LEE MARK FIC REC LIST

LEE MARK FIC REC LIST

s, smut | f, fluff | a, angst | suggestive is noted

give all these authors so much love please!!!! i had to include as much as possible!! supa long fic rec list ;) recommendation masterlist here

this is (not) easy *personal fav [ friends with benefits!mark x fem! reader ] s,f,a

sweet cream, cold brew [ nerd barista!mark x fem!reader ] s,f

raw. [ established relationship ] s

delphinium , part two [ virgin religious!mark x pagan reader ] s,f

the marriage and baby project [ fake dating au, roommate au ] s,f,a

sunday kind of love [ frat!mark x inexperienced/soft fem!reader ] s,f

flipside [ street racing au, strangers to lovers au ]

cherry flavored thoughts [ perv nerd!mark x popular fem!reader ] s

gorgeous [ college/football au ] s,f

follow through. [ bestfriends to lovers ft. haechan ] s

eyes on you. [ roommate's brother!mark x fem!reader ] s

watch me [ barista!mark x fem!reader, voyeurism ] s

pretty boy [ shy!mark x openminded/playful fem!reader ] s

surviving no nut november [ mark x fem! reader ft. haechan ] s

safety zone [ university au, best friends to lovers, roommates au ] f,a, suggestive

spider boy; 이민형 [ spiderman!mark x fem!reader, established relationship ] f, suggestive

closed doors. [brother's friend!mark x fem!reader, roommate au ] s

jealousy [ almost step-siblings au ] s,a

deal with it [ established relationship, argument au ] s

real talk [ line chef!mark x fuckgirl!reader ] s,f

on edge [ boyfriend's brother!mark x fem!reader, infedelity au ] s

play with me [ bestfriend!mark x fem! reader, car sex ] s,f

give me the greenlight [ street racing au, childhood friends to lovers ] s,f,a

nervously in love [ established relationship ] s,f

across the room *self promo hehe [ idol!mark x idol fem!reader ] s

roomie high [ stoner roommate!mark x fem!reader ] s

suck my kiss [mark x bandmate fem!reader ] s,f

may i be blunt? [stoner!mark x fem!reader ] s

the best man. [ stranger!mark x fem!reader, wedding au ] s

elevator pitch [ frat boy!mark x fem!reader ] f,a

craving you like the devil craves heaven [ priest!mark x succubus!reader ] s

kiss u right now [ best friend!mark x fem!reader ] s,f

this is new [ loss of virginity au ] s,f

rule breaker [ rockstar au, band au ] s

limit. [ gryffindor!mark x fem!reader ] s

mixtape moans. [ shy!mark x cheerleader!reader ] s

make me sin [ churchboy!mark x fem!reader, childhood friends au ] s,f,a

mark me in your heart [ drug dealer!mark x bartender!reader ] s,a

monetary value. [ rich kid!mark x rich kid!reader ] s,f,a

venomous

pairing: bodyguard!yuta x (f) reader

genre/warnings: crime!au, thriller, angst, graphic violence, mentions of drugs/drugging, character death, implied smut, implied misogynistic behavior, mentions of dv, one instance of attempted abuse, mc’s father is an asshole

summary: Born into the underworld, crime was all you’d known your entire life and was practically in your blood - murder, drugs, money, power, and everything in between. In spite of your father leading one of the two major gangs that dominated Asia, you managed to keep safe. But all that changes once the rival gang has bad blood to settle with your father, and suddenly a vendetta’s being pursued against you.

word count: 18.8k

a/n: part of the Game of Survival collab call by neo-shitty. feedback is appreciated!

Maybe you were paranoid. As heir to one of the most prosperous crime rings in the country you had grown familiar with the feeling, but you’d never get used to it.

You tried to chalk it up to the uneasiness of being present at yet another of your father’s parties, feeling like a weed amongst flowers, but you knew at the same time it was relieving to break away from your rather mundane lifestyle - condemned to your bedroom with a guard outside your door, in case the idea to wander around emerged within your mind yet again.

Feasting your eyes on the crowd was one of your favorite weekly, on some occasions biweekly, pastimes. Pretty people adorned in flashy attire that you were sometimes lucky to be able to engage in conversation with whenever your bodyguard pitied you enough to turn a blind eye to your activities. You usually dreaded no part of the evening save for the end, so you couldn’t fathom why you couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t right.

Until you noticed a frantic Nakamoto Yuta rushing towards you hardly twenty minutes later.

“Get up,” your bodyguard ordered, yanking you from the seat impatiently. You were forced to set down the drink you had requested to calm your nerves, following Yuta as he ushered you throughout the crowd.

Something was wrong. Very, very wrong. And you were dying to get to the bottom of it.

“What’s the matter?” you asked. “Is something wrong?”

“No time to explain,” he answered curtly. “Just follow me.”

Almost a dozen more questions remained at the tip of your tongue, yet you kept them anchored. Knowing Yuta, he was only trying to keep you safe. That was his priority. Everything else came second.

Yuta led you to an exit situated towards the rear side of the venue, more easily accessible than the front entrance. For a split second he checked his watch, eyes flashing with urgency. He wasted no time to pull at your arm and drag you along in the path of his body.

Though in your high heels and flowy dress, it was impossible to match his pace. You were stumbling and on the verge of twisting an ankle, nearly collapsing if it weren’t for his never-loosening grip on you. “Yuta!” you shrieked. “Slow down.”

Slowing down wasn’t an option. Not only would Yuta’s life be at stake if he neglected his job, but he’d never forgive himself if he let anything bad happen to you. Instead he settled for pausing for a moment to swoop you into his arms, not stopping when you squealed from the sudden change and dashing further into the distance.

Even as he ran, Yuta held you securely in his arms, holding you tightly with dedication smoldering in his irises. You could see it from the position you were in, staring into him adoringly. You knew that the situation likely wouldn’t feel half as intimate if you knew the details, but ignorance was truly bliss. You admired his auburn hair and stoic face up until he helped you into a vehicle, and you couldn’t help but notice your father’s chauffeur was already gone.

Fingertips pressed against the window, you stared outside the glass as he drove, your heart collapsing inside your chest as you saw panicked flocks of people running frantically out of the venue you had miraculously escaped.

You had dodged a bullet, but at what cost?

Waiting for you and Yuta in your room when you arrived back home at the headquarters was your father.

“Dad?” you said, tone laced with confusion. “What’s wrong?”

Your father only put a finger up to his lip and ushered for Yuta to shut the door before he glanced back at you blankly. It perturbed you; sent shivers down your spine as you wondered what in the hell could have been happening for everyone to be so unforthcoming.

“The Serpents put a hit out on me,” he finally said.

You shrieked, “What?”

He held his finger to his lips again. “They believe I’m responsible for the death of their former heiress, and now they have a vendetta against us. That means you’re in just as much danger as I am. I want you to remain here until things clear up - no more parties and no exiting this room without Nakamoto only. You are to trust no other guard. He’ll bring you all your meals and whatever other essentials you may need.”

It felt as though the room was spinning. You couldn’t believe the words coming from his mouth. The Empire and the Serpents had always loathed one another for as long as you could remember, connected by means of rivalry and battling for the throne - perpetual success and power. This was something drastically different. They were intent on seeking your family for immaterial issues: vengeance.

“Did you kill her?”

Your father seemed greatly affronted by your question. “Of course not! I have no connection to that woman. They say her cause of death was ruled to be food poisoning.”

You knew that. Her death was massive news in the underworld when you were little, rumors getting tossed back and forth between people with some being that the Empire was responsible, but none of them were plausible. Everyone only knew what the Serpents disclosed - the cause of death. However that was, give or take, two decades ago, and for the matter to resurface out of the blue was nothing short of questionable.

Merely attempting at wrapping your head around your newfound situation was making your brain short-circuit. If your father didn’t kill her, then there was no reason for any of this to be happening. In spite of the feud between both gangs, neither were small-minded enough to create bold-faced lies or threaten violence against one another. Neither were sloppy. That meant either of two things: they somehow made a mistake, or your father was lying.

You hated the thought of the latter.

You shook your head. “I don’t understand.”

“Get some rest,” he replied, dismissing your confusion. “The building is on lockdown; no one gets in or out without my say so. It’ll be okay. Goodnight.”

He slipped out of the room, and you were left alone with Yuta and your thoughts.

Yuta walked you to your bed and sat down beside you. “You okay?”

“I’m terrified,” your voice was barely above a whisper. After living your whole life in the underworld you thought that you had reached a point of numbness, desensitized to the harsh reality. Now that it was you and your father’s lives at stake however, you felt like you couldn’t breathe.

Every waking and unwaking moment was a dangerous one, you knew that. Your father was notorious; wanted by gangs, law enforcement, and all things alike. It never bothered you because you knew your people were unreachable to inferior groups, but the Serpents were on the same level as the Empire. They knew the game as thoroughly as your people did. They had just as much potential to win.

“Don’t worry,” Yuta cooed, stroking your back. “I won’t let anyone hurt you.”

You made a pitiful attempt at hiding your smile. You knew he was right. Yuta had given his all into protecting you for the past two years, never once neglecting his responsibilities. He took his job ever so seriously, and it was a relief to know that there was someone who valued your safety standing right outside your door at all times.

For a moment, you were comforted. Maybe everything would be okay.

But the following morning only maintained your worries that the Serpents were a force to be reckoned with.

Yuta showed you an image of a burnt down building. “This is, was the venue from yesterday. The Serpents burnt it down. That’s the reason I was rushing to get you out and back here. Your father commanded me to move with speed and efficiency.”

Your eyes widened. Last night you were two minutes away from being swallowed alive by flames. It suddenly clicked; why people were swarming outside the building. They were running for their lives.

“Was there a motive?”

“To scare you,” Yuta shrugged, finding the answer obvious. “Probably a warning. Makes the most sense. They’re giving your daddy the chance to turn himself in before they have to strike by force.”

It did make sense; you were no stranger to the method. That was just the dirty way crime worked. Ultimatums were never heavenly decisions. This one in particular was bring yourself into me, or die trying to escape.

Obtaining a member of an organized crime ring was no easy task, however. Your headquarters were hidden and security was intricately layered. There might have only been one guard at your door, but there were plenty scattered everywhere and only you, Yuta, and your father knew the passcode to your corridor. Not even the other inner circle members had access. Getting to you was mission impossible, they could have only imagined getting to your father. 

“That means that last night probably won’t be the last time something drastic happens,” you murmured. “I reckon they won’t offer many warnings, but they’re going to make their presence known. And they’re only going to get more and more dangerous each time.”

Yuta chuckled. “You know your shit.”

“That’s nothing. But being the daughter of a gang leader, I oughta know a thing or two about how these people operate.”

“You know about the Empire’s methods of operation, but what do you know about the Serpents?” Yuta asked, adding when you arched your eyebrow, “They’re similar, yeah, but still bound to be different as hell. The more you know about the Serpents, the more predictable they are.”

You mulled it over. “I know a little bit. Basic things.”

He looked ready, eyes telling you to shoot. “Run it to me, princess.”

Biting your lip, you collected your thoughts into sentences before you spoke.

“They’re a complex group, but they only have six inner circle members - the leader, his right-hand, the head of arms and drug dealing, the spy and tracker, the hacker, and the treasurer,” you started. “Their names are undisclosed as far as I know, but each member has an alias by the name of snakes chosen for different reasons and all with different meanings pertaining to their character.”

Yuta nodded along. “Do you know them?”

“I know the names, not sure about all of the meanings behind them,” you confessed. Some of them were self-explanatory, but others you couldn’t fathom why that specific snake was chosen as their identity.

Yuta urged you on and you continued, “The leader is called the King Cobra for obvious reasons. King cobras are the longest venomous snakes, so I assume his meaning has something to do with extensive power and control,” you explained. “The right-hand is called the Python. Allegedly because he has a suffocating presence, and pythons are non-venomous constricting snakes.”

“The spy and tracker is called the Viper. Viper’s are ambushers and rely on their ability to camouflage to attack their prey. It’s not that big of a jump to make that he’s deceitful and able to blend in with his surroundings or appear as a non-threat as their spy. After tracking down his target, he awaits the right moment to strike,” you gazed at Yuta to see if you had his attention, and to your pleasure he seemed nothing short of intrigued by your knowledge. Snooping around the headquarters and eavesdropping during parties was how you picked up on most of the information. Boredom egged you on to doing unimaginable things. You even snook a book about snakes from the library one time, just so that you could research the Serpents.

“The dealer is called the Black Mamba, the hacker is called the Boa, and the treasurer is called the Copperhead. I haven’t been able to reach a solid conclusion on them.”

Yuta nodded once more, impressed. As a guard you figured he’d probably picked up on some information too, the same way you did - from other henchmen - except he likely knew more from actual conversations. You relied on poking your nose where it didn’t belong.

“Good work,” he said, then joked, “and is that what sneaking out has taught you?”

You grinned. “Damn right.”

“It’s pretty good work. I mean that. But you should also know their operations as a whole,” Yuta said, and it made you wonder just how much he knew altogether. “Empire are infamous for their coercion methods and obtaining their desires through force and abuse of power. They’re bullets you see coming but can’t move quick enough to dodge. The Serpents on the other hand are sly motherfuckers. You’d never suspect their next move. Once you realize you’re trapped by them, you’re already staring down the barrel.”

That was unnerving. He was basically trying to teach you how to predict the unpredictable.

Yuta glanced at the clock on your nightstand. “Shit, I gotta go to this meeting. I’ll be back in two hours. You need anything before I go?”

You shook your head. “I’m good.”

“Alright. Behave,” Yuta chastised, making you giggle.

“What you gonna do if I don’t?” You asked, batting your lashes.

A fire flashed behind his eyes. He growled, “What did I tell you about tempting me, woman? I’ll see you later.”

Yuta left before you could attempt to spur him on further and you giggled. Your relationship with him was complicated - you wanted him, he wanted you, but being together was entirely forbidden. There was no label. You just pretended as if you weren’t in love.

You stood up and headed for your closet, preparing to change into something less vibrant than your strawberry pajamas. Love came second. Your life was on the line and you hardly had details about what was a life-threatening situation. You were on a mission to survive.

In spite of the meeting, some henchmen were still obligated to stick around the corridors. Growing up in the headquarters gave you an advantage though. Back when you were little, you learned how to crawl through vents.

The building structure hadn’t changed since you were born. Modernized, but every route still led to the exact same places they were originally planned to. Your childhood recklessness helped you engrave the paths into your memory, and thus you managed to turn up exactly where you wanted twenty-ish years later.

Outside your father’s office.

Last night you overheard Yuta on the phone. He must’ve thought you were asleep, otherwise you doubted he would have taken the call dead in your face, knowing how you were - too curious for your own good, fueled by the information you were sheltered from for decades. He mentioned your father would be discussing several things with the inner circle to decide how to best move forward. That was enough information for you to begin planning how you’d get there and a good starting point for figuring out exactly what the hell was going on.

Secrets being kept away from you was nothing new. You had dealt with that bullshit your entire life. But now you were being underly-informed about something that could potential end your life and that was the last straw. You refused to sit around and know nothing. 

The door was cracked ajar. You couldn’t see in, but you could hear and make out all the voices inside - your father’s, and Ten’s, the multifaceted asset to Empire’s inner circle who had no set position. He was considered an all-rounder.

You want the passports?

That was Ten’s voice. You furrowed your eyebrows. Passports? Was your father making an escape plan?

Yes, but we won’t be going anywhere. Just throwing them off course to buy us a little more time, your dad replied.

Shit, okay. I’ll talk to Renjun and get on it.

Hearing footsteps, you rushed to hide around the corner and hoped that Ten wouldn’t walk in that direction. To your fortune, he didn’t.

You blew out a sigh of relief. You had avoided being caught by Ten, but you were unsatisfied by your findings and the briefness of the conversation you’d managed to pick up on. The only way you could satisfy your hunger for information was if you went to Renjun’s office and resumed your eavesdropping from there. Eager and blinded by greed, you looked both ways and then made a run for it.

The lights were off and the door was shut when you got there, and not a sound came from inside the office. No shuffling noises or hushed mumbles. That only meant one thing - no one was there. Either Ten wasn’t meeting up with Renjun immediately or they were talking someplace else. If the latter was true, chances were you had already missed crucial information.

You sighed again and prepared to retreat to your room. At least you didn’t come up completely short of new details. You knew that your father was apparently attempting to fake a getaway, that much you could tell, but were the Serpents that gullible? And what exactly was he trying to buy time for? Did he have a plan? Nothing made sense anymore and it was stressing you out far beyond belief. It seemed like the more you knew, the less you figured out, and that was effectively defeating the purpose of your thirsty hunt.

You turned around and bumped straight into a chest. Looking up, you had a realization that made you wish the floor would swallow you whole.

It was Yuta’s.

His eyes widened and he stared at you, shooting bullets into your skin with his gaze alone. He whisper-yelled, “The hell are you doing here?”

Dammit, you swore under your breath. Your heart raced and you were starting to regret all of the prying that you’d done today. Yuta must’ve recently left his meeting. The room it was held in wasn’t far from where you were, although you thought that you’d have longer before it ended. It was possible that you simply lost track of time or that it ended early, but it wouldn’t be long before he put you under hyper-surveillance.

“What does it look like?” You grumbled. There was no point in lying to him. There was nothing convincing that you could tell him and even if there was, Yuta could see straight through you like you were glass.

“Curiosity killed the cat,” he warned.

You finished the quote. “But satisfaction brought it back.”

Yuta sighed and poked the inside of his cheek with his tongue. “Let’s go back to your room.”

You could tell there was more that he wanted to say, but arguing with you in the corridors when you were at extreme risk of getting caught was unwise. He settled for walking you back to your room, holding you close to his chest in spite of it being clear he wasn’t happy with you.

Halfway to your destination, you heard a woman shriek.

You pauses dead in your tracks, forcing Yuta to freeze with you. “What the…?”

“Go back to your room,” Yuta commanded.

Your response was physical. Face disbelieving as your brows furrowed and your eyes rounded. The shriek was terror-stricken, you knew the sound of fear when you heard it. It surrounded you ever since you could breathe. You needed to know what was going on, what was happening so close by yet felt almost worlds away.

“Go,” he said again, his cold, sharp eyes piercing into your skin. If you didn’t know him, you would have been scared. But as intimidating as he could seem from the outside, Yuta was mush in the interior. He just wanted to keep you safe. “And don’t even damn think about sneaking around.”

That time you obliged. You headed straight to your room and took no detours. You knew it was too risky and hoped that whatever happened wasn’t too dangerous. That Yuta would return in one piece and tell you what happened.

Thankfully, he did.

“So?” you said when he came back to your room roughly half an hour later.

“Maid found the corpse of a guard,” Yuta sighed as he sat beside you. “Not that sure yet, but the cause of death looked like it was an untreated venomous snakebite.”

“Not that sure?”

Yuta exhaled again. You wondered what he knew that made him seem so stressed. “The words ‘we are your shadow’ were painted onto the wall in his blood.”

Your blood ran cold. “The…”

“The Serpents killed him, yeah,” he grumbled.

The blood writing on the wall might have been laughable if it weren’t for the circumstances you were currently facing. Nothing was funny when you weren’t sure how much longer you would be breathing, or just how safe your surroundings really were. Their plan was to make you feel a false sense of security. Today was another warning. A message. They were close. Closer than you could have ever imagined. They were too deep inside and there was no escape.

You were beginning to think that flying out of the the city or even the country might have been your safest option. Even the place you considered home was dangerous. If a fatal incident happened only moments ago just down the hall, you were scared to wonder exactly how close the wrong people had ever been to you.

“They’re here,” you said in terror. “They’re inside the headquarters, and we don’t know where or who or when they’ll…,”

“Baby,” Yuta tried to interject, but to no avail.

“No! They’re deeper inside than we think they are and there’s only a matter of time until…,”

Yuta kissed you - deep and hard. Your body responded instantly, kissing him back and letting him guide you. You let him cup your face and your fingers thread through his locks, an unconscious part of you wanting to feel him as deeply as the limits would allow you too. Whenever he kissed you, his body easily won over yours. You were too weak for him. It took nothing for you to melt into his touch or the softness of his lips.

He pulled away some moments later and let you catch your breath. “Sorry baby, but I needed you to calm down. I know this shit’s scary, but you gotta be rational and think about what it means.”

“I don’t think I even wanna know what this shit means,” you whispered.

Yuta frowned. It broke his heart to see you this way. He wanted to take all your worries and fears away and lock them away. He hated seeing this slowly defeating even you, the most obstinate and iron-willed woman he knew. There was nothing he anticipated more than the moment that this chase would finally be coming to an end.

Suddenly the door opened and your father poked his head throughout the doorway. “Hurry up and pack, we’re leaving. Nakamoto, escort her out when she’s finished.”

He was gone as quickly as he came. You stared at Yuta lostly. Where were you going? And most importantly, would you be any safer from the Serpent’s there?

“You know it’s not safe to stay here. He’s making a run to more obscure territory,” Yuta stated as if he could read your mind. Sometimes, you felt like he could. “And before you ask - I don’t know if it’ll keep them away, but it’s not easy access. No one will be there but you, him, the inner circle, their personal bodyguards’, and me. So no one can get bought off.” 

That was almost comforting. Being around people you deemed trustworthy, instead of countless people who could have been standing in the middle of the road for all anyone knew, seemed like the most liberating and obvious option. Maybe it would keep you alive if even just a little longer. Maybe it would give your father’s unspoken plan the push it needed to finally get in motion before it was too late. You hated not knowing. You hated having to rely on a maybe, but that was all you had. The little sparks of hope inside you were what was giving you the energy to push forward. It was better than a definite no.

Yuta insisted on helping you pack everything you needed - Clothes, books, and a few other items. In under fifteen minutes you were snuck out the backsides of the perimeter, and ushered into one of the cars.

As the vehicle set into motion, the pads of your fingers pressed against the window and you gazed longingly out the glass. From the moment you were born, this was the sole place that you’d known to be home. Every night of your life had been spent under the same room and in between the same walls. Now you weren’t sure if it would ever feel like home to you again.

The ride was long and you knew none of the roads the vehicle turnt on. If anyone were to be following you, you were certain that they’d become lost from all the abrupt changes in direction that were made. You finally pulled up to a secluded house. It was isolated and lowkey, and appeared to be an ideal safe house.

Yuta helped you out of the vehicle and carried your belongings inside. From the front door to the room you’d claim as yours for the meantime, the house seemed well-kept. It was probably one of the various operating grounds for Empire henchmen.

“Alright, head up to your room. I have something to discuss with the boys,” your father said, dismissing you to your room.

You gaped in disbelief. There was no way he was shunning you to your room at a time like this. It was all that he’d ever done, but at least before you’d have a little roaming freedom - drowning yourself in books in the library or helping the maids tend to the gardens. From the business parties he’d throw weekly to even being allowed to eat in the dining hall instead of having your meals brought up to you. After the news about the Serpents broke out all that had changed, but you thought it was to keep you safe. Now that you were surrounded by confirmed non-threats however, you saw clearly that wasn’t the case.

You rebelled, “I want to stay.”

It would be a lie to say that you never had been rebellious. Your father was strict, but you were stubborn and never took no for an answer. The only thing was that you’d never defied him to his face. Fear constricted your chest but you were hell-bent on standing your ground. You were a grown woman, for fucks sake. A grown woman who had her whole life at stake.

Your father glared but kept calm. “Don’t be difficult, darling. Just do as you’re told.”

“Why? This is about me just as much as it is the rest of you!” you countered, glancing around for backup. You met Ten’s eyes, then Renjun’s, both filled to the brim with pity. Yet neither of them said anything and you felt stupid for thinking that they would. Who in their right mind would stand up to anyone as conceited as your father?

Only you. Only you were bold enough to go against his commands, but maybe that was because you didn’t yet know the extent of what he was willing to do to his own blood.

Before you could even blink, he grabbed his switchblade from his holster and hurled it in your direction. The blade narrowly missed you, but knowing that that was intentional made your stomach churn. He was trying to scare you - and it was working.

