Adryn hurried to the bathroom and got ready for her shower. She carefully removed her bloody clothes and climbed into the mildly warm water. As soon as the water hit Adryn, the tears began to flow. She leaned against the shower wall and tried her hardest to keep her sobbing quiet. She continued crying as she got all cleaned up, but as she calmed down, the tears did too. Eventually, she was clean and had stopped crying so she got out and dried off. She changed into her clean clothes and took her bloody clothes to her bedroom.
After dropping her clothes off, Adryn headed back to where Mark was. On her way there, she turned into a hallway and saw Ten. He perked up when he noticed her.
"Hey, how are you doing?" Ten asked as he approached Adryn. "Are you alright after everything with Mark and Min-Joon?"
"I haven't given it much thought..." Adryn replied, despite having just cried in the shower over the stress of everything.
"You'll need to process everything. Make sure you go to someone if you think you're having trouble with anything."
"Thank you for your concern, Ten. I'll try to remember that I'm not alone anymore." Adryn received a smile from Ten in response. Ten then went off on his way and Adryn headed the rest of the way to Mark. As she got closer, she could hear Jaehyun talking to someone. Once she entered the room, she saw Jaehyun lecturing Mark. Both men paused their conversation to look at Adryn.
"Great! Adryn, can you please tell Mark to rest more?" Jaehyun asked the woman as she walked into the room. "Explain to him that he lost a lot of blood and will be weak for a bit."
"Mark, you really should rest. I'll hang out with you so you can have someone to rest with if you'd like." Adryn suggested to the injured man. Mark smiled at Adryn before speaking in response.
"I'll be fine." Mark addressed Adryn before turning to look at Jaehyun. "I do want some food though. If you want me to keep staying here, you'll go get me some food."
"I'll get something, don't worry. Adryn, watch over him while I'm gone, okay?" Jaehyun chuckled and watched Adryn nod her head. He left the room as she sat down on the chair next to Mark's bed.
"How are you feeling?" Adryn asked Mark when she realized that he wasn't going to say anything to her first. Mark shrugged his shoulders, wincing at the pain-causing movement.
"I'm used to injuries, so I'm alright," Mark replied simply as he looked down at the bandages around him.
"Why would that be alright? Shouldn't you care more that you're hurt?" Adryn asked as she frowned at the man. This caused Mark to finally look at her with a frown of his own on his face.
"If you really do join us, you'll have to get used to being injured too. It's bound to happen to everyone, including you."
"I am nervous about that, but I do want to join you. I know there will be things that I will have to get used to."
"At first, I was excited to have you join us, but after hearing everything that bastard said, I'm not too sure anymore. I don't know if it's a good idea for you to get involved with us."
"I'm not going to run away from this. Besides, even if I did run, where would I go? Eclipse is part of a gang too, so I'd just be off by myself."
"Well, you don't have to worry about that. Taeyong will be keeping you even closer to him than before now. You don't have the chance to escape us anymore." Mark then looked at the ground. "You know, if you find out that you don't feel the same about Taeyong, you can tell him. He will respect your feelings and won't pressure you or force you into anything. I know how scary Taeyong can be when he's angry, but he would never put that anger toward you."
"I don't know what he's like when he's mad, so I wouldn't know how he is, but I hope I never find out. I don't handle people getting angry at me."
"How come?" To Mark's question, Adryn shrugged her shoulders with a frown. She looked at her hands before responding to him.
"I... probably shouldn't talk about it, I don't want to speak ill of my family." As soon as the words left her mouth, Jaehyun walked into the room.
"You'll have to talk about your family eventually. I'm curious about your mental state where your family is concerned." Jaehyun spoke up as he clearly had heard the tail end of Mark and Adryn's conversation.
"How long were you listening?"
"Jaehyun just started listening, so not long," Taeyong muttered as he peeked his head into the room.
"And how long were you listening in for?"
