|Weak Hero| D-TecnoLife

Chapter 7

The elevator ride was awkward. Donald Na was on the right side of the elevator while Jake and Kenny Ji were on the left. Donald just had to end up catching the same elevator as Jake and Kenny, who were on their way down from a check up with the doctor to meet up with a friend in the lobby before heading down to the basement level for physical therapy.

Donald folded his arms and drummed his fingers against his forearm, impatiently watching the floor number decrease.

"So," Jake awkwardly said. "Fancy meeting you here Mr. Na,"

"Jake, you're just going to make things even more awkward by starting small talk," Kenny deadpanned. "Leave Donald alone,"

Once the elevator doors opened, Donald sprinted out. He looked around and his eyes landed on Gray and Ben, who were talking to Stephen. Noticing that Gray was visibly distressed but still stood in place, Donald made his way over to them.

"Gray?" Donald gently called. "Is Stephen bothering you?"

"I...I was the one who approached him..." Gray shook his head. "Stephen...do you...do you want c-catch up some time l-later?"

Stephen gave him a reassuring smile. "Yes,"

"I'll...I'll text you a...a time and location?" Gray asked.

"Sure," Stephen agreed. 

"Stephen?" Jake and Kenny headed over to them, both confused. 'How does Stephen know the White Mamba?'

"This is my best friend that I've told you about," Stephen introduced. "His name's Gray Yeon. This is one of Gray's friends, Ben Park," He then motioned to Donald. "This is Gray's older brother...err, sorry, I didn't catch your name,"

"Donald Na," Donald replied. "My name is Donald Na,"

Gray grabbed onto Donald's jacket sleeve and took a step back, slightly hiding behind Donald.

"This is my friend from physical therapy, Kenny Ji, and his little brother who's our age, Jake Ji," Stephen noticed Gray's uncomfortableness and took that as a sign to leave. "Jake, Kenny, I think we should get going. We don't wanna be late for our appointment, right?"

Kenny had quickly caught on. "Yeah, let's go,"

"Bye Gray," Stephen waved before leaving with his two friends.

"I'll take you home," Donald gently told Gray.

"You...should stay here," Gray responded. "Kingsley's hurt and...you're Kingsley's best friend..."

"He'll be fine," Donald said. "He was the one who said I should catch up to you in the lobby,"

"I'm fine..." Gray gave him a strained smile. "I'll be fine...You should go back to Kingsley," He turned to Ben. "And Ben...you don't have to stay with me. I'm...I'm fine on my own,"

Yeah...neither Donald nor Ben was buying that.

XXX

When they got home, Donald and Gray entered their home. Donald promptly slammed the door in Ben's face and locked him out, earning a yell of disapproval from the redhead.

"Gray, what's wrong?" Donald asked. "What's on your mind, little brother?"

"I'm fine," Once again, Gray gave him a wide smile that was obviously fake. "I...I want everything to go back to normal...I..." His fake smile completely disappeared and he looked away. "I want to stop burdening everyone,"

"I told you before that you're not a burden," Donald said. "And that statement is still true,"

"Everyone's going to eventually grow tired of me," Gray claimed. "You and Ben and Mom are all going to get tired of me eventually i-if I stay like this. You'll regret ever taking me in..."

Donald wanted to cut in, but he let Gray finish speaking.

"After things go back to normal," Gray continued. "I-I can move out and be independent again so I s-stop troubling everyone," Gray struggled to keep his composure. 'I can't cry. I need to show that I'll be fine by myself, that I can handle my own emotions. I need to prove that I won't have a breakdown,'

"Gray, do you want me to be completely honest with you?" Donald asked gently.

Gray nodded, but still couldn't bring his eyes to meet Donald's.

"I trust you to be home with just you and Jawbreaker, but a lot of times I get paranoid that something would happen to you," Donald told him. "Whenever I have to go to school for a test or to Yeouinaru for a meeting, I'm sometimes reluctant to leave even though I know you'll be okay. All this worrying can sometimes be exhausting, but I will never consider you to be a burden,"

He placed a hand on Gray's shoulder. "Gray, I know you want things to return to what it used to be, but you don't have to do it alone. Your family and friends will always be there for you,"

XXX

"Timmy! Dean! Eunchan!" 

"What's wrong, Jake?" Dean asked. "Did something happen at the hospital?"

"Jake, take a deep breath and calm down before you end up just incomprehensibly word vomiting ," Kenny advised as he wheeled himself into their house.

"How can I calm down!?" Jake exclaimed. "We just learned the real reason why Donald Na announced that the White Mamba was off limits!"

"I thought he said that because he didn't want any potential attention from the police since the White Mamba was just found after going missing?" Timmy asked. 

"So what's the real reason?" Dean questioned.

"The White Mamba is Donald Na's little brother!"

Jake's three friends stared at him in disbelief. "That's not a good joke, man,"

"I can confirm that it's the truth," Kenny vouched. "We saw them in the lobby talking to Stephen,"

"B-But that doesn't make any sense!" Eunchan exclaimed. "The White Mamba is part of Ben Park's group so he's an enemy of the Union!"

"I mean," Jake brought up. "Donald never sent anyone to specifically target the White Mamba. Wolf was acting on his own when he fought the White Mamba and I was only sent to Eunjang to take down Ben,"

"Maybe he didn't make his brother's identity known because he didn't want any attention to be drawn to his little brother?" Timmy theorized. "If the public knew he was Donald's brother, the Union's enemies would most likely go after him,"

"Donald seemed extremely protective of his brother," Kenny agreed. "He's probably even more protective since his brother got kidnapped a couple months ago,"

I gave Daehyeon a cameo appearance but they won't play a major role in the story.