you will never know - nomin au

Chapter VII

|Jaemin

Jeno brought me to a silent alley, crowd less, and continued entering a basement with a neon sign on its door saying, "fuck off".

"Welcome to our hideout," he said and opened the door.

His friends are already inside, two are playing billiards and the other two are talking to each other. The neat-looking guy glared at the person he was talking to and then at Jeno.

"I'm gonna get in trouble but anyways," he whispered at me.

"Everyone, I brought Jaemin," he announced to his friends.

They all waved and smiled at me and I returned the favor. I kind of feel welcomed but there's some tension going on.

"Now explain, Jeno. Since Haechan won't say shit then I'm expecting something clear from you," the neat-looking guy asked Jeno.

"About what?" Jeno asked nervously.

"Don't ask me that. You know exactly what I'm talking about," he continued.

"Well, yeah, umm, Haechan got ambushed yesterday by people who hold grudges against me so I had to back him up," Jeno explained.

So that's what happened.

"How many people?" he continued asking Jeno.

"Almost 20 people?" Jeno answered hesitatingly.

"And you didn't call? Seriously, you guys," the guy raised his voice a little.

"Why would we call you? You'll beat us to death instead of the enemies if we ever did," the guy, Haechan, whispered.

"Exactly what I'm gonna do now, Lee Haechan. Almost 20 people are beating you up and you only called for one backup. Did you forget we went to the same training? And please, I outstood you in a fucking duel and almost broke your limbs," he scolded.

One of the guys playing billiards approached me and took me away from Jeno who was also being scolded.

"I think you should stay here with us. I'm Jisung," he introduced himself.

"I'm Chenle. Here I got you a cup of iced tea," the other guy said and he handed me a red cup.

"Thanks," I thanked him and took the cup. I sipped from the cup and watched the situation in front of us. What a scene for my first time being here.

"I think you should get used to seeing this kind of situation if you're planning on hanging out with us. It happens like, every day," Jisung said as they paused from playing billiards.

"Uh, I didn't get his name," I said pointing to the guy nagging at Jeno and Haechan.

"Oh yeah, sorry. Introducing the greatest of all his bloodline and ancestors, Huang Renjun," Chenle introduced him.

"You're dead if he heard you talk to his ancestors like that. You know he doesn't like it when his ancestors get underestimated. He's too proud of his lineage," Jisung warned and they both chuckled.

"You always get in a fight like every week and what will happen if someone dies especially one of you? It's gonna be a mess and there are too many things to handle like hospital and funeral papers. Right, Jaemin?" I was surprised when Renjun suddenly called me and they were all looking at me, waiting for a response. I just hesitatingly nodded.

"Yeah. Too much hassle," I answered and sipped from my cup again before looking away.

I could tell Jeno was pouting towards me as he squinted his eyes as if telling me that I'm supposed to be on his side.