cryptic | Mark Lee

2

When Haechan said he knew a place they could hide out in until morning came around they didn't expect to be greeted by a girl with bunny slippers.

She didn't expect to see them either.

She saw Haechan first, a small smile appeared on her face quickly being replaced by a eye widening shocked expression seeing the other 9 people walking up behind him.

They were drenched from the rain. They looked drained and one of them looked like he was about to fall asleep in the arms of another.

"So i'm guessing that's the we?" she asks and Haechan gives her a nervous chuckle. "You so owe me lunch for the next month." she jokes before opening the door allowing all of them inside.

They file through the door walking into the spacious living room.

"Thank you, I apologize for the inconvenience." Taeyong steps to the front giving her a friendly smile.

"I've had worse things happen opening the door in the middle of the night." she shrugs.

While a few of them don a terrified expression by her nonchalant statement, Haechan just smirks.

"I meant a raccoon." she slightly hits his arm. "My brother always told me not to feed them, but they looked so hungry." a small pout forms on her face.

"Thank you really, it's kind of you to help us out." Johnny shoves Haechan aside.

His flirty nature takes over as he stands by her side. Most of the members roll their eyes, he just shot 2 men point blank how can he switch up that quickly?

"It's no problem, getting stuck in this bad of weather just happens sometimes." she ignores his flirty tone stepping away as subtly as she can.

"Will you get in trouble for letting us crash here?" Haechan asks.

She shrugs not sure of what her roommates would actually think. They were gone an a business trip for the next week. Usually they allowed her to have people over, she had texted them before that some friends needed a place to sleep but no one had answered her.

"They're away right now, but i'm sure they would be okay with it." she reassures them. "Don't worry about it, i'll bring down some hampers for your wet clothes i'm sure they're uncomfortable." she announces before walking down the hallway into one of the rooms.

The boys begin to remove the wet coats they had been wearing as she reappears with three baskets which they dump their jackets into.

"The lost and found is in the closet there, any jackets or coats are up for grabs if you want."

They shoot her a confused look not aware of what the lost and found she refers to as.

"It's all the random clothes that were found around the house. Honestly it's most clothes from my roommates one night stands, but there's a couple abandoned jackets and shirts too." she explains further. "At your own risk though, can't promise there's no remnants of their nights out." she grimaces at the thought.

"Aren't you still in high school?" Taeyong asks. "Isn't it a little dangerous for your roommates to bring strangers home?"

His motherly side is coming out hearing how casually Aera can talk about such adult things.

"It's also dangerous to let 8 strangers and a guy I share one class with spend the night while they aren't here." she points out. "I trust Hyuck, plus he knows he can't mess with me." a mischievous smirk plays on her face

Haechan mirrors her smile knowing well why he wouldn't even dream of messing with Aera.

"You need to stop threatening to mess with my school record. I have enough absences already." he pauses, suddenly recalling a memory. "Didn't you already get in trouble for that?" Haechan asks remembering back to a school assembly where it was announced that any student who tampered with official school information would be expelled as soon as they were found.

"They said they'd expel whoever was caught hacking into the schools system. I never got caught." a subtle smirk finds its way to her face.

Luckily, Aera was good at covering her tracks. Only a few people even knew she was good with computers. Although her and Haechan weren't necessarily best friends, he found out after helping Aera wipe out a teachers computer to delay a test they both hadn't studied for. Since then they had become closer and he has kept her secret hidden.

"I'll just put these wet clothes into the wash, make yourselves comfortable." she ignores Haechan balancing the baskets on top of each other.

"It's her?" Mark mumbles to himself.

He thinks back to the rumors that circulated around school just a few months before he graduated. Was it really her? When he envisioned the anonymous hacker he didn't picture the cute girl who saved their asses by opening her home up to them.

They had attended the same high school before Mark graduated last year just as the supposed rumor of a hacker who was exposing teachers, other faculty, and even the principal were starting to appear.

"There's a hacker at your school and you never told us?" Yuta scolds Haechan by slightly hitting the back of his head.

The danger Dream could be put in if Aera wasn't as innocent as she appeared to be could be unthinkable. What if she was undercover from another mafia? What if she was sent there to infiltrate Dream? The possibilities were running through the higher up level members minds.

"Hey! She's friends with Dream so it's not like she'll do anything to us. In fact she's the only reason Jisung isn't failing his history class." Haechan defends himself rubbing his bruised skull. "She messes with school records, she's harmless trust me."

The girl walked back into the room grabbing a chair and opening the closet. She used it as a step stool to get some hidden away blankets and covers on the top shelf.

"It's really cold tonight, I can't turn on the heat but here's some extra blankets." she hands one to each boy as they find places to rest on the couch, chairs, and floor of the living room.

"This is just fine." Taeyong assures her.

"Okay, my room is the last down the hallway if you need-" she pauses when she looks at Mark. Her head tilts slightly and a confused look washes over her face.

Mark suddenly feels like he's back in high school. Having girls follow Dream around relentlessly, it was something he didn't miss.

"You have a cut on your neck Mark." she points out. "Come on, we'll get you patched up."

He just nods hesitantly before following her down the long hallway.

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Okay lowkey an awkward ending but I couldn't think of anything lol.

I hope you're enjoying the story and have a nice day/night/ afternoon<3