"Not too long either. After my shower, I went in search of you. And here you are." Taeyong responded with a chuckle. Adryn turned to watch Jaehyun hand Mark his food, prompting Adryn to stand up.
"Alright, well, what is on the agenda for today now?" Adryn asked as she approached Taeyong.
"You'll be hanging out with Johnny and Ten. It'll be your first official Korean lesson."
"Cool, where are they?"
"Living room. So go there now and good luck." With that, Adryn nodded her head and went off in search of the living room. She thankfully remembered the way and was able to walk into the room not as tired as she thought she'd be from wandering around the house.
As she walked in, Adryn noticed that Ten and Johnny were chatting about something. However, as soon as she walked in, they stopped talking and looked over at her.
"Hey, Adryn, come over here!" Ten happily spoke to her. Adryn hesitantly approached them and sat down. Ten and Johnny scooted apart to allow Adryn to sit in between them on the couch. "We were just discussing how we were going to teach you."
"How were you learning Korean in the first place? How much do you understand?" Johnny asked the woman who was now next to him. Adryn frowned at this and looked down at her lap.
"Eclipse was teaching me. She'd been learning Korean in preparation for her to come here a few years before we both came over here. I can understand most everything unless someone speaks too quickly. It's the figuring out the words to respond with that are hard for me." Adryn admitted with a deeper frown. Both men next to her could tell she was ashamed of her lack of ability to respond in Korean.
"Don't worry, we got this. Also, Jaehyun will join us eventually, along with Mark once he was healed up enough." Johnny stated as he patted Adryn's shoulder, trying to comfort her. The woman just nodded her head in understanding. Ten and Johnny took her head nod as a sign to get started.
As an hour passed by, Adryn ended up near tears as she leaned back on the couch. She felt incredibly helpless as she realized that she sucked at learning the Korean language.
"Are you trying to be troublesome?" Ten asked it, half-jokingly, half-honestly curious. Adryn instantly shot him a glare.
"I just don't understand how to say the words, I can't form them in my mouth. They just don't make sense to me." Adryn mumbled frustrated and tired of this already. She was about ready to give up.
"Maybe we should take a break? Go and find Taeyong. Hang out with him for a bit?" Johnny suggested to the obviously upset woman.
"Why Taeyong?"
"He's working hard on something, he could use the distraction."
"Alright then..." Adryn felt like that was a trick but went off in search of Taeyong anyway. Adryn realized something after leaving the living room. She had no clue where Taeyong was in the large house. This left her wandering around the house until she came across Jeno leaving a room. This was the first person she'd come across in her wandering around. "Jeno!"
"Hey, what's up, Adryn?" Jeno asked as he watched her approach him quickly.
"Do you happen to know where, in this huge-ass house, Taeyong is?" Adryn's question sparked Jeno to laugh and nod his head.
"As a matter of fact, I do. He's in there." Jeno pointed to the room he'd just walked out of. "Be careful though, he's in one hell of a bad mood."
"Thank you." Jeno nodded his head at Adryn and left her to her business. Adryn was hesitant to knock on the door but eventually found the courage to. As soon as she knocked, Taeyong replied to her.
"Come in!" Taeyong's voice was harsh and showed he was tired. Adryn was instantly hit with a wave of nervousness. She then peeked her head inside the room to see Taeyong at a rather large desk. He was staring down at papers looking furious about something he was reading.
"Is now a bad time?" Adryn's voice caused Taeyong to look up at her. Immediately, all of the tension in his face faded and was replaced by a smile.
"There's never a bad time for you. Come in!" Adryn did as she was told and closed the door behind her as she walked into the office. "What brings you here so suddenly?"
"Johnny told me to come to find you. I needed a break from learning Korean."
"How'd that go?" Taeyong asked as he set down his papers to give Adryn his full attention. He watched Adryn frown intensely.
"I'm an idiot and can't speak Korean, that's how it went." Adryn huffed out in frustration. Taeyong frowned in response and motioned for her to get closer to him. She walked to him, as he turned in his chair. She ended up standing between his legs while still frowning. Taeyong took ahold of her hands and gave her a smile.
