BETRAYAL <NCT OT23>

O N E

"To the world! Here is NCT! Hello, We are NCT!" The studio filled with cheers and claps as the group introduced themselves with a smile on their faces, they all sat down on their respective seats as the crowd slowly went silent. A usual day for them, always busy.

The MCs asked them a few questions, they are also telling a few stories about their life and doing the activities they give to the group. A few breaks were given to them too, they were talking until the break is over.

"So, what is the secret of having a strong friendship? A group with such a strong bond to one another." The MC asked, everyone looked at Taeyong, he's expecting that since he's the leader. "Yeah uhm..." Taeyong began to speak, making the people inside the studio silent. "Actually, we have many ways to make our group stronger, not just a group but brothers but I'll give you our number one secret." He chuckled.

"Well, since we're brothers, we don't hide secrets from every single one of us. Illness, problems, issues, and many more, those things should be told to us. It just... I don't want someone from the group to suffer, so that we can help, or suffer together." The people let out a small chuckle, including the members. "We even share our phobias to one another so that we can be aware, our weird facts too." Johnny added. "But those things, we don't tell anyone else, it stays with us, it stays at the dorm."

"Do you guys fight sometimes?" The other MC asked. "Yeah, mostly because of some nonsense things." Haechan laughed as he looked at Mark who was smiling too. "Like what?"

"Sometimes, Yuta and Taeyong will argue about 'Is Eren from Attack On Titan is a bad guy or not', they will argue about it until they won't talk to each other for hours." Taeil answered. Shotaro and Sungchan are smiling as they remembered how chaotic yet loving their new brothers were. "And sometimes, Chenle, Haechan and Yangyang will team up to disturb us while we were having a short nap, making all of us mad." Ten laughed along with the audience.

"Hey! Don't expose us like that!" Yangyang shouted, the two followed him after. It made the studio sound like a kindergarten classroom. "Yeah yeah, but the important thing is we're family, we trust and love each other." Taeyong said as the crowd went calm, he looked at his members with a smile, the sight is so wholesome to him. "Now this is the best group! Best boys!" The MC cheered, the audience followed.

The show was finally done, they drank their water, relaxed a bit and went for a few talks to the hosts.

"Hyung, when we go out, can we get some ice cream?" Taeyong turned around as he heard Jisung's voice behind him, his hand was on his shirt like a cute kid asking his dad for some ice cream. "Let me ask the manager first." Those words made Jisung giggle in excitement, his smile widened when Taeyong walked towards him and told him that the manager agreed.

"Manager-nim said that we can get ice cream, but we shouldn't waste our time at the store." He immediately ran to Chenle, he was so excited to tell his best friend about the tiny news.

🚘🚗🚘

"Hyung, thanks for the treat!" Jisung squealed as he shoved his ice cream in his mouth, the rest of the members ate their ice cream as well. "Let's get ice cream next time, but it's Doyoung's treat!" Haechan laughed along with the members. "Wow wow, as if I'm gonna treat you ice cream Lee Donghyuck." Doyoung sarcastically answered him, making the people inside the van went noisy again. The other members were on the other van, minding their own business, like talking to each other, playing games or just simply sleeping.

"Are we there yet?" Lucas, on the other van whined. His eyes were showing that he's already tired, not just him though, all of them. "We'll arrive in a few minutes." That's all Kun could say before closing his eyes again. "Just tell me Kun-ge if we already arrived." Kun hummed in response, a few songs have been played from the radio, the van stopped, so that means that they finally arrived. "Lucas, guys we're here." Kun gave the sleeping Lucas and the other members a pat on their shoulders, including the sleeping Chenle at the front seat. The other members at the first van was quiet too, they're as tired as the people in the second van.

The others, especially the maknaes ran hurriedly to their rooms, the others too went to the kitchen to drink some water and the rest just silently sat down. They whined and stretched their bodies while the others are murmuring about how tight their schedule was, it became chaotic again, until Taeyong, the last member to come inside the dorm came. "Guys-Wait, where are the other members? You guys need to hear this." Doyoung quickly went to their respective rooms and called them, they were whining as expected. "What now?~" Haechan whined.

"I know that this is really unbelievable, like even I can't believe it, it's so sudden actually." Taeyong took a deep breath while his members are staring at him, waiting for the news. "Manager-nim said that we will have a one month break, like a break! No schedules, no cameras around us, just chilling around!" Instead of cheering noises, Taeyong heard silence. "You guys not happy?"

"Are you sure that it's true? I mean what if it is just a hilarious prank?" Johnny asked, the others are agreeing with Johnny's question, they are a group with tight schedules every single day and now having a one month break? "Yeah that long break sounds impossible to me." Ten said. "The agency told him, how is that even a prank?" They all went silent as Taeyong spoke, all of a sudden, Shotaro raised his hand, making an eye contact with the leader. "Yes Taro?"

"Are we going to take a break separately or not?" Shotaro asked, the tiredness of his voice were heard. "Well, he said that we're going to eat our foods peacefully, sleep comfortably and wake up whenever we want together."

"But where do we spend our one month break together?" Sungchan immediately asked Taeyong as Shotaro received his answer. "He also said that he'll just drive us there. So how's that guys?" Taeyong smiled as the other members smiled at each other, meaning that their agreeing on the deal. "Yeah, sounds good to me." Jaehyun cheered, the members followed, making the dorm filled with noise again. "So let's pack our things and get some good night's sleep." They scattered from the floor their sitting on and went to their respective rooms.

As Renjun touched the door knob, he noticed something weird about Xiaojun, like he's not happy or something, his expressions are a little unreadable. "Xiaojun, you okay? You don't look happy about the news Taeyong hyung gave us."

"I-I... Me? Of course I am happy, I'm just really tired that's all." All Renjun can response is "okay", he was watching Xiaojun walking to his room until he can no longer see his figure. "What's wrong with him?" Renjun asked before entering his room.