NEO CULTURE TECHNOLOGY
MAD CITY BASE
8:34 AM, SUNDAY

3RD PERSONS VIEW。

JEONG DANIEL.
≫ 1:30 pm at SevenDays cafe, right?

Keiko sighed and closed her phone, putting on her shoes before heading downstairs to get some breakfast. On her way to the dining hall, she bumped into Ten who was also on his way there.

Ten smiled at her, patting the top of her head, silence remained between the two of them. She couldn't really say anything at the moment. All of her words got washed away, just by thinking of what happened last night.

For sure, what Kun said wasn't exactly the truth, going by what Kun said himself a few days ago; she shouldn't really trust him easily. And she doesn't. Kun literally snitched her, how could she possibly believe him now?

Qian Kun was an executive, the man who gave her all smiles yet still gave off a scary vibe sometimes. Yangyang was right, everyone was like hiding a monster in them.

The two walked in, earning a few glances from the other boys. Keiko sat down, in between Doyoung and Jaehyun, since that was the only seat left and available.

The girl stared down at her food, the faint shrill scream she heard was haunting her mind, keeping her awake until morning came. Exhausted — she looked so exhausted from all the thoughts that ran in her mind.

As Jisung ate his breakfast, he couldn't avoid glancing at the older girl as she continued to gaze down at hers, seemingly not in the mood to eat at all. She bit her bottom lip, contemplating whether to force herself to eat it or not.

Doyoung cleared his throat, earning her attention as she looked at him with a questioning look. "Are you not going to eat?" he asks, eyeing the untouched food on her plate.

Jaehyun glanced at the two of them, catching on that something wasn't right. Keiko ignored Doyoung, a frown on her lips.

Getting a bit anxious, Doyoung dropped his spoon, making it clang on the ceramic plate, earning the other boys' attention. His brows were furrowed, "Keiko, are you not going to eat?" he repeated, tapping her shoulder lightly.

Flinching at the touch, she shot him a look, sending him a forced smile, "Sorry, I'm not in the mood to eat right now." she pushed her chair back, standing up to leave the dining hall.

"Is she okay?" Yangyang questioned, averting his gaze onto Kun since he knew that the older was the one who sent the girl to her bedroom.

Kun shrugged, "I don't think so..."

Doyoung sighed, raking his hair before raising a brow, lightly kicking Taeyong's foot under the table, "What are you going to do with her?"

"She actually has a date today," Hendery spoke up, raising a finger.

"Date?" Donghyuck looked up from his plate, suddenly gaining interest in the conversation.

"A date with who?" Renjun tilts his head a bit to the side, "Better not be that Daniel guy."

Hendery snickered, "Too bad, it is Daniel."

Youngho took a side glance at Taeyong, "What do you want to do with him instead?"

"Do you need us to spy on her, or maybe the hacker trio could implement–"

"No." Jaemin's statement was cut off as Jaehyun spoke out of nowhere.

"N-No?" Jungwoo squinted his eyes at the male in front of him.

Jaehyun only stifled a laugh, cocking his glass towards Taeyong, "I mean, it's still up to him."

Doyoung sighed, running his fingers through his disheveled hair. "So? What's your plan?"

Taeyong eyed each and one of them before shrugging, "Nothing."

All eyes landed on him quickly, as if their souls left their body from the amount of shock. "Nothing!?"

"We won't be spying on her, nor would we implement a tracker again." Taeyong said sternly, "Think about it, what we want is to get Keiko to trust us, even if doesn't seem like she plans on even doing that – still that is our main priority here."

"Besides, if we mess with Daniel, Keiko wouldn't be one bit happy if she knew." he clasped his hands together, a smile creeping up his face as he finished his explanation.

Jaw-dropped, Mark suspiciously eyed the boss, "Then what?"

"I just want the intelligence unit to gather all the information they could about Daniel, be it useless or not," Taeyong stated, pointing at the three main hackers.

"And what if she escapes?" Doyoung queried, crossing his arms, not up for Taeyong's idea.

"Escape? I think it's pretty clear for her that she won't be able to escape — even if Daniel decides to help her. That's why we're digging up information, as long as Daniel isn't allied with my father, then we're good."

Jungwoo rolled his eyes, wanting to laugh out loud at Taeyong's words. Even if it's clear that she can't escape, that won't stop her from trying.

.           .            .

"How's it going so far?" Doyoung walks in the younger boy's office unit with Sicheng trailing behind him. He brought a few snacks for them before checking their progress.

No one really bothered to respond to his question, everyone was too engrossed with their own devices. Doyoung's eye twitched, a bit irked that they didn't even spare him a single glance.

Rolling his eyes, he made his way towards Jisung, checking on what he had covered so far.

Jisung felt the presence behind him, glancing for a split-second, "Oh- Hyung! You're here." he chuckled and reached out for a can of cola.

Sicheng hummed, eyeing both Renjun and Chenle's computers before noticing something. "Are those views from street surveillance cameras?"

