hello it's nice to be here again. how's everyone doing? taking care of yourselves I'm hoping right? <3
this is part 2, I was originally going to end it on part 2 but as I was writing I realized that it was getting way too long so I'm gonna have to make another part! I'm sorry about that!
also Halloween is tomorrow and I don't think I'm doing anything so I'll hopefully be able to make an nct Halloween chapter! anyways if I don't, I hope you all have a very happy Halloween tomorrow. in general just have an amazing day! <3
4,683 words
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"yah Lee Jeno!" Jaehoon jumps onto Jeno's back and starts to attack him.
"yes?" Jeno shakes him off.
"Chul and I went to that station yesterday and asked for the file but they told us that they don't have one" Jaehoon grunts as he steps back from Jeno.
"what? every person has a file" Jeno stared at him, hoping he was just joking.
"the lady there said that the original file was taken by a guy in a suit a couple of weeks later after her death" Jaehoon explains.
"that's...not possible" Jeno muttered.
"I know, that's the crazy thing!" Jaehoon excitedly says.
"shh, no one is supposed to hear you" Jeno sighed loudly feeling a bit irritated by the sudden news.
"why would they just let a guy take it?" Jaehoon shrugs at Jeno.
"I don't know" Jaehoon answers back.
"aren't you supposed to be going to the house to watch Miss y/n right now?" Jaehoon asked as he pulled out a banana from his pocket.
"where did you- nevermind, thanks for reminding me" Jeno heads door the elevator.
———————
you glanced at the alarm clock sitting on your night stand. a small smile forms as you read off the numbers on the clock. you rushed out of your bed and hurried to your bedroom door. you opened it wide opened and quickly walked towards the stairs, you immediately halt at the top of the stair case.
Jeno enters through the small hallway that leads to the front door. he pretends to fix the end of his sleeve and stares at the ground. just a few seconds later, he finally glances up which he locks eyes with yours. you showed off a small smile and gave a little wave, Jeno gets flustered and quickly looks back at the ground. although it was hard to tell, you could see a small smile form on his lips which automatically made you blush. you watched him carefully as he made his way to the security room, you were about to head down the stairs and visit him but you didn't want to bother him since he was now working. Instead, you headed back into your room to do what you do best, absolutely nothing.
Jeno lets out a loud yawn feeling exhausted for no reason. during the few moments of silence, his phone starts to abruptly ring. he pulled his phone from his jacket and looked at the screen which he was getting a call from Jaehoon.
"yes?" Jeno raises a brow as he puts Jaehoon on speaker.
"yah Jeno! before you come to HQ today can you stop by and get some steam buns?" Jaehoon asked loudly through the phone.
"steam buns?" Jeno questioned.
"yes do you not know what a steam bun is?" Jaehoon asked.
"of course I do. why do you need them?" Jeno asked.
"the guys and I just want some, get some for yourself too. thanks for paying bye!" Jaehoon quickly ended the call before Jeno could even say anything. Jeno heaves a loud sigh and grabs his phone off the desk. He went ahead and went to his browser to search up steam buns.
———————
"oh you actually got them?" Chul looked at Jeno surprised that he had a grocery bag in his hand.
"I told you he'd come through" Jaehoon shows off a gummy smile.
"you bought seven boxes?!" Daeshim looked at him with amazement.
"yes" he mutters as he pulled out a box to hand it to Taehwan.
"are you rich?" Jaehoon asked, Sungho pinches his arm.
"why are you asking that?" Sungho sighs.
"whose the last one for?" Taehwan asked as he noticed that there were only six of them at the table.
"for y/n" he takes a seat next to Chul and hands him one as well.
"a love story is coming" Jaehoon fanned himself, Daeshim chuckles at him.
"you'll be like one of those korean drama shows" Sungho chuckles.
"oh! just like 'The K12'! this is so similar to that!" Jaehoon cries out.
"you watch dramas?" Chul asked.
"i've only seen that one" Jaehoon admitted. Jeno locks eye contact with Jaehoon which instantly freaks him out.
"and a thousand more...heh" Jaehoon quickly looks away from his eye contact.
"anyways, did Jaehoon tell the rest of you about what happened at the police station?" Jeno looked at each of them as they nodded their heads.
"I thought it was crazy, I don't get how the police department thought it was fine to just give a whole case away and I mean, how on earth can you even get that? it seems impossible" Daeshim says before stuffing a steamed bun into his mouth.