"You aren't an idiot," Taeyong spoke kindly to her, hoping it would cheer her up. She merely looked him in the eyes, showing how frustrated she was with herself in her eyes.
"Then why can't I figure out how to speak Korean? I can understand spoken Korean, mostly. It's just the speaking that is hard. I get choked up and can't form the words."
"It'll take time. Just don't give up, because I know you're smart and will figure this out. You know, if you speak Korean, we can have better conversations where we both fully understand everything being said."
"Or you could learn English?" Taeyong chuckled at her hopeful words.
"I'll work on my English if you work on your Korean." Taeyong's words caused
Adryn to pout, but nod her head in agreement. He then noticed that she was staring at their hands, as he was still holding her hands in his. "Does it feel weird touching me?"
"No, not weird, but something else that I'm not used to."
"Maybe you're falling for me?" Taeyong meant it as a teasing question, but Adryn paled and pulled her hands away from his.
"Maybe..." Adryn muttered before spinning around to face away from Taeyong. "I should get back to Ten and Johnny." Adryn then literally ran out of the room, and then down the hallway. She slowed to a walk as she made sure Taeyong wasn't following her. After confirming that Taeyong wasn't after her, Adryn began her trek back to the living room. However, she was stopped by Jeno before she fully got there.
"Hey, Mark and Jaehyun want to talk to you. They're still in Jaehyun's office." Jeno stated to Adryn before wandering off. Adryn then sighed and headed for the room where the two men were, only to walk into drama. There was a shirtless Mark and an annoyed Jaehyun standing there, arguing with each other. Adryn couldn't help but stare at Mark for a moment, taking in the wound he'd suffered before turning to look at Jaehyun.
"What's going on?"
"This idiot just got too rowdy with Haechan and probably tore some stitches! He won't let me look though!" Jaehyun nearly yelled, clearly upset with Mark's lack of care for the situation.
"It wasn't my fault! Haechan jumped on me while being all dramatic that I could have died!"
"Um... So why did you guys want me?" Adryn wasn't about to get into the argument with Mark and Jaehyun. Hearing Adryn's hesitancy, Mark frowned and sat down, allowing Jaehyun to finally check for any torn stitches.
"I think I can help you with your lack of ability to speak Korean. Jaehyun wanted to help out too." Mark explained as Jaehyun checked him over.
"I'll take all the help I can get because I want to be able to speak better with Taeyong. I mean the English is working fine, but I feel like he wants to speak more in his language. I want to be able to equally speak in mine and his language." Adryn muttered to the two men, before realizing that her sole reason for learning Korean had become Taeyong. "Wait, am I starting to like him?"
"Even I can tell that you have some form of feelings for Taeyong." Mark's words caused Adryn to frown instantly.
"Are you alright?" Jaehyun caught onto the fact that Adryn was less than happy with Mark's words.
"If it's not too much trouble, can we get to speaking Korean? I don't want to talk about Taeyong anymore..." Mark and Jaehyun looked at each other, worried about how Adryn was feeling now but decided to not push the matter.
This led to another hour going by, with very little progress happening. There was more progress than with Ten and Johnny though. Adryn was getting overwhelmed with everything, so she just leaned back in the chair she'd been in and sighed.
"Learning a language is hard, but I believe you'll get the hang of it eventually." Jaehyun shot Adryn a smile, but she just frowned in return.
"I appreciate your attempt and willingness to help me." Adryn then stood up from her seat. "I think I'll go get a snack now." Adryn began to head for the door, but Jaehyun stopped her with his next words.
"If you end up growing true feelings for Taeyong, will you accept them?" Jaehyun asked, making Adryn freeze. She instantly turned around to face him with confusion on her face. The confusion then faded to a neutral look.
"I will accept them. I wouldn't want to deny my feelings or cause any misunderstandings. I'd like to not hurt Taeyong as well."
