one day had passed.

the dreamies and renjun were still at renjun's beach house having fun, while donghyuck had hours to kill at nct's mansion. he had just video called them for approximatively an hour, but now that their call had ended, he felt lonely.

wayv weren't back from whatever they were doing, johnny had gone to his company with jungwoo, taeyong was probably working in his office, and the others were training.

however, hyuck wanted to be active right now. first, he wanted to go out, and then, he was hungry, and even after closing and opening the fridge for ten minutes, he hadn't found what he wanted to eat. then, why not going to the nearest supermarket?

donghyuck rushed to taeyong's office, knocking on the door and waiting for taeyong to allow him to enter.

"what do you need?" the leader asked once donghyuck was in the office. jaehyun was in the office as well, sitting on a chair next to taeyong.

"i'm hungry..."

"you can take whatever you'd like in the fridge and in the cupboards donghyuck."

"but... i already looked, and there's nothing i want to eat..." he pouted. "plus, i really wanted to go out, like outside of the house, to breathe in fresh air." he explained fidgeting with his fingers.

taeyong and jaehyun shared a look, thinking about all the bad things that could happen to him.

"well..." jaehyun started, but before he could continue, the door opened wider, revealing another boy.

"taey-" this one started but stopped when he noticed that there were already in a conversation with donghyuck.

taeyong and jaehyun looked at each other again, this time smirking.

"okay donghyuck. but wait for ten minutes in the living room please, we'll bring you something before you go."

"okay!" the boy said excitedly before leaving the office.

"mark? what did you need?" taeyong drifted his attention to the boy who had just barged in.

"to go out to buy cigarettes." he said blankly.

"i thought you bought one pack yesterday?" jaehyun questioned.

"well, i finished it."

"IN ONE DAY?!" taeyong exclaimed. "20 cigarettes in 24hours?!"

mark shrugged. "you're all stressing me! i need a stress reliever!"

"i think you should find something else than nicotine to relieve your stress!"

"well, i didn't find anything else, sorry." the boy stated.

taeyong sighed. it was something he did more and more when he was with mark.

"then go buy them. but..."

"why is there always a 'but'?" mark rolled his eyes.

"...you'll bring donghyuck with you. he wants to go out. you'll listen to him and buy him what he wants." taeyong finished.

"what?! i am not a babysitter!" mark yelled back.

"it's either this or no cigarettes!"

mark cursed. "i'll bring him then." he said and left the room.

arriving in the living room, he headed to the front door.

"move your ass from that couch. we're going." he spat at donghyuck.

"we? you are bringing me? i don't want you to!"

mark sighed. "well, too bad, but you don't have any choice there."

donghyuck eyes the boy in front of his eyes. he wore a simple black top tucked into his dark blue jeans, and a wide black jacket on which was embroidered a tiger. his dark eyes were slightly hidden by strands of his black and blonde hair, making him look hot in donghyuck's eyes.

"you're done staring?" mark grumbled.

"hum... yes, i'm coming." donghyuck shook his head, pushing away the thought he just had.

XXXXXXXXXX

the two boys arrived at the store quickly.

"go take whatever you want." mark told the younger who happily jumped in the candy aisle.

"blondie!" donghyuck screamed from another aisle of the shop, irritating mark.

the boy entered the candy aisle, finding donghyuck with too many bags of sweets in his hands.

"stop calling me blondie." mark growled.

"yes, yes. i'll see. but now, which do you prefer? i can't decide." donghyuck asked.

"i don't care." mark answered.

"please! i can't decide..." donghyuck pouted.

mark sihed and picked three of them. "there. happy?"

donghyuck giggled nodding. "so, you're the sour type."

"shut up." he said, making donghyuck laugh even more.

they both headed to the cashier, but they were stopped by a man standing at the end of the alley.

"i was sure it was your voice..." the man said smirking. "and i see you brought the precious thing..." he continued, making a head motion towards donghyuck.

"shit" mark cursed under his breath, hiding donghyuck behind his back.

"it has been long since we last saw each other... i missed seeing your gang." the man approached.

"the feeling is not mutual." mark barked.

"w-who's this m-man?" donghyuck asked, gripping on mark's jacket.

"i am oh sehun, donghyuck." the man smiled.

"h-how does he know m-my name?" donghyuck asked barely audible.

"get out of our way, sehun." mark barked, making the other laugh.

"or not." he said, getting a gun out and pointing it in donghyuck's direction.

mark gulped. he could feel donghyuck trembling behind him, and he knew the boy was in fear, which didn't help him thinking straight.

sehun had approached so much that his gun was centimeters in front of mark's head.

mark didn't think twice, he used his leg to kick the gun away and threw a punch right in sehun's face. sehun dodged it and used mark arm to pull him towards himself, throwing his knee right into mark's torso.

they both ended up on the floor, fighting as if their lives depended on it (because they did). when mark managed to get on top, he slammed sehun's head against the floor, making him dizzy. mark then grabbed a glass pot full of sweets that was on the aisle next to him and used it to hit the side of sehun's head, breaking the pot and making sehun black out.

donghyuck stood there paralysed, watching the whole scene, and too sacred to make a move. that was until mark got up, and grabbed his hand, pulling him towards the exit, leaving sehun eyes closed on the floor, blood dripping from the side of his head.

"if he's here, this means the others aren't far!" he said running and getting out of the store, pulling donghyuck.

"which othe-"

donghyuck didn't have the time to finish his question: a gunshot was heard, making him scream both in terror and in pain. mark look at his surroundings and noticed it came from a car that was on the parking.

mark pulled donghyuck to a place they were out of reach.

"don't move." he said quickly before taking out a gun from the waistband of his jeans and running back to the 'battlefield'.

donghyuck on his side felt his head spinning. he couldn't see clear, the sounds of gunshots echoing in in his head, and he badly wanted to throw up.

mark came back to him when the car had left. it was very strange. why would exo leave before having donghyuck killed or whatever?

mark stopped all his thinking when he heard donghyuck whining. he approached the boy.

"i-i don't feel very well..." he said.

mark helped him standing up, but the boy lost his balance and fell onto mark. that's when the gang member noticed it: donghyuck had been shot.