I splashed water into Jaehyun's face. "Stop fucken messing, Jaehyun", I said.
"I'm not joking", he irritably wiped the water off his face .
"You totally are. We were never friends. I grew up with Miyoung and Miyoung only. "
Jaehyun went to open his mouth, but we were both interrupted when Taeyong opened the back door.
Jaehyun and I just stood there in the cold water. I had no idea how I'd explain why I was in the pool at 4:00 AM. I was literally wearing a full on outfit in a pool, plus my black bra was totally visible through my wet, white T-shirt.
Taeyong acted like nothing happened. He didn't even look a me once.
"Jaehyun", he said, "You're leaving in an hour with Yuta and Doyoung. I woke them up already."
Jaehyun nodded.
Before he left, he looked at me in the eyes like he had done earlier. "I promise", he said, "I'll explain everything to you when I get this mission over with"
"Ok...", I mumbled as I watched him walk away. After he shut the back door behind him, I slowly got out of the pool.
I didn't realize that Taeyong was still there. "You know", he said to me, "You should probably get in the house and change before the other members wake up."
I looked at my shirt and I knew my face turned bright red.
"Its ok", he laughed, "I've seen a hell of a lot worse after living in a house with twentyother guys"
We walked into the house together. Taeyong was talking to me, but the whole time I was just trying to process what had happened between Jaehyun and I that morning.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"What is Jaehyun even doing right now?", I asked Taeyong as I paced around the living room in front of him.
"He went with the others for a meeting with Stray Kids, plus he needed to drop Yuta off for an undercover mission", Taeyong was telling me as he reached for the TV remote off of the coffee table in front of him.
"Is this all about NewKidd?"
"What else would it be?", Taeyong turned the TV on and sipped on his iced coffee.
"Why are you so chill about this, then?", I glared.
"Hyuna, he's going on a business meeting. Its not dangerous at all. Take a chill pill."
Taeyong was right. Why was I so eager to know about Jaehyun all of a sudden?
Taeyong turned the TV off and smirked at me.
"What is it?", I asked him.
"Are you worried about him all of a sudden because he kissed you?", he blurted out and laughed.
My face turned bright red. "N-No...how'd you even-?"
"I'm not stupid"
I nodded and stayed quiet for a while.
"You know", Taeyong started again, "I'm honestly surprised that he's opened up to you that fast"
"Huh?"
"Look, if you're in the mafia trade, there are things you won't want to talk about. A lot of things."
"I know but-"
"Hyuna, I don't know how he didn't kill you when you pushed the whole Hansol thing"
"Well I didn't know that topic was as stressful to him as it was"
"Yeah well..."
"He said he'd explain everything to me later..."
Taeyong looked up at me with wide eyes. "Already?"
"I don't...know what-"
He laughed again. "Look Hyuna, its great he's doing this, but its gonna be just as hard for him to explain things as it was for him to explain to me. And I'm his boss."
"I know"
"So just listen to him, ok? Don't ask questions"
I nodded. Taeyong got up and went to go upstairs, "Don't blow it", he smiled.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I was really glad that I was able to talk with Taeyong that morning. As the head of the NCT mafia, he knew how about everyone's personal struggles and how to work with them. Talking to him helped me realize that Jaehyun was going through hell at the moment, and I wasn't making it better at all.
For once in my life, I felt sorry. My life already felt like crap since I lost my mom and my dad supposedly injected me with ignisolum; but Jaehyun was trying to help me, plus he had his members to help out, too.
He probably had a lot on his mind; and it killed me because after talking to him this morning, he turned out to be a genuinely sweet guy.
I wanted to help him.
A couple hours went by, and the house was quiet for the most part. The members who were at home were catching up with research and paperwork. I personally tried to pass the time by hitting the punching bags in the basement.
I heard someone jogging down the stairs. "Hyuna", it was Jungwoo, "Jaehyun's home, just so you know. Taeyong said I should tell you"
I smiled and started taking off my boxing gloves. "Thanks, Jungwoo". I walked up to him and pinched his cheeks, "you're such a squishy child, I don't even know how you're a part of the mafia".
"I lost all my baby teeth, stop trolling me."
I laughed a little, "Fine. Lets go upstairs"
When we got upstairs, Jaehyun was still by the front door with the others. He explaining some things to Taeyong. When I looked at him, I almost felt confused. He really looked happy around his members, and I couldn't imagine that someone as smiley as he was today could go through the things he did.
I walked up beside him.
"Hey...", I said.
He turned around when he heard my voice.
He smiled and turned back to Taeyong to finish up his conversation.
"Guys!", Chenle shouted from the kitchen, "Jeno finished making dinner! It looks edible tonight!"
Taeyong looked out one of the windows next to the front door.
"It looks really nice outside", he said, "we should have dinner on the back porch"
"What do you think, Hyuna?", Jaehuyn asked me.
"I'm down for it"
Taeyong nodded. "Chenle! Get the others and set up patio table", he shouted as he walked towards the kitchen.
After Taeyong was out of sight, it was just Jaehyun and I in the lobby. He turned around to put his dress coat on one of the hooks.
"So...How did things work out? Taeyong said you went to meet up with Stray Kids"
"It was fine", he replied, "I'll tell you about it after dinner"
We walked to the backyard together. All the members eventually made it outside, and we all enjoyed having dinner together. There were a lot of laughs and fun stories, which was nice because I wasn't able to get to know every single member yet.
Even mafias knew how to have fun.
We all sat outside for a while and watched the sun set. By the time it was dark, every one started cleaning up.
"What'd you do when I was gone?", Jaehyun asked me as we were picking up our paper plates and solo cups from the table. We were the last ones outside.
"Nothing really", I said.
He smiled. "Tell you what, I'll run inside and throw these away, and then we can talk like I said we would"
I nodded and sat down on one of the outdoor lounge chairs by the pool. I pulled my legs to my chest and overlooked the dark backyard. It was so pretty; the crickets were chirping and the moonlight reflected on the pool water.
I heard the back door close.
Jaehyun walked back outside and sat in the chair next to me.
I looked him, "If its hard for you to tell me-"
"Its not that bad", he said, "I need to tell you what's going on"
I nodded and sat back in my chair, "How'd today go?"
He took a deep breath, "Ok well...your dad is totally helping NewKidd with kidnapping you"
I sat there and stared at the little ripples in the pool, "Doesn't surprise me. Do they know I'm with you guys yet?"
"Most likely. You and I went missing the same night, I was staying at your place and your dad knew I was in the NCT mafia. They'd have to be straight up stupid to not think you were with me"
I was quiet for a bit. Jaehyun didn't say anything either. We both just looked around us.
"You know", he looked at me, "You grew up a lot since we were little"
"Ok, for real, you and I didn't grow up together"
"Yeah we did"
I raised my eybrow.
"Our dads were business partners", he said, "I always hung out with you and Miyoung whenever they had meetings"
"I don't remember that"
"Your dad took you to the lab to see if your ignolsium worked when you were four"
"And?"
"So, whether the ignolsium worked or not, he tried to erase some of your memory so that you wouldn't remember it"
I went quiet again for a little. After a few minutes I took a deep breath, "Looks like it worked, huh?"
"Yeah...I guess you forgot more than your dad anticipated"
"Including you?", I asked.
"Including me.", he said.