"Thank you for your honesty." Adryn merely nodded her head and headed for the kitchen. As soon as she walked in, she noticed Taeyong eating a snack and drinking some water. She instantly blushed as Taeyong looked up at her. Taeyong smiled at seeing Adryn, but she went for the refrigerator to avoid his gaze. She then began to look for a snack and something to drink.
"How are you doing with your Korean now?" Taeyong asked, breaking the silence between them.
"Mark and Jaehyun were just helping me out. It might be going somewhere... possibly."
"I believe in you, Adryn."
"Thank you, but I don't really believe in myself all that much. I'm going to keep trying though."
"That's all anyone can ask of you. Keep trying and don't give up." Taeyong smiled at Adryn, but she was too happy to see a little snack and some water to drink after her search. So, with her snack and drink in hand, Adryn went and sat down next to Taeyong. "Are you getting used to life with us?" Taeyong's question was random but understandable.
"It feels like home... but I'm a little anxious..."
"What are you anxious about?" Taeyong's question was unanswered as Adryn began to take a drink of water. He patiently waited for her to drink a bit of water. It was like she was gathering the courage to tell him. Finally, though, she did.
"I'm anxious because I know there is someone out there who wants me. I know that NCT members might get hurt trying to keep me safe. I know you'll protect me, but the more I think about it, the more worried I am for you and the others."
"We've been doing this gang thing for as long as we all can remember, so we'll be alright. A way to help us though would be to learn self-defense so you aren't helpless."
"Just give me a gun and I'll be fine."
"You need more than a gun, Adryn. What if you ran out of bullets or someone gets too close to you?"
"I... I guess I do need a little help with self-defense then..."
"I've got you. I'll help you out."
"No, if you teach me, you'll go easy on me. I need someone to push me."
"The others might hurt you, more than just a few bruises and scrapes."
"Won't the people after me do even worse?" Hearing Adryn's words caused Taeyong to pause and frown at her. He knew she was right.
"I have someone in mind to help you..."
"Who?"
"Mark, he's great at everything. Guns, hand to hand combat, and even knives." Taeyong responded with a sigh.
"But he's hurt? He can't help me right now."
"I don't want him to do it at all, but if you want true help, Mark will be the one to go to after he's healed."
"Why don't you want Mark to do it?" Taeyong instantly looked away from Adryn, but she could still see the pout on his face.
"Mark for a hug from you before I did... So, I'm a bit jealous over that..." Taeyong's words caused Adryn to immediately burst out into laughter. Taeyong spun around in horror and stared at Adryn as she laughed.
"I'm sorry, it's just... You were so damn cute when you said that! I couldn't help but laugh!" Adryn's words caused Taeyong to blush and look away from her. However, feeling brave, Adryn pulled Taeyong's face back to look at her. "Don't look away. I want to see your face and your reactions." Taeyong couldn't help but smile at her and then take her hands into his, pulling them away from his face.
"Thank you for being so sweet to me." Taeyong smiled as he looked right into her eyes. "I love you, Adryn."
"While your honesty is great, maybe calm it down a bit?" Adryn blushed at his words, unsure of how to react to them.
"Does it bother you?"
"No, but it makes my heart flutter. I'm not used to that."
"Adryn... Can I kiss you?"
"You're an all-powerful gang leader, do you need to ask permission for anything?"
"Of course! Consent is extremely important. I never want to force you into anything or make you uncomfortable like when I first hugged you."
"Thank you, Taeyong. Also, yes you can kiss me."
"Are you sure?"
"Please, kiss me." Adryn's words left Taeyong with only one reaction. Both of them instantly leaned into each other and pressed their lips together. Taeyong released her hands and placed them on her chair, before pulling the chair and Adryn closer to him. Adryn's hands went to Taeyong's shirt, holding onto him as if he would just disappear suddenly.
Both of them, as soon as their lips touched, felt a sense of relief. It was as if everything was right in the world. Like nothing could go wrong. It felt in a simple word, perfect.
