CHAMPION | NCT

o39

I murmured my friend's name in the darkness, waiting for a response from the other side of the door.

One, two, three.

Woosh.

I slowly backed away when the door made a guttural sound, like a giant monster breathing in a heavy substance from the air in order to suck everything in.

The darkness was soon coated with the glow of the moonlight as the door opened, a friend's voice dancing in my ear like a lulling spell.

Taeil.

I couldn't comprehend the exact words that left his lips - the door was too loud for me to hear any more than that - but I knew he was welcoming me.

And he's not alone.

I entered the city and slightly grimaced at the change of atmosphere.

Standing in front of me was Taeil, brown hair tousled with some spreckles of snow.  On the far end corner near an alley was Ten, sitting in a snug way on his bike.

"Sooji." The way he said my name wasn't the usual flirty Ten-style. It was rather impatient and sharp, like an older sibling finding a fault to his younger. But the thing was, I was older than Ten by a year. And he rarely gets serious like this, only at certain times.

"What is it?" I asked while Taeil, ever the gentleman, silently hang a regal coat on my shoulder. I mouthed a soft thank you to him.

Ten began talking again, which stirred my attention.
"Please tell me you didn't do something dangerous," he said, one foot placed on the ground of snow while the other leg was curled in front of him on the bike's seat. His state of balance is crazy.

"Dangerous," I mumbled. "Too vague. Everything we put ourselves in is considered danger."

Ten waved his head. "The high-level kind of danger. The stupid one."

I was very confused. "Be more specific."

"Stealing Kwon Jeena's journal."

"No way!" I exclaimed, clutching the coat around me. "I wouldn't do that!"

Ten sighed in relief, a puff of white gas appearing from his mouth as he did so.

"I didn't steal it. I asked Jeena if I could keep it. And she was nice enough to give it to me."

"Wha-?!" he blinked his eyes rapidly and shook his head. "Do you know that the bosses are looking for it? Lee-freaking-Taeyong was very persistent!"

"Tell him it's in the right hands," I said, feeling a vein bulge against my skin at the sheer mention of Taeyong's name. I suddenly remembered everything that Yuta told me before I left.

The whole 'telling Kun to help him and framing Jeena to be dead' was clearly explained by Taeyong, to Yuta, to me. It was a second-handedly-taken information, but very believable.

"Oh god, Sooji. And there I was, defending you in front of the bosses that you're innocent."

"And I am, thank you very much."