“Go to your motherfucking room,” he hissed. “And don’t make me tell you again.”

That time, you obliged him. With widened eyes, you hurried up the stairs, tears threatening to fall but you wouldn’t let them. Not until you were alone.

When the door was shut and your back was against it, you finally let out your first sob. You couldn’t believe what had just happened. It was so sudden. Your father had nearly injured you at very least. He was a skilled knife-thrower and always carried them on him, but you never had any reason to fear him up until now. Never in your twenty-something years had he ever attempted to physically harm you, yet now he had with the intention of scaring you into compliance.

You weren’t sure what scared you more; the fact that he could have easily harmed you if he wanted to, or that something so trivial urged him to behave this way. Maybe you were wrong. Maybe this was something bigger and you were the only one who didn’t see that - but if that were true, it only fortified your desire to know exactly what was being kept from you. And why.

Spotting your duffle bag on your bed, you got up and rummaged through it in search of one particular item. You found a small, rectangular box and opened it, clutching a silver necklace as soon as the box clamped open and placing it on.

It was your mother’s. She passed shortly after you were born, maybe some months later. You hardly knew her. You had no photographs of her and your father never mentioned her even when you used to beg for him to tell you about her, to the point where you eventually stopped asking. The necklace was the only memory you had of her.

Sometimes you wished she was still with you. Maybe life would be a little easier. Maybe you’d feel a little less alone. Now more than ever, you wished she was by your side. Maybe you’d have someone to guide you and tell you the answers to everything you didn’t know, to point you in the right direction. But most of all, you wanted her love and comfort. You wanted her to hold you and tell you that everything would be okay.

Maybe then, you’d believe it.

Suddenly a knock sounded from the door and you jolted in surprise. “Who is it?” you asked weakly.

“Your favorite,” Yuta sang from the other side of the door. For a second, you smiled. Yuta’s voice alone was soothing. “May I come in?”

“Go ahead.”

Yuta walked inside, shutting the door behind himself. He frowned at the sight of you, eyes red and cheeks tear-stained. You looked almost as small as you felt. There was nothing Yuta despised more than seeing you so overcome by your emotions - it made him bristle with anger, wishing there was something he could do to permanently remove your pain.

You fiddled with your necklace and once Yuta noticed it, he sighed sadly. “Oh, baby…,”

“I miss her,” you smiled through your tears. “I miss her and I never even knew her.”

That was all it took for Yuta to walk over and pull you into a hug. You sobbed into his shoulder and he rubbed your back, soothing you. Yuta was the only one that you had ever opened up to about your problems, and especially the ones regarding your mother. He knew how incomplete you felt without having a mother figure present in your life.

With Yuta, you felt bare and exposed. Stripped naked of your facades and down to your rawest, truest emotions. There was nothing you could hide from him, no mask you could put on because he could effortlessly see dead through you. He could read you like an open book, but never judged any line. That was why you had no issues with being vulnerable in front of him. He had seen you at your lowest moments and yet still Yuta embraced you nonetheless.

That was when you realized something. Yuta was more than just your bodyguard. He guarded your mind, soul, heart and body. He fought off the dragons of your mind with a sword. Without him you’d be nothing but a damsel in distress.

“Please don’t leave me,” you begged softly. Not like she did. “I need you.”

Yuta wiped the tears from your face. “I’ll never ever leave you, princess. You’ll always have me.”

All you could do was pray that that was true. As much as you hated to think about it, Yuta’s life was just as on the line as yours. He was an obstacle to the Serpents, and it went without a doubt that they would tear down anything in their course to get to your family. Knowing Yuta, he wouldn’t let anyone hurt you without getting through him first. He was willing to sacrifice himself if it meant you had a chance.

After a while you cooled down and decided to pull yourself together. You were still shaken up from what had happened, but refused to let it get in the way of what was important—predicting the Serpent’s next move. And Yuta was more than willing to help you.

“What did you say was written on the wall again?”

“‘We are your shadow’,” Yuta recalled gloomily. “The message’s obvious. They’re watching.”

No shit. The snake bite was the unneeded confirmation that the murder was their doing, but the message was what they were trying to convey. Four silly words had never unnerved you this awfully.

“Fucking hell,” you sighed. “Shadows follow you everywhere you go like footprints.”

Yuta made a face. “You think they know that we’re here?”

“I think that if they don’t know yet, then it likely won’t be long before they do.”

“That’s what I thought, but your dad isn’t intent on switching locations. He says we’re staying here until further notice,” he answered, and you furrowed your brows. Sometimes your father could be a little too vain to notice the flaws in his reasoning - and god forbid anyone pointed them out to his face - but you wanted to trust he wouldn’t do anything too out of line.

Now though, your trust in him was wavering.

After a moment of silence and internally debating if you should keep your knowledge to yourself, you began quietly, “I overheard my dad talking with Ten earlier. When I snuck out.”

Yuta shot you a curious look, urging you on with his face. “Mm-hm.”

“They brought up passports. Dad said that we wouldn’t be going anywhere, though. Throwing the Serpents off course and mentioning something about buying more time. I think he’s faking a getaway.”

Yuta reacted like he was completely unaware of that information, and there lied your ulterior motive in mentioning what you overheard. Yuta was updated on everything, almost as if he knew events before they occurred sometimes. He was knowledgeable and smart, and predicted certain circumstances like no other. For him to have absolutely no clue what your father was planning was somewhat alarming.

It was no surprise to hear that information was to be held strictly between the inner circle or high-ranking members as they were the center of power and influenced overall movement, but cohesion was still significant - especially between the most directly affected people. There needed to be a clear plan in case of sudden emergency. Worst of all, you couldn’t even be sure that the entire inner circle was aware. Only Ten, Renjun, and your father could be confirmed.

“Well, if he plans to act on that idea soon that would explain the lack of urgency,” Yuta murmured, “but there’s no telling. And what is he buying time for exactly?”

“That’s where I keep getting lost. I don’t know what the hell he’s trying to do and it’s scary,” you leaned back against your sheets and sighed.

Nothing was making sense. And you didn’t want to be five seconds from the click of a trigger by the time it finally did. You couldn’t even imagine what would happen to you or the people around you if you dug deeper, though.

It was like you were being cornered - by your father’s intimidation, by your reckless curiosity, by death - and given no choice but to succumb. There was no light at the end of the tunnel.

“Get some rest,” Yuta said after a while, noticing how the more the gears in your head ticked, the more it killed you. “We’ll talk again tomorrow. Promise me you’ll try to sleep.”

You nodded your head. “Okay,” you smiled and slid underneath the covers.

Yuta pressed a kiss to your forehead. “Goodnight, baby.”

Your heart fluttered. You wanted nothing more than for him to slip beside you and stay for the night, but you understood it was too risky, and his night didn’t quite end when yours did.

“Goodnight, Yuta,” you whispered.

He smiled. Then the lights flickered off, and you heard the door open and shut.

You didn’t sleep a wink.

It wasn’t like you didn’t want to keep your word to Yuta, but even after you said goodnight you still couldn’t power your brain off - electricity was always flowing, gears were always turning. There was something else troubling you. Yuta had said that you’d talk again tomorrow, but that was exactly what worried you. The Serpent’s warnings had been consecutive. The very first night, today, and tomorrow was a high possibility.

Who was to say that tomorrow would be any different? Who was to say that the Serpent’s had any mercy leftover? It was already well-established that the warnings would only become worse the more they were ignored, but what if the Empire had blown all chances at making things easy?

They had left the ball in the Empire’s court; now it was in theirs.

The tomorrow you had so terribly dreaded had become today. A knock from the bedroom door startled you, and you asked softly, “Who’s there?”

“Ten,” the voice said, then the door opened slightly and Ten peaked through the crack. “Hey. Your dad told me to let you know that we’re leaving for a little while. Nakamoto’s downstairs, he’s going to stay and watch over you.”

That suddenly made you feel cold. You were scared shitless of being alone, but you guessed you weren’t alone with Yuta around. Still, it didn’t help to think about a sudden ambush while everyone else was away. You were two to however fucking many people they’d send. You would be no match for them.

And more than anything, you needed Yuta safe.

Feigning indifference, you said coolly, “Alright.”

You had a feeling Ten could tell you were putting on a front, but he didn’t press the matter. There was nothing he could have done.

“And y/n?”

You murmured, “Yeah?”

“I’m sorry about yesterday. I know you’re probably shaken up about it. I didn’t think he’d act like that to you.”

You chuckled tonelessly. “Me neither.”

Ten flashed you a thin smile. There was more that he wanted to say and you could tell, but you also figured the second half of his message wasn’t supposed to happen. He was in a time crunch.

“Be safe,” you whispered before he could say anything else.

Ten nodded. “You as well.”

Then he disappeared.

Figuring you needed to de-stress, you opted for taking a long, hot shower. You hoped desperately that it would wash away all the apprehensions plaguing your mind in the meantime.

When you got out, you felt better. There was no doubt that you’d still need coffee to help with the fact that you’d pulled an all-nighter, but at least you felt refreshed and that was enough to help you carry on. Some moments after you finally collapsed back on your bed, you heard buzzing from your nightstand.

Your phone. It was provided in case of a crisis and if anyone needed to reach you, but that was why you were worried. If there was nothing wrong, why would they need to tell me something now? They never needed you.

Nonetheless, you picked up the phone, noticing the caller ID was Renjun’s. “Hello?”

“Where’s Nakamoto?”

You blinked in surprise. Maybe it was nothing. But doesn’t Yuta have his own phone? Then, you realized that you hadn’t heard from nor seen Yuta all morning. Usually he’d greet you after you’d woke up, check on you and stay with you. You had figured he was downstairs keeping guard, though now you were worried about him.

“Dunno, I haven’t seen him. I figured he was downstairs playing watchdog,” you answered, eyebrows furrowing. “Why?”

Renjun ignored your question and commanded, “Look in the closet and get the gun.”

“What?”

“Just do it,” he hissed.

Phone pressed to your ear, you stepped towards the closet and rummaged through in search of a firearm. You found it and swiftly checked to see if it was loaded. It was.

“Found it,” you announced.

“You remember how to use one, right?”

The realization that you would possibly have to use one alarmed you, but you confirmed in a little voice, “Y-yeah.” You were probably in your early teens when you learned how to use a gun. You might have been sheltered, but you knew the underworld in and out, and especially how to survive inside it.

That was what people had most often misunderstood about you. They doubted your knowledge and capabilities. They doubted you. You realized that even people you trusted didn’t believe in you. Inside, you knew a good chunk of it was because you were a woman in a man’s world, but you’d be damned if you let that mean you were any less capable.

“Good. Now lock the door,” Renjun said sternly.

“What? But what about Yuta?”

Renjun’s surroundings grew louder and you could suddenly hear all the action in the background, loud yelling and gunshots filling your ears. It sounded like a bloodbath was ongoing and you were scared half to death.

“Listen to me carefully because I don’t have that much time,” he began, voice colder than you’d ever heard it - and his tone was always icy. “Don’t trust Nakamoto. He’s not who he says he is.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” You asked in bitter confusion.

Renjun snarled, “Fucking listen to me. He’s the Vip—”

His sentence was abruptly interrupted and by the sound of his phone dropping to the ground and his screams, you knew it was because he had been attacked. Your blood ran cold.

Then, the door opened and you wasted no time to aim the gun in its direction.

There stood Yuta - and he didn’t even flinch when you pointed the gun at him.

“Yes, I am the Viper,” he announced, smiling as menacingly as he could. “What a shame Renjun ruined the surprise.”

“Step back,” you warned, trying to hold the gun as firmly as you could, but your hands were trembling. Yuta - the one you had trusted with your heart, mind, soul and body - was the same person trying to tear you down.

It took everything within you not to break down right then. You could feel your heart wrench, then shatter into pieces. How could he sit there watching and listening to you fear for your life knowing damn well he was the exact thing you were trying to escape?

“Oh, please. We both know damn well you can’t shoot me, baby,” Yuta scoffed.

You glared. “Shut up. You don’t know me.”

Yuta didn’t listen. He was on a mission to make you explode and knew exactly what buttons to press. “I do know you. I know that you could never ever shoot me. You love me too much. You would only be planting a bullet in your own heart.”

“You’re wrong!” you screamed.

“Do it, then, I fucking dare you!” Yuta yelled back, louder. He stepped closer, intentionally leaving himself open. “I said, shoot me. Pull the motherfucking trigger, baby.”

Your mind was chanting for you to do exactly as he was saying, but your heart was screaming for you to do the opposite. It should have been easy. You should have had the upper hand here. You had a loaded gun and he was unarmed. The only problem was that Yuta was right. You didn’t have it in you to shoot him because you loved him. Frankly, you were in love with him.

And that was your weakness. As deadly and venomous as he was, Yuta was your vice. You unloaded the gun and threw it to the floor, tears beginning to stream down your cheeks.

Yuta softened when he saw you cry, and pulled you into his chest. When you didn’t fight him, he began to stroke your back the way he knew comforted you. “There, there.”

“I don’t understand,” you whimpered sadly. “I trusted you.”

Yuta’s grip on you tightened. “Do you still trust me?”

You didn’t respond immediately. You of all people should have known the game, you had been studying it all your life, you had become it. Trust was nothing but a ruse and that was exactly what his job entailed - he comforted people into telling him their weakest points and used them to his advantage. And yet still, you knew that he was where you felt safe. “With my life.”

“Then, you know I’m not doing this to hurt you. I’m doing it to protect you,” Yuta cooed gently.

That didn’t make the situation any easier to process. Yuta belonged to the Serpents - the exact same organization that was out for your family’s life. Did that mean that everything you knew was a lie? Then, what was their reason in doing any of this?

You pulled away and questioned, “What’s your motive?”

He shrugged. “Same as you were told. Your father killed our former heiress.”

That meant your father lied.

“Then, you should still be trying to kill me. Not protect me.”

Yuta shook his head. “Like I said, I’ve been doing this to protect you. The target has always been your daddy. He just made the wise decision of assuming we would use you to get to him - or he didn’t want to risk you finding out the truth.”

For the first time, you were getting answers to your questions, and yet you still couldn’t fathom them. It was too much to process all at once and you had barely scraped the surface. But you still needed to know more. You still needed to wrap your head around the enigma.

Another question popped up in your head and you furrowed your brows. “But that doesn’t make sense. Why wouldn’t he want me to know? I’m grown. I’ve lived this life for twenty-two years. I know he kills people. That’s what our life revolves around, that’s what I’m supposed to become when it’s my turn – a coldhearted killer. What would make this any different?”

Yuta pursed his lips. The answer lied at the very tip of his tongue, but he knew this particular secret wasn’t his to tell. “Baby look, a lot of this shit isn’t my place to tell you.”

“What do you mean, not your place?” you blinked in confusion. “Who’s place is it, then?”

Just as Yuta’s lips parted to speak, you jolted when you heard the door creak and an unknown being emerged from the hallways. “It’s time.”

Never had you ever been so confused, and nothing had been making sense for the past three days straight. When you finally gazed back at Yuta for answers, he was eyeing you apologetically.

“Forgive me,” he said finally, and before you could attempt to decipher the situation, you felt a prick in your arm from the opposite side and the color swiftly began to fade from your world.

The last thing you saw was Yuta’s face hovering over you as he held your unconscious body in his arms.

When you finally awoke, your senses came rushing back to you and whiplash struck you deep.

Nothing but the nerve-racking ticking of a clock was audible. The skin surrounding your forearm stung and you felt as though a gigantic hole had ripped agape there. Your vision unblurred steadily and your eyes were met with a dull room.

Where am I, you wondered. It was no place you had ever been - and that was very little. Between your bedroom and the few places from outside that you were familiar with, this was a completely and utterly foreign setting.

Smoke. You smelled smoke.

You sat up and saw a man you didn’t recognize, sitting in a chair with a joint between his fingers and smoke rising from between his lips, thick, white clouds of vapor flowing into the air.

And that was the moment your situation dawned on you.

“You’re awake,” the stranger observed offhandedly.

You ignored his comment. “Who are you?”

It was one of them. You knew that. Out of the six however, there no was no clear indication of who he was specifically.

The stranger only chuckled and took another drag. You noticed his almost fascinated gaze as his eyes bore at the spark of the joint, fire the sole gleam in his dark irises.

“Take a good guess, I’m sure you wouldn’t know,” he said dryly.

Your brows furrowed together in deep thought. You doubted that he was any of the members you had reached solid conclusions on. That would have been the King Cobra or the Python but he didn’t strike you as the leader type, or the Viper, but that was Yuta - oh god, Yuta.

You wondered where he was, or how he could have done that to you. His words to you crawled back in your brain, Forgive me. A part of you knew he was truly sorry, you could see it in his eyes, but another part of you was hesitant in believing anyone or anything.

Then your eyes flickered back to the smoking man on the chair and something clicked. “The Black Mamba,” you murmured, more to yourself than anything. You heard rumors about how the Black Mamba was an arsonist and his favorite weapons were explosives. Allegedly, he even constructed a bomb on his own at the age of ten.

“Oh, save the formalities,” he groaned, feigning annoyance. “Call me Jaemin.”

That gave you a pinch of hope. You weren’t sure if it was just in his character, but you doubted that he’d give you as much as his government name if they planned to kill you.

But then, what exactly was their plan?

“I told you not to play your mind games on her, Jaemin,” reprimanded a familiar voice, and you turned towards the door to see the face of the love of your life.

You rose up. “Yuta!”

Yuta’s head snapped in your direction. He trudged over and pulled you into his embrace, but you grimaced when he dealt too roughly with your aching arm.

“Shit. Sorry about that, baby,” he murmured into your ear. “Snake protocol.”

You stayed like that for a while. There was too much going on. Even if everything you’d known was a lie, you wanted to be in the one place you felt safe for just a moment - Yuta’s arms.

Jaemin fake-coughed. “If you two lovebirds are done, Cobra just texted me and said he wants to meet her.” He added blankly, “Just wanna make sure that’s okay with you guys first.”

You realized three things in that moment - one, you had seen Jaemin before, he was the one with Yuta earlier. Two, he fucking thrived off sarcasm.

And three, you were going to meet The King Cobra.

Panickedly, you stared at Yuta, but he rushed to assure you it would be okay. “Relax, princess. He just wants to give you answers to all those little questions you have. Answers you deserve. You trust me, right?”

“I trust you,” you drawled, even though you knew that you shouldn’t have. Then, you pushed him in the chest and managed to barely shove him. “But I’m mad at you.”

Yuta chortled. “You can be mad at me as much as you want, but rules are rules and I don’t make them. You’ll have to take that up with the motherfucker who does. Let’s go meet him, ey?”

When you finally agreed to meet his boss, you slipped out of the bedroom that you could have only assumed was Jaemin’s and walked into the corridors. Everything about being within the foreign walls of the Serpents’ headquarters made you feel like an outsider, although it did make sense. Technically - as heiress to the rival gang - you were.

Yuta held you firm to his chest, allowing you to loosen up and feel secure in his embrace. It also made you feel untouchable. Wandering henchmen seemed nothing short of frightened by Yuta as he strutted down the halls like he owned the place (technically, he kind of did) with you clinging stubbornly to his side.

The room he brought you to was someone’s office, void of all the hundreds of people pacing down the corridors, yet still not quite empty. Inside, you noticed the presence of two men that you didn’t recognize. Yuta sat across the desk and urged you to do the same.

“Boss,” Yuta greeted the man you both sat directly across from.

Boss. That meant he could have only been one person.

“You brought her,” his boss observed, smiling at you gently. You were half-tempted to smile back. He seemed warm and welcoming, which was totally unexpected for a gang leader.

“Yes, I did. Babe, this is my boss. Or as you know him, the King Cobra,” Yuta introduced, and suddenly the pieces clicked into place.

The man waved. “Hey. I’m the leader, but I know you already know that. Yuta here tells me you’re extremely curious,” he teased. “By the way, you can call me Taeyong.”

You nodded. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

“And this is the Python, who, technically, is also my boss, since he outranks me,” said Yuta, gesturing towards the man who stood beside Taeyong. He was slightly taller and unlike Taeyong, had a grim aura. 

“Doyoung,” The Python said plainly. “Taeyong’s right hand.”

You nodded once more, feeling almost obligated to this time. The rumors were true; his presence was suffocating.

Taeyong clapped his hands together and suddenly turned remarkably stern. “Alright, now that we’re done with introductions, let’s talk about the real reason for bringing you here. I know you have lots of questions.”

Too many questions. You still wanted to know why you weren’t six feet under yet, or what would be their next move now that they had you under their belt. Were they going to use you to lure your father in? Then what? Would they dispose of you after you had done their bidding? 

There was an insatiable little cat roaming around in your brain, chasing dangerously after strings of information. Maybe curiosity did kill the cat, but as you’d told Yuta before, satisfaction brought it back.

And you weren’t going to stop until you were dead or satisfied.

He began, “First of all, you are by no means our target. Your father murdered my aunt nearly twenty-two years ago and in spite of his opposing claims, we have sufficient evidence. Witnesses on standby, accomplices forced into silence, proof of payment transactions made continuously throughout the decades to silence them. I made it my mission to stop at nothing to kill whoever was responsible, and two years ago on the twentieth anniversary, I finally determined who.”

There was almost nothing that you could say. You were in disbelief - not that he’d kill someone, but that he’d lie to you about something so normalized in your life. This had to be something deeper than you were being told.

“Why wait two years?”

“We had to plan meticulously,” he said plainly. “We had to get inside before we made a move, close enough to predict your father’s moves before he made them. That was why we decided to involve Yuta.”

Yuta nodded and added, “Two years ago, I was assigned to this mission. We were looking for an opportunity to infiltrate and get close to the inner circle, and just our luck, you needed a new bodyguard. It was also important for me to protect you. We couldn’t risk something happening to you.”

“Why not?” you pressed. You felt like a pawn to their game. “Is there something important about me?”

Silence fell over the room and you blinked in confusion. Everyone else in the room gazed towards Taeyong and you could only find yourself doing the same thing. He looked sullen, and you couldn’t even begin to fathom why.

You were starting to get annoyed. “Well?”

“There’s no easy way of saying this, but I won’t make it anyone else’s responsibility,” he said, wearing a sad smile. “That lady he killed wasn’t just our former heiress. She was your mother.”

You gaped. “What?”

Doyoung spoke up. “Think about it. Why else would he avoid admitting that he killed someone?”

You shook your head and sank into denial. There was no way. Your father had never been the best man and you knew that, but he wouldn’t kill the woman that birthed you. Would he?

“He threw a fucking knife at you,” Yuta reminded. “You think he wouldn’t snap hard enough to kill your mother?”

The memory flooded back in and you began having flashbacks, immersing yourself so deeply back in the moment that you could feel the fear that occupied you then. You remembered your eyes going wide, your chest heaving as you gaped in shock.

It happened so quickly. One moment, you thought that you were harmlessly persuading your father, the next, you heard a knife cutting through the air before you could even fathom what was happening.

“N-no, he—he wouldn’t,” you denied. You shut your eyes as if it would make everything go away, but there was no escape.

“He took her away from you.”

“Stop.”

Yuta didn’t listen. “All those painful years of longing were because of him. He shut you out from the world because he didn’t want to risk having to face you once you finally discovered the truth. Deny it all you want, but you know it’s fucking true. Everything adds up.”

“Yuta, that’s enough,” asserted Taeyong.

Yuta didn’t dare disobey. He softened up the moment he saw your fragile state - tears brimming your eyes as you were forced to face the truth head-on. It was a bitter pill to swallow, but he was right. Everything added up too well, from your father’s mysterious behavior to the exact time of which their heiress and your mother passed. It could have only meant one thing.

You finally received the answers you had long-craved, but they weren’t the ones you were expecting.

“I’m sorry,” Yuta apologized with a frown. “Come here.”

There was no hesitation when you crawled into him and began to sob into his chest. He cradled you gently, the same way he had when he found you crying in your room yesterday.

Life was cruel. You knew that better than anyone else. But now that you knew your own father was responsible for so much of the pain and rupture you had felt deep in your chest, you weren’t certain if you would ever catch a break.

