ILLICIT ° nct dream, wayv + srg

Chapter Sixteen: Showing Improvement

Dedicated to:
Rewind_JY

~*~*~*~*~

Later that day, as Koeun proceeded to train with Jisung and Jeno, the rest of the X-Force had their own matters to do. They were scattered around the seemingly quiet house yet it was the least of their leader's worries. Mark knew the boys can handle everything, especially now that he had observed something new.

While he was facing the whiteboard with a lot of ink smears from his erasures in their meeting room, with eyebrows slightly furrowing as he constantly tapped the marker on his palm, he heard the door click open and shuffling footsteps coming in. For once, he removed his eyes away from the board to look at the person who just entered. "Oh, it's you, Renjun."

Renjun noticed Mark's presence even before the older one noticed his but he didn't mind it when he entered the room to get a few documents lying on the sturdy, wooden table. When he heard Mark mentioned his name, he paused from walking on mid-stride to face him. "Sorry for barging in. I was just about to get a few files."

"It's alright." Mark crossed his arms. "I was only surprised to see you coming here at this time." He said. "Aren't you supposed to be watching over her?"

"Yes, but there's something important that I need to do so I let Jaemin and Jisung fill my job for a while." Renjun replied before proceeding to walk towards the table.

Mark was quiet for a few seconds as Renjun searched for the file but then asked what was in his mind. "So how is she?"

Renjun just picked up the file he needed when Mark asked him. "Well," He turned to look at him, pushing his glasses up. "she is doing a lot better now."

"And I promise I will help you with your mission, even if it's against mine."

He and Jaemin glanced at each other to this, a bit doubtful yet a little surprised to hear what she just promised them. Before, Koeun wouldn't help them and would only be forced to. Now, she was the one willing to do it.

This was clearly a new side of her.

Looking back at her, they could tell that she was being sincere to every word she was speaking. Her eyes showed shame for what she did but also with determination.

"I know you're still in doubt about this but I assure you, what I'm saying right now is the truth." Koeun spoke again when she noticed the two being doubtful. "As an apology, I'll do my best to train better like you wanted me to, if that helps."

And she did. And now they believe her.

"She's showing improvement in her training, though it's still a little progress, but we're getting there." Renjun informed him. "It's like what you wanted."

"That's good to hear." Mark remarked. Koeun will be ready in no time, he thought.

"What did you tell her last night?" Renjun blurted out. Sure, he was disappointed at Koeun around that time but it didn't mean he didn't have any sympathy for her. Like what he told her, he wouldn't tell Mark about her little attempt, and he kept it that way.

She already had a lot on her plate. He didn't want to add himself on that, that was why he let Mark walk her back last night— for her to be accompanied by someone else besides him.

Mark analyzed his question first before answering. "I apologized." Was his short reply.

"Well, then, I guess that's the reason why she finally agreed to help us with our mission." Renjun smiled a bit. "I told you you only need to work things out with her."