Not Broken. Jaehyun Mafia Au

Beautiful Time

"Could I start eating meals with you guys? I don't want to spend all day trapped in that room and I could really use the companionship."

Jeno and Jaemin smiled at each other and then back at me.

"Of course. Mealtimes are about the only time I get a break in this house. Jisung and Chenle usually get handed over to one of the maids when it's time for them to eat. The only reason we were all in here earlier is because Chenle hasn't been eating lately. The poor child. He's only been like this once before when his sister died. I'm sure having everything come back up has been hard on him and Jisung."

I didn't know whether I should pry or if it was better to just change the subject, but Jaemin and Jeno seemed to be trustworthy so I decided to pry.

"Are they really his brothers?"

"Adopted brothers. The previous head of the household adopted all of his children."

"Including-" I started.

"Yes, including him."

"He couldn't have children otherwise, so adoption was his only option," Jeno added.

"Jaehyun and IU were blood related. Sooman, the former head of NCT had been searching for quite some time to find son to eventually take his place. They went to countless orphanages but apparently Soo Man was looking for something in particular so they never brought anyone home with them. He would ask each of the young boys a question, but none of their answers satisfied him."

"What was the question?" I asked, enamored by the almost folksy tale.

"No one knows for sure but I did hear from one of the older staff who used to work as Sooman's personal servant that he'd ask them why they thought he should adopt them. Simple right?"

I nodded.

"Well supposedly, when he and his wife visited the orphanage the young master was living at, one of the workers told Sooman that the boy hadn't spoken a word to anybody other than his sister since they arrived at the orphanage. Instead of skipping the young boy, Sooman asked to speak with him anyway. He probably wasn't expecting much of a response, yet he went through the motions anyway, telling him that he was a wealthy man who was capable of changing his life and things like that. When he asked the boy why he should adopt him. The young master actually responded."

"What did he say? How did he convince him to adopt him?"

"That's the thing. He didn't. He told him that he shouldn't adopt him, but that he should adopt his sister instead. Then, after having not spoken for such a long time, he went on to explain how much of a good person his sister was and that she would make a wonderful daughter. Sooman decided to adopt them both, that very day."

I was speechless. The kind and caring young boy who was willing to give up on everything he could have wanted to help his sister seemed worlds apart from the horrible violent man I had the displeasure of meeting. The only similarities between them was how far they were willing to go for their sister.

"Sooman wanted a son who valued loyalty, I guess," Jaemin finished.

"What about the other two?"

"Oh, Jisung and Chenle? Their biological fathers both worked for Sooman, but died when they were a lot younger, so he adopted them as a gift to their fathers."

"Umm, Jaemin?"

We all turned to look at the sudden voice.

Mark was covered in bits and pieces of food and a string of laughter escaped my lungs.

"Oh my god. Boys!" Jaemin ran out of the kitchen and into the dining room.

"Well that was eventful," Jeno chuckled.

"Food's ready."

Jaemin had to go take care of the boys but he promised that he would be there tomorrow for breakfast.

Mark, Jeno and I sat down at the kitchen table. At first it felt a little awkward having Mark there since he was a member of 127, but I was relieved to see that he didn't think so.

He told us how excited he was for one of 127's members to return having been undercover for the last few months. He didn't give me details of the undercover mission, but he did say the member's name a lot. Apparently since he was so deep undercover, he was rarely able to interact with any of the members without the risk of blowing his cover.

Yuta came in at one point after hearing our laugher from a nearby room.

"Y/n, you look as beautiful as ever."

"I have two black eyes."

"And I can honestly say that not every girl can pull it off as well as you do."

We continued talking, hours after I had already finished eating. It was weird but it was nice. I thought about Jaemin's words about how I should do whatever it takes to survive. I guess I felt that isolating myself wasn't my best option and that maybe opening up a little bit would make this whole thing a little more tolerable.

I went to bed that night annoyed by the small red flashing camera lights. The next morning, I decided to just wear the green dress again since it was the only thing I really felt comfortable in, but instead of leggings, I put on jeans underneath. It looked kind of strange, but I didn't care.

Jaemin told me that he was going to ask Jaehyun about my clothes at some point today. Jeno, Jaemin and I met for breakfast. Mark tagged along again since he coincidentally happened to be guarding my door again. He quickly discovered that Jaemin, Jeno and I had a standing invitation for meals, so he came to lunch as well despite not being on guard duty.

"Everyone else just eats in their rooms. We never have mealtimes together. I wish we would though," He explained

Not just him, but Yuta started to eat with us too. When it was time for me to meet Jaemin and Jeno for lunch, Yuta happened to be the one guarding my door so he when he escorted me down to the kitchen only to see that Jaemin, Jeno and Mark were waiting for me, he demanded he stay to keep an eye on me even though there were three other men there to watch me.

It was strange at first, but it was actually quite nice to be able to freely speak with each other without worry. Yuta continued to hit on me only to get scolded by Jaemin. Mark would laugh and Yuta would punch him in the arm, all while Jeno quietly smiled as though it were the most normal thing in the world for two mafia members, two staff members hired by said mafia members, and a former hostage kidnapped also by said mafia members to sit around a kitchen table laughing and having a ball.

I noticed how whenever he smiled, his eyes would form crescent moon slits, that made it hard to believe that he could see anything beyond them.

Nothing about the situation was normal, but I found myself feeling almost grateful for the scene unraveling in front of me. If this was going to be my new normal for the time being, maybe it wouldn't be that bad.