As much as you had wanted to deny his actions, there quickly became a point where it was impossible. And you were no longer in denial. You were in a state of pure, scorching hot rage. All you could feel was anger. And an aching desire for revenge on behalf of your mother.

Taeyong called your name once you had calmed down. “I brought you here because I wanted to make you a deal,” he began, and your eyebrows quirked with interest. “You help us catch him and I’ll make sure you never have to be under the control of that sick son of a bitch ever again.”

It didn’t take any convincing at all. You were already certain of what you wanted to do when he asked you the question. “Sounds like a pl…,” you trailed off as you realized something. “Wait. You said that my mother was your aunt, right?”

He nodded and you gawked.

“That means you’re—”

“Yes. I’m your cousin. I was waiting for you to realize,” Taeyong chortled.

How fucking ironic. The two rival gangs were family. And you were too blinded by emotion to even realize. No wonder this meant so much to him.

On the other end, you were delighted. You were certain you had no real blood family past your father and life was lonely. Instead of the dread you had been feeling for the past few days, you couldn’t wait to end this once and for all and meet the endless opportunities that awaited you. A happy ending was in arms reach. 

Whatever you could do to clutch it sooner, you wanted to know. You would do almost anything.

You had lost all empathy for your father. No wonder he shunned you to your room all the time. He was hiding how truly ugly he was inside. “I’m game if you all are, but what’s the move? How do you plan on getting him?”

“Straight to business,” Taeyong teased. “Don’t worry. I’m sure he and his team have arrived back at that little hideout of yours and know you’re missing. He’s going to want you back and knows that to obtain you, he’s going to have to reach us. We’re going to arrange a meeting. He’ll be trapped in with nowhere to run.”

You squinted, skeptical. “My father’s somewhat rash when it comes to dealing with other people, but he knows that meeting you would be like handing his life to the palms of his killer. He would either not agree or plan an escape.”

“Yes, but we still have an advantage.”

“What advantage?”

Taeyong grinned wryly. “A special asset.”

His vague response puzzled you, but you slapped your hand over your face and began to rub your temple. “I need a nap.”

Yuta sighed blithely. “It has been a long day.”

“And the next ones are going to be even longer,” Taeyong said stoically. You were already beginning to take a liking to him. He was good-natured, but knew exactly when to be serious and could turn on a dime. “Yuta, you may take her to your room for the evening. We’ll regroup in the morning and establish how to proceed.”

Everyone bid one another goodnight and Yuta led you back to the residency corridor. You passed a couple of men on your way towards his room, although the clear restriction of access within the area and unafraid glances they casted your direction suggested that they weren’t henchmen. They were Serpents.

“Are you okay?” Yuta asked when you flopped down on his bed. He snuggled beside you like a puppy and you smiled softly.

“I’m a lot of things right now,” you whispered somberly. “Not sure if okay is one of them.”

Glancing around his room was oddly comforting. Although it was dull-toned, it felt vibrant and full of life – pictures of him, his family, and friends adorned his nightstand and posters decorated his wall. It felt like Yuta. Not the strong wall he put up whenever he worked, but the Yuta who was utterly unafraid to be vulnerable.

“Mm,” he hummed in response, arms wrapped around your waist and his lips leaning into your ear. “Is there any way I can cheer you up?”

You drawled, “I can think of one.”

“So can I,” Yuta leaned over your face, lips just barely avoiding yours. “Care to enlighten me?”

Every inch of your body was aflame with anticipation. You couldn’t help but stare at his lips, desperately wishing that he would stop teasing you and press them against yours.

“Yuta.”

“Hm?”

“Kiss me.”

Yuta grinned smugly then gave in, finally meeting your lips in a blissful kiss. Your hands reached for his long, auburn locks of hair, and you let his lips guide you to a brand new world, momentarily detaching yourself from reality.

And the night passed like that, with Yuta’s mouth on yours - and your body.

You strutted into the conference room brimming with energy. For the first time in what felt like ages, sleep came to you easy. One night with Yuta had relieved you of a week’s worth of stress.

That meant that you could focus on what was crucial, feeling nothing but passionate anger and determination. You were going to put an end to your decades of suffering - once and for all.

The table was nearly full when you and Yuta arrived. Taeyong took his rightful spot at the head of the table, Doyoung sat to his left, and a file box stole the spot on his right. The rest of the seats were occupied by Jaemin and faces you couldn’t put names to, but you recognized them as the pair you’d spotted in the halls yesterday.

You followed Yuta to the table, sandwiched directly between him and Jaemin.

“Are we late?” Yuta asked with a wry grin. 

“No, the rest of us are simply early,” Taeyong deadpanned, then began, “Good morning everyone. I’m sure that you have all taken notice of the fresh face at the table, and I’m aware that some of you are also fresh faces to her. For that reason, I would like to ask you both to each do short introductions. Please try to be as brief as possible, thank you.”

The inner circle members you were unfamiliar with each gave their name and aliases. The pink-haired man across from you was The Boa, and his name was Haechan. Beside him was The Copperhead, a Mark Lee. They deliberately didn’t disclose their roles, you were smart enough to figure that out. The hacker and the treasurer.

When they concluded, Taeyong continued, “With that out of the way, I would like to clarify our next move. Last night, your father accepted our offer to meet. The terms of the agreement were that if he turned himself in we would, in return, give you back unharmed, though obviously he knows we’ll blow his brains the second we get a chance, and your father doesn’t exactly strike me as the type willing to go out without a bang.”

Doyoung added, “In other words, as long as he’s aware that it’s a trap he’s going to devise a plan in order to escape, and we have to be prepared for whatever adversities that may possibly surface.”

Taeyong nodded, then asked, “Any word from The Sphinx, Haechan?”

“You were right-on about this guy not wanting to go out without a bang, Boss. Literally. I got off the phone with The Sphinx this morning and he says her father’s sending his goons in then blowing the whole damn place up,” Haechan chirped back quickly.

Jaemin grinned wickedly. “Sounds like fun.”

“Sounds like a suicide mission,” Mark corrected, scowling.

“Yeah, well, it’s not. Sphinx made it clear the man has one goal in mind, and that’s getting him and his daughter out alive,” Haechan said matter-of-factly. You barely caught his gaze, it lasted a total of half one single second.

Your face scrunched up in confusion. Who the hell is The Sphinx?

Doyoung mused, “How does he plan on escaping? Is he familiar with any alternative routes? It’s our territory we’re meeting on. He has to know we have eyes everywhere out there.”

“But everyone will be distracted attempting to survive. We’re not going to let ourselves die trying to kill him,” Mark said thoughtfully. “It’s his men versus ours — there’s gonna be a bloodbath.”

That sent a shiver down your spine. You weren’t sure if you were visibly agitated, but Yuta immediately began to soothe you and rub your back with his palm. Maybe he could simply feel it. You glanced at him and smiled.

“Then I hope you’re all ready to die,” Taeyong drawled. “Or at least unafraid to get your hands bloody. We leave at six - be prepared.”

By the time that six had rolled around, you were already standing inside the building. It was off the map, clearly abandoned and repurposed into criminal territory.

In the time that it took for everyone else to prepare, you were already armored up and ready to play the role of the frightened abducted daughter, but there was something troubling you - questions. What if everything didn’t go according to plan? Or what if your father somehow managed to escape in the end?

He wasn’t dumb, he knew that the best time to run off with you was when everyone would be too caught up in surviving. It was every man for themself - kill or be killed.

Yuta came up from behind and wrapped his arms around your waist. He nudged his chin on your shoulder. “Penny for your thoughts?”

“Just a little worried,” you admitted quietly. If he were anyone else you would have sucked it up, but Yuta had a way with effortlessly coaxing answers from you. That was what he did. “I don’t wanna go back. I’ve been more free in the past twenty-four hours than I have in the past twenty-two years of my life. I can’t go back.”

“And you won’t,” Yuta assured, cooing in your ear. “I’ll make sure of it, baby. We’ll catch him and you’ll never have to go back there again.”

You whispered, “Promise?”

Yuta whirled you around and pressed a chaste kiss to your lips. “I swear with my life.”

“I should blow both of your brain’s.”

Startled, you jolted and turned to see Doyoung staring - glaring at you both. If looks could kill, you would be six feet under. You clung to Yuta’s side who snook an arm around your waist. Doyoung had an aura that could make you regret doing as much as looking at him wrong.

“Gather around. Taeyong wants to give the plan,” Doyoung commanded icily. Then he turned around and walked towards the team even quicker than he had came and delivered the message.

He was a force to be reckoned with.

Taking notice of the look on your face, Yuta merely chuckled and kissed you one last time to soothe you. “Baby, don’t mind Doyoung. Most people are scared of him because he’s stern and ruthless on the job, but otherwise he’s a pretty decent guy. He likes the reactions, I’m convinced he gets off on that shit - just don’t give him one and he’ll warm up.”

In response, you nodded. Yuta gave you the exact reaffirmation that you needed to do this. Whatever reluctance you had left was drained the second you reminded yourself of all the terrible things your father had done to your family. You wanted him to pay. “Let’s go,” you said, gesturing towards the team. There was only one thing on your mind and that was vengeance.

Taeyong spoke when everyone finally gathered around the table, “Before Empire and their leader get here, I want to address exactly what the fuck is gonna happen. As we confirmed earlier, he’s blowing the place up. Jaemin is going to locate and defuse the bomb with the assistance of The Sphinx. Yuta, you stand with her by the back door and get her the fuck out of here the second anything goes wrong,” he said assertively. “And trust me, shit is gonna go wrong. Any objections?”

Jaemin raised his hand.

“Jaemin, if it’s some bullshit, I’ll kill you.”

He put his hand back down and you muffled a snicker.

Everyone got into place. You, Jaemin, and Yuta waited by the back door for immediate escape once it was time. Doyoung and Taeyong stood bravely behind the table. The rest of the team weren’t present - they waited outdoors ensuring the getaway cars were ready.

And The Sphinx. You had no idea who he was, but you were practically afraid to ask.

When the front doors opened, you sucked in an audibly deep breath. Two brawny men brought your father inside and kneeled him before the table, but his eyes were searching for you. When he found you, you could see anger in them.

Wishing you could hold Yuta’s hand, you sighed. It was too risk under the circumstances. Then, you remembered the necklace around your throat and held it for good luck. This is for you, Mom.

Taeyong greeted, “Hello, uncle.”

Your father scowled. “We are in no relation for you to call me that.”

“Really? Because I think you knew my aunt very well,” Taeyong furrowed his brows mockingly.

Although your father was clearly bristling with anger, he said nothing and decided to change the topic. “Give me back my daughter.”

“Why?” Taeyong tilted his head. He was playing a dangerous game, but he knew that he would be the winner. “So that you can neglect and abuse her like you did my aunt? You know what the rules were; you present yourself to us and we would return your daughter back home safely.”

“I did nothing to your aunt!” your father shouted and you nearly flinched.

“Oh, yeah? Doyoung, bring me the diary.”

Your father’s eyes widened, anger still present on his face, and you could tell the same question was playing in his head. What diary?

Doyoung handed Taeyong a book and he flipped hastily through the pages. “Hm, which one should I read…,” he pretended to muse. “Oh, this one looks interesting. ‘December 20th, 1999. Today, for the first time, I was scared for my life of the man I had never feared and who had vowed to never hurt me. I told him we were having a baby girl today. He threw a knife at me. It missed me just barely, but I was frightened to tears. I couldn’t even move until he began trudging towards me, and then I ran for my life and my baby girl’s. I knew he wanted a boy, but I never expected him to behave so hazardously.’ Remember that?”

As those words left his mouth, you could visualize every sentence. You had partially lived the experience. You clenched your fists - there was no more sadness in your body, only white-hot rage. The same behaviors he had held around your mother, he had begun to unleash onto you and you couldn’t even begin to imagine everything that she’d gone through.

“No,” your father answered through gritted teeth.

Liar. He was a lying piece of shit.

“Then, let me refresh your memory some more. This was the day that you murdered her…”

Your father interjected, “I murdered no one!”

“‘July 6th, 2000. He’s going to kill me. I know he is. There’s nothing I can do now besides pray that he takes care of our sweet baby girl and that someone finds this. I want her to read this and know exactly how much I love her. She’s the best thing that has ever happened to me. I pray she finds someone to love her as much as I do. I’m sorry, my love. I’m so sorry.’”

You burst into angry tears. You were mad and this was being too drawn out - someone needed to put a bullet through his head.

“Stop,” he said, looking at your teary eyes and knowing he had blown all chances of preserving your trust in him.

“No. Your daughter deserves to know what you’ve taken away from her. You’ve deceived her enough. Doyoung, the hard copy, please.”

Doyoung swiftly passed him what you could tell from a distance were printouts. Taeyong continued, “In my hand is a hard copy of payment transactions you’ve made that date back all the way to 2000, just around the time my aunt passed away, until roughly seven years ago when the trail went cold. Fifty-thousand dollars was withdrawn from your account every month over the course of fifteen years.”

Your dad glared. “Your point?”

“At first I thought maybe you resorted to killing them after they got uncooperative, or maybe you finally decided to get smart and pay them in cash,” Taeyong said, taking short strides as he paced back and forth behind the table. “Though with the help of my technology specialist I was able to determine the identities of the people you were sending money to - Shon Seungwan and Bae Joohyun. Do those names ring a bell?”

Your father said nothing, but you could see it all on his face. He was familiar with those names, and so were you.

“They were some of your maids until 2015 when they were replaced, and the database states that very same year as their date of death,” Taeyong smiled grimly. “Here’s my theory. Those women were witnesses or forced accomplices to the murder of my aunt and thus you bought their silence. But fifteen years later, something changed. You didn’t care that you were leaving a trail. No, you couldn’t give less of a damn. You cared about the money. It would have been more convenient for you to simply kill them than continue paying them, am I right?”

Your dad didn’t answer. Instead, he threatened, “My team will be here any moment now. They’ll kill you and your circle. Every single last one of you!”

Taeyong snickered. “Oh, you really have no idea.”

“What, about Nakamoto? Of course I know he’s a snake. I knew that the second your team ambushed us!”

Something overprotective washed over you when he mentioned Yuta, but you fought the urge to make any movements. If you did, you might have abruptly ended Taeyong’s verbal torture.

“Exactly. Can’t you see? We’re always a step ahead. We always have a plan. And this one,” Taeyong grabbed his gun off of the table, grinning to himself. “This one you’ll never see coming.”

“What does that mean?” Your father asked, angrily confused. He raised his voice, “What does that mean!”

Suddenly, the front doors burst open, and the person shouted, “Surprise!”

It was Ten.

The gears in your head started to turn and everything clicked into place. We are your shadow. It meant that they were following your father wherever he went - because they were always there. Yuta was The Viper.

And Ten was The Sphinx. 

Your father spluttered, “What’s going on?”

“Sometimes the things you try your hardest to find are hiding right in plain sight,” Ten sang with a wicked smile.

The sound of a loud, piercing gunshot from the hallways followed by several more directed the attention off of Ten, then all of a sudden the doors burst open and all hell broke loose.

Yuta gripped your arm quickly and urged you outside the door, “Let’s go.”

Jaemin and Ten left right behind you, but they turned on a different hall, most likely heading in what you could have only assumed was the direction of the bomb. Meanwhile, Yuta was trying to quickly yet carefully lead you out of the building. You didn’t just need to evacuate the building - you needed to be far away from it.

Yuta poked his head around the corner of the halls then quickly moved it back in and groaned, “Fuck, they’re everywhere. We’ll be outnumbered.”

Hearing footsteps, you tugged his arm and pulled him inside the room nearby. “In here.”

Quickly he closed the door behind himself and you pulled him away from it. It would have taken nothing for a bullet to fly through the wood and into his skin, and the last thing you needed was another dead loved one.

There was too much happening all at once and you wished someone would have put a bullet through your father’s head while they had a clear shot. As long as he was out there, he was going to look for you. And so was his team and the henchmen they’d brought along, and they’d stop at nothing at all to bring you back.

That meant if getting Yuta’s blood on their hands was what it took, they would do it. And that was too big a risk for you.

“God dammit,” you sighed, hearing bullets flying endlessly outside in the halls. “This is a fucking shoot-out and I know he’s got them covering all of the floors. How do we get out?”

“We have to use extreme caution. It’s not safe to camp around here for too long. Unless we wanna get blown up by that goddamn bomb or have the roof collapse in on us, inevitably we’ll have to go down floor by floor,” Yuta whispered. But you both were on the third floor.

You tried to think of any other options, but he was right. There were windows, but they were too high above the ground to jump from here. Not even a miracle could help you survive the fall.

You frowned. “You’re right. Let’s at least try to reach the second floor, then we can ease down to the first floor.”

Yuta agreed and drew his gun before he opened the door back up. You followed behind him, your own gun raised and making sure to keep a third eye on your surroundings behind you. A sudden ambush was always possible.

The floor was quieter than it was initially and the silence kept you on your toes. It was more frightening than the constant sounds of guns firing. At least when people were shooting you were aware of their presence - anyone could have been sneaking around and you’d have no clue if they were stealthy enough.

It became clear why the floor had grown silent the more you roamed around. There was blatant evidence of a bloodbath lying everywhere - an ungodly amount of bodies sprawled out on the floor and blood painting anything and everything it could reach. You grimaced when your eyes met a pile of corpses. This was the aftermath, and you hoped the team wasn’t involved.

Yuta winced. “This place is gonna reek.”

“They’re going to be cremated,” you mused.

Yuta snorted.

When you finally reached the second floor, you could hear the action a staircase away. There was still no sight of your father or his inner circle, a good thing, although you were still worried. You dreaded a surprise encounter.

One of your father’s henchmen aimed at Yuta before he could even come completely down the stairway. Rather than you having complete control over your body and actions, your next move felt almost instinctive - you had a clear shot and pulled the trigger without a second thought. You’d be damned if you let anyone take him away from you, especially dead in your face.

For a second Yuta seemed shocked, but it was gone in a blink and he sported a proud smile. He praised, “Atta girl.”

It didn’t terrify you that you felt no remorse. That was how deep your love for him went - you’d kill for him, over and over again. And in return, there was no doubt in your bones that he’d do the same for you.

That was your first body.

You knew exactly who you wanted to be your last.

“Yuta!”

You and Yuta both turned when you heard someone call his name. Ten quickly came into vision, gesturing with his hands for you to follow him as swiftly as possible. He led you both to a room and shut the door. There was something wrong. You could see it on his face.

Yuta raised his eyebrow. “What’s wrong? Did Jaemin defuse the bomb?”

“Shh, listen to me. He’s working on it, but that’s not why I called you,” Ten said, then went on to explain, “Taeyong got shot…,”

You interjected with wide eyes, “Taeyong got shot?”

Ten shushed you with a single finger to his lip. “If you’d let me finish, Taeyong got shot in the arm. He’s okay for now but he’s losing blood and Yuta, you’re the only one with medical training. You get what I’m trying to say?”

Yuta nodded, holding back a sigh. “Yeah, I got it. But I can’t leave her alone. I won’t.”

“She won’t be alone,” Ten assured. “She’ll be with me.”

Yuta looked at you hard, searching your eyes for any fear. In the same way, you stared deeply into his eyes and saw nothing but gentle care and passionate adoration. He placed both hands on your shoulders. “Are you okay with this?”

For a split second you considered telling him not to worry about you, but you knew that that wouldn’t have satisfied him. Instead, you nodded and said sweetly, “Ten’s here, I’ll be okay. Go help out your boss, Doc.”

Yuta smiled. You noted to yourself to interrogate him on his medical expertise, but now wasn’t the time nor the place. 

Before he left, you leaned up on the tip of your toes and pressed a chaste kiss to his lips. “For good luck.”

“Okay, yuck. I’m all for sappy romance but we’re all literally about to die,” Ten grimaced.

You rolled your eyes and sent Yuta off after a long moment of convincing him that you would be okay. He was painfully reluctant, but finally left after Ten gave him directions and promised he’d come back for you.

When he left, you stared dead at Ten, and he felt as though your eyes were accusingly pointing fingers at him.

For the sake of survival, you whisper-yelled, “Who the hell are you, Ten? Is that even your name?”

Ah, that’s what this is about, he thought.

Ten smirked. “It’s one of them. Why do you think they call me The Sphinx?”

You mulled his question over. The Sphinx, completely unrelated to snakes as far as you were aware. Head of human, body of a lion, wings of a falcon. Then it clicked. It represented his several identities.

“Shit, Ten,” you shook your head. “That’s fucking wild. I’m not even going to ask how the hell you managed to pull this shit off.”

“Good, because frankly we don’t have enough time for storytelling. Let’s get the fuck outta here,” he said, and with both of your guns cocked and raised you followed him into the halls.

Same as before, it was eerily silent. All you could hear from this floor was the sound of your heartbeat thudding against your chest. Faint sounds of gunshots came from lower and upper floors but they were too subdued to be anything less than distant.

Only this time, there were less bodies and you were growing suspicious. There was too many people and too much active gunfire for there to be such little leftover.

“Someone’s here,” you whispered to Ten.

Ten nodded in acknowledgment. It was clear on his face he had come to the same conclusion. He gestured with his finger for you to trail behind him onto a different hallway.

“How much longer until the bomb blows?”

“Forty minutes when Jaemin and I got to it. That was,” Ten checked his watch, “eleven minutes ago.”

You had twenty-nine minutes to get out of that building alive.

All of a sudden, you heard a gun fire and knew it wasn’t yours nor Ten’s - because the bullet landed right next to him. Ten turned around promptly and shot in the direction of the fire-er, gunning down one of two Empire henchmen. In a split second you pulled your trigger and the other crashed down to the floor consecutively.

“Fuck, they know,” Ten groaned. He thought for a moment he could get you out safely if they assumed he was still faithful to the gang, though there was no way in hell that they’d attempt to shoot him if that were the case.

“Words spread quickly, huh?”

“Too goddamn quickly.”

What came next happened even faster. The door behind Ten suddenly opened and a hand reached out to grab him by the collar, yanking him inside the room. He yelled and you heard his gun crash to the ground and go off consequently. Your eyes went wide and gun in hand, you rushed inside to rescue him. What you saw made you nauseous.

Not a body, at least not a dead one. It was your father - and he had Ten on his knees execution-style, a gun pointed to his head.

He smiled and mocked, “Surprise.”

“Put the gun down and step away from him,” you ordered, aiming your gun dead at your father. You stood boldly with no fear and spoke with no tremble in your voice. Cold and clipped. 

He quickly retaliated, “Try and shoot me and I’ll take him with me.”

In spite of your father’s threat, Ten remained composed and held a stoic face. It was what you admired most about him - his ability to cling towards a calm attitude when presented with difficult circumstances. But with his life practically being in your hands, you wondered if it was all a facade and if inside he consisted of all the same storms of emotions as you - and most prominent of them all was the roaring fear and dread of the outcome.

Yet the moment you realized that your father had probably come to terms with the fact that he wasn’t making it out alive and instead became intent on dragging everyone else to the grave with him, you immediately began to understand what your options were – and you weren’t going to back down. You had to get him distracted.

You lowered your gun. “Okay.”

Your father arched an eyebrow, as though he hadn’t expected you to comply - at least not easily. “Okay?”

“Okay,” you nodded meekly. “I’m picking my battles wisely. I’m your daughter, I know how powerful you are, Dad. You probably planned this perfectly and have more men waiting in the halls for backup. I don’t have any other choice.”

He chuckled. “Smart girl.”

“But to beg,” you added, ignoring how bitter your words tasted on your tongue. If you wanted Ten alive, you had no other options but to play the role that you were assigned. “Please don’t kill him, Daddy. It doesn’t have to be like this.”

“Darling, have you forgotten? He’s a snake. He’s dead to us now. That bullshit from earlier was a goddamn scheme to get you to do their dirty work for them - they kidnapped you, held you hostage, they lied straight to your face,” your father said.

You bristled inwardly, You’re no better. If it weren’t for the sake of your act you would have given him a piece of your mind, but you knew he would look for cracks in your facade. And you would offer him no such thing.

