"What? How can Eclipse even be here? Is that even possible?" Adryn asked the blond man. Taeyong instantly muttered something in Korean that Adryn couldn't catch before he was putting his shoes on. Adryn followed suit and the three of them hurried back to the first floor and then to the front doors. As soon as Taeyong opened the door, Eclipse pushed passed him and Mark to get to Adryn. Mark in turn pulled out his gun and pointed it at the pastel-pink-haired woman.

"Calm down. I'm not a threat yet." Eclipse waved off Mark as she looked over Adryn in horror. She saw all the bruises forming on Adryn's body. "Never mind, I'm a threat now," Eclipse growled out as she swung around to confront Taeyong and Mark.

"Stop it!" Adryn grabbed Eclipse's arm and yanked her back from the two men. "Taeyong and I were just seeing how much fighting I can do, which amounted to not much so I'm pretty beat up! It's my fault for not remembering all the fighting moves you taught me!"

"You need to come with me, right now." Eclipse said as she turned back to Adryn with fury in her eyes.

"No."

"You need to calm down. Adryn is safe with us." Taeyong was furious that there was an uninvited guest in his home, but he knew that he needed to remain calm for Adryn's sake.

"There is no way that she's safe anywhere near a gang," Eclipse growled at the man.

"You're a hypocrite. You're a part of a gang yourself." Hearing Taeyong's words caused Adryn to freeze and release Eclipse's arm. She looked at Eclipse, wanting the woman to argue with Taeyong, to tell him that he was wrong, but she didn't.

"Is what Taeyong said true?" Adryn asked her best friend with nervousness in her voice. Eclipse merely turned to Adryn and frowned at her. "Eclipse, is it true? Are you in a gang?"

"Yes, it's true." Eclipse sighed as she spoke to Adryn.

"Why wasn't I told about that? Why did you keep that a secret from me?"

"I didn't want you to know because it would put you in danger."

"In danger? Wow, alrighty then." Adryn was in disbelief that Eclipse would keep something so serious a secret from her, even if it was to protect her.

"Adryn, I'm sorry..." Eclipse tried to apologize to the frustrated woman, but in response to Eclipse's words, Adryn spun around and walked off. Instantly, Taeyong was following after Adryn, pushing past Eclipse, worried about how Adryn was holding up. Eclipse hurried up and followed after them as well, just as Mark closed the door to their home, and went the other way to avoid the upcoming drama.

"Adryn, where are you going?" Taeyong asked as he caught up to the shorter woman.

"My bedroom." Adryn snapped, but she didn't mean to be as harsh to him, it just came out that way.

"Adryn, I was just thinking about you and your safety. I just wanted to protect you!" Eclipse called out as she, too, caught up to Adryn. Adryn instantly spun around and confronted Eclipse, nearly shoving Taeyong aside.

"I don't need protection! I was raised with guns and knives. I know how to defend myself well enough." Adryn growled at her best friend, as Eclipse jolted backward at the harshness.

"While that is true, you don't know how strong the gangs are. They don't always play fair. Adryn, I just wanted to keep you safe. It's hard enough with your own mind attacking you all of the time. I know you don't need outside forces to attack you as well."

"I've wanted to kill myself for years. If I wanted to be dead or hurt myself, I would have by now. I don't need permission for any of that."

"I didn't mean..." Eclipse's explanation was ignored as Adryn began to talk over her.

"I'm tired of the hovering and the protection. I just want to live my life as I see fit. If that means becoming a part of NCT then that's what I'm going to do because maybe I want to give Taeyong a chance at making me happy and make my life better."

"Really?" Taeyong instantly perked up from behind Adryn. "Are you serious, or are you saying that because you're mad?"

"Back off! Stay out of our conversation!" Eclipse snapped at the man, who glared right at her in response.

"You are in his home, Eclipse, you shouldn't be rude to him," Adryn muttered in Taeyong's defense. Eclipse turned her attention back to Adryn and sighed.

"Look. This isn't what I intended when I came here. I just wanted to get you and take you back home with me."

"You aren't taking Adryn back to SHINee or anywhere for that matter. It's my duty now to keep her safe and make her happy." Taeyong stepped forward to be side by side with Adryn. Eclipse looked right into Taeyong's eyes and glared deep into him.

"How the fuck can you make her happy when you have murdered so many people?" Eclipse's words were calm and harsh, causing Taeyong to visibly flinch at them.

"Just because that is part of his life, doesn't mean that is completely who he is. He might be a killer, but he has been so sweet and caring to me since we'd met. I can't believe that Taeyong would ever be someone who'd hurt me, mentally, physically, or otherwise." Adryn spoke just as calmly to Eclipse and with such determination. Eclipse searched Adryn's eyes for anything to tell her that she was just putting up a front, but there wasn't anything. So, Eclipse sighed to herself and nodded her head.

"Alright. I see that you're serious about this. You aren't just saying all of this out of anger at me." Eclipse frowned and took a step back from Adryn and Taeyong. "Keep in touch with me. We both are in gangs now, but they have a tentative friendship. I want to keep being your best friend and sister, alright?"

"Alright." Adryn nodded her head. Eclipse gave Adryn a small smile before turning to look at Taeyong.

"I can find my own way out. Thank you for having me." With that, Eclipse turned around and walked away from the two. She presumably left the house afterward.

"Adryn, are you alright?" Taeyong asked once Eclipse was out of sight. Adryn frowned at Taeyong.

"I'm fine, but I'm sorry for how rude Eclipse was to you."

"It's alright," Taeyong shrugged his shoulders before continuing. "I'm used to it as most people are rude in this business."

"Ah, I see..."

