𝐑𝐔𝐁𝐘. nct

four

Ruby sat at the edge of her bed, dangling her feet as she looked around the room.  She had gotten treated for the small cut on her hand, at what Hyuck told her was the clinic room.

She felt out of place yet a bit proud when Hyuck and Yuta praised her in front of the others, Jaemin was bleeding too much to comment. She had also held a few conversations with some of them but the fact that she knew none of their names made her feel alienated.

Gosh Ruby, they're the mafia, they're obviously not gonna tell you their names.

"Remind me to never come next to you with a baseball bat" Hyuck commented as he approached her, eyeing the bat leaning on the frame of the bed. Ruby let out a small laugh, playing with the edge of her jacket — Hyuck's jacket.

He noticed the awkward aura around her and he sighed, "Are you okay?" He asked and Ruby felt herself melt a little. No one ever asked her that question.

"Yeah, don't kill that many people in a day you know. Most of the time it's just stabbing people with a pen in the class so I could get some peace and silence" Ruby joked with a small smile.

The door opened and the group of people in the room turned their eyes to look at the new comer. Ruby recognized him from the other day, he was one of the men standing beside the leader.

"Ruby. Can you come with me for a moment?" The man said, the girl hesitantly nodded. "Are you going to kill me? I'm sorry a bullet grazed you" She muttered, Hyuck held in his giggle, following her.

"You can stay back" The man at the door told Hyuck as the latter nodded before sitting back down. Ruby felt a little scared as she followed the man out of the room. "You don't have to be so scared, it's alright" the man laughed, smiling at her, "You don't have the best relationship with my dad, you see." She said, the man nodded, leading her down a hallway.

"Yeah, but it's with your dad. We'd never do something to you — it's not your fault." The man said as Ruby nodded, feeling her nerves ease a bit. She had this sense of assurance that whoever these people were, they were clean with their principles. Ruby really appreciated that.

They stopped at a door, the man pushed it open letting her step inside first. It dawned upon her where they were when she saw the man sitting at the desk, they were in the leader's office.

"Jae, you can leave" the leader said as the guy behind her nodded before leaving, closing the door softly. "Ruby, have a seat" The man in front of her motioned to the seat, she walked over to the leather chair silently.

"I'm Taeyong, the leader of this gang, NCT." Ruby's head snapped up to the man sitting in front of her in surprise. "You guys are NCT?" She hesitantly said as the memories of her father talking about this very gang during dinner flashed her mind.

'NCT is slowly rising, they've become one of the biggest in Seoul'
'They're not someone our company mess with. I need to take them down, I think they're toying with our investors.'

"The guy you met earlier is Jaehyun" Taeyong said as Ruby nodded, mind focused on making sure to not mix up any names. "Thank you" Taeyong softly said as her eyebrows furrowed. "For what?" She asked as the man in front of her gave her a soft smile.

"Yuta told me how you shielded them when Donghyuck was helping them" Taeyong said as Ruby shyly nodded. Wait Donghyuck, his name is Donghyuck. "Why?" He asked as she hummed in question. "Why did you help them? You knew those men were there to save you, you knew your parents sent those men. Why did you shoot them?" Taeyong asked as Ruby let out a dry chuckle.

'Parents'.

two years ago.

"And remember Ruby. Don't complain, just go with it okay?" He mother patted her shoulder as the girl hesitantly smiled with a nod, pushing down the fabric of her overly short dress.

"These guys are huge investors in our company, don't mess it up" Her mother said as she led her to the restaurant table where her father and a few men were talking.

"This is my daughter, Kang Ruby." Her father proudly motioned to the girl standing in the short black mini dress with heels and makeup. "It's an honor to meet you" Ruby said as she bowed. One of the men, Ruby assumed he was the youngest amongst the rest, approached her with a smile.

"I've heard a lot about you, Ruby." He said as he hugged her, Ruby was startled but she hugged back. Yet her face turned into one of confusion when the man's hand travelled down her back. Softly gripping her lower back.

"You look so fucking hot" He whispered in her ear as he softly kissed it. Ruby was utterly disgusted but she stayed silent not wanting to ruin anything for her parents. Ruby awkwardly pulled away, looking at her mother for help who only ignored her silent pleas.

"Let's have a seat" Her father laughed as the man went back to his seat. "Ruby, sit next to Mr. Oh" Her mother said, Ruby's grip on the strap of her purse tightened. Why is her mom doing this? She can clearly tell that her daughter was uncomfortable with him yet she was making her sit beside him.

"Go on darling" Her father said as Ruby gave a tight lipped smile before sitting down beside the man. The entire dinner Ruby held in her tears and the urge to push the man sitting next to her away. She didn't say anything when he kept his hand on her thigh, she didn't say anything when his hand travelled up her dress, she didn't say anything when her mother purposely dropped wine on Mr. Oh's shirt and made Ruby go help him.

She never said anything when he touched her breasts in the washroom. She never said anything when he ignored her cries and tried to strip the dress off her. And when he was tired of it, he left back to table without saying anything, leaving Ruby scared and alone.

She never said anything when her parents screamed at her for not giving into Mr. Oh's needs because he had lowered the investment in the company.

Ruby never learnt self-defense because she was the daughter of a billionaire but because she was scared of the men her father brought to dinners. With one punch and a few threats, the investors would quietly go back to the table and increase their investment and stop harassing Ruby for the rest of the dinner.

Violence was the only way she was able to stay above the whole game her parents had made her play.

"They were never parents" Ruby sniffled as she pushed away the memories trying to get into her mind, she tried to stop the tears from falling — she didn't want to seem weak.

"They were never parents and those people were never going to save me." She admitted as Taeyong's eyes softened, getting out of his chair, he walked over to her. "Because you can't call it saving when you are going back to a hell worse than this." She looked at Taeyong who crouched beside her.

His arms circling her shoulders, he pulled her into a hug. "I don't want to go back Taeyong, please I don't" She cried into his shirt as Taeyong closed his eyes, trying to stop the tears gathering in his eyes.

"If I wanted to run away, I would've way back because I know I would get out of here but I won't because I don't want to go back there" Ruby broke down as Taeyong sighed looking away, his jaw clenching with the girl sobbing onto his shirt.

He wasn't going to let her go now, he won't be human if he did.

( note! )   update! a little more backstory on ruby's life this chapter
                  stream ikon's 'but you' !