He continued, “They’re still not trustworthy. Yuta tricked you. Ten tricked you. They tricked both of us. This is about you just as much as it is me - you said that, right?”

Whatever ounce of sympathy that you could have felt for your father would have dissipated in that moment if you had anymore to spare. You knew that he was ego-driven, but using those words to attempt to manipulate you was an unimaginable kind of low.

Tears began to well from your eyes, but they weren’t the ones of sadness you figured he had perceived them to be - they were angry. They were furious and vengeful.

You sniffled and played along, “Yeah. I did. But you were right. I should have listened to you from the beginning.”

“It’s okay, dear,” he smiled, ever so menacingly. “All you got to do is come back home. I’ve already won. I’m going to teach them a lesson by letting them burn to ashes. They won’t…”

Just as he spoke, Ten interjected with his palms and reached above his head to point your father’s arms in another direction. Then, he skillfully snatched the weapon from his hands and disarmed it, leapt up and made a run for it.

By the time your father made a move to react, he was too late. Ten was agile and had already charged halfway across the large room. Meanwhile you had lined the gun up perfectly with his chest, ready to fire.

“Careful,” you warned tauntingly. “That ego of yours is gonna get you killed.”

For half a second, your father simply stared at you. Then, he burst into laughter as if you had cracked some joke. “Please. You don’t have it in you, and if you did, you would have done it by now. You can’t kill me.”

The doors burst open and your head whirled around instantly, and a figure emerged from the hallways. “But I can.”

Taeyong. The King Cobra.

He aimed his gun directly at your father’s head, face still and bold. “And I will.”

Taeyong’s non-dominant arm was wrapped with the fabric of what you could clearly tell was someone’s shirt, you figured to stop the blood loss. He was strong, you had to give him that. He was wounded by a bullet and still stood there as if he had nothing to lose. 

Jaemin came up from behind him, also armed. He sported a smile even more menacing than your father’s. “This is our game, Emperor. We win, you lose. That’s how this shit goes.”

Your father looked around and you could see it in his eyes as he realized there was not one, but three guns being pointed in his direction, that he began to accept defeat. He began to laugh, almost hysterically.

“Fine, you win. Kill me,” he grinned and raised his hands in a surrender. “But I also have a plan, and you’ll also never see it comi—”

The sound of several gunshots echoed throughout the room and made your ears feel as if they could bleed.

The nauseating sight of your father’s corpse laid only feet before you, and you didn’t need to turn around to know that it could have only been Taeyong that pulled the trigger. He stared coldly for a moment, gaze hard and unfaltering. Then, he turned around and headed out the doors.

“Damn,” Jaemin grinned. “Guess he really did go out with a bang.”

Your eyes were trained to the scene in front of you, but you could practically hear Ten roll his eyes as he said, “Not the time, Jaemin.”

Jaemin merely laughed and tailed behind Taeyong, mentioning something about the bomb being taken care of and that it was time to leave, but you were frozen in place. A foreign feeling had washed over you and you couldn’t identify what it was.

Ten walked to your side and patted your back. “Hey, he’s gone. He’s dead.” 

Dead. As in gone and he wasn’t coming back. That was when you could feel the invisible weight fly from your shoulders, the ease settle in your body, and you finally realized what that feeling was. It wasn’t shock, it wasn’t grief, it wasn’t pain nor sorrow - it was relief.

He couldn’t hurt you anymore.

You nodded. It was over. After twenty-two years, you were finally free. So was your mom. You began to clutch your necklace, but your eyebrows furrowed in confusion when you noticed that it wasn’t around your neck. Then, you looked around and noticed it wasn’t on the floor.

Ten gave you a confused look. “What’s wrong?”

“My necklace,” you fretted, “It’s not…,”

Ten raised his finger to his lip and glanced around the room concentratedly. You blinked in confusion but said nothing else.

“You hear that?” he asked.

Your lips parted to say no, but then you finally heard it - ticking. But there was no clock in the room and Ten’s watch made no noise. You watched as Ten crouched down to your father’s corpse and grabbed the switchblade from his holster. He walked towards the opposite end of the room and before you could ask what he was doing, he began to tear up the floorboard.

When he finally pulled away the plywood, you saw something red flickering in his widened eyes.

There was another bomb.

“Go,” Ten ordered, pulling out his phone and dialing a number. “Turn right, head down the hall and there’s a staircase. Run and don’t fucking stop until you’re in one of the cars.”

You wanted to hesitate, but the look Ten shot you then was commanding. You did as he said and began to run down the hallway, feet smashing against the floor nearly as fast as your heart raced inside your chest.

The last words of your father began to replay in your head like a mantra, But I also have a plan, and you’ll also never see it comi— then he was cut off by a gunshot. Realization dawned upon you quickly. He was talking about the bomb and you had completely missed it. That explained why he gave in the way that he did.

You began to wonder where everyone was. Mark and Haechan were safe in the car, but had Jaemin and Taeyong made it there safely? And where was Doyoung? Then you realized you hadn’t heard from Yuta since he left to help Taeyong.

But Taeyong was bandaged-up and with you only moments ago. That meant Yuta could have been anywhere.

Tears began to well from your eyes and emotion consumed your body. With no indication that he was even still inside you didn’t stop running, but you prayed that he would be waiting for you when you came outside. You prayed that he was somewhere safe. You had no idea what you would do with yourself if something happened to him.

You sprinted down the steps and at the end of the staircase was a door. Quickly you pulled it open and saw the cars come into vision, parked far away from the building to avoid being directly impacted. When you finally reached one, the back door slammed open and Taeyong urged you in the backseat.

“Where’s Yuta?” you asked, panic clear as day on your face. You scanned the entire vehicle, he wasn’t there. There was another car, but you couldn’t tell who all was inside. You raised your voice, “Has anyone seen Yuta!”

Taeyong replied calmly, “No. He’s still inside somewhere. We’re waiting for him, Doyoung and Ten.”

“What? We have to find him!” you cried.

“We don’t have time,” Taeyong told you, shaking his head. “That thing’s gonna blow any moment now and we have to get out of here ourselves:”

Jaemin put down his phone after ending a call you were too panicked to even notice he was on. “Yeah, it’s time. Sphinx just told us to go. We’ve got three minutes.”

“Where is he?” Taeyong asked.

“Escaped out the other end. Said he doesn’t have enough time to make it to the cars.”

Haechan rolled down the window and made a signal to Mark, who was in the driver’s seat of the opposite car. Then you felt the car jerk to life and began to move.

After you made distance on the road, you heard a loud sound roaring through the air. When you looked at the window, the sight made you nauseous. There was smoke rising heavily in the air and the building was engulfed in flames, beginning to collapse in on itself.

You were hysterical. Tears streamed down your cheeks and you wanted to scream, but no sound would come from your mouth. Your lungs began to feel hollow and your body shook with fear. There was no way that this was happening. It couldn’t be. Yuta couldn’t be dead. He promised you that he wouldn’t leave you.

Taeyong wrapped his good arm around you and pulled you into his chest, letting you sob onto him. “It’s gonna be okay.”

You knew he was only telling you that to placate you. It wasn’t okay. Nothing was going to be okay until you knew Yuta was safe and sound - until he was in your arms and you could feel his warmth on your body again. You were regretting separating from him. At least if he was going to die, then you wanted to go with him. And if he really was gone, you would go with him.

Death scared you not. If that was what it took to be with the love of your life, so be it.

The ride back to their headquarters was long and silent save for your sniffling. Taeyong had offered to take you back to Yuta’s room when you got there, but you vehemently refused. Everything in Yuta’s room screamed Yuta - you would have been too overwhelmed, and only God knew what would have happened to you then.

Hours passed. The Serpents managed to get in contact with Doyoung and Ten, but nothing from Yuta. And they hadn’t seen him, either.

Eventually Jaemin walked up to you, but with no humorous look in his eyes. That made your stomach wrench. You prayed to God he wasn’t there to deliver you any bad news.

“You’ve got to come lie down in my room,” he simply said, and before you could object he added, “Cobra’s orders. He wants you to get some rest.”

With a sigh, you followed Jaemin to his bedroom and eventually lied down. You stared awake for a while, doubtful you’d get even a minute of sleep considering the circumstances, but you were goddamn exhausted of everything and today had worn you out past your limit. Your body gave in against your will and you fell asleep shortly.

When you woke up, you quickly realized that you weren’t in Jaemin’s room - his blinds were drawn and curtains were thick and dark. The room you were in was lit with the morning sun.

Then, you tried to turn in the bed to shelter yourself from the sunlight but quickly noticed that  someone’s hands were around your waist and preventing you from moving. That was when you realized you weren’t alone and looked towards your side.

Auburn hair, intricate tattoos, and a jewelry-adorned ear.

You shrieked, “Yuta!”

He groaned and rolled over. He grumbled groggily, “It’s not Yuta, it’s a ghost.”

“That’s not funny!” you yelled and shoved him. Relief washed over you then as you recalled the previous day’s events. There were no words to describe how terrified you were.

With a yawn, Yuta finally sat up and outstretched his arms, and you immediately crashed into them. You almost thought that you were dreaming, but his touch was too warm to not be real. Then once you felt his skin and realized he was real and wasn’t going to slip away, you burst into tears.

“I thought I lost you,” you whimpered, holding him dangerously tight, and in return he did the same to you.

Yuta squeezed you hard and pressed a kiss to your forehead. He wiped your tears from your face with his thumb and said in his deepened morning voice, “I told you, I’ll never ever leave you. That’s a promise, baby.”

You let out a relieved breath. This was it. Everything was complete. You had everything that you could have ever wanted and you weren’t asking for much.

“How’d you even get out of there alive?”

“Strong will and determination,” Yuta drawled with a smile. “There was something I knew I had to do even if it killed me. I think this belongs to you.”

Yuta pulled open the drawer to his nightstand and reached to grab something, then he dropped it in your palm. You stared down into your hand and gawked when you realized what it was.

Your mother’s necklace.

He picked up the jewelry and began to place it around your neck. “Saw it when I came back after helping Taeyong and figured you must’ve dropped it by mistake. I knew how much it means to you and grabbed it. Ran into some of your dad’s goons and it slowed me down, but what matters is that I’m still alive to tell the story.”

He risked his life for your happiness. You wanted to be mad at him for doing such a foolish thing, but you just couldn’t. You knew exactly why he did it and you would have done the same thing for him if you were in his place.

Feeling your eyes water, you leaned into him and said like it would be your last time you were able to, “I love you.”

Yuta didn’t hesitate. “I love you, too.”

You bit your lip, sensing what you wanted to say wasn’t entirely conveyed. Then, you added, “That’s not all. I’m in love with you and I’m sick and tired of having to hide it. I wanna hold your hand wherever we go and kiss you whenever I feel like it. I wanna fall asleep in the same bed as you every night and wake up by your side every morning. I don’t wanna hide us anymore. I don’t wanna be a secret anymore, Yuta.”

“Look at me,” Yuta said, meeting your eyes. He stared at you like you hung up every star in the sky. “You’re not a secret, baby. Not here. Why do you think the guys don’t say anything? I made it clear a long time ago that I won’t take any bullshit because I’m in fucking love with you, baby. I wanna scream it from the rooftops. You’re the love of my life and I don’t care who knows.” 

That was everything you needed to hear and more. Starting today your life was going to change - and for the better. There were no more rules. You got to play the game the way your heart had simply desired.

“I want you…,” Yuta began and licked his lips. He paused to pin you down to the mattress and press a teasing kiss to your lips. “To be mine.”

You stared at his lips and replied, “Then I’m all yours.”

Yuta casted a smug look and finally - after what felt like decades of teasing - gave in to his temptation and kissed you. His mouth moved passionately against yours and you could taste the fervor on his tongue. Just like that he had you, like a fish caught in a net. The control Yuta had over you wasn’t by choice - your body simply just couldn’t say no, it was responsive to his every touch and unable to resist it’s own temptation.

One thing led to another, and you quickly realized it would be a long while before you and Yuta finally started your day. 

Hours later, you both were eventually forced to crawl out of bed and brace yourself for the day ahead. You had business to complete - business that didn’t involve each other. Plenty of change had occurred in the past couple of days and you were still in the stage of figuring out what was the next step. That was how you found yourself back in your cousin’s office, this time with Ten by your side and Renjun on speakerphone.

Alliance between Empire and The Serpents was still brewing and a work in progress, but Ten had explained the situation to the inner circle and thankfully, they took it well. Now you had to figure out what was to become of the gang.

“So, what happens to the gang?” you asked.

Taeyong leaned back in his chair. “Well, since you’re the sole heir, you would be next in the line of succession.”

You were aware, but you weren’t sure if you were ready for such a major leap. The underworld was your playground but you weren’t prepared to reign - not yet anyways. Freedom had only now been bestowed upon you. You wanted to enjoy it before you were bound down by responsibilities and your blood obligations.

Ten added, “But considering the circumstances, we understand if you’re not ready. Hence why I spoke with Renjun, and he’s agreed to be your second string. At least until you decide that you’re ready.”

“It’s the best option,” Renjun cut in from the other line. “I’ve been in your father’s shadow for years now. I know the score. If there’s anybody suitable to play substitute, it’s me.”

With Renjun being the right-hand man, you couldn’t deny anything he was saying. Not only had he seen most of your father’s dirty work up close, you were certain he had participated in some of it. But even Renjun was clueless as to everything your father had been hiding and that was why you trusted him to fulfill the role.

Taeyong nodded in agreement then glanced up at you and asked, “Are you okay with that?”

“Fine by me,” you shrugged. You couldn’t think of anyone better.

“Then, it’s settled,” Taeyong gave a faint smile. “Huang will temporarily take your place while you wind down for a bit.”

The four of you discussed a couple more things before the conversation ended and Renjun went on to spread the word. Everything was finally sailing smoothly, but a sudden question resurfaced in your head.

“Okay, but I have a question for Ten.”

The man in question feigned annoyance. “Oh, here goes the meddling snoop. Don’t think Yuta didn’t tell me about your eavesdropping, Miss Busybody.”

Your face warmed up when you realized what he was referring to, but you didn’t back down and shot, “How are you a Serpent? I thought you guys only had six members. And your name has nothing to do with snakes.”

“I thought you pieced together why they call me The Sphinx,” Ten said with a grin. “Head of human, body of a lion…,”

“Wings of a falcon, yes I know that, Ten,” you interjected and rolled your eyes.

He continued, “Then, you should know it means I’m multifaceted. In every sense of the word.”

“So, you’re a two-timing snake with commitment issues.”

“He blows hot and cold. This is the longest I’ve been able to get him to stay,” Taeyong drawled with an amused expression on his face.

Ten rolled his eyes. “I’m my own person before I’m tied down to any organization. I operate on my own. I can operate with a gang. Taeyong knows that if he needs me, he can call. Same goes to you.”

You and Taeyong bobbed your heads. You were almost satisfied. And when you left the room a couple minutes later, you knew that there was just one more thing that you needed to do.

You found Yuta in his own office just down the hall from where you were and made a mental note to get him to show you around whenever he got the chance. The headquarters were large and you only barely knew how to get from the residency corridor to the office hallway.

Peaking your head inside, you noticed him look at you when the door creaked open. He smiled when he realized it was you and gestured for you to come in. Instead of taking a seat in the spot across from his desk, you walked up to him and made his lap your personal chair, and he wrapped his arms around your waist.

He brushed your hair aside, leaning in your ear and asked, “May I help you?”

Your heart felt faint but you tried not to show it, though you knew that there was nothing you could keep from him. “Yes, actually,” you replied and added vaguely, “I want you to do something for me.”

“I would die for you,” Yuta breathed out. He was staring at you with a fascinated gleam in his eyes, the one that made you feel like a goddess.

You shook your head and purred, “Live for me.”

Yuta smiled. His grip around your waist tightened ever so slightly and he replied finally, “I can do that. But I know that’s not what you came here for. What do you really want, princess?”

“I want…,” you pretended to muse, looking up in the sky thoughtfully, “you to take me out on a date.”

“Right now?”

“Right now. I don’t care where. It doesn’t have to be fancy. We can go any goddamn where.”

Yuta was surprised and blinked for a moment, but he quickly broke into a broad smile. “I can do that, too,” he said and rummaged through his drawer for his keys. Then, he put you on the ground and rose up. “Let’s blow this joint, baby girl.”

He intertwined his fingers into yours and walked you into the hallway.

“On the way there, you can finally tell me the story of how Nakamoto Yuta of all people got extensive medical training,” you playfully suggested.

Yuta shook his head. “I don’t think so. It’s a long story that involves politicians and Dubai and you’re gonna wanna sit down for it.”

Confused and dangerously intrigued, you raised an eyebrow but didn’t press. Yuta would tell you in due time. Right now, you focused on what was happening. The love of your life was holding your hand and taking you out on a date, something you could have only dreamed of. You were living a life of no rules, no conformity. Just you and the man that you loved most.

Your free hand clutched your necklace in your palm and you thought about your mother. She was watching you and always there with you in spirit. You remembered her last wishes - she wanted you to find someone that loved you just as much as she did.

I did, Mom. I did, you thought, smiling. And you would have loved him, too.

karma - part five

series masterlist // previous // next

charles_leclerc and natalia_leclerc posted new stories

je vous aimerai pour toujours (i'll love you forever)

"bébé, tu es l'amour de ma vie" (baby, you are the love of my life)

siempre te amare (i'll always love you)

tehe, that's my husband 🥰

hey siri, play slut! (taylor's version)

charles_leclerc posted new stories

how did i get so lucky?

😘😍

liked by gracieabrams, sukiwaterhouse, kellypiquet and others

natalia_leclerc no words to describe what it has meant to me to go on this journey with people i love. daisyjonesandthesix has been the greatest, most fulfilling gift. it’s surreal that it has come to an end, but i have made friends for life, and memories that will bring a smile to my face forever. i could’ve never anticipated exactly how much love this show would get and how my life would change. it has just exceeded all of our dreams. i’m so proud of how far we’ve come. congratulations to all of the winners and nominees 💙 thank you televisionacad for this recognition. oh baby, look at us now 🎶

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user1 charles leclerc, you lucky son of a gun

user2 so cunty of her to be wearing red to the emmys. she owns that color.

landonorris DID YOU MEET TAYLOR SWIFT??

natalia_leclerc maybe. maybe not? charles_leclerc she almost cried. natalia_leclerc traitor landonorris and? i would too, she isn't special.

user3 can charles fight??

user4 red bull may be falling apart but charles will still simp over his wife.

sukiwaterhouse oh baby you looked gorgeous 😘

natalia_leclerc it was all you corazon charles_leclerc please stop flirting with my wife. sukiwaterhouse never you french man. charles_leclerc MONÉGASQUE!! I'M MONÉGASQUE!! sukiwaterhouse french adjacent 🤷🏼‍♀️

francesca.cgomes what a beautiful girl 💙

natalia_leclerc aww baby 💙 user5 praying for my man charles. everyone loves his wife.

user6 you're telling me lightning mcqueen pulled her?? how??

alex_albon believe me, we've been asking ourselves that same question since 2018. landonorris it's a miracle really pierregasly she is the sally to his mcqueen natalia_leclerc and pierre is the mater to his mcqueen

kellypiquet you look amazing red is definitely your color 💙

natalia_leclerc thank you kelly!

max verstappen so does anyone know who our new team principal is going to be??

charles leclerc i'm still trying to wrap my head around daniel not driving this season. sebastian vettel i haven't been told anything yet. natalia leclerc as if they're going to tell me. i only know everything because charles tells me everything.

max verstappen i was hoping someone would know something. i think the anticipation will slowly kill me.

charles leclerc good, then i can become champion. sebastian vettel not that he needs you to be dead to beat you.

max verstappen i guess we'll see won't we?

charles leclerc we will, won't we? natalia leclerc men 🙄

sebastian vettel i think if we don't know anything it's because they haven't found a replacement.

max verstappen then that's stupid, why are they going to announce it when they haven't found someone to replace him?

natalia leclerc because even now we can't get away from spanish papers. someone leaked this shit.

sebastian vettel i have a crazy idea.

charles leclerc how crazy are we talking here?

sebastian vettel i'll be back in like 40 minutes.

max verstappen way to leave us hanging seb

40 minutes later

sebastian vettel i don't know how successful i was but i think they'll think about it.

natalia leclerc seb, what did you do?

sebastian vettel hopefully something worthy of younger seb's chaos.

max verstappen we're fucked

charles leclerc don't be mean. as long as it's not another multi-21 we'll be fine.

sebastian vettel oh my god. let it go. charles leclerc as long as people still hold the inchident against me. i will hold multi-21 against you.

natalia leclerc i don't know why anyone thinks you three are serious people. you're all children.

max verstappen says the woman who's been thiristing over her husband on social media.

"how long did it take you to convince him?" natalia asked. sebastian huffed, "i almost got down on my knees to beg."

"it would not have come to that," kimi replied.

sebastian rolled his eyes, "he was enjoying it. i had to ask his wife to help me convince him. they gave me a deadline to get him on board."

"was there any other option?" max questioned.

"jenson," seb answered at the same time kimi said, "mark."

charles laughed, "oh, would it not have been great to see seb and mark on the same team again?"

"they would've killed each other," max realized.

"no, we wouldn't," sebastian argued. natalia gave him a shit-eating grin, "you still have to see him at the paddock, like every week. he's oscar's manager."

"the mini-me?" kimi quizzed, looking up from his ice cream, because nothing would stop him from enjoying ice cream. everyone at the table looked at him confused, kimi shrugged, "i read what people say. sometimes."

the conversation was stopped by kelly's arrival, "sorry, i'm late. daniil was running late and- nevermind. did you order yet?"

max shook his head, "just kimi, said he needed his ice cream."

"it's very good," kimi replied, "but i don't share."

sebastian huffed again, "i made a huge mistake."

"too late."

taglist: @janeholt3 @vroomvroommuppett @charlesgirl16 @someoneintheworld @iconicbookstore @evans-dejong @minmira95 @leanneg97 @asparklysoul @d3kstar @lollie0024 @magical-spit @gemnetjournal @rockyhayzkid @weekendlusting @ironspdy @namgification @moonyzsworld @Fall-bambi @emilyval1 @lorenakaspersen @spilled-coffee-cup @butterfly-lover @blushmimi @mgmoore @lovely-blackinnon @six-call @bingewatche @vroomvroom95 @lesliiieeeee @itscrzy @alymeddar @fletchingarcher @casperlikej @minmira95

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¡leclerc-s speaks! hope i didn't let anyone down with the kimi reveal, which due to popular demand, i just had to go with him. trust when i say i would've gone with seb if i didn't already have plans for him. listen, i love ollie, he is a baby, and i just had to include him somehow. so i took creative liberties. realistically this couldn't happen but oh well, poaching him and arthur was definitely seb's idea. also, please don't hate me for the daniel thing but liam lawson deserves an f1 seat and he's getting one in this story. at least i didn't get rid of him completely.

¡disclaimer! this is in no way making assumptions about the people involved in this story, this is all fake. it is a fanfiction please don't take any of what is said seriously. this is all for entertainment purposes and as a creative outlet for me. enjoy!

ex marks the spot

pairing: ex!mark x (f) reader

genre/warnings: smut, a pinch of angst, mystery, exes to lovers, (mentions of) characters death, graphic descriptions of violence and murder, alcohol consumption, unprotected sex, oral (m/f)

summary: Two months ago, you and Mark called it quits and haven’t spoken to each other since. As per tradition, your respective friend groups gather each Christmas eve to keep the peace, but this year somebody has a different plan. And the new chick on Mark’s arm isn’t the worst thing to happen.

wc: 19.9k

author’s note: (this is a repost!) nothing like a christmas mystery lol. partly inspired by honey lavender by ieuan. as always, feedback is appreciated!

Distractions, you chanted to yourself, desperate to think about literally anything other than your many problems. 

A tall window overlooked the entire city, as far as you were concerned. Nightfall had taken over and the bustling streets were caked in thick clunks of snow. Pressing your fingertips against the glass, you could feel relentless winter. 

