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i. dinnertime

"okay kids food's done." lee know entered the room with a pan of salad and rice from the cooker.

he placed it on the table, beside the bowl of noodles that felix had unpacked from its packaging. he took his seat beside jisung who was now gasping for air and massaging his throat while sending hyunjin dirty glares. "now we sit"

"and wait"

"i have arrived!"

the leader of stray kids shot inside the house and rushed into the bathroom to wash his hands.

it was 15 minutes past 9:30, he hated keeping his kids hungry. quickly, he dried his hands and put on some clean clothes. his work bag and shirt lay forgotten on the bed, he could always keep them in their place later,

the members were his main priority now.

⏱

"soo... chan hyung what took you so long? you usually come home by 9:15.."

chan looked up from his plate and finished chewing. seungmin, jeongin and jisung were having a whispered conversation in the corner, lee know was trying to hear it. changbin was eating quietly, enjoying his food as he kept taking seconds of everything. hyunjin was glancing between felix and chan while participating in their talk.

"hmm.. well guess it was just a long day at work.. what 'bout you guys? what did y'all do at home?"

lee know stretched like a cat as he eyed his finished plate in front of him. "uhh i was in my room all dayyyy. didn't feel getting any work done."

hyunjin nodded as he looked up from his plate as well. "for realll i'm so glad we don't have any hostages, they usually scream so loud during this time-"

chan sighed as he shot both of them a glare. "what did we say about talking about criminals at the table?" "sorry dad"

dinner time was actually a good time to forget that all of them were actually related due to business like a gang.

chan sometimes wondered how different his friendship with the members would be if they hadn't met through woojin because of a gang. he hoped that someday, they would get this business over with and still stay friends, through all they went through and did together. for some reason, that thought didn't seem to sit well with him..

"well, hostages are usually hungry during dinner time that's common sense." changbin spoke up as hyunjin's eyes fell on him. he nonchalantly continued, ignoring the shocked looks felix and chan were giving him.

"they're stressed by the days activities not to mention the fact that they know they're going to die in a dark basement. we also torture them often, throughout the da-" "okay changbin that's enough" the raven haired boy shrugged and stood up to keep his and lee know's plate in the kitchen.

chan now turned towards the silent group on the table. just because he wasn't talking to seungmin, jisung and jeongin didn't mean that he couldn't see what they were doing.

they were huddled around each other, whispering and occasionally shooting looks at chan and felix. the older frowned. this was pretty unusual, considering that the three of them were quite open with whatever they had to say.

so what was it that they wanted to hide so badly?

⏱

"you ask him!" "no you!"

the dinner was complete. the members were huddled in their tiny kitchen. lee know and hyunjin were washing and drying the plates while changbin was wiping the table. chan was sitting on a chair nearby, reading the day's newspaper; he rarely got time in the morning.