Doubler || NCT || Completed

12

"Are you sure?" Yujin asked. Her heart pounded heavily against her rib cage and suddenly the happily chattering customers and smooth music from the speakers felt too loud for her ears.

Jeno shook his head. He was still leaning on the counter, his head close to hers so that they could speak privately.

"I can't say that I'm certain about it", he confessed. His narrow eyes were troubled when he glanced at the door of the café. The young doubler and the older man were already long gone. "Everything about that night is hazy. Yuta hyung says that it could be due to the fact that I was drunk and everything happened so quickly but Xiaojun hyung thinks that someone might've drugged me with sedative or something like that. But I still think that I saw that kid that night."

Yujin bit the insides of her cheek. "Do you think that he could be a tracker or something, then?" she asked quietly.

Jeno shrugged before resting his palms against the smooth surface of the counter.

"To be honest, I don't know much about trackers or hunters or any of that stuff in general", he admitted. "I've never had an encounter with them so I never bothered to learn about it. Some of the guys have dealt with them but it's no one's favourite subject so I never ask."

That's quite naïve, Yujin thought to herself but didn't want to voice her opinion. Maybe living in a pack gave the members such strong sense of security that they didn't realise how dangerous the world really was for their kind.

"Based on his looks, he doesn't look like a tracker", she pondered, scratching her neck. "It's rare for poachers and hunters to use children and young adults and, even then, they're used only in rural areas. Young people are unpredictable, and public tends to be more adamant on looking for children and young adults compared to when someone older disappears."

"So, you don't think that he's a tracker?" Jeno asked with a hopeful voice. It was clear that seeing the young doubler's face had unnerved him.

"It's impossible to say", Yujin told him, picking her lower lip with her fingers. "There was something odd about him and the older man but I haven't seen enough trackers to know how to identify them."

Jeno sighed in disappointment.

Yujin would've liked to tell him that everything was okay but she felt that it was her responsibility to tell him about her thoughts.

"If you really did see him that night, it's highly probable that he's involved with something sketchy even if he's not a tracker. They did leave before they saw you but it's possible that he followed you here anyway. It could be, that they weren't sure whether you were here or not and then continued their search elsewhere." Her voice was as serious as her eyes.

Jeno's face was filled with horror while listening to her.

"Was he close enough to you to notice that you're a doubler as well?" he hurried to ask. His voice was tense and his eyes wide.

His concerned face and voice made Yujin want to lie so that he wouldn't have to worry for her. He, however, saw the truth in her eyes.

"Shit, I'm so sorry!" he exclaimed, the volume of his voice growing too loud.

Yujin lifted a finger to her lips, scared that their conversation would draw too much attention. She was sure that the other workers were already dying from curiosity, since she didn't normally speak with customers for such a long time, even if they were her acquaintances.

"Don't feel bad about it", she whispered. His long fingers were tapping against the glass of the counter and gently, without even thinking what she was doing, she touched his frantic fingers with the tips of her own. The tapping calmed down and he looked at her hand hovering over his, noticeably astonished by the sudden, light touch. She pulled back her hand, embarrassed by her thoughtless actions.