None of it did anything to soothe the white hot envy scorching its way down your throat. Across the room, there was a blonde girl on Mark’s arm, snuggling against his chest and sucking up all of his warmth. 

That should’ve been you, but you would never admit to yourself (or anyone) that you were jealous of her. You had way too much pride for a silly thing like that. Of course, Mark had never brought a girl to one of these events before, and you had an inkling it was solely to make you jealous. You couldn’t let him win. 

“This is my friend Jodie,” Mark had introduced the girl hanging on his every word like a lovestruck teenager, but noting how close they kept to each other amongst many other things, it was safe to assume they were more than friends. 

Less than lovers, probably, but undeniably more than friends. 

Johnny, the man of the hour, came floating your way with the grace of a butterfly and said, “Damn. You could just tell me if you’re hating the party.”

Your eyes flickered. “What?”

“You’re mad. It’s written all over your body language.” Then, he craned his head and whispered in your ear, “Have a drink and relax a little. Don’t let him know he’s getting to you.”

“He’s not getting to me,” you grumbled under your breath, but you knew that it was an obvious lie. 

“If he’s not, then Jodie sure is. That’s what he wants. The whole reason he’s sucking her face off by the hearth is because he wants you to see.”

You knew that. Mark always wanted to be seen, to be acknowledged. His whole life was based on making people look at him, to which you were no exception. Your relationship consisted of him doing anything and everything necessary to grab your attention, but in all honesty, it didn’t take a whole lot. 

You could never keep your eyes off Mark and he knew it. Wherever he went, he was the most radiant person in the room. He was a Leo to his fucking core.

Getting back in character, you straightened up your stance and threw Johnny a beaming smile. “It’s a wonderful party.”

Johnny grinned. “There she goes,” he said in his regular speaking voice, pleased at your new demeanor. 

He was the master of all things body language and human psychology. He had been friends with you long enough to be confident that you’d never want your ex thinking for a second that he had one up on you. At least you knew somebody would always have your back. With Mark and his friends, you couldn’t help but watch it. 

“Thanks,” you replied quietly, grateful he’d come get you together. And quickly at that. 

“You’re my friend.”

“Mark’s your friend.”

“Yeah, but Mark’s a dickhead.”

You snickered. “Amen to that.”

Johnny was the middleman between you and Mark’s individual friend groups. After an incident dating back all the way to your senior year in high school, your former friend group of nine was split in two. You, Jeno, and Jaehyun on one side, with Mark, Chungha, Haechan, and Yuta on the other. 

Johnny, the god of friendly relations that he was, managed to drift between both sides. Matter of fact, these parties of his were the whole reason you even saw the other side of the group every year. If it weren’t for Johnny wanting to maintain the peace, most of you would never be in the same room again for any purpose. 

You took a glimpse around the party. It was being held in Johnny’s sumptuous two-floor penthouse this year after the outdoor disaster that was last year's Christmas eve reunion. To say the least, hypothermia had never seemed scarier. 

Unsurprisingly, Mark still had his hands and mouth all over Jodie as they stood near the hearth, the fireplace decorated in limestone. Chungha was marveling at Johnny's case of precious stones and cabochon gems. Off to your right, Haechan had his face set in a scowl. 

“Haechan looks happy to be here,” you quipped with total sarcasm.

Johnny didn’t even spare Haechan a glance, like he already knew what he’d see if he looked, and chuckled. “Yeah, we got into a tiny argument a few minutes back. He’ll be fine.”

That piqued your curiosity, but you didn’t press. Haechan always went looking for trouble and Johnny stopped it before it could even happen. Of course Haechan disliked that. 

The elevator dinged, revealing a fashionably late Jeno. Johnny noticed and glanced at you, saying, “I’ve got to greet our favorite guest. Thanks for coming, by the way.”

You shot him an amused grin. “I came for you, but I’m staying for the margaritas.”

Johnny shook his head and laughed. After asking him to tell Jeno that you said hello, the two of you went your own separate ways. 

For a little bit, you went to mingle, but you realized quickly that there weren’t a lot of people you were keen on having a conversation with. Jeno, your best friend, was with Johnny. That left Jaehyun, Johnny’s stepbrother, but you knew he preferred to be left alone. 

Mark obviously wasn’t an option. Even if he knew you better than anyone in the room. 

In spite of knowing you wouldn’t be there long, you made small talk with Jaehyun for a couple of minutes before he got an apparently urgent text message on his phone and excused himself apologetically. 

To where, you had no fucking clue. This was your first time in Johnny’s penthouse regardless of how close you were. You spent very little time in the city and even less at your own home. It was a blessing you hadn’t missed one of these parties yet. 

Maybe a curse. To be frank, you didn’t want to be here, but that had almost everything to do with Mark. Bringing Jodie along to an annual reunion for friends was low, even for him. But you kind of wished you had somebody to keep you company like he did. 

You exhaled your feelings and pretended that they didn’t bother you. Your mother told you a long time ago that the only person you’d ever be able to depend on was yourself and though she had her own set of parenting  complications, it was the best advice she’d ever given you. 

Speaking of advice, Johnny’s was starting to appear way too appetizing and you made a beeline for the kitchen, slipping past Yuta who was apparently on the phone. Those infamous mango margaritas were calling your name. 

When you entered the hallway, turning around the corner from the dining room, you almost immediately retreated. You almost told Johnny that you couldn’t be here for another minute. But Mark noticed you and it was too late. He would immediately know what was going on and take it as a surrender. 

“Look who decided to come,” Mark said sharply, a greeting of his own in some twisted way. “I bet you were hoping to see a fruity cocktail.”

“Yes, and you’re standing in my way,” you spat, gesturing to the cabinets behind you. 

Mark furrowed a brow. “You aren’t going to take one that’s already there?”

You looked at him like he had fifteen heads. Those could’ve easily been spiked with any substance. “Mark, half the people in this house hate each other. I love margaritas, but I love my life way more. Now, if you’ll excuse me.”

Mark scooted out of your way, though only because he knew the bounds of your survival. It was all that you knew.  

You reached around, grabbing ingredients from various places. All the while, Mark stood there, hating how unbothered you were. He was desperate to get a reaction out of you and would go to great lengths to get what he was searching for. 

His eyes were fixed to your frame and the green sequin gown hugging it tightly. There was a long slit running down the side that Mark clocked before you turned to face the counter, offering a delicious view of one of your perfect legs. When his eyes lifted from your beautiful curves, he noticed the dress was backless. 

Fuck, you were still gorgeous. Worst of all, you were still exactly everything he imagined and wanted. The girl of his dreams. 

“I wouldn’t let anyone hurt you,” Mark admitted, staring daggers into your back.

You rooted in place with shock at the blurted confession, hands on a bottle of tequila, wondering if he had any liquor in his system making him a little more blunt than he should’ve been. 

Until Mark finished, “Because if anyone’s going to kill you, it’s going to be me.”

The flutter in your chest immediately settled back into exasperation. Mark wasn’t afraid of having an altercation with you and he knew he could get away with it without suspicion. Given the bad blood between your respective friend groups, occasional animosity was to be expected. 

Plus it wasn’t like it was still some grave-bound secret. It also wasn’t as if you never saw the glares Haechan threw your way. 

You recovered with a roll of your eyes, turning to him and snapping, “How long are you going to hate me?”

“As long as it takes,” Mark growled, parading out of the kitchen before you could get another word in. He wasn’t prepared to argue yet, but he refused to let you have the last word. 

You shook your head in contempt. Mark wasn’t just your former lover, but the other half of you, regardless of how corny it sounded. You knew he could hold a grudge until the day he was six feet under. As long as it takes. For what, you had no clue. 

Finishing up the cocktail, you cleaned up behind yourself and prepared to head back out to the party, though made a last-minute decision to linger in the kitchen. You were irritated and you weren’t in the mood to socialize or see Mark again until your system had a little liquor. 

A few moments afterwards, Jeno bounced into the kitchen eagerly, grinning from ear to ear like he knew that he’d find you here. As if to sell your suspicions, he greeted, “Found you. And it only took eight seconds.”

You chuckled, sipping from your glass. Though you already knew the answer, you humored him, asking, “How’d you find me?” 

“Easy. I just followed the tequila.”

“Me and tequila do go way back,” you replied, smiling at the memories. Some good, some… unspeakable. You gestured to your glass. “Want one?”

Jeno shook his head. “No thanks. I’m good.”

You gasped dramatically and joked, “What, are you pregnant?”

“No way. I’m a complete virgin.”

You burst out laughing. “You’re a complete fucking lie.”

Jeno looked like he couldn’t even take himself seriously. Then, he shifted the topic, mentioning, “I saw Mark storm out of here. That also was a hint as to your whereabouts.”

You fought a grimace, deciding nonchalance was key. “We talked for the first time in two months. Since the breakup.”

“How did that go?”

“Take a wild fucking guess,” you mumbled, the memory making you wince and take another generous sip. 

Jeno grimaced. “Yeah, he didn’t look too happy. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” you assured him, though you weren’t certain. Your heart still raced a little when Mark was close enough. But a familiar pain always followed in its wake. 

Jeno gave you a knowing look, but said nothing. Both of you were distracted by the sound of footsteps, noticing Johnny and Jodie cruising down the hallways. From the looks of it, he was giving her a tour. She was giving Johnny heart eyes.

You arched a brow in curiosity, while Jeno appeared amused. To the average outsider, Johnny looked content as ever, but you and Jeno recognized him with dwindling patience. 

“This party’s getting interesting,” Jeno commented, eyes darting down the hall with interest. 

You nodded in agreement. “It’s already a step up from last year.”

There were painful flashbacks flickering behind Jeno’s eyes. “Damn right. As soon as I stepped into the lobby, all I could feel was warm air.”

You snickered. “Johnny doesn’t repeat mistakes. He hates it.”

“You really know Johnny.”

You noticed that Jeno’s eyes were already on you when you glanced up to look at him. “We dated. You know that.”

“For your mother’s sake,” Jeno replied. 

That was true. She was practically begging you to bring a guy home. Not because she was eager to have grandchildren (though the time would come where she’d start pressing you for an heir), but because having an affluent partner would make you look better, which would thus make the company look better. 

It was before Mark. The bad blood aside, he wasn’t exactly the type of person your mother approved of you being seen with. Mark was a rapper. Johnny, on the other hand, came from a lineage of prominent wealthy businessmen. 

In a weird way, it kind of made sense how the group separated. There was you, whose father was the chairman of an oil company, Jeno, whose father was the chief executive of a private equity investor, and Johnny and Jaehyun, whose mother was an entrepreneur, but Johnny was chosen to take over the business while Jaehyun was stuck with real estate. 

Then there were Mark’s friends. Chungha, who was a successful model and influencer. Yuta, a popular soccer player. And Haechan was the product of two fierce attorneys, but he obviously had no intention of following in his parents’ footsteps. 

Johnny was everything your mother wanted you to be with and to appease her, you dated him for a few months. And you were grateful. He helped you learn new things about yourself and how you navigated relationships. You were never in love with him, but you’d always love Johnny. 

Your heart still wanted Mark. You didn’t know what love was until you fell for Mark. 

“Yes. It was strictly business,” you confirmed, thinking nothing of it. This wasn’t news. Jeno knew you well enough. 

Jeno nodded in approval. “I’m gonna go take a look around the house. This is my first time coming over.”

At least you weren’t the only one. “Have fun. I’m gonna find some food. I’m hungry.”

Jeno told you that he’d see you later, then dipped. Meanwhile, you went around the corner to the dining room, finding plenty of food and wanting to dig in. You didn’t trust half of the guests here enough to eat unsupervised dishes, but unlike the previous years, you didn’t manage to sneak in a meal beforehand. 

Yuta and Haechan ironically didn’t seem to be as wary. They were sitting beside each other, chatting over their food. Out of his friends, Mark was closest with Yuta and Haechan. Their friendship was unwavering and one of the few to stand the test of time. In a way, they were like a trio of brothers. 

You subtly took glances at them. Haechan looked more buoyant and cheerful than earlier. Definitely not in the mood to poison anyone’s food. And Yuta, though you weren’t necessarily close anymore, still seemed like the Yuta you used to know. Before the incident ruined you for the worse.

Haechan couldn’t be any more different. He was the same spoiled little brat, you supposed, but he wasn’t shy about his disdain towards you. And the rest of your friends. If it weren’t for the fact that Johnny was just so goddamn likable, you were certain Haechan wouldn’t come. 

At least you weren’t on their radar for now. Neither of them seemed to be fazed by your presence. Thank god, you thought to yourself, glimpsing across the dining room. There were mistletoes hanging from here to there. You could hear typical holiday music from down the hall. 

It was a good sign at the very least. You were just paranoid and not having Mark to discreetly meet in a bathroom for a quickie forced you to confront the dark essence of these parties. With Mark, the feeling was still there, but at least you could convert it into tension of a sexual nature. 

You still remembered what it was like. Betting kisses on how many minutes of alone time you had before the others noticed you were coincidentally both missing. Those sweet nothings you’d whisper in his ear to coax him towards climax quicker. 

And they would work. Every fucking time. There was nothing like watching his face immediately tense with pleasure at those words and watching his orgasm consequently wreck through his utter being like a freight train. 

You chuckled at the thought. It was too fucking easy, but boy, Mark could fuck. 

Your thoughts wondered again. To Mark, and to Jodie. Did he fuck her, or was he merely using her as a pawn in this little game of his?

You wouldn’t be surprised. On top of his exigency for attention and demand for total adoration, Mark was fucking spiteful. He was the pettiest dude you’d ever met and would go to the ends of the earth and back simply to make a point. 

A few more glances around the dining area and you decided that there was nothing for you there, returning to the solace of Johnny’s marble kitchen. Thinking about your stupid ex made you lose your appetite. 

If you made it back home for Christmas tomorrow, there would be a full-course dinner with your relatives anyways. You used to hope that you’d be able to bring Mark to one of those holiday banquets, though you’d be delusional to think it’d be anything other than a complete fiasco. 

Hell, the only lover of yours to survive meeting your mother was Johnny, and that was because you didn’t know a single person who could possibly dislike him at all. 

To your surprise, a spine-chilling gunshot rang out somewhere down the hallway, jolting you out of your brief abstraction. 

“Fuck!” cried Johnny’s voice, startled. You knew immediately that something was wrong. Johnny, at least on the outside, was never afraid. 

Not since that night. 

You marched straight for the living room and the echoes of several pairs of hurried footsteps said that everybody was on the same page. Though you could’ve swore the gunshot came from here, when you got to the living room, everyone was there except for Johnny. 

No, Jodie wasn’t there either. You would know, because she’d be clinging to Mark’s arm right about now, like a child to their mother’s bosom in a grocery store.

Johnny stumbled out of the lounge with no apparent injuries, but an inscrutable look on his handsome face. 

Jaehyun was the first to ask, “What happened?”

“Jodie,” Johnny said emotionlessly, pointing to the lounge. “She’s dead.”

Nobody moved. You instinctively glanced to Mark, wondering what his reaction would be, but his face didn’t move a fucking inch. 

“Is that what that gunshot was for?” Yuta pressed. 

Johnny shook his head and replied, “No, the gunshot was for me. Somebody tried to shoot me from the overlook upstairs, but missed by an inch. I ran into the lounge for shelter, but found Jodie there instead.”

The bullet in the wall by a lamp was enough proof that Johnny wasn’t lying. One of his guests standing before him now tried to take him out. 

There was a familiar unsettling sensation burning through your gut like a gunshot wound to the abdomen. The room devolved into its own breed of silent chaos, but you could tell from everybody’s faces and guarded postures that the same thought was flickering behind your eyelids.

Mark finally expressed a pinch of anger in his tone, stating in confusion, “I only heard one gunshot.”

“That’s because she wasn’t shot,” Johnny replied coolly, running a hand through his hair. “She was butchered.”

Well, that sure didn’t paint a pretty picture. Just the thought of what you’d see if you walked into the lounge made you stiffen. You jotted down a mental note not to go in there unless absolutely necessary.  

You glanced up towards the overlook. It was tall and offered the perfect angle of Johnny from where you assumed he was standing, plus there was enough space between the metal bars for a bullet to fly. 

To its sides were two different hallways, both functioning as possible escape routes, but everybody got here fairly quickly. Wouldn’t anyone have noticed if someone fired a shot merely seconds before gathering here?

Your arms were folded across your chest and your face was fixed in a line to hide your fear. There was no room for it with this crowd of people. “You didn’t see anyone?”

“I looked up and they were only a sliver.”

Chungha didn’t look too happy. “Shouldn’t we call the police?”

“As if it’s ever that easy with us,” Jeno retorted. 

Johnny quickly shot the idea down. “Nobody’s coming in or out of my house until I know who did this. If you want to try me, be my guest.”

You weren’t keen on being cooped up in this house for only god knows how long with people who were as good as strangers (especially now that bodies were dropping), but you didn’t plan on disobeying either, even if Johnny’s threat did little to intimidate you. 

Johnny knew you. He knew you deep down. If Mark weren’t there, standing only a couple of feet shy of you, you would confidently say that he knew you better than anyone else in this room. But it was Mark who had seen all your ugly. 

Haechan irritably groaned. “Then, what’s the plan, tough guy?”

“Well, we can start with placing you all outside of the scene. What’s your alibi?” Johnny asked. 

Haechan didn’t take kindly to being accused, as evident in his tone when he hissed, “I was in the dining area with Yuta, eating. Our plates are still on the table.”

Johnny glanced at Yuta, who subsequently nodded to confirm that it was true. Plus you could still hear their chatter from around the corner when you were in the kitchen. Their alibi was rock-solid. 

“I was coming out of the downstairs bathroom when I heard the gunshot,” Jaehyun said, glimpsing around. 

Nobody countered him, and Johnny seemed to trust him, all things considered. They may not have shared blood, but they were brothers. 

You rubbed your temple. “I was in the kitchen.”

“I was in the den,” Mark claimed, holding his arm. You could see the slightest shift in his carefully constructed demeanor. “I saw Chungha coming from the back of the hall, so it wasn’t her.”

Chungha said nothing. She was warily glaring holes through the skin of everyone around her. Chungha was a sweetheart and never thought badly of you after the split-up, but she refused to let others get too close, and you honestly respected it. 

You were the same way. Skeptical of everybody that crossed your path and kept a tight-knit circle of buddies. After what’d you seen and done, there was no such thing as being too safe. 

Jeno huffed, “I was just walking around. I would’ve asked Johnny for a tour, but he was a little… preoccupied.”

Jeno didn’t elaborate and nobody asked him to, but you knew exactly what he meant, and you telepathically exchanged the same thought when you made eye contact for the briefest of seconds. It was odd that only seconds prior, Johnny and Jodie were walking together. Now Jodie was dead and somebody tried to shoot Johnny?

“Let’s not waste precious time. It’s obviously Jeno,” Haechan snapped, glare cutting through his enemy like a blade. 

Jeno frowned, offended. “Why me?”

Haechan’s face was tense with frustration. “You know why.” 

“Stop,” Johnny told them sternly, stopping the action before it could accelerate too quickly to be controlled. “We’re all adults here and we’re going to handle this like adults. If you have proof, by all means, share. If you don’t know for certain, then keep it to yourself.”

Unsatisfied, Jaehyun crossed his arms and asked, “So what now? We just continue on as if there isn’t a killer on the loose?”

“Yep.”

Jaehyun sighed in distress, but he didn’t go against Johnny. 

The eight of you separated quickly, scattering about Johnny’s large house. He seemed to be aware that nothing would happen if you all remained together. 

Getting everybody alone upped the stakes. The perpetrator would be more tempted to act. And you needed them to make a mistake. 

At least for now, you decided to remain on the first floor where you were already familiar with your surroundings. In spite of being the obvious attack zone of the killer, you were comfortable here. 

On your way out of the living room, you noticed some of the group assembling into pairs. Unsurprisingly, Johnny and Jaehyun were together. As were Haechan and Chungha. It was a powerful method, but you preferred to be alone. That way there were less distractions. 

You also had no reason to view yourself as a target, though that made you ask yourself the glaring question. Why the hell would somebody want to kill Johnny?

Ironically, the purpose of these parties was to maintain the peace. Jodie’s killer obviously had to know that killing Johnny too would’ve been quite the statement to make. 

That there was no peace when it came to the eight of you. You were composed only of death and destruction. 

You were so deep in your thoughts that you barely noticed Mark walking in front of you until you nearly crashed into him, stumbling and being caught in his open arms. “Whoa there, baby,” Mark said, holding onto you tightly. “You should really be more aware of what’s going on.”

You wrested yourself out of his hold, but in the middle of doing your damnedest to free yourself from him, your fingers accidentally traced a familiar shape in his coat pocket and you stilled in surprise. “You have a gun?”

Mark didn’t try to deny it. “Why would I go anywhere without one, baby?”

“I’m not your ‘baby,’” you hissed, stepping a comfortable distance away from him. 

Mark only hummed. His attention was on the long slit in your emerald green dress. For a second, you couldn’t believe he was blatantly checking you out, then he angled himself towards you and drew his hand to your exposed leg. 

Your eyes flitted to Mark and when his met yours, a sly little grin spread across his lips. You’d be lying if you said that his hand on your legs didn’t instinctively reactivate carnal feelings inside of you, but you dared not reveal it on your face. 

Finally, after a few seconds of scooting up your thigh, Mark found what he was looking for and purred, “Smart girl.” His hand was at your obviously occupied thigh holster, pointing out the fact that you were also armed and dangerous. “I guess this makes us even, huh?”

You didn’t realize you’d sucked in a breath. It was maddening how perfectly he knew your habits, how predictable you were. You threw his hand off and hissed, “Did you try to kill Johnny?”

“No. Did you?”

“No.”

Mark hummed, apparently believing you. Many things could be said about you depending on who you asked, but at least everybody could agree that you weren’t a killer.

You removed his hand from your thigh and straightened your posture. If the two of you had weapons, it was safe to assume that you weren’t the only ones. The gun strapped to your thigh was the only reason you weren’t totally frightened of being alone. 

Your eyes were fixed to Mark, studying him. You weren’t fond of the fact that you were met with the same level of attention, as if he was trying to make you falter under his stare. It wouldn’t be that easy. 

Breaking the silence, you told him, “I’m sorry about your piece.”

Mark didn’t look too bummed. “Didn’t care about her like that anyway.”

Yeah, that checks out. You rolled your eyes. “You never cared about anything or anyone, except for yourself.”

That response seemed to genuinely surprise Mark. “Is that what you think of me?”

You weren’t prepared to discuss your emotions with Mark and the sober part of you made the executive decision to walk away instead. The liquor had you feeling a little too honest. 

Mark, on the other hand, wasn’t done with this conversation. He grabbed your arm and demanded, “Answer me. Is that what you think of me?”

You wrested your arm out of his hold and snapped, “Just walk away, Mark. It’s what you’re good at.”

That’s rich, Mark thought, but rather than argue with you about it, he stormed off. You were unbelievable. After all he did for you, after how deeply he loved you, you seriously thought that he didn’t love you? That hurt more than he cared to admit.

You watched him walk away, bristling. It didn’t matter that he was only doing what you told him to do. He never fought for your love. He always chose himself over you. Why am I surprised?

Irritated, you made a dramatic exit of your own, wanting nothing more to do with Mark for as long as you lived. He just had to be so fucking difficult. If there wasn’t a slaughter party ongoing right now, you’d be tempted to scout for more alcohol.

At least you knew that you were right not to trust anyone. The food wasn’t spiked apparently, but your point still stood. This crowd was unpredictable and you were never truly safe together. There would always be that lingering tension in the air. 

You just wish you knew what their intent in killing Jodie and attempting to kill Johnny was. By now, you were so surrounded by death that you hardly blinked, but Jodie didn’t deserve to die. A puppet in Mark’s silly little games or not. 

As if you weren’t already totally pissed, Haechan made his way towards you and hissed, “Admit it. You’re behind all this.”

You resisted a groan and replied blandly, “I thought you said Jeno was the killer?”

“The two of you are besties. It’s not far-fetched to say that you’re in this together, all things considered.”