"it seems impossible to us but there's one person who I bet most likely has it" Chul says. everyone's attention was now on him, all he had was a smuggled smile on his lips.
"what the hell are you waiting for? tell us" Taehwan slapped Chuls arm to get him to start talking.
"I was just trying to create suspension gosh" Chul rolled his eyes.
"I did some thinking and I honestly thought it was impossible too, well because its a full case and no one can really take that away but~" Chul stops and waits to create the suspension again.
"just tell us!" Daeshim shouts unable to stand the useless waiting.
"who just happens to be one of the most richest families in korea?" Chul says waiting for their answers.
"us?" Jaehoon asked.
"sorry Jaehoons kind of just out of it today" Sungho apologized for Jaehoon, Jeno just chuckles.
"the cha family" Taehwan answered, Chul immediately nods.
"so, what if Mr. Cha gave the station a crap ton of money and bought the file?" Chul says.
"what the fuck are you saying?" Daeshim asked trying to comprehend what his friend just said.
"that's like low? even for Mr. Cha that is really low. Why would you think he bought his wife's file?" Sungho asked, Chul shrugs.
"I mean think about, Mrs. Cha's file somehow get's released to someone else? like who else would have that?" Chul explains trying to get them to understand.
"what if y/n has it?" Jaehoon asked, Chul shook his head.
"Mr. Cha hasn't even let her out of the house ever since her mother died, do you really think y/n would go to the station and buy her mothers file?" Chul says, Jaehoon just nods.
"okay so let's just say Mr. Cha does have it or whatever. Why would he want it?" Sungho questioned.
"maybe he's trying to find the person who killed her" Daeshim shrugged.
"and it's taking him this long to do that?" Jeno asked.
"I mean, when they announced her death. they said that they hardly have anything on the suspect" Chul mumbled.
"that's impossible though, Mr. Cha literally has the best and smartest people that he could have and even the best technology that he can have. he has a lot of things and I bet you one hundred percent that those people would have found the suspect within maybe a month tops" Taehwan mentioned.
"or maybe he's just hiding something about her death" Jaehoon says with his mouth full with a steamed bun.
"that may be the smartest thing that I have heard you say today" Sungho looked at him surprised.
"what do you mean?" Jeno furrowed his eyebrows.
"there's most likely something going on with her death which made Mr. Cha get her file somehow. he's definitely has to be hiding something in order for him to do that because if there isn't, he would've just left the file at the station." Jaehoon continued to chat while still chewing up the food in his mouth.
"how do you know that..?" Daeshim asked a bit shocked at Jaehoons explanation.
"it'd only make sense?" Jaehoon says before grabbing another steam bun.
"alright let's say that this whole thing is true! where the hell would he keep that file?" Taehwan asked, everyone gave each other looks.
"it could be anywhere" Daeshim sighed in defeat.
"Chul and Taehwan can check the HQ where they keep all the files of whatever. I highly doubt it would be in such a public place but just do it to make sure. Jaehoon and Sungho, use your ID cards to get into the security room when no one is round to see if there is a virtual file of it. Daeshim go back to that police station and ask if they do have it or not. if they claim they actually don't have it, sneak in there subtly and try looking for it" Jeno gave them each orders.
"and what will you do?" Jaehoon asked.
"I'll go back to the house and search through it carefully. starting with his bedroom and his office" Jeno told them.
"we'll also have to check his office here on the top floor but it'll be difficult to even get past the 12th floor since those are private areas and we need permission first. I highly doubt they'll let us go in though" Jeno heaves a loud sigh.
"well how do you expect to get to the 15th floor without getting caught?" Sungho questioned.
"we'll get there when we get there. for now just do as I say" Jeno clears his throat.
"getting more demands by the youngster again" Chul sighs loudly as he stands up.
"never knew this day would come" Daeshim laughed as he got up as well. Jeno stands up as well, grabbing the bag that sat on the table in front of him. he was about to leave until someone stops him.
"Jeno" Sungho called him out.
"yes?" he turned around to see everyone staring at him.
"here" Sungho pulls out cash from his pocket and hands it to him.
"thanks for buying us steamed buns, we didnt really think you would get them" Sungho showed off a smile. Jeno stood perfectly still, he didn't want to take the money since he wanted to buy them the steam buns just as a gift for them being so nice. Sungho walks forward and grabs his hand, he places the cash in his hands before closing his hand up.
