cherry bomb › nct

31 | take her out

NEO CULTURE TECHNOLOGY
MAD CITY BASE
2:33 AM, SATURDAY

3RD PERSONS VIEW。

After the conversation with Jisung, Keiko found herself roaming the underground tunnels that belonged to the infamous clandestine mafia. Resentment filled her as she thought about another one of Taeyong's games.

Groaning, her fingers tangled itself in her silver hair as she kept walking. "Stupid Taeyong and his stupid games."

"Cherrie?" she looked up and squinted her eyes at the person. He wore a full-on black outfit, however, she could notice the specks of dust on them signaling that he had just gone back from his own mission. The recognizable gold highlights on his brown hair easily gave it away, "Mark?"

"Oi," he called out, "what are you even doing down here?"

"Just roaming around." she muttered, "I kinda don't want to go back for now, so I'm here."

Mark raised a brow, arms bow crossed, "I heard Taeyong's father came to visit. I'm assuming you know what Taeyong has been up to?"

Scoffing, it was crystal clear that she already knew what his next move was. A scowl lasted on her lips for minutes as she continued to walk, passing Mark, "Bingo."

Mark shook his head and grabbed her upper arm, stopping her. A grunt left her mouth as she deadpanned at him, "Now what do you want?"

"Well, do you want to get out of this place for a while?"

Keiko pursed her lips, averting her gaze onto the grey, boring walls. "Won't you get in trouble for that?"

Mark only smirked at her, raising up a card that he got from his pocket, "Executive privileges." before he could even let her decide, he had grabbed onto her wrist, already pulling her with him.

"Wait, where the fuc—"

He leads her to the garage where Yuta was seen fumbling with a motorbike. "Jeez, next time remind me to never let Donghyuck ride a bike again," Yuta grumbled, the sound of metal clanging as he fixed the motorbike.

"What happened?" Mark chuckled, "I cut off connections with him the moment Chenle told me to retreat."

"Well, he ended up running into the gate again."

"Oh shit, is he okay?" Keiko raised a brow, a bit curious since the boy did drove his motorbike towards a fucking big ass gate.

Mark glanced at her before laughing, "Knowing Donghyuck, I'm guessing he jumped off before the motorbike could even hit the gate, so asking that, yes he's okay."

Yuta rolled his eyes, "He had a couple of scratches though, still he's a careless boy."

"I'm gonna take her out a bit," Mark stated as he grabbed the keys to the Tesla roadster. Yuta froze, raising a hand, "Does Taeyong even know?"

Mark just plainly smirked and opened the door for Keiko, "I don't really care if he knows or not– it's not like you could stop me anyway." he said and whipped out the golden card from his pocket.

The mechanic scoffed, "Whatever, Mark."

Mark entered the car, a wicked smile on his lips as he turned to face her, "You're awfully quiet." he pointed out and started up the car. He drove past the big gate, rolling down the tinted windows, pressing his card onto the scanner and the gate automatically opened.

Keiko had her arm against the side, resting her jaw onto her palm, "Am I?" she asked and Mark hummed in response.

The female just sniggered, shaking her head, "I'm just plotting your death, don't mind me."

Mark burst into a laugh as he drove out the base. Racing no one in particular as he speeded up. "As if you could kill me."

"I can if I want to," she stated matter-of-factly making Mark snort at her words.

The drive continued on, nothing but their playful bantering made it more comfortable and fun. Mark had stopped by a hill. On top of the small hill, there were flowers and tall trees that had branches of leaves hovering the bench seats.

Keiko walked towards the edge, gaping at the beautiful scenery of the city. "Wow, never thought there was a place like this."

Mark tilted his head, "Actually, most of us come here a lot. It's the closest to the city we could get from our base. This place isn't really known, all I know is that we're the only ones occupying this hill for years now."

"Well, you do live in somewhere... secluded– err restricted," she said and looked back, seeing the empty roads. "I don't really go out that much, so this site is amazing."

The mafioso pursed his lips, standing beside her as he also looked down at the city. "Same. I only ever go out if I was assigned go a mission, and even if we do, we still happen to us the underground tunnels to get us places."

"But hey, we have this place to keep us sane."

Keiko took a seat and leaned back, "Can I ask you something?"

Mark shrugged, "Depends. What is it about?"

"You." she straightforwardly said, diverting her gaze from the scenery and onto Mark, "When did you join the mafia?"

He chuckled, remembering the moments he was still new to the mafia. "I was pretty young, one of the first recruits Taeyong had. Most of us either got recruited to join– or it was because our parents had connections to the Lee Corporation."

"You could say that Taeyong knew me the moment my parents became partners with his parents, and it just sorta clicked you know?" he shrugs his shoulders, "We became friends and he offered me to join him in the mafia."

"Do you like it?"

"What do you mean?" his face perplexed, he turned to her.

"Like- the mafia, do you like being in it?"

Mark hummed, thinking about it hard. He had some regrets joining the mafia, though through the years he had learned to accept it and just enjoy. After all, there was no way out of it.

He gazed down, seeing Keiko's right hand resting on the bench. Slowly, his own hand inched to place itself on top of her hand. She flinched, narrowing eyes at the boy but he ignored her.

He let out a sigh, "I regret it sometimes, but then again, NCT is my family."

—