Doubler || NCT || Completed

32

"How come you're becoming more and more irresponsible?" Taeil's angry voice was muffled by the pile of clothing on top of Yujin. She was still feeling disoriented, which made it difficult for her to transform back to human.

Jeno had taken her to a side-road where Taeil had been waiting for them in a black van. As soon as the younger guy had slammed the front door shut behind him, Taeil had stepped on the accelerator like his life depended on it - it kind of did, though - and started berating Yujin, who was still clinging onto the belt loop of Jeno's jeans. Then Jeno had reached out to place Yujin to the floor behind Taeil's seat, where she had found a long-sleeved shirt and a pair of shorts.

Harvest mice didn't have a very good sense of time but Yujin felt like it had been forever since she had crawled underneath the clothes and started to persuade the mouse to let her shift back to human. She peeked at the guys sitting in the front, squinting at them in order to see better.

Taeil was still scolding her while Jeno removed his black cap and mask quietly. Beneath them his face was serious.

Yujin hid underneath the clothes again, her ears drooping out of shame. The mouse was still unwilling to let her regain the control of the form she was in. Truth to be told, it was starting to stress her out, she hadn't let the mouse take full control in such a long time.

"You promised to stay inside, Yujin. I wouldn't have thought that it would be too difficult for you, considering how you've always been so proud about how careful you are."

Yujin closed her eyes and focused on Taeil's voice. The mouse was panicking about the unfamiliarity of the van but listening to her cousin's voice made it possible for her to focus her thoughts and convince the mouse of the safety of the situation.

"I'm sorry" was the first thing that came out of her mouth as soon as she was a human again and had managed to put the clothes on. "I didn't mean for any of this to happen."

"Doesn't seem like it", Taeil said.

Yujin helped herself up from the floor and sat on the nearest car seat. It was a big van, a 12 seater, with tinted windows and clean scent. Someone had to clean it very frequently, Yujin and Taeil's car was never that tidy.

Jeno cleared his throat. "Are you alright?" his voice was strained and he kept facing forward.

He was angry with her.

Yujin fiddled with her fingers. Her old cut was hurting again and there were some sore areas in her midriff but nothing extreme. "I'm okay."

Jeno didn't answer and Yujin suspected that he didn't believe her.

Tense silence followed them all the way back to the apartment building and its elevator. Jeno was still avoiding looking at Yujin, while Taeil had given her a hasty once-over to make sure that she wasn't missing a limb.

Renjun opened the door at the same moment the elevator reached the eighth floor. All residents of the apartment flooded the hallway, hurrying to hug Jeno, fuzz over his safety and chastise him over his recklessness.

"Why would you force Taeil hyung to take you with him?"

"You should've asked us first, I - "

"How dare you just sneak out like that?"

"You promised to stay inside!"

Yujin blinked. Had Jeno sneaked out to save her?

When the guys turned to greet Taeil in their usual overbearing way, he started to push them back into the apartment instead.

"We shouldn't stay out in the open like this", he reminded them.

Yujin followed everyone else reluctantly. While none of them had addressed her directly, she could tell that they were upset with her actions. Even Chenle was frowning at her.