For the rest of the trip to her apartment, Adryn remained silent. She just took everything in and thought about things again. As soon as they got there though, Mark parked in front of the building and they all got out of the car. Adryn guided the men up to the third floor as they all heard the screaming and arguing.

"Don't worry about them, it's like this all of the time," Adryn told Taeyong and Mark as the men were instantly put on edge due to the screaming. Adryn did as she usually did and ignored it as she went to unlock the door to her apartment. However, she stopped when she realized that the door was already unlocked and propped open. "Um, what?"

"What's wrong?" Taeyong asked as he turned his attention to Adryn. He instantly noticed what the problem was and bumped Mark's arm to bring his attention to it as well. Both men then pulled out guns and pushed Adryn to the side. "Stay here, we'll make sure there isn't anyone in your apartment."

"Alright..." Adryn muttered as Taeyong and Mark pushed open the door and went through the small apartment. Adryn was able to see into the rooms and instantly knew something was wrong. The kitchen was first and she could see the table and chairs thrown around the room. So, before Taeyong told her to enter the room, Adryn walked in. she looked around and saw that things were broken, like cups and plates, the few ones she had. Adryn hesitantly walked into her bedroom then. It took everything in her to now start to cry right then and there.

"Adryn?" Mark asked as he walked out of the bathroom with Taeyong. Adryn was standing in the middle of her bedroom looking devastated. Her eyes were filled with tears and she was shaking.

"Everything..." Adryn choked out in a broken tone. "Everything is broken..." Adryn wasn't lying. Her clothes were thrown all around the room, torn and ripped up. Her bed was broken and the lamp was shattered on the floor. To Adryn's horror, the most important things; like her glasses, laptop, and USB drives were all broken as well.

"Adryn, we'll replace everything. Don't worry." Taeyong tried to comfort the woman, but she was just shattered like her USB drives were.

"No," Adryn spoke instantly and harshly to Taeyong. The pink-haired man frowned and took a step closer to her. He just wanted to help take this horribly painful feeling away from Adryn.

"Seriously, Adryn. It isn't any trouble. We have plenty of money." Mark tried his best to cheer up Adryn, but she frowned at both men.

"I haven't done anything to deserve new items. Plus, I can't just replace these USB drives. There were priceless stories I've written, family pictures and various other important things on them. Not to mention all the works I had on my laptop."

"I'm sorry Adryn, but it's not like you can get a job to replace anything here. It's obvious that people are after you."

"What am I supposed to do then? I have no clothes, no personal items, nothing!"

"Then work for us?" Mark suggested, much to the horror of Taeyong.

"No, that can't happen!" Taeyong instantly shut that down, however, he saw the intrigue on Adryn's face.

"Come on, it's a great idea! Adryn can learn how to protect herself. She can take back control of her life!" Mark argued back as Adryn nodded her head at his words.

"I really like Mark's idea!" Adryn commented as Taeyong just looked between Adryn and Mark with a frown on his face.

"It'd be dangerous! Our enemies wouldn't go easy on you just because you're a woman! If you're associated with NCT then you'll always be in danger!" Taeyong argued back at both of them. Much to Taeyong's surprise, Adryn laughed at his words.

"Taeyong, I'm already associated with you guys. You love me and you're already showing your care for me by protecting me."

"...That's true..."

"Then it's settled. First, we should go and get Adryn some clothes and whatever else she needs. Then we can start training her." Mark smiled at Adryn as she jumped up, happy and excited for what was to come.

"I have to tell Eclipse where I'll be staying. Just specifically that I've moved, not where I am, obviously." Adryn spoke up with a smile on her face. Taeyong was happy to see it there, so he nodded his head in agreement.

"Fine, but invite her to the mall a few miles away. You can talk there." Taeyong said to Adryn who instantly nodded her head happily.

"Cool." Adryn immediately got her phone out and texted Eclipse the address before she called Eclipse.

"Hey, what's up?" Eclipse asked as she answered the phone right away.

"Meet me at the address I sent. It's a mall. The food court is where I'll be."

"What's going on?"

"I have something to talk to you about."

"Is everything alright?"

"I'll... I'll explain later."

"Fine, I'm on my way right now." Eclipse then hung up the phone, which caused Adryn to do the same.

"Let's go," Taeyong spoke up as he reached out and grabbed Adryn's hand. He guided her out of the apartment and back to the car, with Mark following behind them. "We'll all go in, but you should be by yourself. We'll watch over you from a distance." Taeyong spoke as soon as Mark began to drive them toward the nearby mall.

"Alright." Adryn nodded her head before watching Taeyong pull out some money. He gave it to her before speaking.

"Buy yourself some food so you don't look suspicious."

"Oh, um, alright?" Adryn took the money and put it in her wallet. She was a bit nervous then. She'd forgotten for a moment that there were people after her and that being separated from Taeyong and Mark was dangerous.

