track #02 in kunboss ryder bailey

itzy // mafia in the morning

I WAKE to my phone beeping from text messages from Andy and smile to myself.

a.clifford: see you later! 

kunrbailey: yeah, looking forward to it ;)

I pull myself out of the comfy casing that is my bed and fold the duvet cover over itself, making my bed in less than five minutes. Then, I pick out an outfit from my ever-growing wardrobe; the trapdoor spits me a few suggestions, and I eventually go with just jeans and a green T-shirt.

I order some food and eat in silence in my own room before going down the stairs at 1:30, careful not to be too loud, but almost everyone is sitting on the couch, except Zoey, and when they see me, they stand, narrowing their eyes.

Cadence, Gwyneth and Eunice stare at me with arms crossed, blocking my way towards the exit.

"Just where do you think you're going, Kunboss Ryder Bailey?" Cadence asks sarcastically, and I shrug.

"Out to do my mission," I answer nonchalantly.

"As much as I'd like to stay mad at my ex-best friend, I'm still worried for your safety. Tristan and Aiden still aren't back. They haven't been since last night. So for now, until they return, no one can step out of the house," says Gwyneth sternly.

I narrow my eyebrows, ready to burst, but stifle my rage and put on a sickly smile. "You gave me this mission, and I'm going to carry it out, Anderson," I spit, mocking how she behaved yesterday night, and shoulder my bag, pushing past them and out to the foyer, where I crouch down to slip on my sneakers. As I adjust my shoelaces, I watch as she shakes her head and plops down onto the couch in defeat from the corner of my eye.

Eunice, however, is a different story. She jogs up to me with fury in her blazing orbs, grabbing my hand. "STAY. HERE," she growls, and I grab her wrist with my other arm, gently taking it off of mine.

"Can't you see she still wants the best for you?" Eunice questions, sarcasm in her voice. "You don't deserve Gwyn. You don't even deserve friends who care about you. They don't deserve the hate you bring into this world – imagine a best friend who would willingly kill your parents if it meant they could survive."

I bite my tongue to stop myself from cutting in, and she smiles. "Not you. You said you wouldn't care. But the rest of us do. So you know what? We don't care about you anymore. Go and die if that satisfies you."

I take one step out of the door just to spite her, and Eunice huffs. "Knew you'd do that," she spits, before slamming the door straight into my face with a bang, leaving me alone in the seaside streets with nothing but a tote bag.

I make my way along the streets after retrieving a blue mask from the bag, slipping the straps over my ears in order to hide my face, weaving past crowds of people at markets who are still unknowing of the situation, past the sea resort where tourists are screaming – when finally I see a man in Byrok's signature black T-shirt pickpocketing a chubby man of his riches.

I know what I should do, but I'm not about to expose my identity by stopping the robbery. Instead, I hide myself from the view of the black-clad man – pretending to be a commoner purchasing oranges from a stall (I quickly pay for one orange which I stuff into my bag) – and silently follow him out of the countryside area and into the main city town of the Adelaide Woods.

By now, it's almost 2:30; the time that I'm supposed to meet Andy at a coffee shop for afternoon tea, but I continue following the man anyway. Surprisingly, he stops at the exact shop I'm going to, and I quickly slip behind a pillar as he enters, hiding myself from view of the public too.

In a few minutes, he comes out with his order of a large iced coffee and takes his phone out gruffly, dialing a number. "Done," he says, "Okay, thanks. Bye!"

The black-clothed man turns and leaves, a weird skip in his step, and I enter to see Andy already seated at a table in the secluded far corner of the shop. He waves at me eagerly and I approach, putting down my bag on the couch chair before going to order a green tea latte and a muffin at the counter.

"Hi," he says once I settle down opposite him at the table, frowning at the orange in my bag.

"Did you see the Byrok man just now?" I ask, and he nods his head yes.