Rather than be offended, you were purely annoyed. You crossed your arms. “Even if that were true, that’s ridiculous. Why would I want to take out Johnny?”

“No, no, no. Johnny was Jeno’s idea. You had your eye on Jodie,” Haechan said like he had it all figured out. “I saw her corpse. The overkill? It was insane. I bet you took one look at her sucking the breath out of Mark and lost your goddamn mind.”

You rolled your eyes. “Oh, please. You’re pulling shit out of your ass, Haechan.”

Like it was all he knew how to do, Haechan kept pushing. “Two different modus operandis usually indicate two different killers.”

“Oh, yeah? Did Daddy teach you that?” you snarled, feeling your blood pressure soaring. 

Haechan shot you a venomous glare and replied back very belligerently, “It’s not rocket science. You’re jealous. Plus you already sided with a murderer once. Why wouldn’t you do it again?”

“God, it’s been years,” you groaned, bringing your palm to your forehead. This man was a walking headache. “If you don’t like us, then fine. But that blood is on all of our hands. Pointing blood-stained fingers won’t change that.”

Haechan was practically fuming. Obviously, he didn’t like that. 

You had already started to leave, traveling a fair distance away from Haechan, but spun on your heels to give one final retort, “And for the record, Mark having Jodie tag along to make me jealous was a weak move. Tell him to try harder.”

Then, you left. You left and you didn’t look back. It was hit after hit for you, and you just couldn’t seem to catch a fucking break. Haechan literally had no reason to bother you other than to be a nuisance. His parents were lawyers. He was certain that if push came to shove, he’d have nothing to worry about. And neither would the people he cared for. 

There was no telling if you would survive the night at this point. If a bullet didn’t take your life, then stress and frustration was a sure-fire way to finish you off. 

The important question was who would be anticipating your death? 

You wanted to think that you had never been more on edge, though that would’ve been a bold-faced lie. And an insult to your body’s self-preservation effectiveness. You were far from weak and if you were intent on survival, there was nothing or nobody that would stand in your way. 

In an attempt to abate the tension, you made a beeline for the in-door elevator. Hopefully before any other unwelcome visitors could try to snake their way into your path. 

When the elevator dinged, you were surprised to see Jeno. “Where are you headed?” you asked. 

Jeno retorted, “Shouldn’t I be asking you that?”

You snickered and slipped beside him. Finally somebody whose company didn’t piss you off. “Second floor. Obviously.”

Jeno stepped out of the elevator, but extended his hand to keep the door from closing, scanning the bottom floor for other people. Apparently, there weren’t any, because he finally said, “There’s something weird going on.”

You snorted. “Other than the death and murder? Yeah, probably. Haechan accused us of being killers.”

“No, I mean…,” Jeno trailed, taking a peak across the hallway again. “What if he’s faking it?”

“Who?”

“Johnny.”

You made a face. That wasn’t something you’d even considered and you weren’t exactly convinced now that you had. “Why would he do that?”

Jeno shrugged. “Why do people kill? He was the first one to discover Jodie. And he’s the guy that hosts these parties.”

“Yeah, I think that’s a pretty solid reason to assume he’s not the killer. He’s literally a victim. No offense, but I don’t buy that he killed Jodie then somehow had enough time to make it look like somebody fired a shot at him,” you replied. 

“I guess,” Jeno mumbled, quietening. You were about to ask why, but you clocked Jaehyun casually strolling by.

Which meant he wasn’t with Johnny. 

Jeno cocked you one final glance and said, “People always look at the guy with his hands dirty. No one ever suspects the guy with his hands behind his back.”

Then, he recouped his hand and disappeared behind the elevator doors. In a time that it took you to blink, he was gone so quickly you could’ve imagined his presence. 

And now you were thinking. If Johnny were alone, who knew what he was up to, but in the same vein, that could’ve just made him more vulnerable. 

You immediately brushed the thought aside. Johnny? Vulnerable? Pfft. This guy taught you everything you knew about how to survive and it was only thanks to his valor and self-preservation skills that you were even breathing. 

The elevator dinged again and this time the doors made a little narrow opening for you to walk through. It was your first time on the second floor of Johnny’s luxurious penthouse and the very first thing you did was monitor the new environment. 

Few people apparently. Everything just seemed so normal and there was hardly anything out of place. You could faintly hear the Christmas songs still blasting from the speakers downstairs. 

You crept just down the hall, pausing at the overlook. The place where the gunshot was fired. You gripped the rails, scanning the ground below. In the corner of your eye, you noticed Chungha sneaking about, but she was gone just as quickly. 

The killer had to have been lithe. These little metal bars were thin and did little to conceal your frame. For Johnny to have barely seen them, you could only liken them to a thief in the night.

The problem was that literally everybody fit that description. There was no person that you could rule out, because you each had the capacity. If not the motive, then the means. 

That was why you couldn’t wrap your head around it. Your lone brain couldn’t fathom the devastation plaguing this group and you decided that you wouldn’t even try. With a little breath, you turned and searched for the fitness center.

It wasn’t difficult to find. All you had to do was narrow down your options, taking peeks through windows and quickly discerning that they weren’t your final destination. After some trial and error, you found your way to the massive gym area. 

According to the sign, and a conversation you’d overheard earlier during the party (before all hell broke loose), just around the corner was a soccer simulator. 

Somebody was already inside when you pushed the door open to enter. You bashfully waved your hand. “Thought I’d find you here.”

Yuta looked surprised to see you, but he only wore it on his face for a split second. “Stalker, much?”

“Nah. I just thought, ‘if I was a famous soccer player, where would I go?’ And this was the first place that came to mind.”

Yuta snickered. “Predictable. That’s a character flaw, I guess.”

A tiny laugh escaped your lips. Honestly, you were just glad that you even felt comfortable enough to joke around with Yuta, even if it was meaningless. Haechan was praying for your downfall and Chungha didn’t socialize with outsiders, but Yuta was thankfully normal. 

He didn’t seem to mind your presence either. The large screen glaring at you in a violently blue hue was definitely on, but Yuta’s eyes appeared elsewhere. He finally said, “This gang and parties don’t mix too well, huh?”

“I think not,” you retorted, crossing your arms in amusement. Staying detached from the darkness was the only way you could stay sane. “Somebody always ends up dying at one of them.”

Yuta took a seat in a nearby chair and kicked his feet up on another one beside him pensively. “Sworn enemies with an axe to grind in the same room under the guise of ceasing rivalry one day out of the entire year. I could’ve told you guys how that was gonna end.”

I could’ve, too, you said to yourself, a billion thoughts like a downpour in your head. It was why you never left your house unarmed and hesitated to eat food you didn’t make. 

Because you were protecting yourself. Just like everybody else in this house. 

“Well, it’s not a shock,” you replied in agreement. “We do enough damage on our own, but together? It’s all we’re capable of.”

Yuta fought a frown. “I feel bad for that Jodie girl. I’m sure you’re aware Mark was definitely using her, but she didn’t deserve to be dragged into our sick hell.”

Those pictures of her slaughtered body were flickering in your head again. It haunted you, and you hadn’t even seen her corpse. “Everybody that comes near us gets burned.”

Yuta’s demeanor shifted noticeably, brooding. “I feel guilty. Yet when Johnny told us she died, all I could think was ‘at least it’s not my fault this time.’ Is that wrong?”

His sudden vulnerability surprised you, considering Yuta wasn’t the type to randomly express his feelings, much less to you. You immediately put your hand on his shoulder in comfort and said, “Doyoung’s death wasn’t your fault. You didn’t know.”

Yuta shrugged. “If I had listened to my parents, if I hadn’t invited you all there, that night wouldn’t have happened. Doyoung wouldn’t be dead. And this friend group might’ve stayed in one piece.”

“Yuta, you should blame that creepy psychopathic weirdo. Not yourself.”

Yuta grimaced, as if the sole mention of that guy flung him back to a place he’d already buried. 

And you didn’t blame him. You didn’t even know the guy’s name, but you could describe him vividly. How could you not? The same pale guy in blood-stained overalls appeared in your dreams a little too often.

This little party turned bloodbath wasn’t you and your friends’ first rodeo. Matter of fact, you’d argue that the first round was a tad scarier. You still got flashbacks, so terrified for your life and everybody around you that adrenaline numbed you to the crisp, nipping autumn air. 

For his birthday prelude, Yuta invited all of you to his parents’ expensive farmhouse, sitting just on your hometown’s outskirts. It was quiet, remote. No neighbors, which seemed fun in the first half, but as the night progressed, it became a nightmare not having anyone nearby.

A birthday celebration quickly became a fight for survival, and Doyoung lost. He was one of you, still a part of you, locked away inside your heart but never forgotten.

Jeno had accidentally stabbed him with a gardening tool, thinking that he was the killer. Doyoung had come to his hiding spot desperately seeking shelter, but Jeno panickedly made a mistake that cost him his friend’s life and the trust of his others. 

That was how the friend group divided. There was the side that would never forgive him for Doyoung’s death, blaming him wholeheartedly. And then there was the side that showed him some grace. You were all frightened out of your minds that night. 

Though what Jeno did didn’t matter. You were all complicit in Doyoung’s demise, whether they wanted to admit it or not. The killer made you all finish him off, made you all bury his wounded corpse while it was still fresh. 

Your hands were still stained with dirt and blood, burning hotter every time you thought of him. 

“I blame Jeno,” Yuta seethed under his breath. 

You frowned. 

Yuta stood to his feet, unable to stay still. There was too much emotion in him now, pulling him every which way. “Every year I get whiplash from having to mourn my friend’s death anniversary then celebrate my birthday back to back. That’s unforgivable.”

Though you liked Yuta, you weren’t going to let anyone slander your best friend silently. “I understand, but it’s not just Jeno’s fault.”

Yuta chuckled. “If only you knew.”

Your brows furrowed. “What don’t I know?”

“That Jeno’s fucking obsessed with you. Always has been. We don’t hate him because he killed Doyoung. We hate him because we think he killed Doyoung for you.”

Your lips parted soundlessly, flabbergasted. 

Yuta read the confusion on your face plain as day and continued, “Think about it, sugar. Doyoung had a crush on you. That was everybody’s business. And it’s Doyoung who Jeno accidentally stabs out of all people?”

You couldn’t say anything. It wasn’t like you hadn’t turned down Jeno’s advances once before, but he was so fucking chill. You could’ve forgotten that it even happened. There wasn’t a single thing in your friendship that felt out of place. 

Plus he knew firsthand that you were head over heels for Mark only, even if you didn’t want to be anymore. It was pathetic. Yuta had just told you another guy was willing to go to lethal lengths to keep you away, and yet one of your first thoughts was how painstakingly you loved Mark. 

But Mark hated you. 

“I don’t want to talk about this anymore,” you said, the lines between fiction and reality beginning to blur. 

Yuta relaxed. He could tell there was a lot going on in your head, because he recognized the conflict akin to the one warring within himself. “It’s dead.”

You appreciated that. Fuck’s sake, Mark and his friends usually liked to push until there was nowhere else to go. And then some. Your thoughts wandered there and you opened your mouth, asking, “Why are you nice to me?”

“I’m not nice to you,” Yuta replied, making you blink. “I just treat you like a regular human being. There’s a difference.”

“Why?”

“Because you haven’t done anything for me not to.”

You shook your head. “Mark wouldn’t agree,” you muttered, rubbing your arms. 

Yuta glanced at you. You were letting your guard down around him, something he was certain you probably hadn’t even done with Mark tonight. “Fuck Mark. He’s been lying to himself. And to be frank, I think he’s deluded himself.”

Your eyes were cold when you looked into Yuta’s. “Elaborate.”

“I mean, he wants to convince us and the whole world that he hates you and he’s moved on, but he hasn’t even convinced himself. You were his everything, man. Mark hasn’t been the same since the breakup. I want my friend back.”

I want my lover back. But Mark used to be your friend, too. A healthy blend of friendship and romance that made your love for each other feel depthless. 

If only you knew back then that your love would be tested. Would you have still sacrificed every piece of yourself to make him happy if you knew that it still wouldn’t be enough?

“I hope you have a wonderful Christmas tomorrow,” you told Yuta after a long pause, a telltale sign that you were leaving and had no more room for conversation. 

“If I make it to tomorrow,” Yuta retorted playfully. “Likewise. Merry Christmas.”

You smiled at him on your way out in a final goodbye. You only wanted one thing for Christmas, and that was to have Mark back in your arms. Where he belonged. 

For a good minute, you meandered about the hallways, cautiously monitoring your surroundings to make sure no one was trailing you. You considered heading to the den for refuge, but Mark obviously liked it there, and you’d had enough run-ins for one night. 

Instead, you opted for the in-door pool, where obviously nobody was. In front of you stood a long line of water with a set of hot tubs off to the side. It was the perfect place to clear your head without having to constantly check if there was someone out to get you. 

Before you could slightly relax, you scanned the room and clocked two exits. If you couldn’t get out of the main exit for whatever reason, there was always the option of the backup door. With that pressure off your shoulders, you took off your heels and sank your feet in the pool. 

Dangling your feet in the water, your mind began to race, hopping from one thought to another at a pace too painful for you to keep up with. You hated being this way. Always having to keep an eye out, never fully trusting anybody. Mark was the only person that you could turn your back to and confidently believe you’d be fine. 

Once upon a time, he was your safe haven, and now you weren’t sure if you could even trust him anymore. For all you knew, he could’ve been behind all this. 

It hurt to think of what you should’ve been, of the happy, oblivious couple you were only months earlier. The couple that didn’t go to bed angry or sleep in different rooms, too stubborn to spend the night beside each other. There was no problem the two of you couldn’t sort out back then. 

You started to wonder if Yuta was right about everything he said. First of all, Jeno didn’t kill Doyoung. It wasn’t that quick. He attacked him first, but you all had Doyoung’s blood on your hands. Literally. 

You only wished you could’ve seen Yuta’s point of view. Jeno was admittedly happy when you and Mark finally broke up, though you figured it was because he didn’t want to see you suffer, not because he wanted you to be with him instead. 

Worst of all, Yuta told you that Mark still wasn’t over you. And you hated it. If you wanted Mark and Mark wanted you, then why weren’t you together?

Then, you remembered. The lack of compatibility that burned your happy home together down to a crisp. Things failed because Mark wanted to conquer. You refused to be taken. What made him feel ignored made you feel free. What made you feel inhibited made him feel secure. When he started to feel unwanted, he pushed you away. 

Your love was a slow burn till the end. All of those years of pining for each other turned into you pining away from heartbreak, eating your heart out for a boy you were destined to never have at all.

You hated knowing that you and Mark would’ve never worked out whether you dated or not. Maybe because you knew that if you didn’t have Mark, then you had no one. It simply wasn’t written in the stars. 

Mark was the only one who knew your biggest fears. Your motivations. He knew firsthand the irreversible impact Doyoung’s death had on the rest of your life, because you confided only in him about the shame. You weren’t scared of being naked with Mark. He saw the ugliest bits of you and it wasn’t what sent him running. 

It was hard to explain to anybody that wasn’t there, but nothing was the same after Doyoung died. Thanks to your parents’ status, you were already used to being careful, but it was nothing like the girl you were after fighting for survival. It was your first time fighting for anything. 

Every inch of you was alive and awake, perpetually on fight mode. Mark wasn’t just the sole place where you could exist peacefully; he understood your trauma and loved you with every fiber of his being in spite of it. 

That was why you couldn’t be with any other guy. How could you explain those nights when you woke up screaming in terror? Mark didn’t ask questions. He just held you and told you that you were safe in his arms. 

If you couldn’t have Mark, then you knew you were meant to die alone. 

The sound of a door pushing open made you immediately stand up, preparing to take off without your heels. They would only slow you down anyways. You saw Mark enter and, rather than cool down, your stiff muscles were overloaded with apprehension. 

“I have an idea and I’m prepared to argue with you about it,” were the first words to come out of Mark’s mouth, speaking before you could dare to, as if he knew you’d have something to say. 

You played it cool, though your heartbeat was harshly thudding in your ears. “What do you want now?”

Mark took your tone in stride. “We should travel in pairs. As they say, safety in numbers.”

Your face tensed in disgust. “And why in the hell would I want to travel with you?”

Mark didn’t skip a beat. “Because if I’m the killer, you’re the only one that stands a chance against me.”

You folded your arms. Mark almost grinned looking at you, but resisted. It was like your favorite pose ever. “I thought you said you didn’t kill Jodie?”

“Technically, I said that I didn’t try to kill Johnny,” Mark answered, a sly smile on his lips. “Do you trust me?”

“I don’t trust anyone anymore,” you replied coolly. Not after you broke it. And me. 

“Good. You don’t trust me and I don’t trust you. We don’t have reasons to. But let’s at least be forward with our intentions here,” Mark said, stepping closer. “I intend to survive. And you?”

“I intend to survive as well,” you asserted. 

Mark added forthrightly, “And we’ll do anything to live, even if it means killing someone else for our own sake. We’re not strangers to sacrificing other people for our benefit.”

You heaved a breath and groaned impatiently, “So what? This is some truce or something?”

“Or something,” Mark replied with enough uncertainty to make you overwhelmingly suspicious. “We’d just be working together. Who says that you have to trust me?”

You hated that you were seriously considering it, but he was making a pretty decent point. It was stupid to be by yourself. You had to admit it, even as somebody that valued her independence like it was your lifeline. 

Mark recognized you in conflict with yourself, even as you tried your hardest to appear neutral. After all those years spent by each other’s side, he guessed it was simply natural. Your bottom lip stuck out, though only slightly. You were giving it your best shot at keeping composed. 

You weighed the pros and cons in your head. If you didn’t pair with Mark, you would be more vulnerable, but if you did, it would be increasingly difficult to ignore having to confront the whirlwind of feelings he left you to soak in. 

You didn’t want that, but it wasn’t like you wanted to die either. Finally, after a moment of contemplation, you relented. “Fine.”

Satisfied, Mark grinned victoriously. “Two heads are better than one.”

That was what you used to think. It used to be enough to simply look into Mark’s eyes, knowing that he was there. Now you couldn’t stand to be beside him. “Not when they’re bumping into each other,” you grumbled. 

Mark cocked a brow. “Then, let’s not make this about us. Let’s focus on survival. That’s our common interest here.”

Obviously, that was easier said than done, but you didn’t argue or complain. This was a rare moment of Mark willing to set your differences aside for a better purpose. At least for now, you intended to behave. 

Plus you wanted to see how long the two of you could go before Mark started barking. He looked sweet, but if anybody thought Mark was all sugar and rainbows, they clearly hadn’t met him. This boy was all fire. 

And you were air; gentle as a featherlight, ocean breeze, but capable of roaring like a tornado if provoked. Forceful enough to spread his flames out further, but not to blow them out. Mark was untameable. You had that in common. 

It sounded corny, but it was the truth. You bettered one another in some ways, but enabled one another in others. Your similarities seemed to work against you, neither of you wanting to set your pride aside. 

That was the problem. If you pushed, Mark pushed back harder. If Mark screamed, you screamed back louder. It was like a fucking seesaw that you couldn’t get off of. 

Rationally, an important question kept prodding at your ribcage. “How did you even find me?” you asked. 

“I had to look everywhere,” Mark said, slight exasperation in his tone. “I knew you wouldn’t be out in the open, so it was just a matter of finding out where you were hiding.”

You nodded. That would have to be a satisfactory response. You weren’t going to press him about it. “Okay, but if we’re going to be a team, we need to try and figure out who’s killing and what’s going on.”

Mark bobbed his head. “Yeah, I know. Have you been seeing anything suspicious lately? I noticed Jaehyun creeping out like he’s got something to hide.”

Your brows furrowed. “Seriously? I did too. When I was talking to Jeno in the elevator. Chungha looked a little suspicious, too.”

Mark obviously didn’t expect that. “You’re kidding. You know how Jaehyun said that he was downstairs when the gun went off?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“I saw Jaehyun coming from down the hall, where I also noticed Chungha come from. She came after him, but it looked timed. Kinda like how we used to leave at different times so nobody would think we were together.”

The mention of those times sent you back, perfectly calculating the ideal time to exit the same room without raising suspicions amongst your friends and foes. 

Bidding the thoughts to go away, you quickly recovered, mentioning, “That’s odd. I don’t know if it’s connected, but earlier when I was talking to Jaehyun, he excused himself to go upstairs.”

“Before the gun went off?” Mark asked, skeptical. 

You leaned down to fix the strap of your heel, which you’d slipped back on after you realized the intruder was only Mark, discerning that he was no threat. “Yeah, somebody texted him. From the face he was making, it looked urgent. I just assumed one of his relatives messaged him and he went to god knows where upstairs to take a call.” 

Mark shook his head in disapproval. Disappointment, maybe. “They’re in cahoots, that’s for sure.”

You pressed, “But why in the hell would Jaehyun and Chungha be working together? They’re not even on the same side.”

“Motives to kill,” Mark sighed, face twisted cutely in thought. It was so stressful pretending that you weren’t attracted to every little thing he did. His eyes widened a little and he said, “Wait.”

“Hm?”

“It’s common knowledge that when Johnny’s mom died, she left him to take over the family business, while Jaehyun got stuck with real estate…,” Mark trailed.

You quickly noticed where this was going and added, “Jaehyun always wanted to be the chief executive. Ever since we were teenagers, it was all he talked about.”

Mark tapped his chin. “I still remember what it was like. I couldn’t tell if he was more depressed about his stepmother dying, or not inheriting her multimillion dollar business.”

“You think he’s still holding that grudge?”

Mark shrugged. “Who knows?”

You subconsciously scratched your forearm. You didn’t realize, but Mark did. It was something you often did when you were anxious, which was basically all of the time. “Chungha’s been paying an awful lot of attention to Johnny’s jewelry case.”

“She likes anything bright and shiny,” Mark responded, thinking nothing of it. “Why? You think she stole something?”

You shrugged your shoulders and replied, “I think anything’s possible, but I don’t think it’s worth killing over. I mean, she’s not just rich. She’s wealthy. She can afford her own diamonds.”

Trying to figure those two out was like attempting to unravel the identity of Jack the Ripper. Jaehyun was composed and Chungha was vigilant. Their guarded natures combined made them both mysterious and lethal. 

Mark couldn’t wrap his head around it, either. But he was certain that those two were up to no good. “Well, we’ve got their motives. Let’s try to think of the others.”

“Johnny told me he and Haechan got into an argument before the party. He looked pretty pissed earlier,” you recalled. 

“Yeah, I picked up on that, too,” Mark said. When a guy who sent earthquakes wherever he went was agitated, it was impossible for the whole world not to notice. 

“Speaking of holding grudges,” you started, gathering any pieces you could find and linking them with each other. “Johnny left Yuta at that shack and because of it he got an injury that almost cost him soccer.”

Mark didn’t seem convinced. “Yeah, but Yuta’s been playing soccer just fine for years now. Plus he told Johnny to leave to find that weapon.”

“The reasoning doesn’t have to make sense to anybody but the killer.”

Mark was silent for a long time, cautiously contemplating. “What about Jeno?”

You were irked at the mention of your best friend, but knew that nobody was totally off the table. Not even yourself. You played innocent. “What about him?”

Mark exhaled a breath, but laughed. “You know, I can’t tell if you’re playing dumb, or if you’ve truly never noticed how much Jeno’s into you. You can’t seriously think him attacking Doyoung was an accident.”

Yuta had already brought you up to speed on the whole jealousy killer Jeno theory between Mark and his pals, which you were none too convinced about. “If Jeno’s the killer, I don’t understand what he’d get out of killing Johnny or Jodie. By your logic, that means you should be dead. Not your girlfriend.”

“Maybe Johnny likes you.”

“Ignoring the ridiculousness of that statement…” 

Mark interjected before you could continue, “Is it so ridiculous? You and Johnny dated, and it was your decision to break things off. You were never in love with him, but have you ever considered that maybe Johnny loved you?”

You hadn’t really considered it, you always assumed Johnny knew he was doing you a favor and it was nothing more or less, but that didn’t stop you from snapping, “Jeno knows where I stand with Johnny. That I was never in love with him. Why would he kill a man that isn’t a threat?”