"Is there anything I can do for you?"

"I'd like to shower if that's alright. Also, change my clothes since we'd worked out."

"Okay," Taeyong nodded his head and then guided himself and Adryn along to their rooms. He pointed out the bathroom which was just down the hall from their bedrooms.

"Thank you, Taeyong." He nodded his head as a response, so Adryn went into her room to gather a change of clothes. By the time she came out, Taeyong was nowhere to be seen. Now all alone, Adryn made her way to the bathroom, went in, locked the door, and proceeded to take a shower.

After her shower, Adryn dried off and changed into the clean clothes she'd brought with her. Her change of clothes was a pair of black shorts and a blue tank top. Now clean and dressed, Adryn dropped her dirty clothes off in her bedroom before going off in search of the kitchen. All the moving around she'd done so far that day had made her tired, but also hungry.

Adryn figured out where the kitchen was fairly easily from when she and Ten had gone there together. So, once there, she walked in and noticed that there was a man already in there. It was someone she had yet to meet. Adryn just stood there for a moment, unsure of what to say or do now. However, the man seemed to sense that she was there and turned around to face her. He had black hair and brown piercing eyes and looked incredibly annoyed.

"Are you the one who has stolen Taeyong's heart?" The man asked in a monotone voice. He spoke English to Adryn much to her relief.

"Um..." Adryn blushed, not sure what to say in response. The man took that as a good enough answer though and nodded his head in understanding. "I'm Adryn."

"Doyoung." The man replied simply as he turned to fully face Adryn.

"It's nice to meet you, Doyoung." He just shrugged his shoulders in return before speaking.

"You'll be changing your mind about this situation eventually. So no need for you to be so polite."

"What do you mean?"

"You're an idiot for deciding to live with us."

"Why?" Doyoung just gave Adryn a look that clearly told her she was stupid for asking.

"You'll only be a burden to us. We have to protect you now."

"I'll protect myself! I already know how to shoot guns and I'm kind of good with a knife. I'll learn hand-to-hand fighting!"

"Hmm..." Doyoung studied Adryn for a moment before shrugging his shoulders again.

"You still need to watch your step around everyone, including the others of the gang."

"Would anyone hurt me or something?" Adryn was confused but Doyoung didn't answer her question. He just grabbed his glass of water and left the kitchen. This left Adryn alone to think about what the hell just happened and what was said to her. A few moments later, Taeyong walked into the kitchen with a smile on his face.

"I'd been wondering where you ran off to." Taeyong walked right to Adryn only to see that she looked a little unnerved. "Are you alright?"

"Will any of the gang members hurt me?"

"Everyone has been strictly told to not hurt you. No matter what."

"Does that mean someone would have hurt me before that?"

"I'll admit, some of the guys are a little hard to get used to at first, but mostly all of them are friendly. So no, I don't believe anyone would have hurt you."

"Is there anyone specific that would have hurt me though? Someone who might hate me?" Adryn was pushing the subject and Taeyong frowned at that.

"Yuta or Doyoung might have a tough time with you joining us. That doesn't mean they'd hurt you though. They are just difficult sometimes."

"I just met Doyoung actually and I met Yuta earlier with Ten." Adryn watched Taeyong's eyes widen in surprise.

"I apologize for not being there for you to help you."

"It's alright. I need to be able to handle them on my own. Since we'll all be living together now." Hearing those words from Adryn brought the smile back to Taeyong's face.

"You're so accepting of all of this."

"To be completely honest, it's only because I don't care about or value my life. So, if I ended up dying, it wouldn't upset me." Taeyong's frown instantly returned. He then bopped her on the nose and replied to her.

"That's a bad thought to think, my dear." Taeyong's teasing tone brought a giggle out of the woman in front of him. Before Adryn could respond though, a higher-pitched male voice from behind Taeyong began to make gagging noises.

"If you're going to flirt, do it somewhere else." Adryn and Taeyong turned to see a man with light brown hair looking at them with annoyance in his eyes.

"Shut up, Haechan," Taeyong muttered seemingly instantly annoyed with the new man. "When did Dream get back? How'd everything go?" Instead of responding, Haechan looked at Adryn before looking back at his leader.

"Jeno can tell you since he was the leader of our mission. I just wanted some water, but you're in the way." Adryn instantly moved aside, pulling Taeyong with her.

"I'm sorry about that..." Adryn muttered nervously to the man.

"It's not a problem, just don't do that again."

"Haechan, be nice to Adryn." Taeyong scolded the clearly younger male.

"I was being nice though. It's the others that might not like an airhead just standing around." To Haechan's words, Adryn frowned but kept her words of anger to herself. So with that, Haechan went and got some water before leaving the kitchen.

"I'm sorry about him." Taeyong turned to Adryn, frowning at her frown.

"Stop apologizing to me. I need to be able to handle all of them myself." Adryn mumbled to him, clearly still a bit upset over Haechan's words to her.

"Do you want some food? We're going to start dinner soon."

"I am hungry actually. I can help with the food?"

"No, that's alright. I've seen you try to cook with Eclipse before and I know how badly that went."

"You could help teach me?" Adryn pouted at the taller man. He chuckled instantly at her and gave her a beautiful smile. He loved that she was getting closer to him now, and wanted to learn to cook from him.

"It'll have to be another day. I need to get the food done for the guys that just came back from a mission."

"I understand, but where should I go to wait for food?"

"Down the hall, there is a living room. You can sit in there and wait." Adryn just nodded her head to Taeyong's words and went off in search of the living room he spoke of. She felt a little more at home now. Even with all the guys not exactly being so welcoming to her. She had a feeling that they'd come around eventually, or at least, she hoped so.