My Little Puppeteer [NCT]

the rainbow after the rain

Behind her was Park Jisung, the younger boy looking down on the ground. Defeated and sad.

She was most definitely New York.

"Why did you make my brother cry?" she demanded, Yuta sighing at her.

"To be fair, New York, when does Jisung ever not cry? I just said he had small eyes—"

"You know he's insecure about his eyes. Why would you bring it up?" She made big motions with her hands. She was intimidating but she also seemed so motherly, the way she turned to ask her brother if he was feeling fine.

"Oh, please. Stop babying him. He's fine," Yuta snapped when a book fell and a small "Ow!" could be heard from the background. I saw Jaehyun crawling on the ground, hiding himself away behind the chairs so New York wouldn't see him.

New York's anger left as fast as she had stormed in when Yuta lifted up to arms in the air and she chuckled, the female embracing him.

"Welcome back."

"Good to see you too, Na Yuta." She smiled, patting his shoulder. "Feels weird to be back after my break up with Jaehyun."

"Mhm." Yuta had a knowing smile on his face. "Yeah. I know."

"Doesn't feel like a long time ago, though."

"Definitely not." Yuta replied, his voice strained. I knew Yuta was the reason of their break up and I could see how uncomfortable he was with the conversation. "But now that you're here, do you have any plans?"

"Not really. I actually came by to help Dana. My half-sister is getting married soon, so they asked me to make sure everything will go smoothly." She massaged her shoulders.

"You should stay. For a while, at least. Everyone would want to see you—" Yuta coughed, saying the name so quickly. "—Like Jeffrey. But do stay."

She raised an eyebrow as if she was saying she didn't hear his whole sentence, Yuta repeating his actions. He coughed, cleared his throat and snuck a small "Jeffrey!" in there, New York still oblivious.

Jaehyun, however, heard it. I looked to see him making a growling face at Nakamoto Yuta, hidden behind the shadows of the seat.

"I'll think about it. Won't hurt to stay for a day," she said and Yuta shook his head.

"Make it three. Come back when you're done with the wedding." He tilted his head at her innocently.

"Hold that thought. It would be nice to spend time with the rest of the people," she admitted before shrugging. "It is kind of worth it to come back. Is..."

She seemed to be uncertain whether to ask the question, her lips pressing against one another before she forced a smile.

"Is Jaehyun here?"

"He should be on school grounds," Yuta replied nonchalantly.

"Oh, I don't know whether I should say hi. It seems as if he is avoiding me," she said, clearing her throat. "But all is well. Come, Jisung. We need to help Dana with her dress."

With that, she had grabbed Jisung's wrist and pulled him alongside her.

The moment the common room door closed; the red that was hiding behind the chair emerged with his eyes on Yuta. Jaehyun scowled at his stepbrother, Yuta giving him a meek smile before looking down on the ground, Jaehyun berating him for telling her to stay.

"Three days? She's going to come back after the wedding?" Jaehyun squeaked, throwing his hands in the air. "Why would you do that? I don't want to see her! She fell in love with you!"

"Ah... Yes." Jaehyun had triggered a topic that Yuta wanted to talk about. I knew about this but Yuta had told me he wanted to break it to Jaehyun himself. "About that...."

20 seconds later

Yuta had flown through the air, his back slamming against the rumble of broken statues for the second time as Jaehyun blasted him with all his power. I didn't stop them. Yuta deserved it. Jaehyun deserved to be angry.

"What? You lied?" Jaehyun seethed, his eyes flashing red. "I cried for her!"

"No shit, that was what I wanted—"

Yuta's words were cut off with another blast and he, once again, sailed through the air and rolled on the ground.

"You didn't confront her! All you did was take my word for it!" Yuta reasoned, jumping up and raising two hands in the air to show surrender. "All I said was "I made this happen. I made her fall in love with me because I want to break you." and you believed it!"

"Why wouldn't I not?"

"There was no bet between New York and I in the first place!" Yuta yelled out, Jaehyun stilling. "All I did was befriend her and you guys ended up dating! I lied about all of it. The day she had to leave for her family, I told you that I had set her up to make you fall in love with her but she fell in love with me."

"You were spending so much time with her—"

"We had a fucking project to work on together, Jeffrey!"

"Do not say my name!" Jaehyun hissed. "So Aera was the first bet?"

"Of course." Yuta heaved a sigh. "Do you honestly think that New York would do something like this? No offense, princess..."

He had turned to me and I lifted an eyebrow.

"But New York isn't evil."

"Are you saying I am evil?" I pointed at myself, Yuta paling. "Wait, the whole bet thing. How did you know he would try it again?"

I asked Jaehyun, the red hovering on his shield as he glared at Yuta.

"He told me that day, that he'd do it over and over and over again. I wouldn't doubt his words," Jaehyun replied.

"You were kind of dumb, you just assumed," I pointed out, Jaehyun scowling.

"Stick up for your boyfriend, why don't you?"

"But because I love you," I added, giving him a smile. "You get to hurt Yuta as much as you want. We both know he's the evil mastermind here."

"Ahuh. Come here, boy," Jaehyun began, Yuta making a face at me.

"You just had to."

"You deserve it, sweetie," I replied, shrugging. "Besides, like you said..."

I smiled at my lover, planting a kiss on his cheek before whispering in his ear.

"I'm evil."

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