“Did you like Doyoung back?”

“No,” you hissed. 

Mark shot, “And you don’t see him walking around here, do you? You said it yourself: the reasoning doesn’t have to make sense to anybody but the killer.”

“I think that says more about the faultiness of your theory than mine.”

Mark opened his mouth to speak, but you didn’t let him get a word in. 

You sneered, “And are you seriously going to ignore the fact that Jodie was killed? Carved out like a pumpkin. That sounds like something only somebody with a lot of rage for her would do.”

Mark was losing patience, you could tell from the look on his face. “Are you implying that I killed her?”

“I’m not implying a damn thing. But you were pretty nonchalant over the fact that you got an innocent girl killed,” you replied, definitely insinuating that he was responsible. “Outside of being tainted by your touch, that is.”

“Maybe you did it,” Mark snapped. 

You rolled your eyes. This was the second time you’d gotten this accusation today and you weren’t keen on hearing it again, but Mark was already yapping before you could tell him not to bother. 

“You couldn’t stand to see me with a girl that wasn’t you,” he said, a turmoil of wildfire dancing in his pupils. “So you got rid of her.”

You threw your head back and grunted, “Oh, fuck’s sake. Get over yourself.”

“Get over me,” Mark hissed. “We’ve been over for months. It was never gonna work, you know? Everything’s sunshine and rainbows during the honeymoon phase.”

“Fuck you,” you seethed, turning away and heading for the door. You didn’t know why you thought he was capable of having a civil conversation with you. So much for not making this about us. 

Mark grabbed your arm, glaring at you in disapproval. “I’m sorry, was this too much pressure for you? You couldn’t handle the heat and now you’re walking away again?”

You screamed, “You pushed me away!”

“Because you pushed me first,” Mark yelled, matching your energy. Matter of fact, what you gave, he doubled it and handed it back tenfold. And vice versa. 

Running your hands down your face, you wanted to scratch your skin off with your nails. “Dude. What the fuck are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about all those times you made me feel like you didn’t want me. All those times you left me alone without a reason why. You got so distant on me, baby. Really had me wondering if there was somebody else.”

Somebody else? You couldn’t believe he was serious. Your heart would never want anybody that wasn’t Mark, because she knew he was the only one that could satisfy her. 

Your face softened for a fraction of a second. “All I wanted was you.”

“You sure had a funny way of showing it,” Mark grumbled under his breath. 

Guilt flickered in your eyes, stinging them to crystals, but you didn’t let them fall. “I needed space. I liked being with you, but not at the expense of losing touch with my soul. I needed room to breathe.”

Mark frowned. “Why didn’t you just say that?”

You asked just as quickly, “Why didn’t you just ask?”

“It felt like a waste of time. I thought you already decided that you didn’t want me. That you were just another girl who underestimated how much attention I need.”

“Wow,” you mumbled quietly. Amused, but angry. “You fight, but for all the wrong reasons.”

Mark’s eyes flitted towards yours. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“That you wouldn’t fight for us to stay together, but you’ll shout in my face at literally any other given opportunity.”

Mark reined in his head, running his hands through his hair. “Listen, I’m no good at this relationship stuff.”

“I know.”

That made Mark bristle. It wasn’t just his fault, but you refused to hold yourself accountable. “You’re no expert, either.”

“I know,” you sighed, lips curled into a frown. 

Mark’s eyes flickered. 

It appeared you were finally realizing how egregiously the two of you had mutually fucked up. “We didn’t talk. And that was okay. Our problems were small enough that after we climbed into bed with each other they were long forgotten. But then they got bigger and we didn’t know what to do, other than what we’d always done.”

Mark scratched the back of his head. “But it didn’t work. The problem was still there.”

Part of the reason why you two never worked through the issue was because you failed to specifically identify the problem. Mark didn’t just want to be loved, he demanded it. And he did it by completely seizing power over your mind, body, and soul. 

Your mind in life. Your body in bed. Your soul in everything in between. 

You didn’t like to feel dominated in that way. It made you dig into your heels. Letting Mark exercise this assertive power over you, letting him have control over the tiniest piece of you that was left, it felt like a betrayal. To yourself, and to the dead.

Because you were still clinging to that girl. That girl whose hands were clear of blood and didn’t spend hours scrubbing under her nails away a stain that wasn’t really there. The girl who didn’t take that final blow to her friend’s chest and watch the light in his eyes dim until he was gone. 

It was cruel and unforgivable, but even with the hurt on Doyoung’s face, there was an understanding twinkle in his eyes. You’d seen it, for a tiny fraction of a second. Or maybe you imagined it so that it would be simpler to live with the crippling guilt. 

You were the girl he loved and the last thing he saw. Every anniversary, you swore one of the stars in the sky twinkled brighter. 

I didn’t have a choice; it was him, or all of us. What was my other option? Plus he was going to die either way. The police didn’t arrive on scene until dawn. He would have bled to his death if we didn’t finish him off. 

Mark knew he was high-maintenance and he knew the toll Doyoung’s death had on you, but he somehow never exactly pieced together how it would impact your relationship. That there would be days where you didn’t want hugs or kisses. You just wanted to be left alone.

Plus Mark was so sympathetic about everything you went through and all of your feelings to the point you assumed he would just know you needed space. Somehow you had mistaken his understandingness for being a mind reader. 

And Mark, somewhere along the line, sensed you drifting away, so he discarded you first. Mark didn’t get abandoned. It wasn’t in his nature to stick around when he knew he was on the brink of being cast aside, left high and dry. 

He wanted to be loved, but he wanted to love himself. And he was not against hurting himself, because the pain was easier to cope with than if he let somebody else hurt him.

At least he thought it would be. 

“We couldn’t just fuck and make up anymore, so we started to argue over petty things, and we never got to the core of the matter,” you said, picturing yourself back in that living room, shouting. 

Mark remembered, because it was all he’d been thinking about for months, asking himself what was the final blow in spite of being aware that he was the one who chose to break up. “Pillowtalk was the only time we really discussed our emotions. Remember?”

God, how could you not? This boy would fuck the shit out of you then snuggle you to sleep immediately after, chatting about anything under the sun (or moon) until your eyelids got too heavy and started to flutter closed. 

You simply nodded your head, unable to open your mouth. Though you both were being vulnerable, you were afraid of what you might’ve said. 

Mark chuckled. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but I always had these doubts about you, to be honest. You were too good to be true. Most girls get tired of me after a minute so I never stay too long, but you’ve been in my life since we were kids.”

Your eyes were sad when you glanced into his. “So why did you leave me? Why didn’t you fight?”

Mark’s eyes twinkled with regret as he whispered, “I was scared of being abandoned by the girl I loved. So I dipped. I ran before you could tell me that it was over. It gave me some kind of agency over my heartbreak.”

You laughed in disbelief. This breakup was so dramatic, and for what? “In hindsight, we’re just a pair of fucking idiots,” you said, shaking your head in disapproval. “Imagine if we just talked about this months ago. It could’ve all been so simple.”

Mark hung his head in shame, resting his hand at his nape. It would’ve spared him some pain. And so many tears. 

“I’ve spent months thinking that I don’t deserve love because of what I did that night. Because if I can’t have you, Mark, then there’s nobody else out there for me,” you told him, releasing the words you’d been holding back for eons. 

Mark blinked, processing. Then, deciding he was short of words, he said, “I’m done talking,” and smashed his lips against yours. You were surprised, but immediately molded your lips into his, feeling his hands instinctively get a hold of your hips. 

It had been a lifetime since you’d last felt his touch on your skin and to say you missed it would be an understatement. Your body felt like it was being reawakened, dormant sensations coming back to life again. 

Two star-crossed lovers, discreetly meeting each other for one final rendezvous before your individual lives inevitably drove a wedge between your passionate sparks. That, or death. For now, you were content to be in each other’s hold, kissing like it was the last time. 

As your bodies swung in each other’s embrace, you noticed Mark’s feet dancing dangerously close to the edge of the pool. “Careful,” you warned, shuffling him out of the way. “Don’t want your flames to get doused.”

Mark snickered. “Please, baby. I have enough fire for the both of us.”

“I know you do. That’s what I love about you.”

Mark’s ears perked up at that. You loved him? You didn’t know how long he had been waiting to hear you say that. And it made him remember what you told him only moments ago before his brain went blank. “I love you. Don’t ever think that you don’t deserve to be loved.”

Your chest filled with warmth, but you purred, “Or else what?”

Leaning into you, Mark nibbled at your ear a little before whispering, “Or else I’ll have to show you how much you mean to me.”

It was difficult to play nonchalant. Your heart was skipping beats now. You wanted Mark desperately and it drove you to the brink of insanity. “Oh, no. I’m so afraid.”

Mark grinned, dragged you away to a padded chaise. 

You sat there, your entire body excited, but your brain (at least for now) was still capable of thinking rationally and you asked, “Are we seriously about to fuck in a pool chair?”

“We’ve fucked in worse places and done even worse things,” Mark replied offhandedly, thinking about nothing but getting his hands on those pretty thighs of yours. 

You pressed your lips together, aware that you had little to zero grounds for argument. Bathrooms weren’t even anywhere close to the most outlandish location you and Mark had decided would be an apt backdrop for sexual intercourse. Those places were unspeakable. 

Mark took your silence as a victory and whispered silkily, “Sit back and relax, baby.”

You giggled. Mark had never left you unsatisfied. A time with this boy’s head between your legs was guaranteed to be a sacrilegiously fulfilling experience. 

Mark grabbed your left leg, draping it over the side of the chair so that he wouldn’t have to literally bend over backwards to go down on you, and when he noticed the gun poking out of your thigh holster, he laughed. “With your permission, I wanna take your gun. If it makes you feel better, I’ll set mine aside, too.”

You let him take your gun and disarm the weapon before setting it on a poolside table wedged between the chaise you were currently occupying and another. If this was some ruse to get you unarmed, Mark was simply stupid. He would’ve had way better opportunities moments prior. 

But it wasn’t. Mark was tugging your panties down your ankles, something you were certain he wouldn’t bother to do if he had murder on his mind. You usually felt naked when you were bare of a weapon, but something about Mark naturally made you relax. 

Your dress rode up above your hips, giving him complete access to your dripping pussy. Just thinking about what he was about to do to you, you swore, breathing became the most difficult chore. 

Mark took one fucking glimpse at your glistening pussy and almost howled like a goddamn wolf. Instead, the sound that emerged from the back of his throat was identical, animalistic and ravenous as if he couldn’t wait to dig into a full course. 

The comparison wasn’t far off, because as soon as he stopped staring hungrily at you in a way that made you shift, slightly self-conscious, his calloused palms were clasping your thighs tightly and his mouth was flush against your throbbing core. 

“Jesus. Fuck,” you moaned, thighs tensing already. And he just started. To be fair, it had been a couple of months since anybody’s hands - or mouth - had touched you there. You had been unable to give yourself to anybody that wasn’t Mark, which you felt like a total fool for when you saw him boo’d up with Jodie. 

And yet here you were, still letting him have his way with you, giving him the power to break you down and build you back up as he pleased. Your breaths were quick, your lips parting in a shaky exhale at every pass of his tongue against your glistening folds. 

It reminded him of the past couple of years, sneaking around to fuck in the most isolated location you could possibly find. All of those times he mounted you on a fancy bathroom counter to get his head between your thighs, or fucked you there so hard the mirrors clouded. 

All Mark knew was sex and destruction, and half of the time, those things came hand in hand. For a minute, he was more than that with you. Until you were gone and he knew he was at least partly to blame. He wanted to prove to you that he was more than your reckless lover. 

Though that would have to be put on hold. As of right now, his intentions consisted only of wrecking you.

“God, I missed the way you taste,” Mark grumbled with a mouthful of pussy. 

His voice was deep and handsome, and so sexy that you likely could’ve nutted then and there, too aroused to keep a rein on yourself. Mark had that effect on you and the worst part was that he knew it. Sex used to be a game of seduction, teasing each other for hours to see who would break first. 

Of course, you folded the better half of the time. Mark had fucking cheat codes. This boy knew your every weakness and used them to his advantage. The hell were you supposed to do when he made you watch recordings of the previous times he’d pleasured you? Not kiss the very ground that he walked on? 

Pfft. Yeah, right. Though you never went down without stating in defense, “You cheated!”

Oh, fuck Mark. He just had to be so good with his hands. And a pleaser. 

You always got your lick back, though. Mark may have won in the first half, but you knew exactly how to take him down. First, you had to make him think that he’d already won. Then, you had to return the favor, making him swear he saw stars. That was how you kept the balance. 

Mark’s tongue was expertly navigating your clit and you wanted to be mad at it, but all you could bring yourself to do was writhe in the gray chaise. Had not his hands been locking your thighs in place, you would’ve snapped them closed in sensitivity. Mark was not to be underestimated. This boy was way stronger than he seemed. 

You resigned yourself to the fact that your only option was to lie there and take it all. There was nowhere for you to escape. When it felt too good, it was a telltale warning that Mark would seize control of your whole body, and you were torn between fleeing and letting him have it. 

“Don’t try to run away from it, baby,” he whispered knowingly, though he knew you couldn’t resist the temptation of the satisfaction you were promised. “I’ve got you.”

You rolled your hips into his face in a hurried pursuit for relief, desperately wishing you had something to anchor yourself with and lower you back down to earth, but Mark had brought you to a constantly ascending high. 

Mark chuckled, because he knew he had your body down to a science. If you thought it couldn’t get anymore dangerously intense than this, you were wrong as hell and had another thing coming. Mark released one of your thighs, gathering your arousal on his sticky fingers, and fucked it right back into you. 

You gawked. You almost couldn’t believe he was making a mess out of you like this, but then you remembered that he was Mark fucking Lee. Taking your breath was what he did best. His mouth was still on you, sucking and licking, because you were the closest thing to heaven he would ever know and he couldn’t get enough. 

All the while, he thumbed your clit, making a tremble roar through your utter being and your toes clench, tucking into themselves. 

“I’m so close,” you whimpered in the tiniest voice. 

“I know,” Mark replied, pulling back. “What did you think I was doing all the extra shit for?”

You winced your eyes closed and heaved the thickest breath, attempting to regain control over your body, but to absolutely no avail. That was when you came to terms with your fate. Mark was going to finish you off. 

“You know what I want. Let go for me,” Mark whispered darkly. “Do it on my fingers.”

“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck,” you chanted, feeling something tense in your belly. The pleasure blending with the yearning created a sensation unlike any other. Your whole figure was engulfed in flames, scorching you from head to doe. 

It was closing in. You could feel sin’s darkly cloaked hand reeling you in, pulling you closer and closer, and closer to the jagged edge. There was no point in struggling; you were in nature’s grasp now and whatever happened was entirely up to her. 

As someone who prided himself on his ability to please, Mark took great delight in pleasuring you and it was no shock that he knew exactly how to coax you towards climax. “Yeah, that’s it, baby. Let it all go. I’ve got you.”

Finally, you started to cum, ecstasy shooting through your body every which way in the form of uncontrollable warmth, making your head feel light and your toes curl. Mark’s encouraging words became static to your ears, your senses totally overpowered, the life leaving your body for all but a split second. 

Mark was sporting the slyest of grins, watching you wind back down as if he was marveling at his own handiwork. You should’ve been singing his praises, applauding him for his grand efforts. “There you go. Good fucking girl.”

Sex was one of the most powerful weapons in Mark’s arsenal. He sucked at relationships, but he could only walk away after claiming the best nut of your life. 

After a moment or two out of the atmosphere, you came back to the ground, having just stopped tightening around Mark’s digits and shuddering involuntarily. You raised your eyes to meet his own, chest undulating. Gripping the arms of the chair for dear life. “Fuck you. You are the devil.”

Mark snickered, reluctantly recouping his fingers from between your legs. “Oh, yeah, baby. Fuck. I always loved that dirty mouth of yours.”

You rolled your eyes. He must’ve forgotten how good you were at taking back everything he stole from you and giving him damage tenfold in retaliation. Those sets of expletives would be escaping his pretty pink lips any minute now. This was only the beginning of the end. 

Throwing your leg back down, you climbed out of the chaise, standing to your feet with a little stumble. 

“Whoa there, baby. Be careful,” Mark said, grabbing a hold of your wobbling frame and holding you flush against his chest. “I’d hate it if something bad happened to you.”

God, you were weak in the fucking knees for this man. Literally. 

You grabbed Mark by his suit tie and pushed him back first onto the chaise. His eyes went wide in surprise, but he quickly recovered and grinned. “Damn, babe. I like where this is going.”

You chuckled, crawling on top of him and pulling his face into yours. Mark’s hands were below your ribs, holding you in his arms while the two of you made out for what felt like an eternity. In the best way ever. 

Mark grunted none too quietly when you felt his tight bulge pressed sharply to your core and mischievously got the clever idea to grind against it. The sound had you throbbing again, desperate to mount his cock then and there, but you were bent on teasing him at your own expense. 

The wet smack of your lips meeting only enhanced your arousal further and while you did a significantly better job at keeping composed, Mark was losing his mind by the minute. 

His hands dropped from your skin to his pants in an attempt to free his aching cock, but you were quicker, gathering his wrists in your palms and pinning them over his head. “Mm-mm. My turn, baby. Just… sit back and relax,” you mimicked, refusing to let him take the wheel. 

Mark let you have your way with him. Frankly, he would let you do whatever you pleased. 

You did the honor of unfastening Mark’s pants, pulling them and his underwear down his thighs just enough for his stiff cock to spring to attention. You licked your lips, salivating. The tension in your core got even tighter. 

Mark groaned when you pressed your lips to the head of his cock, kissing it tenderly. That understanding, patient guy was nowhere to be found when his dick was involved. Or at least when he wasn’t the giver. Instead, Mark was less than human, a voracious beast that longed to feed. 

Your tender kisses became delicate licks, neither of which provided Mark very much relief and you were aware. “Fuck. Baby,” he called out to you, hopeful that you’d quit the games soon. “Do something.”

“Something like… this?” you asked, gripping his hard cock and pumping him in your fist. Then, seconds later, you sucked him into your mouth, making all of the air flee Mark’s lungs. 

Mark immediately cursed loudly. His cock hadn’t known this amount of relief since he left you and he wasn’t ashamed to admit it. Little did you know, Mark hadn’t fucked anyone else since you, either. It would’ve felt like cheating, like a betrayal, even though he knew that you were over. 

Probably why Jodie had been throwing herself onto Johnny, hoping to get some dick, because the boy that brought her there only wanted to kiss her when you were there. 

“Fuck,” Mark groaned like it was the only word he knew. It probably was, all things considered. It wasn’t uncommon for his mind to go blank when your lips were airtight around his cock. His whole body shuddered in sensitivity, having been aroused since he started eating you out. 

And you were just sitting there, straddling him like a little devil, doing things to his cock that had him rethinking his whole life. Nobody had ever riled him up like this. Nobody instinctively knew how to get him off this quickly. Nobody, but you. 

Mark was looking at you with a certain darkness when he somehow summoned enough willpower to ask, “Don’t finish me yet. Please.”

You came up for air, but obeyed his request. You were well aware that you could finish him both ways, but there was no way of knowing how much time you had left before something inevitably demanded your attention, and you wanted to ride him so badly it made your head spin. 

Mark could finally breathe, but he should’ve known that it would’ve been short-lived. You didn’t waste a second to grab his cock and mount him, slowly but certainly sinking down to take it all. 

Your wet walls were quick to clamp down on his thick cock, drawing a deep, low swear out of Mark’s lips. Your nails gripped his shoulders for purchase, eyes winced closed, taking a minute to relish in the feeling of being full again contentedly. 

“Mark,” you whimpered, feeling yourself throb and tighten. You could’ve cried at the relief, so thrilled to be as close to Mark as your bodies could physically be again, and selfishly still aching for more. 

Mark blinked through the haze in his mind that you had single-handedly constructed, thrown back into the mist the second he heard you call out his name. His eyes closed, mind flickering with images of you, recalling all of those times you rode the soul out of his dick. 

You were an ethereal seductress, Mark was convinced, deceptively leading him to peril, rendering him helpless at the mercy of your enchanting charms. Your body did unspeakable things to him. With how tight you were around his cock, Mark would follow you to his demise. 

Was it fucked up to have sex while people were dying all around you? Yes. But that’s what you and Mark were. Two fucked up kids who never got healing.  

You felt healed when you were with each other, stripped to your truest forms, without fear of judgment. Mark taught you how to let go. You taught Mark how to let himself be loved. 

At least you made up before you fucked. In your opinion? That was progress. 

“Fuck, you ride me so good. I swear, you’re the best I’ve ever had,” Mark said, obsessed with your every motion as you rocked your hips down onto his cock, resuscitating all of those carnal sensations you woke up inside his soul. 

The best I’ve ever had. Your mind was spiraling, faint from the heat burning your bodies up a thousand degrees hotter. Your body was built to take him, or at least it felt that way. Like the satisfaction you got from each other could only exist between the two of you. 

Again, you grabbed Mark by his tie, pulling him in for another heart-stopping kiss. There was no hesitation. He kissed you back devilishly, getting a hold of your waist tightly, sucking on your tongue without bothering to be clean or slow about it. 

You could kiss Mark until the day you died. You never wanted to forget how he tasted in your mouth. How he felt pressed flush against your semi-naked skin, your soft lips. How he looked at you like you were the only woman he’d ever loved, ruined for any other girl.

Mark wanted to complain when you parted from his lips, but suddenly they were on his neck and he sensed a shiver run down his spine, shock and pleasure taking the sound before it dared to leave his mouth. Your teeth grazed his collarbone, finding his pulse and sucking at it. 

You watched Mark melt on the spot and giggled. Your friends and his friends were definitely going to clock the bright red marks on his throat, but neither of you could bring yourselves to care. If you wanted to suck and nibble at his neck, then by all means, Mark would let you do whatever you wanted. 

Mark’s guttural groans were your greatest vice, making you noticeably throb around him, which thus only yanked a mouth-watering hiss out of his lips. He was looking at you through fluttering eyes, the corners of his vision dark and reeling, watching you ruin him from below. 

To be fair, you already ruined him. All those days Mark spent waiting for you, waiting to hold you, were days of complete and total annihilation. Not only the ones after the breakup, but before it. Those days where he only watched you from afar, dwelling on you. Pining for you. 

You separated from his neck to say, “God fucking damn. I love your dick. I love the way you feel inside me.”

As if Mark wasn’t already fighting off his looking orgasm. “Yeah?”

“No one will ever feel as good as you. I just wanna keep you close to me like this, Mark. Forever. I don’t want anything to come between us ever again and I won’t let it.”

“Me, too,” Mark wheezed, his breaths barely enough to keep him alive, though he didn’t mind it because he had you. You were on top of him, killing him softly and giving him life all at the same time, and it was more than he could handle. 

You could tell from his tone of voice that he was dangling over the edge and was attempting to stave off his impending orgasm, holding himself at bay. Mark didn’t want this to end so soon. You just came back into his life and he wasn’t keen on letting go of those endorphins. 

It wasn’t like you were far from release yourself. You couldn’t resist it, not when Mark kept making those sexy fucking sounds and your bodies were exchanging warmth. You couldn’t wait to take him to bed properly, bones tensing with the very desire to do things to him that you sadly couldn’t do here. 

Mark felt the same way. He wished your clothes were completely off, but this would have to suffice for now and that was fine. This was enough to kill any man. Your soft sighs as you rolled your perfect hips, your bodies skin to skin, directly absorbing everything you did to each other. 

You were too good to be true, as Mark said. He oftentimes thought he was dreaming. It was unbelievable that a girl of your caliber could love him through each of his many flaws and proudly stake her claim to him, and in a way, that was what you were doing now. Telling the whole universe that you were Mark’s and you didn’t give a fuck who saw. 

Mark’s eyes tightened closed. You were making short work of him and he was minutes away from coming undone. Maybe seconds. 

