𝐑𝐔𝐁𝐘. nct

eight

"I can't feel my bones" Ruby trudged into the kitchen with Donghyuck and the boy laughed. "I can do good massages!" Shotaro said as he placed his cereal bowl in the basin. Ruby smiled and dropped onto one of the chairs with a smile, "I think I'm fine-" Ruby said before a pair of hands touched her shoulder.

"Fucking hell Shotaro, I should pay you for this" She sighed as she felt the knots in her back loosen. "You can pay me for it?" Sungchan said sitting on the seat across her with a cereal bowl.

"Why would I pay you?" She scoffed as Sungchan shrugged, "I raised Shotaro with my own hard work. I've fed him and I've nurtured him to become the man he is today" Sungchan fake sobbed, Shotaro grabbed a napkin that was lying on the table and threw it at the boy. "Stop extorting my money" The latter said.

It was nine in the morning, while some of the others already had breakfast earlier, there were some that woke up just a few minutes ago. The kitchen was bustling with boys, some opting for something simple like cereal while Kun cooked eggs and bread for the rest. She also heard that Hendery was ordering fried chicken because they didn't have enough eggs.

Ruby was too hungry to wait for the eggs to cook so she had taken up Donghyuck's offer of a bowl of fruit loops.

"I'm older" Shotaro retorted as Sungchan scoffed, "I'm smarter than you!" Sungchan replied as Chenle gasped taking a seat beside Ruby. "This is where it gets interesting" Chenle whispered to the girl and she held in her laugh.

Shotaro pouted, his lips started quivering. "Yuta!" The boy yelled and Sungchan jumped out of his seat and followed the boy with a string of apologies. "Taro no! I'm sorry!" Sungchan ran after the boy.

"Why is everybody scared of Yuta?" Ruby asked as Xiaojun took the place, Sungchan previously sat in. "You're not?!" The boy exclaimed and Ruby shrugged, "Yuta's a cutie" Mark said as he grabbed a plate of eggs from the kitchen counter and made his way to the table.

"Yeah, only to you." Sungchan reappeared, trying to push Xiaojun out of his place. "Now I want to get on Yuta's nerves to see what he'll do" Ruby said as she got up from the table, taking her empty bowl. "What's wrong with you?" Donghyuck asked. Ruby innocently smiled, walking to the kitchen.

"Yuta" Ruby called out as she entered the weapon training room, the boy's head snapped over to the girl. Jaehyun and Sicheng's heads turned towards the girl too. "I heard you can't poke your cheek with your finger and tilt your head to the side." Ruby said as Yuta let out a confused noise.

He brought his finger to poke his right cheek, tilting his head in the same direction. "Onichan!" Ruby said in a squeaky voice as Jaehyun and Sicheng burst out laughing. "That's it." Yuta said grabbing a gun from the shelf. "Wait Yuta no!" Ruby said as she sprinted out of the room as the boy followed her.

"Why is Yuta chasing Ruby with a gun?" Jungwoo entered the kitchen where people were still finishing their breakfast. Hendery choked on his chicken as Donghyuck shoved a chicken leg in his mouth, running towards where he was hearing Ruby's yells.

There was pure silence in the room before Ten entered. "Why is Donghyuck chasing Yuta with a chicken in his mouth while Yuta is chasing Ruby with a gun?" Ten asked as Renjun sighed, getting up from his chair with his empty plate.

"I can't deal with this house anymore."

"We have to change bases." Doyoung said as he sat in front of Taeyong on the leather chair. "Our location is going to spread soon, if Ruby's father attacked once, they're probably gearing up for the next attack." Doyoung said and Taeyong nodded. "What are we going to do?" Doyoung asked as the elder across the table got up from his chair.

"We'll move to the second headquarters, nobody has found the location of our second quarters yet" Taeyong said sighing. "No, what are we going to do with Ruby?" Doyoung asked as the leader's head snapped over to him.

"What do you mean?" Taeyong asked and Doyoung sighed, "Taeil told me that the entire group is getting attached to her, including him. You know we're going to have to let her go soon. We can't keep her forever, not when she can be liability. What's going on with you Taeyong? Why are you letting them get attached. If her parents don't find her soon, they will ask help from other gangs, pay them money to bring Ruby back. What will we do then?" Doyoung asked as Taeyong looked away.

"I don't want to let her go Doyoung. She's going to hurt more if she does." Taeyong retorted as Doyoung scoffed. "Since when do we care! She is just a medium to get revenge on Kang Jiho!" Doyoung stood up from his chair. "And we'll have it! We'll have our revenge but that doesn't mean I'm going to let her go back there!" Taeyong argued back walking over to the man.

"She's going to put our entire gang in danger Taeyong, do you still want to keep her?" Doyoung asked as Taeyong stopped in front of him. None of them spoke a word. Doyoung sighed, he turned on his heel, slamming the door behind him.

As soon as Doyoung left the room, his eyes met those of Ruby's. Her eyes held no emotion in them as she stared at him. Doyoung walked past her to the living room, knowing very well she heard the entire conversation.

Ruby followed after him, standing in front of him while he sat on the couch. His eyes remained on the ipad in his hand as she stood in front of him.

Her fingers reached out to the scar on her forearm, she remembered the events of it clearly.

EIGHT MONTHS AGO

"How dare you talk back to an investor! Do you realize the loss you've made to the company!" Another slap echoed through the room. Kang Jiho, her own father was yelling at her for fighting against one of the investors who was trying to grope her.

A tear fell across Ruby's cheeks as her father scoffed. "You're nothing but an embarrassment!" Her father yelled as her mother stood at the end of the room, glancing at them before going back to scanning the luxury purses on her phone.

Her father grabbed the glass of liquor breaking it against the edge of the wooden table before he held a piece up to Ruby. The girl stepped back, "Dad-" She called out before she was cut off. "Don't you dare call me that! You don't deserve to!" Her father yelled as he grabbed her hand, the girl tried to pull her hand back but her father's grip was too strong for her to free herself.

"Remember this as a warning, don't mess up again or it will be worse than this" Her father said as he dragged the piece of glass along her forearm. The girl cried out loud as she felt the piercing pain of her skin being torn apart. Her father dropped the glass to the ground and he let go of her hand, she dropped down to the floor a loud cried leaving her lips. She held onto her arm in pain as tears escaped her eyes.

"That's enough honey" Her mother said and she ushered the man to go into the other room. She called a maid to the room and motioned to her daughter that was crying on the ground as her arm bled.

"Take her to the hospital and tell them she grazed her hand on a loose piece of glass by accident" Her mother said before she left the room. The last thing Ruby remembered before she fainted was the glare her mother gave as she left the room.

"My parents did this to me." Ruby softly said as her fingers grazed the scar on her arm. Doyoung looked up to her, eyes looking at the scar. "He drew a piece of glass across my skin because I slapped an investor who was trying to put his hand up my dress." Ruby sighed. "My mother covered it up by saying I was clumsy." She said as she shook her head with a laugh. "I could never get myself to look at my parents the same again." She turned on her heel and walked out of the room.

But her feet stopped as she saw Taeyong who was standing a few steps away from them. "I don't want to cause the gang any harm. You all mean something to me now and I won't forgive myself if anything happens to all of you. Send me back if you can, please don't keep me here for long. I care too much about you guys to let you get hurt." She gave him a smile, before she left the room.

Taeyong looked at Doyoung, feeling the elder's eyes on him, the latter turned around to meet Taeyong's eyes.

"Don't forget our morals Doyoung."

( note! ) look who's alive, I'm sorry for abandoning y'all <3