ʟᴀ ᴄᴏꜱᴛᴀ | ɴᴄᴛ ✔️

Chapter 16: Do Me A Favor

July 1st, 2025
9:21 PM

Jisung thumbed through the color-assorted playing cards in his hands, flicking his eyes between the pile in the middle of the table and his hand of cards.

He tossed a red "7" onto the pile and then pointed across the table to Chenle. "You, switch with me."

"You know that's kind of a stupid play, right?" Doyoung quirked an eyebrow at the younger boy. "You're getting him closer to a UNO by switching this late..."

"Well, he doesn't know what's in my hand yet." Jisung shrugged a shoulder. "We'll only know we made a mistake after we switch, so come on." He held out his hand of cards to swap with Chenle, which Chenle obliged reluctantly.

"Oof..." Jisung hissed, looking at his new cards. "Yikes, your hand is garbage, dude..."

"As if yours is any fucking better!" Chenle scowled at his hand in disgust. "Who dealt the cards again?"

"Uhh, I did...?" Jeno raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, you're never fucking dealing again," Chenle shook his head. "'Cause if his hand is shit and my hand was shit, that makes you a shitty shuffler."

"Then you can't deal 'em either," Jeno argued. "Remember the last time we played? Johnny had all the fucking plus-fours in the deck because of you."

"I still wanna know how that happened." Doyoung tossed one of his cards onto the pile.

"Ehh, Johnny just had a shit ton of luck..." Chenle shrugged.

"Luck, my fucking asscheeks – I'm starting to think you wanted him to win that game!" Jeno snorted loudly.

"I can't help how I shuffle shit, alright?!" Chenle groaned, throwing one of his cards on the table.

"Neither can I, but you're on my dick..." Jeno made a face at Chenle as if implying he didn't understand his logic.

Yuta could be heard giggling at the banter from a table not too far from the four boys, doodling on a stray sheet of paper while he waited for his friend.

And he didn't have to wait too long since about a few seconds after Yuta erased a bit of his drawing, he heard muffled footsteps on the carpet in the dining hall. He looked up from his paper to watch a blonde boy sit in a seat across from him, plopping down with a loud huff.

"What's with the long face?" Yuta tilted his head.

His friend sighed. "That fight Taeyong and I had the other day...you remember it?"

"'Course, I do – it wasn't that long ago, but what about it?"

"He had me come to his office earlier." The blonde went on to explain. "He apologized for blowing up at me, saying he was 'just worried about my safety' or whatever the hell he said..."

"And about you-...us leaving?" Yuta corrected himself.

"Surprisingly enough, he said he understood my want to leave." His friend chuckled, but his smirk quickly fell. "But then he invited me to go hunting with him tomorrow night. It was...kinda out of nowhere..."