Taking one look at you Mark was both relieved and shattered out of his goddamn mind. For one, you were obviously also standing at the very threshold of climax, though he could’ve pieced that together from how vigorously you were riding him. To say the least. 

But for two, you looked bewitching as hell with your face tensed in pleasure, and it was making the blood rush to Mark’s cock. 

“Fuck. Shit. Fuck,” Mark cursed, because they were the only words that would come to his head, other than the occasional, “Jesus Christ.” It was safe to say that you had him right where you wanted him; so far over the edge that there was no returning. No going back. 

You moaned his name, preparing to take him there. Mark was already gone. He blew his long blond hair out of his face so that he could take a better look at you, going to town like no other before you. 

Mark hoped that you wouldn’t finish him earlier than he needed, that you wouldn’t pull out all of your priceless tricks, but he would’ve been naive to truly believe that you would let him off that easily. No, you wanted to wreck him thoroughly. The same way that he had wrecked you. 

At long last it was time to reap what he’d sowed. And you absolutely did not intend to show him any mercy. You wanted to see him at his worst. 

Finally, you leaned into Mark’s ear like he feared that you would, whispering in the velvetest voice you could, “Come on, baby. I know that you’re close. Don’t you wanna finish inside me?”

You hit the jackpot. Mark’s brain faltered at the thought of releasing his load inches deep inside of you, imagining the sated noise that you would make when you sensed him empty his balls inside of you. “Fuck.” The temptation burned hotter than before, sending tingles through his limbs. 

“I’m gonna cum,” you told Mark in a shockingly level voice, though he could still hear a slight tremble in your tone. “And I want you to cum with me. Please?”

Mark bobbed his head. You were so deep in his head that he would do whatever you wanted, no matter how insane the request. Plus that sweet tone you were using on him was getting under his skin, making his face strain. 

You quickened your pace, pulling out all of the stops to get him to finish, knowing he was weak and defenseless against your methods. Mark started to shudder and it became obvious that his fight was over. It was a telltale hint. You were going to get him off. 

And then it hit him. It sped into him like a semi-truck on the interstate, a head-on collision that burst into an uncontrollable path of fire, setting him off. Mark cursed in the lowest tone he could make as he finally orgasmed, a steadfast grip on your hips. 

His hips bucked up into yours as he rode out his high, releasing every drop of semen into your hot vice-like pussy. You moaned like he knew you  would at the sensation, trembling with your second release, nails digging into his shoulders that were (thank fuck) safeguarded by his suit. 

After all was said and done, you collapsed onto his chest, panting for breath. Mark took a few blinks to try and clear the misty look out of his eyes. They were dark and soulless, thanks to you. For half a minute, he swore he couldn’t barely see a damn thing. 

Neither of you wanted to move for the longest time. You desperately wanted to remain there in Mark’s arms and he was content with just holding you there. Though in favor of looking presentable lest somebody caught you, you forced yourself to come up off his softening cock, grabbing a pool towel to clean up your mess. 

Mark stubbornly fixed his clothes, though with the look on his face, all you could liken him to was a heartbroken puppy that nobody wanted to play with. “Dude. It’s already over.”

You checked your phone and chuckled, “Mark, it’s been like an hour.”

Right as you were about to set your phone back down on the poolside table, it vibrated in your hand, your screen flashing brightly. You glanced at it again, noticing a message from Johnny. Living room. Now. 

You noticed Mark’s phone had also pinged when you flitted your gaze to him. “Johnny?”

“Yup,” Mark replied, suspicious. “What do you think? Set up?”

You huffed, “A hell of a smart one. Even if it is, we’ve got to go check it out.”

“Yeah, but I just wanna go home with you,” Mark grumbled under his breath. 

You frowned, patting his back. This night would be over eventually, whether the daylight came first or Johnny ceasing it brought it on. 

Mark stepped back, letting you tug your dress back down. You were wearing your thinking face again so it came to him as no shock when you asked, “Who do you think did it?”

“I don’t know. We’re all capable of the unspeakable.”

“That’s what scares me,” you whispered. 

Mark’s lips made a line. 

The two of you grabbed your weapons, tucking them back into their hiding spots. After making sure you looked presentable, you and Mark emerged from the pool area, not bothering to look like you weren’t together or you still loathed each other. 

You loved Mark and Mark loved you. Why should you hide? 

To your misfortune, you and Mark were the last to arrive, which inevitably gathered unwanted attention. Your attention, however, was on the gash on Jeno’s arm, and you came up to him to ask fretfully, “What the hell happened?”

“While you and Mark were obviously busy making babies, somebody attacked Jeno. At least we know it wasn’t you two,” Haechan said, the perfect balance of sweetness and venom in his tone. 

Johnny glared, but continued, “That, and I noticed something from my case was missing. My mother’s necklace was stolen.”

You and Mark knowingly glanced at each other. It was you that said, “Well, I’m not saying she did it, but Chungha’s been paying very close attention to your case lately.”

Jeno hissed, “Is that what you’re worried about right now? I need a doctor! Johnny, you can’t possibly think we’re staying here all fucking night so that you can play Benoit Blanc.”

“First of all, I didn’t steal anything. If I wanted something, I would just ask. But your mother’s necklace? Johnny, I’m your friend,” Chungha replied as if it was the most absurd accusation ever. 

Johnny hadn’t smiled in so long it was starting to become terrifying. And you honestly couldn’t blame him. First somebody tried to kill him, and now his dead mother’s necklace was stolen? You’d go ballistic, but Johnny was relatively level when he said, “I consider you all my friends. And yet one of you tried to shoot me dead.”

Chunga said nothing. Her lips were in a frown. 

“So we’re just going to ignore me?” Jeno asked bitterly. 

“It’s a light gash, not a bullet wound. If you don’t get an infection, you will be fine,” Jaehyun told him coolly. 

Jeno grumbled something under his breath incoherently. 

You patted his back compassionately. There was a lot going on and it was hard to divide your attention between Jeno’s cut and Johnny’s stolen items. “I don’t understand the purpose of this meeting. Awareness? What are we doing to figure out who’s behind all this bullshit?”

Jeno hummed in agreement. 

“I don’t understand the purpose of these parties,” Haechan huffed exasperatedly. “Nevermind. Yes, I do. I know exactly why we come together every fucking year. We don’t see each other to ‘keep the peace’ or ‘remember Doyoung.’ We do it to forget. Forget what happened.”

Johnny opened his mouth to say something, but Haechan didn’t let him. And for once, you weren’t complaining. 

Haechan glanced at Johnny’s glaring face and said, “Don’t look at me like that, man. We’ve all been thinking it. I’m just the only one with enough courage to admit it. We all committed a sin. Now that we have our fancy public lives, we wanna make sure the truth stays dead and buried.”

You glanced to your feet as Haechan went on this little tangent of his. It was supposed to make you uncomfortable. How could you live comfortably with what you’d done?

"Each of you come here to save your own fucking asses, because if the media finds out that you're killers, it makes Mom and Dad look bad. That's it. That's the purpose," he ranted, ending his tirade bluntly. 

Well, he sure didn't beat around the bush. But that was the Haechan that you'd always known, confident and outspoken. To his right, Yuta was standing there, nodding along at everything he said in approval.

Jeno clapped his hands together. "You know what? I can't stand this guy, but round of applause. He's right."

You couldn’t argue even if you’d wanted to. After graduation, the group was indefinitely separated into pieces, but the eight of you agreed to never speak of what happened again. Of course, all of you went on to have successful careers, mostly because of who your parents were. 

Mark was the only exception. Your relationship wasn’t only private to your friends, but to the whole world. And for a weird reason. In spite of his affluence, your mother would have a heart attack if she knew you were dating somebody that wasn’t born into his wealth. 

Once upon a time, Mark Lee was a regular boy from Toronto. Somebody you vouched for and let into your circle, assuring him your friends weren’t just stuck-up rich kids. And he happened to make a killing doing something he loved. 

You wished you could say the same. 

Johnny said nothing for a long time, standing there with his hands posed behind his frame, which made you question him. It made you recall what Jeno had told you in that elevator a couple of hours earlier. People always look at the guy with his hands dirty. No one ever suspects the guy with his hands behind his back.

You glanced at the boy you were holding. Jeno noticed, peering back at you, but there was something different about his stare. Like there was something paining him. Then again, he did take a knife to one of his arms. 

Your gaze flitted back to Johnny. But how could he be guilty? It would’ve taken an insane amount of self-assurance to think that he’d pull a stunt like this off. And Johnny had plenty, but it wasn’t in his nature. Instinctively, he was a protector. It was this man’s natural instinct to defend what he loved with his life. 

Johnny leaving Yuta in that shack to search for a weapon wasn’t the whole tale. He left him there, but the weapon he found was the same one he used to kill your tormentor. This man risked his own life to put an end to the most traumatic night of your lives. Like that, the fight was over. 

You narrowed your eyes. Somebody here was guilty. But it wasn’t Johnny.

“You’re all dismissed,” Johnny said after a long pause. 

There was something recognizably off in Johnny’s tone, but you didn’t get the chance to ask questions, because Mark tugged you away from Jeno and led you down the hallway for all to see. 

“Dude, what the hell?” you screeched. 

Mark put his finger on his lips and said, “Somebody sliced up Jeno and I think that same person is framing Chungha.”

“Yeah, that’s what I was thinking,” you huffed, rubbing your head. “I hope it wasn’t Haechan. He’s such a cancer.”

“Actually, he’s a Gemini.”

“That’s not…,” you trailed. “Nevermind. I love you, Mark.”

Mark still wasn’t used to hearing those words leaving your mouth again and instinctively he drew you into him, kissing you against the closest fucking wall with all of the affection within his very bones. 

You were so happy that you forgot you were even there. That danger and death were sputtering and crepitating all around you, because none of it seemed to matter when you were with Mark. 

“You didn’t tell me you two were back together.” 

Jeno’s voice startled you back into brutal reality. You would recognize it anywhere, but the ferocity in it was foreign. And you quickly noticed the gun in his hand. 

Mark tensed, but hid you behind him. He went to draw his own weapon, but Jeno threatened, “Any sudden moves and I’ll shoot.”

Your heart was racing. Fear coursed through your veins, but it was washed over by unadulterated anger. You broke out of Mark’s grasp, hissing, “What is this?”

“Baby, don’t,” Mark told you. There was worry in his eyes, but none for himself. All of it was for you. 

Jeno laughed, but you could tell that deep down he was bristling. “No, let her. She just doesn’t fucking listen, does she? I told her that you were bad luck, and here she is with her tongue down your throat. You can’t save somebody that doesn’t want to be saved, Mark.”

Mark was irritated, but said nothing. Not with a gun pointed squarely at your chest. 

It was overwhelmingly obvious now that Mark and his friends had been right about Jeno, but you hadn’t realized until now, when it was far too late. “You’ve been jealous this whole time?”

“Everybody else noticed that I was in love with you,” Jeno said with total vitriol. “Never you. You’re too busy sulking over Mark to pay me a lick of fucking attention.”

If it weren’t for the weapon glaring you down, you would’ve been tempted to give him a piece of your goddamn mind. The sting of the betrayal sitting in your gut numbed you to most of your fear, but not all of it. 

An irrational, heartbroken man that felt entitled to your affection holding a gun? There was no telling what he would decide to do. 

Jeno was spiraling and it was obvious. He was at the end of his tether which made him all the more dangerous, because that meant anything was fair game. “You know, I thought I took care of us. I thought that having Doyoung out of the picture would give you no choice but to look at me, but I was wrong. First it was Johnny. Then, it was Mark. It's like I wasn't even an option.”

Fighting back the incoming threat of tears, you shook your head and tried to keep your voice level, “You killed Doyoung so that you could have me?”

Jeno answered smartly, “Nah. That was all you, babe. But I would’ve done it. I would’ve done anything for us.”

Mark wanted to pull you out of harm’s way, but Jeno cocking his gun at him made him still. Never in his life had he felt so helpless. His heart was thudding so violently, twisting in his chest, because the girl he loved was in danger and he couldn’t do a damn thing to help her. 

You couldn’t tell if he was addressing you or Mark when he said, “Love is a weakness. You want to, but you don’t want to. Your brain’s telling you this, but your heart’s telling you that. Who do you listen to? What’s good and what’s bad?”

Your head was spinning. Your muscles were tensing with the overpowering urge to attack, as were Mark’s, but you knew Jeno was a threat. You coaxed sweetly, “Jeno, put the gun down. You and I, we’re friends. We can talk this out like we always have.”

That only made Jeno’s rage worse and he snapped, “That right there is your fucking problem. You think I’m stupid. Don’t you know I can tell when you’re lying to me?”

You heaved a breath. If it weren’t for Mark’s body still pressed so closely to yours, you probably would’ve panicked. 

Jeno was mercurial in his feelings, switching from resentful to indifferent, to petulant like a newborn child. His voice was wounded as he confessed, “I’ve spent so long wishing that I could have you there with me. And every time it feels like I get close, there’s another guy. I’m back where I started. It’s always one step forward and three steps back with you.”

You shook your head, slipping your fingers through Mark’s. “What’s your endgame then, Jeno? You know I’ll never be yours.”

“I know,” Jeno said, glaring as his eyes dropped to your intertwined hands. “And that’s why if I can’t have you, nobody will.”

There was a loud crackling in the air, so loud your ears started to ring, but you thought it was out of shock. 

It was over before it even started. Mark shoved you out of the way, sending you barreling to the ground just in time for the gunshot to miss you, but pierce him through the shoulder. 

Jeno wasn’t none too pleased about the bullet missing his ultimate target, but because he’d already gotten started, there was no way that he was stopping anytime soon. The second he raised his hand to fire another bullet, a second shot echoed out behind his frame. 

You gasped when Jeno collapsed, a pool of blood peeking out from under him, but you crawled over to the body crouched beside him and shrieked, “Mark!”

Mark was leaning against the wall, taking inhale after exhale. You tried to reserve panic for later, taking off Mark’s coat and applying pressure to the wound. His eyes winced closed and he hissed, “Fuck! That hurts.”

“I know, baby. I know. But we’ve gotta stop the bleeding,” you replied, vision blurring from tears. You hoped to god the bullet missed his nerves. 

Jaehyun came rushing over as Johnny looked over Jeno’s body, making certain that he was no longer a threat. He took his gun and said to Jaehyun, “Call emergency services.”

Jaehyun bobbed his head, pulling his phone out of his pocket immediately and calling a number he had on speed dial. 

“Keep the pressure on him. I know it doesn’t look that serious in the movies, but a shoulder wound can kill him,” Johnny told you, intent on sitting there until an ambulance arrived. 

In the corner of your eye, you noticed him pull a chain from Jeno’s coat and mumble something under his breath. 

You briefly lifted one hand off Mark’s shoulder to wipe a tear away. Being with Mark again blinded you, tricking you into thinking that you’d finally be happy solely because you had Mark back, but this burst your bubble. It’d never be over. Days of living in unbroken fear would never stop. The internal warring would never end. It was a constant. 

“I hate that sound,” you mumbled under your breath. 

Mark’s voice was quiet, but he pressed his other hand to your forearm to let you know he was still there. “What sound?”

An invisible icy breeze crept over your shoulders, making you shudder as you replied, “Gunshots.”

“Then, we’ll go somewhere we’ll never have to hear them again. It’ll be just you and me. Maybe a family, if you want one.”

“I’d like that,” you whispered.

Mark smiled as wide as he could, squeezing your forearm. 

“And then what happened?” Maxine asked. 

Mark, holding your six-year-old daughter in his lap, answered, “I went to the hospital. Your mommy rode with me in the back of an ambulance.”

Turning the corner to your bedroom with cups of hot cocoa in your hands, you threw your husband a look and asked, “Is it a good idea to be telling our children about this, Mark?”

August swiftly begged, “Wait no. We want to hear the rest of the story about how Dad got his scar. Right, Maxi?”

Maxine bobbed her head. “Mommy, please?”

Mark’s bottom lip protruded, mimicking the cute pouts and puppy eyes of your shared children. “Please, Mama?”

You playfully rolled your eyes at your husband’s behavior, but he and your kids were too damn irresistible. “Oh, what the heck. Okay. Fine. Go on.”

Maxine stood on her father’s thighs, dancing excitedly in celebration. Mark watched her fondly, but kept a close eye to make sure she didn’t fall. August, on the other hand, simply smiled. He’d always been curious about you and his father’s life endeavors. 

You passed cups of hot cocoa to your two kids, both of whom gave you a sweet, “Thank you.”

August took a sip and asked, “So, what happened at the hospital?”

“I had to get a surgery on my shoulder,” Mark explained. “When I woke up and I could keep my eyes open for longer than a few minutes at a time, it wasn’t Christmas eve anymore. It was New Years.”

You bobbed your head. “I spent Christmas with your father in that hospital. I was supposed to go home to have dinner with my parents and a bunch of shareholders, but I couldn’t leave his side. Especially not without knowing if he was okay.”

The only time you left was when you literally had no other option. Bathroom breaks or the doctors kindly asking for you to leave. The others occasionally came to give him a visit as well, but as long as Mark was there, that hospital was your new home. 

Their company meant a lot back then. It helped not to be too lonely there from time to time. You half expected a huge, ‘I told you so’ or something from all of Mark’s friends, but they were surprisingly sympathetic. 

Imagine Mark’s surprise when he woke up for good and you told him that Haechan had even hugged you. 

Maxine’s eyes winced closed. “Ow! That’s hot,” she exclaimed, setting her mug on the nightstand. 

“Careful, sweetie. You’ll burn yourself,” Mark said, eyes flickering with care. 

Your lips curled into a grin. You liked watching Mark sometimes, like you weren’t even there. Here and there, you would peek around the corner after coming home, listening to the sounds of your husband fathering your kids. He was so attentive and patient with them. It meant everything to know your babies were in good hands. 

Mark showed Maxine how to blow her hot cocoa and she mimicked his actions with cautious sips, demanding politely in between, “Keep talking. I wanna hear the rest of the story. Please?”

You chuckled. This little girl would follow up the most aggressive demand with a sweet-sounding ‘please?’

“Your mommy had to enlighten me on what happened after I went to the hospital, because I was too out of it to see the mystery unfold in real time,” Mark replied. 

You nodded your head. You still remembered sitting there beside that hospital bed, ceaseless beeping fading into background noise after enough hours spent basically alone. You’d told Mark, “He tried to kill Johnny to throw off whatever investigation succeeded the shooting.”

Mark had blinked, processing. Thinking took entirely too much strength hooked to whatever equipment was keeping him alive in that damn hospital. “What about Jodie?”

“Jodie was collateral damage, maybe a surrogate. I was obviously the actual object of his rage. His endgame. It gives me chills, thinking about how he smiled in my face when he knew he wasn’t gonna leave that party till he or I was dead.”

The little flashback made you fight a sigh. People had betrayed you before, but none like that. You banished the thoughts away and kept entertaining your kids. Jeno was gone. In hell somewhere, hopefully. 

As you snuggled under the blankets beside your son, he questioned curiously, “Who stabbed Jeno?”

“The medical examiner looked at him. She said the wound was obviously self-inflicted to a trained eye,” you replied with a snicker. At first, you were outraged. Nowadays, all you could do was laugh. 

You weren’t even slightly worried about your kids comprehension skills as you regaled them on that ever so wonderful time in your life. Your kids were brilliant. Maybe it was all those books they liked to read, but you could have the most advanced back-and-forth conversation with those two and they would understand every single word. Sometimes it was frightening. 

“And to think, he had such a fit over an injury he made himself,” Mark added, shaking his head in astonishment. 

The thought made you want to roll your eyes, but another one made you want to burst into laughter. “God, do you remember his face when Jaehyun told him that he’d be fine? I think he and Johnny suspected Jeno was the killer.”

Maxine was beaming from ear to ear. “Uncle Johnny is so cool. Is he still coming over next weekend?”

You bobbed your head. “Yup. He said he has a surprise for you. And before you ask, I’m not telling.”

Maxine pouted. “Please?”

“Nope. Your cute tricks won’t work on me this time. I fortunately value my life and Uncle Johnny will kill me if I tell you,” you replied, crossing your arms. 

Maxine sighed sadly. You hated it when she did that. It made you want to give her the entire universe.  

Fortunately, Maxine forgot rather quickly, because she whipped around and asked her father, “Daddy, how long did it take you to heal?”

“I was all better the next day,” Mark lied through his teeth. 

You deadpanned, “He’s lying. He was in the hospital for a week and it took three months before he was even slightly normal again.”

Then, you moved here. Jaehyun and Chungha came over to help you with interior design. Imagine your shock when you found out the reason they were suspiciously walking around Johnny’s penthouse was because they were sneaking around to kiss and hook up. Apparently, they were taking a page out of your book. 

You glanced at the alarm clock on your nightstand. Noticing that it read eleven o’clock, you said enthusiastically, “Alright, kids. Who’s ready to open up their Christmas presents?”

There was a loud chorus of, “Me!” Your kids started to jump up and down on your bed in excitement, nearly crushing your legs, exactly as they had done when they woke you and your husband up a couple of hours ago. 

Mark chimed in, “First one there gets to open up their biggest present first.”

Immediately, Maxine and August hopped off your bed, racing each other to the living room as quickly as possible before the other could get there. 

You couldn’t help but giggle. Never in a billion years did you imagine having this future with Mark, but you were endlessly grateful. “Merry Christmas, love of my life.”

Mark leaned in to kiss your cheek. “Merry Christmas, baby. I’ve got a little surprise gift for you later.”

“Oh?”

Mark snickered at the mischief on your face. “It’s not what you’re thinking.”

“How do you know what I’m thinking?”

“Because you get that little look on your face,” Mark replied with a sly grin. 

You shook your head, but you were still smiling. “Okay. If it’s not that, then what is it?”

“If I told you, it wouldn’t be a surprise.”

“Okay, fine. Have it your way. I don’t care,” you groaned. 

Mark was sporting the biggest smile ever. For what, you had absolutely no clue, until he pulled you for another kiss and confessed, “I’m so glad we made up that one Christmas.”

Your skin came alive against his. Your whole body was filled with bliss and wonder. You laid your head on his chest, feeling his heart race. “Me too, baby.”

hey babe <3 i got a haircut

it was the text no girlfriend wanted to receive and it was your growing fear as you watched mark's hair get longer and longer. you had expressed to him how much you loved his long hair. it had become a daily activity where he would lay his head in your lap as you played with and put his hair into weird hairstyles. you took the time every morning to tangle your fingers in it and run your hands through the long locks as sleep still lingered in the air. your stomach dropped as you opened your phone and saw that very text.

how much ...

you texted him back almost immediately. it was ultimately mark's decision to cut his hair and even with how dramatic you where, you were still going to stand beside your man; even if he was bald.

just a little off the top nothing too much

and dramatic is what you where when he walked into the shared apartment. his hair that had grown past his eyes was cut back to being a little above them. the back of it that had grown to his neck and was beginning to curl now revealed a fresh undercut. "how do you like it baby?" mark had a huge grin on his face that was hard to fight against. "it looks so good," your voice was shakier than you had wanted it to be. you could feel tears brimming your eyes.

mark was quick to rush over to you, "what's wrong?" he took you into his arms. "you're bald," you finally sobbed out. you hiccuped into his chest as you clung onto him. he laughed and patted your head, "i'm not bald. it was just a little cut". you cried harder into his chest, "they took it all off". he let out another laugh and just held you close to him. your sobs finally subsided and you pulled away to finally get a close up look of the new haircut. you felt tears in your eyes again and mark stared at you in shock as you practically flung yourself back into his arms. "what happened now? you don't like it?" he moved you away to wipe your tears and kiss your forehead.

"you're so fine," was the only sentence you were able to choke out.

monetary value. (m) | richkid!mark

pairing: richkid!mark x richkid!reader

words: 8k+

summary: falling in love with mark lee is not as easy as it seems. especially when you’re both engaged to other people.

genre: angst, fluff, smut

warnings: dom!mark, sub!reader, creampie, kind of infidelity, little exhibitionism, office sex, riding, unprotected sex, overstimulation

thank you for 1400 followers!!

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