"see ya dongsaeng" Taehwan chuckles as they walk past him. Jeno looked back at them surprised that he was called 'little brother'. although his first thought about each them was that they seemed annoying, he genuinely somehow ended up caring a lot about them.
———————
Jeno let out a loud yawn as he watching the cameras. it was currently two in morning and he really needed to check out Mr. Cha's bedroom and even his office. Jeno assumed that you had to be fully asleep along with Mrs. Hae as well. the only people who would be up is the two guards standing outside in the cold and the other two guards at the back of the house.
Jeno gets out of the leather chair and heads towards the door. he opens it quietly and peeks out around to see if anyone was in the house. once he cleared it off, he stepped out and closed the door. he went ahead and walked towards a hallway where it lead to different rooms. the first door he opened, it was just a guest bedroom. the second door he opened it was just filled with random things, the third one, had Mrs. Hae in it and the last door was finally the office. Jeno closed the door quietly as he could and started to his search right away.
he instantly went to his desk, opening the drawers and seeing what was in there. there were files but each of them were either just bills or pointless junk. he made his way to the book shelf too see if there happened to be anything hidden in there. he scrambled through the books by reading off the labels but he stops once he reads the title called 'photobook'. he pulls it out carefully trying to not damage anything. he held the book in his hand hesitating if he wanted to look at it. eventually, he caved in and opened it anyways.
the first photo happened to be a picture of Mr. Cha and Mrs. Cha smiling in front of ferris wheel. Jeno flips some pages which led to a picture of you being a new born. he flipped some more where it was now you, your mother and your father behind that ferris wheel with happy faces. he flips to the last picture where it was just you laughing. the date read off August 24th at 4:00. in the background he could see your father leaving with some sort of unhappy emotion.
"isnt august 24th when she died?" Jeno mumbled to himself. Jeno pulls out his phone and swipes left to get his camera opened. he placed the book on the brown-redish desk and took a clear picture of the photo. once he took the shot, he closed it up and put it back in the exact same spot it was in. he double checked once more around the room before heading out of there. his next mission was his bedroom. Jeno exhaled loudly as he approached the stairs.
"im so screwed if someone catches me" Jeno muttered.
he carefully made his way up the stairs being completely quiet. he started off by peeking through the first door which ended up just being a bathroom. he entered each room before getting to the last two. he already knew which was your room so it had only made sense that the door on the left was your fathers room. once he opened it, he noticed that someone was sleeping on the bed. he quickly pulled out a mini flashlight. he knew that Mr. Cha wasn't home so he quickly went into defensive mode. he approached the bed leaning forward to see the person's face.
all the tenses in body loosens when he realizes that its you. Jeno lended out hand to wake you up but instead he admires your face instead. Jeno shakes his head 'get back to what you're supposed to do' he told himself. he points the flashlight around the bedroom, trying his best not shine it where you were sleeping. he goes ahead and checks all the drawers, book shelves, the closet and even the bathroom. he also checks underneath the bed to see if there was anything 'hidden' there. he flashes the light once more around the room to double check he saw everything. once he was done with that quick glance, he quietly made his way towards the door to exit.
out of no where, his phone starts blaring off. Jeno frantically pulled out his phone to see that he was getting a call from Jaehoon. Jeno struggles to cancel the call due to him freaking out too much which eventually just makes you wake up instead.
"hello?" Jeno froze when he heard your voice.
"uhm...hello" Jeno spoke softly trying not scare you.
"Jeno? what are you doing here?" you asked seeing a little flash of light that was definitely from Jeno.
"uhm, I noticed you weren't in your room so I checked all of the other rooms and found you here. gave me a good panic" Jeno's phone rang again for the second time, Jeno flicks the bedroom lights on to see your half sleepy face getting out of the bed.
"sorry, I was just sleeping in here. I'm just missing both of my parents" a flush of sadness shows up on your face. Jeno stayed quiet for a few seconds, not sure on what to say next until he finally remembers something.
"do you like steamed buns?" you glanced up at him, he waits for your answer. you give him a small nod. a smile starts to form on Jeno's lips but before you could see it, he turns around quickly.
"follow me" he opens the door. you obeyed and followed him to wherever he was taking you. within a minute you were in the dinner table. Jeno tells you to stay still while he goes back to the security room to grab the buns. he comes out a few seconds later with a bag in his hand.
"I went to go get some for the guys at the HQ and I got you one too. as like a little thank you for making me food that one night" he takes it out of the bag to show you the food.
"thank you" your eyes lit and a huge smile was on your face.