"Mhm," Chenle nodded simply.

"Why? What happened to no spying?" Sicheng arched a brow, stepping back a bit.

Chenle turned to face him, "What? It's not spying–"

"I mean..." he sheepishly scratched the back of his head, realizing the look Sicheng had, "We're just making sure she's safe, that's all!"

Jaemin peered from his table, "He's right, what if they get attacked or something?"

Doyoung shook his head before flicking Chenle's forehead, "No. Taeyong already said no spying, didn't he? Turn that off."

"Also, I think Yuta and Yangyang has a pick up nearby the cafe Keiko will be meeting up with Daniel. They'll be alert if anything suspicious happens." Sicheng pointed out for them.

Donghyuck chuckled, "But if anything happens, remember, you're the ones who wanted to turn them off." he emphasized for Doyoung who only glared at him in return.

"Has Keiko even left?" Jisung asked, wondering if she was okay. He noticed how uncomfortable and disturbed she looked a while ago, which made him think of what could've happened before she went to her room.

Jeno shook his head, "Not yet."

"Yah, where are you going?" Renjun eyed the purple-haired boy up, noticing him stand up and make his way towards the door.

"Duh? I'm gonna go talk to Cherrie, where else am I gonna go?" Donghyuck stated matter-of-factly, a smug grin plastered on his face.

"Hey wait–" the door slams close earning a few eye rolls.

Donghyuck skidded down the dim hallways of their quarters, bumping into Xiaojun along the way. The two shared the same stern gaze.

Hands akimbo, Donghyuck tilted his head back a bit, "You removed the tracker, right?"

Xiaojun nodded curtly, "Yeah, just like what you told me."

"Good."

"But how did Kun managed to find her then?"

"I don't know, but you know Kun-Hyung." Xiaojun shrugged before walking past Donghyuck, "If you want to see that brat, I think she's on her way out, better hurry up then."

Donghyuck hummed boringly in acknowledgment before running down the hallway. Thought processing, he was already predicting that something would happen, not that he was against Keiko escaping, a part of him thinks she should in fact escape.

However, a part of him also didn't trust her with Daniel.

"Babe!" Donghyuck called upon seeing the familiar silver-haired girl. His eyes trailing onto her tattooed arms, seeing it just made him want to drool.

"Oh, Hyuck, I was just about to leave," she said pointing at the black car where Yangyang sat in the driver's seat.

"Yangyang's driving you to your date?" his statement came off sounding bitter, eyes squinted onto the racer who stuck his tongue out at him in a provoking manner.

"Date?" Keiko laughed, "Nah, just a friendly meet up." she waves her hand.

"Tsk doesn't seem like that to Daniel," Donghyuck muttered before approaching her, his eyes glancing down at her injured arm, or more like, the pin that secured her bandages.

"Who renewed your bandages?"

Yangyang leaned onto the car-door, "Xiaojun did, no need to worry, Haechan."

Keiko raised a brow at them, "Got something to tell me?"

A smile crept up Donghyuck's lips as he shook his head, his voice turning back to his usual playful tone, "Nothing, babe! I'll see you later~" he winked at her before walking off.

"Come on, Cherrie," Yangyang called for attention as he gestured inside the car.

"Quite a surprise," Keiko stated as she entered Yangyang's car.

"Hmm? What do you mean?" the younger averted his gaze onto her.

"Xiaojun replaced the tracking pin with a normal pin, and so far I haven't heard any disputes about me leaving the place for a 'date'," she told him, finding it odd that even Taeyong agreed on letting her go out. Not that Mark hadn't told her already, but she never believed it was somehow true.

Still, she wanted to keep her eyes open, knowing that she's dealing with highly trained people in the mafia – of course, they had their own tricks hidden upon their sleeves. Just like the tracking pin, they pieced in her bandages. Keiko knew she had to be alert.

"We didn't kidnap you–"

"Right, let's act like Hendery and Donghyuck didn't—"

"I meant... like, okay, never mind the kidnap part then." Yangyang shook his head. "But Taeyong knows well that you're smart that's why he's letting you have your freedom."

"He thinks I won't escape?"

"Kinda? But technically he owns you so like– I don't really know Keiko. He's hard to deal with." Yangyang uttered as he focused on the road.

"He wants to use me." Keiko leaned back.

"I know..." Yangyang trailed off, "but he's still has a heart. We all do."

"Can I ask you something?" Yangyang added.

"No."

"Come on, just one."

"My answer depends on what question it is." she retorted, not really up for a question and answer right now.

"Do you trust your grandfather?"

"Of course, I do. I love him with my whole heart." Keiko looked out at the window, her frown deepening. "It's been years since I last saw him..."

Yangyang shifted in his seat, his mouth now pressed into a thin line, thinking about Keiko's answer. The true question was, would she still love him once she finds out he's in contact with Taeyong?

—
i'm back here as well after finally finishing colors of death :')

who do you ship Keiko with tho?

and who do you want to see Keiko interact with more?