nico teen love - nct, markhyuck

- 25 -

"jaemin! renjun!" donghyuck exclaimed when he saw the two boys. "you can't know how happy i am to see you!"

"we are happy as well donghyuck!" renjun hugged the boy they had just gotten out of prison.

"oh! oh! we can't stay here, kyungsoo went to the toilets but he'll be back soon!" donghyuck started to panic.

"if you're talking about the man who was guarding your cell, then, we took care of him. hendery, xiaojun and yangyang are dealing with him now." jaemin explained.

"this means they are out?!"

"yes, chenle and jisung freed them."

"cool!" donghyuck said.

"so... what do we do now?" renjun looked at jaemin.

"we'll go back to mark. xiaojun told me he was in the office upstairs."

donghyuck's face lightened at the mention of the older's name. "mark?!"

"are you okay? you don't call him blondie anymore?" renjun inquired.

"of course, i do, but just to annoy him."

the two teenagers followed jaemin in silence as they were walking through different corridors and offices. during their journey to sooman's office, they heard gunshots echoing in the corridors of the floors underneath them, but noting disturbed them. they didn't meet anyone, neither nct, nor exo or sooman.

donghyuck was getting more and more excited at the thought of seeing mark again. the two boys had left each other without any goodbye, and donghyuck missed mark's touch. so, right now, the thoughts of the two of them reuniting were making donghyuck all fuzzy on the inside, even if the situation wasn't the best.

"we're here." jaemin whispered stopping in front of a closed wooden door on which was engraved in golden letters 'lee sooman' and 'knock before entering'.

donghyuck gently pushed jaemin and renjun out of the way and opened the door wide with a big grin on his face. however, this grin transformed in a frown in a matter of seconds.

"mark is not here."

XXXXXXXXXX

"mark lee... i see you came to release your little friends." sooman stated looking directly into mark's eyes.

sooman was sitting on a huge yellow sofa, facing mark whom had been tied up to a chair, similarly to how donghyuck had been tied during dinner, but mark was tied with ropes, leaving bruises on the boy's body. they were the only persons in the room, making the atmosphere very tense.

how did he get there?

well... long story short, mark was in the office, like taeyong had ordered him. everything was going as predicted. more and more exo members seemed to be locked in, and no nct members had been taken. however, the backdoor of the office, the one that led to sooman's apartment, had opened without mark noticing it. two exo members had entered, capturing mark and bringing him to sooman's apartment. they had tied him to a chair and sat him facing their boss. after that, sooman had asked exo members to get rid of nct while he would stay talking to mark.

mark hadn't answer to any of the questions he had asked.

"are you mute?" sooman raised an eyebrow. "because you're the first one to take this much time to answer..."

mark looked elsewhere, sighing.

"this is wired. i mentioned about hurting your gang members though..." sooman spoke to himself. "torturing them, and even killing them... but you didn't bulge..." the businessman took a sip from the drink he had in his hand, coughing because of the burning sensation in his throat.

mark kept his gaze on a painting on the wall.

"are you that heartless? don't you care about your gang members? i heard from exo that nct was like a family... are you the rebel teenager of the family then?" the man laughed at his own joke, making mark roll his eyes.

"how can i make you talk...? you surely have a weakness. everybody has, but the coldest ones are those who have the biggest weaknesses. their cold façade being a way not to let their weakness being revealed..."

sooman rose to his feet, shuffling some papers in a drawer next to him and finally sitting back with a crumpled paper in his hand.

"let me see..." he said reading the paper. "mark lee. lone wolf, cold hearted... okay. wouldn't hesitate to kill, that's a good quality i guess... never talks, well, i had noticed it." sooman mocked. "but... no sign of weakness so far..." sooman looked at mark again.

the tied boy drifted his eyes on another painting on the wall.

"you are quite a man, mark... but i'm sure you have one weakness... i just need to find what it is." sooman thought for a bit of time.

by the time he started speaking again, mark had studied every painting present in the room and was now sure that he would never spend tons of money to buy such ugly things.

"oh...! i know what can be your weakness, gang boy." sooman said, rising to his feet and approaching mark who was looking elsewhere again.

"don't you keep your cold façade on to hide your feelings?" he smirked. "but your feelings for who... that's the real question..."

mark fidgeted on the chair, making sooman grab a fistful of his hair to stop him moving.

"could it be my son?" he said under his breath. "did you come here to get donghyuck?" sooman said out loud this time, causing mark to look at him for the first time.

"do not lay a finger on donghyuck." mark growled, startling sooman.

the businessman chuckled before letting go mark's hair and going back to his seat.

"so... your weakness is donghyuck..."

mark tightened his jaw. he shouldn't have said anything, he knew it perfectly. but he couldn't prevent him to do so. donghyuck was way too precious in his eyes, mark needed to protect him. however, he had done the total opposite of protecting his loved one right now. he had just proved that donghyuck could be a good way to put pressure on nct and to defeat them.

if sooman tortured donghyuck in front of mark's eyes, the older wouldn't be able to bear it. he will voluntarily let sooman kill him instead of hurting donghyuck. mark had just messed everything up.

sooman took his phone out, and dialed a number, under mark's eyes.

"junmyeon. come here and tell kyungsoo to bring my son to me." he said. "what do you mean we are under attack?" sooman eyed mark whose blood was boiling. "okay... yes... tell the others to deal with it, and the rookies as well. i want you in my apartment right now." sooman smirked, approaching mark again.

"i will finally be able to crush your gang and make it disappear." the businessman said, approaching mark. however, he didn't expect being interrupted by this voice.

"i'm not sure you'll achieve your sayings." dognhyuck said, out of breath because of the stairs he had climbed up to reach his father's apartment.

even though his words weren't that frightening, what surprised both sooman and mark was that donghyuck was pointing a gun at his father.