"I haven't had this in such a long time" Jeno gulped at your reaction, he was feeling flustered like he did before.
"it's really nothing-"
"thank you!" you hugged him out of no where. Jeno took a step back, startled that you were hugging him. he glances down at you and couldn't help but make the biggest smile ever. he slowly raised his hands up to embrace you as well but before he could you stop hugging him.
"it's been a year since i've had these" you took a seat in one of the chairs.
"you're welcome, I should go back to-"
"no stay" you pat on the table where a seat was.
"I don't think-"
"just sit" you chuckled, he just gives you a nod and takes a seat in the chair next to you.
"have you played that game that's been recently popular?" you asked him.
"uhm no" he mutters.
"it's called among us, it can be really fun and quite upsetting if you take it too personal" you giggled.
"wanna play it with me?" you asked him, he looked at you with uncertain eyes. he looked around and then back at you unsure if he should do it or not.
"only for a little bit but then I have to go and work" Jeno says, another smile appears on your face.
"yes!" Jeno couldn't help but laugh at your random burst of energy.
"wow, this is the first time i've seen you laugh" you chuckled which immediately he tried to act casual.
"don't fake it, just show me your emotions. doesn't matter if its sad, mad or happy. you have nothing to fear" you tilted your head a little bit to side.
"let me download the game on your phone" you say, Jeno pulls out his phone where on the screen it says 10 missed calls and 67 messages from Jaehoon.
"seems like you're popular" you giggled as he signed into his phone. you asked if you could have permission to take his phone before downloading the game. he lets you have it and you go straight away to the app store. you searched the name of the game and pressed download. within minutes the home screen of the game was now shown.
"I don't know how to play..." Jeno looked at your screen and then his.
"I'll teach you" you say as you created a game. you told him to press online and told him to create a name for himself.
"what should my name be?" Jeno asked you.
"you want me to choose?" you stared at him while he nods. you typed in the name that you wanted to give him. you then told him to press the square that had the word code. you tell him the code which he types in.
"look that's you and that's me" you pointed it out on his screen.
"use this to move and at this corner it'll give you words like use or sabotage and even kill" you point out, Jeno takes all the information in from you. you press the private button to become a public server. people start to flood in within a few minutes. you pressed the start button when there was ten people.
"stay with me okay? I promise I won't leave you alone" Jeno glances at you the second you say those words. he wasnt sure what he was feeling but it felt like his head and gut was about to burst.
"we're crewmates, that's good. let's go do your task first" all he could do was just stare at the your pretty face. he continued to stare until you startle him by looking at him.
"are you ready?" you asked, Jeno cleared his throat and nodded. he looked at his screen and started to play.
the 'only a little bit' turned out to be three hours. Jeno enjoyed the game very much and so did you. you felt better since you had someone that you actually know to play with. you and Jeno has seen each others emotions other than sadness or coldness. you were able to see a different side of Jeno, he actually enjoyed playing games, he liked cats even though he's allergic, and he isn't such a hard ass. he happened to learn a lot about you as well, your likes, your dislikes, your taste in music.
"one more but then I really have to go back into the security room" Jeno chuckled. you started the game and now you both happened to become imposters together.
"let's do this partner" you and Jeno were overwhelmed by happiness. at this moment nothing can break it.
———————
It's been over a week and the relationship between you and Jeno is getting stronger. almost every night you two would play among us or even play a different game together. the end of night always happens to be the best part of both of your days.
"how come you've been looking more worn out this past week?" Taehwan asked as Jeno who was sitting down while yawning.
"I've been playing games with y/n at night" a smile randomly appears on his face.
"woah~ you're smiling" Chul surprised to see the gloomy serious youngster to actually be smiling.
"she's really getting in your head" Daeshim chuckles and pats Jeno's back.
"she is" Jeno admits.
"better keep this all secret" Sungho chuckles as well.
"oh by the way, we've got nothing. no files" Chul throws his hands up in the air.
"i've got nothing either" Jeno sighs loudly.
"let's not lose hope. I mean we already-"
"J4, J3, S1, T3, C2, D1" their heads face towards the voice that called them. there stood their leader Jaesuk with his hands on his hips.
"follow" he turns around and starts to walk away. the guys look at each other curiously and hurried over to follow him.
"are we in trouble?" Jeno whispered to Daeshim.
"I think we are" Jaehoon whispered from behind.
"we're about to find out" Sungho whispered as well. they all entered the leaders office.