The rest of the ride was in silence and as soon as they got to the mall, they parked and let Adryn go out first. She walked into the mall and headed for the food court right away. She bought some food for herself and Eclipse and then found a less crowded corner of the area to sit and wait. As she waiting, Adryn noticed that Taeyong and Mark weren't too far from her. They were seated on benches a little ways away from each other, and closer to Adryn than each other.

As Adryn nibbled on the food, she kept an eye out for Eclipse. Immediately after seeing Eclipse walk into the food court, Adryn stood up, hoping her best friend would see her. Eclipse did spot Adryn nearly instantly. Eclipse hurried to Adryn and as soon as she was close enough, she spoke up.

"What's going on?" Eclipse asked as she approached Adryn.

"Sit down, have some food," Adryn spoke up, ignoring the question. Eclipse frowned but did as she was told. She sat down and remained silent, waiting for Adryn to talk first. "Today had been a wild day. I had a gun pointed at her, witnessed a man die, and then went to a gang's home."

"Uh, what?" Eclipse asked as she had a lack of words to say to Adryn's nonchalant explanation.

"My apartment has been trashed, everything is broken and ruined in some way. I'm going to be living with the gang for a while."

"Why live with them and not me?!" Eclipse demanded as she got a little ticked off with her best friend. "Is this the gang of the man you talked about yesterday?"

"Yup,"

"There isn't a chance that I'll let you live with gang members."

"It isn't up to you, Eclipse. I'm in danger and I'll be safer with them. I need to be protected by them. I'll possibly be learning self-defense and I may even join them."

"You can't do that!"

"And why not?" Adryn responded to Eclipse with a frown on her face.

"You just can't."

"Is it because I'm too weak? I'll get strong. I won't be a burden on the gang and I won't be a burden on you anymore." Adryn's muttered to Eclipse before standing up and speaking once more. "I need to buy some clothes now. Goodbye." With that, Adryn walked away"

"Wait, Adryn!" Eclipse stood up and called out to her friend, but Adryn had already walked too far and then into a clothing store.

As soon as Taeyong and Mark realized that Adryn had gotten up and walked away, both men followed after her. Taeyong instantly hurried up to Adryn as she was going through a rack of clothes.

"Are you alright?" Taeyong's question was left unanswered. "Adryn, are you alright?"

"She thinks I'm weak. I mean, that's true though..." Adryn finally replied with a sniffle.

"You aren't weak. A weak person would have already broken down from everything that happened today."

"I don't think I can break down. I've spent so much time crying in my life..." Adryn then resumed her searching through the clothing rack. Taeyong sighed before joining her. He pulled out a tank top with red roses all over it and handed it to Adryn.

"Here, this would look good on you with your black hair. Plus red roses represent me because I love them so much. So that's cool."

"Alright..." Adryn took the tank top from Taeyong and checked to see if it was her size. It turned out to be her side, so she smiled a small smile at Taeyong. "I'll try it on."

"Alright, I'll keep looking for clothes for you," Taeyong informed Adryn as she walked away. As Taeyong searched for more clothes, Mark joined him. Eventually, Adryn came back out with the shirt, admitting that she loved it. So she joined the guys in looking for clothes for her.

They ended up buying various items from that specific store, before going through some others and purchasing stuff from there too. Adryn went into the intimate store by herself though; to buy underwear obviously. After all that shopping was done, Adryn met back up with Mark, but not Taeyong.

"Where's Taeyong?" Adryn asked as she looked around, hoping to spot his pink hair.

"He went to go get something. He told me that he'll meet up with us at the car." Mark responded simply as he took the bags from Adryn to carry them himself. Adryn thanked him and then the 2 were off toward the car.

Just as Mark and Adryn make it to the car, Taeyong does as well, coming from a different direction. Adryn instantly spots the bag Taeyong was holding, but he just hid it from her. This made Adryn curious but she didn't do anything about it, she figured that it was something private to Taeyong or something. So, Adryn watched as Mark put all the bags into the trunk as Taeyong put his one bag in the backseat with him.

"Alright, is there anywhere else we need to go before we go home?" Mark asked the group as they got into the car.

"No, let's go home now," Taeyong spoke as he looked at Adryn, who was now looking at her cell phone with a frown on her face. "Is everything alright?"

"I have several missed calls from Eclipse and a lot of texts that I won't bother responding to right now as well."

"She'll come around eventually. Everything will be alright."

"If Eclipse doesn't approve of something, she won't ever. She's too strong-willed and stubborn."

"You're best friends, practically family. She'll get over it." Taeyong's words were met with a shrug from Adryn. She then turned her attention to the world as they drove past everything. She remained silent the rest of the ride to the gang's house.
She was too lost in thought. She wasn't sure what she was really feeling, but she knew she didn't like it. She didn't like that she and Eclipse were fighting now, but she hoped that things would start to look up from there on out.