"I still don't really know what the situation is – and I don't think I want to know. Anyway, let's get to the point," Andy says again, retrieving a notebook from his backpack.

He opens it and de-caps a pen, "I called you for afternoon tea, mostly because I have a job offer for you."

A job offer? Does he not know I'm busy with college? But then again, since everyone is against me and doesn't want me to do what they told me to, I should probably do it to earn some extra cash – now that we don't have much that doesn't belong to Byrok anyway.

For one second, the idea of asking Andy to give the offer to everyone else in the group flashes by in my mind, but I quickly shake it off (they don't deserve my care, either,).

I take a sip of my drink and nod. "Tell me about it."

***

"It pays well," he starts, showing me his salary. "My boss is named Evelyn – and everyone has their own personal tasks that are suited to them. She gives them according to that person's abilities, and I've already taken the first step by giving her your profile. Don't worry, she's really nice. I also checked up on your parents recently – they do need the money for the mortgage."

No wonder my parents seemed so stiff the last time I called them. Why didn't they tell me? Why didn't they seem to trust me as much too?

"I'll take it," I say to Andy, and he smiles wide. "If my parents need help, I'll give it to them. What do I have to do?"

"Well, you're in for a treat. I thought your mission would be something vet or animals-related, but I just asked Evelyn, and turns out not. Your mission is easy. I'm jealous of you now," he chuckles, pressing some buttons on his mobile phone and turning it to face me – the screen showing a picture of a boy around my age with sandy brown hair and fairly tan skin.

"This is Evelyn's son Aloysius. He's our age. And he wants to date your best friend. He's apparently interested in her. Seeing as you two are close, Evelyn wants you to report where Gwyneth Anderson is every day – this should be easy for you, shouldn't it?"

I grimace at the thought of someone even wanting to court her. "We actually had a fight," I admit to Andy. "She's being annoying."

"It doesn't matter," he replies easily. "If anything, it'll be even better as she won't even want to talk to you so you can report easier."

"Okay. Send me the number then," I sigh, taking out my own phone, internally knowing I don't have any other choice.

a.clifford has sent a contact

contact: _evelynjh

"Thanks," I say before clicking on the icon of her profile picture to message Evelyn.

Andy and I make small talk as we wait for our boss' reply.

"I do think Gwyn is being unreasonable and making a big fuss over just one thing I said," I begin. "She's the one who gave me a mission against Byrok and now she isn't even letting me carry it out. Everyone's pretending she's right, but honestly, I'm fed up with everyone agreeing with her and assuming she's the leader. After all this torment that she's causing us, I don't think Aloysius would be interested in her anymore for crying out loud."

Andy only chuckles and shakes his head. "Gwyneth was never like that at school. You may only be overthinking," he says. "I do kinda get why he'd like her. I mean, maybe you just don't agree with her ideas, but that doesn't mean she's a bad person overall."

My phone pings, and I look down at it.

_evelynjh: Kunboss Bailey? Welcome to the team.

kunrbailey: hi, thanks for offering the job!

_evelynjh: Please report every day at 10, 2, 4 and 6. I'll arrange for you to meet Aloysius if possible. You two would make perfect friends.

I put my phone away and bite the last of my muffin. "Wanna know something?" I ask, taking the orange from my bag and peeling it. "Let's share this. I got it because I was hiding from that Byrok man we saw earlier," I say, taking the first bite from the orange. Sweetness seeps into my tongue, and I smile.

"It kind of reminds me of school, you know? When people would fangirl over other people," Andy says, chuckling. "How is it in college?"

I laugh myself. "Shouldn't it be me asking how your work is? College is basically just like school, but different subjects."

As I talk to another one of my childhood best friends, one who truly won't judge because he doesn't know the situation himself – the doubts I had for the job offer completely go out the window – and I smile from my heart in the first time in long. 

– a/n: totally not me singing the HAHAHHAA part of mafia TT anyways what do you think kun is up to?