun... It's alright...." He hushed his now crying son.

Jaemin ran out of the door and looked around frantically.

"Jeno!" He called, hoping for anything. Part of him knew he wouldn't get a reply, but the other part still held onto hope. Maybe he had just seen something and went after it..

"Jaemin!" The younger turned to the door to see Renjun walking out to him. "Come on Jaemin, we need to go talk about this."

"Renjun, the longer we sit here talking about this the further away Jeno gets and the fewer chances we have of finding him!"

"There is another way..." The two turned to see Jisung approaching them. The youngest heaved a nervous breath. "Ch-Chenle's journal mentioned that there were others working for Mark, and he wrote down some of the names of ones that would be important for us." He explained. Renjun scoffed.

"And you didn't think to mention this before?" Jisung shrugged.

"Other things came up.." Jaemin shook his head.

"Whatever. Get on with it." Jisung nodded and flipped through the journal that the other two hadn't even noticed him holding until now. He eventually stopped on a page before reading it aloud.

"In the event that I do get... Killed.. and someone in need gets a hold of this notebook, here are the names of a few of Mark Lee's men that I know of in the area."

"These are the ones that would probably be the most helpful to you: Wong Yukhei (also goes by Lucas), Qian Kun, and Nakamoto Yuta. Avoid speaking about this around a man who goes by Ten, and Dong Sicheng. If they know they will tell Mark and they will kill you. You can still tell Johnny who has no clue that his boyfriend is in on it but be wary. Mark may have convinced him to work for him and so you may want to be careful.." Jisung finished reading and looked up at Jaemin who's eyes were wide.

"What is it Jaemin?" The older shook his head slowly.

"Everyone I've ever met is involved in this shit... They're all involved...." Renjun put a hand on Jaemin's shoulder.

"It's okay Jaem... We're not-"

"Well, you were." Jaemin spat back, his fear getting the best of him. Renjun looked taken aback. He sighed and nodded.

"Exactly. I used to work for him.. I already know how to get to his lab." Jaemin's eyes widened.

"Then what are we waiting for." Renjun shook his head.

"No. We need a plan. And we need some more help from an old friend of mine..." Jisung furrowed his brow.

"What's their name?"

"Liu Yangyang.."

🍰

Jeno slowly opened his eyes, trying to blink the blurriness from his vision. He groaned as he felt a sharp pain in his stomach and he doubled over. He realized he was in some sort of cell, his hands tied still behind his back while he laid where they had carelessly thrown him against one of the walls. He slowly looked up again after the pain subsided a bit and opened his eyes, looking carefully around the cell.

As he looked around the dark grey walls of the dimly lit cell, his eyes landed on a figure tied in a chair in the corner. Jeno's eyes widened as he could barely make them out in the dark.

"H-hello?" He called worriedly, wanting to see if they were awake. The person groaned and slowly lifted his head. He had bloody cuts on his arms and his eyes even in the dim light still looked red from crying.

"Jeno.." He whispered weakly, his gentle voice carrying softly and filling the air around them in a comforting way. Jeno struggled, trying to stand up to go to him as the tears fell faster down his own face.

"Please... Please.."

"Shhh Jeno, calm down. Don't move to much... You'll hurt....." The boy was cut off by harsh coughs racking through his body and Jeno used all the strength he had to try and pull his arms apart from each other.

The rope around his wrists was strangely loose and he easily got free of his restraints, standing up and stumbling over to the chair. He inspected the boy's restraints and realized how strong they were.

"Come on... I'm gonna get you out of here...." Jeno whispered. The boy shook his head.

"N-no Jeno... They'll hurt you. Please just stop..... They'll beat you." He pleaded. Jeno shook his head.

"I don't care. I want you to be with me... Please."

"Jeno, I care." He said sincerely, making Jeno pause and stare into the younger boys dark eyes. "If something happened to your future child, I don't know what I would do.. I need another little kid to spoil, okay? Can you do that for me?" The boy pleaded as he cried. Jeno shakily pulled his hands away and nodded.

Suddenly they heard a loud noise come from the door and two figures step in. One of them Jeno recognized as the man who had kidnapped him and the other looked familiar somehow..."

"Let him go. They can't do much in this cell anyways." One of them commanded. Jeno's kidnapper nodded before going over to the boy in the chair and beginning to cut the restraints away. Meanwhile, the other man approached Jeno who had stumbled away from the chair out of fear. The man slowly approached and looked down at him.

"Do you know who I am sweetheart?" He asked softly, his voice sickeningly gentle. Jeno shook his head and the man scoffed. He reached down and grabbed Jeno's jaw, forcing the boy to look at him. "So beautiful... So perfect...." He muttered as he looked over Jeno's face. "My name is Mark Lee, and I'm going to be sure that your time here is the best you've ever had darling." Jeno met Mark's deep gaze with scared eyes and nodded weakly in the older hold. Mark let him go and turned back, beckoning for the other man to join him.

"come on Sicheng. We're done here." The man nodded as he released the ropes that he had taken from around the boy and followed Mark, the door shutting behind them with a click.

Jeno immediately ran towards the boy who collapsed out of his chair and held him in his arms. Shaking and crying he stroked the younger's hair, delicately wiping the blood from the boy's forehead.

"Please Chenle... Please don't die.."

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