"what the hell are you boys doing?" he asks as he crosses his arms.
"what do you mean sir?" Taehwan gulped.
"Daeshim breaks into a police station, Jaehoon and Sungho try to steal one of the HQ's computer, and you and Chul were looking through files all day the past two days. Jeno don't get me started on you" Jaesuk leans against his desk waiting for their answers.
"you two tried stealing a computer?" Jeno looked at Sungho and Jaehoon.
"I thought you said we needed to steal one" Jaehoon admits.
"I told you that we weren't supposed to do that" Sungho argues.
"hey those two decided to look at files with people in the room" Jaehoon pointed at Chul and Taehwan.
"at least we did not break into a police station!" Chul shoots looks at Daeshim.
"I was uhm- I really don't have anything to back me up" Daeshim awkwardly chuckles.
"what did Jeno do?" Jaehoon asked the leader who was just appalled by their actions.
"he's not watching y/n properly and instead they're playing games" Jaesuk sighs loudly.
"oh I thought you were about to say that he broke into-" Sungho instantly kicks Jaehoon.
"oh sorry its just reflexes" Sungho patted Jaehoon's back who was now crouching.
"now tell me what's going on with all of you or I'll have to report this to Chief Joo and he's not gonna be so happy about this" he has a stern and intimidating look on his face.
"uhm Jeno" Chul gives the 'mic' to Jeno. Jeno's now forced to tell him what they've been doing.
"we're trying to find the file of Mrs. Cha's death" Jeno tells him the answer.
"why?" Jaesuk asks, Jeno looks at his older 'brothers' for help but all they could do was avoid his eye contact.
"because I want to help find the person who killed her" Jeno says before looking at the ground.
"is there a reason why you want to find her killer?" Jaesuk asked another question. Jeno stayed silent.
"it's because it's what his lover wants!" Jaehoon blurts out, everyone had wide eyes.
"what does Jeno's lover have to deal with Mrs. Cha's death?" Jaesuk unfolded his arms.
"y/n's his lover!" Jaehoon blurts out again.
"yah Jaehoon!" Chul shouts, Daeshim whimpers, Taehwan heaves a loud sigh and Sungho just wants to cry.
"i'm sorry! look he's so scary, I can't lie to him!" Jaehoon shouts loudly as he hides behind Sungho.
"im scary?" he points to himself.
"we can say no if that makes you feel better" Daeshim spoke softly. Jeno just rubs his forehead feeling embarrassed.
"you and y/n are in love?" Jaesuk's attention goes back to Jeno.
"uhm..." is all Jeno could say.
"yes they love each other! so deeply in love!" Jaehoon shouts.
"you're not making this any better" Taehwan pushes him to the side.
"Jeno answer me truthfully" Jaesuk sternly says.
"I may have developed feelings for her" Jeno answers with slight hesitation.
"he's in love with her!" Jaehoon screams out.
"Jaehoon you little piece of-" Chul glares at him.
"sorry" Jaehoon just laughs.
"it's only been a month since you've been here and you're already falling in love. crazy" Jaesuk chuckles.
"you know she's only 17?" Jaesuk says, everyone gets shocked.
"she's only 17?!" the guys all shout.
"I thought she was Jeno's age?!" Daeshim surprised as hell by this sudden news.
"she is, im just joking" Jaesuk laughs, everyone sighs of relief.
"why are you all relived?" Jaesuk asked.
"Jeno says that him and her had beer one night while playing games" Taehwan points at Jeno.
"you're drinking while on work?" Jeno just sighs.
"you already know I've slacked off there's no reason why you should be surprised" Jeno says.
"well, I have to tell you guys that you have to stop or else you'll get in bigger trouble if you do understand? I can't lost my best men for doing something that they're not supposed to be doing" Jaesuk goes back to his serious tone.
"yes sir" they all looked down at the ground.
"so let's just pretend that I told you guys to actually stop alright?" Jaesuk says, Jeno glances up at him.
"as much as I think what you're doing is completely idiotic and will possibly risk your jobs. I will help. if you go down, I'll go down too. you are apart of my team and you will not do this alone without your leader" Jaesuk smiles, the boys looked at each other amazed.
"seriously?" Jeno asked, Jaesuk nodded.
"meet me here tomorrow night at 10, I'll have someone else cover your shift Jeno" Jaesuk explains, everyone nods.
"what will we do?" Jaehoon asks.
"something that even I don't dare to do" is all he says.
part 3 will be out soon!