Stronger || NCT mafia au

Chapter 16 | "you're the best"

Jihyun and Jaemin's daily training sessions continued, the pair growing increasingly close with one another, and Jaemin's skills improving exponentially. It's normal now for Jihyun to arrive home around 8pm, a smile on her face and sweat on her forehead.

It's been about 3 weeks of training together, the final sort happening in a few days. The pair had just finished another successful training session and were wrapping things up.

"So, same time tomorrow? Or do you maybe want a day off, I don't want you to be tired or overworked before the final." Jihyun says, handing him his jacket.

"Oh believe me, I'm fine. If anything this is helping me keep my strength up." He smiles to her, turning to put his jacket on.

"Yeah I'll say..." she mumbles, watching the way his back muscles flexed under the tight fabric. She might be a mafia member but she still had eyes and Jaemin was undeniably attractive.

"What was that?" He asked, eyebrows raised.

"Nothing, nothing, good job today." She quickly spews up, attempting to hide her embarrassment.

"Oh, I did want to ask you a question actually," Jaemin starts, nervously shifting from side to side. "Well, it's more of a favor, but same thing." She nods at him to continue.

"It's just, there's these four guys who I'm best friends with, you know one of them, Jisung. Anyway, they've noticed how much I'm improving and have been questioning me everyday." Jihyun raises her eyebrows at his statement, a concerned look on her features.

"Don't worry, I haven't told anyone about this. I figured it was kind of a private thing." She lets out a sigh of relief, her shoulders relaxing as she stared at the boy with gratitude.

It wasn't that she was necessarily hiding anything, she could do whatever she wanted. But she didn't want to waste her time trying to help every single student in the school with one-on-one lessons, and she definitely didn't want rumors about favoritism spreading around.

"Thanks for that, but what's your question?" She asks directly, urging him to get to the point. He lets out a nervous breath before continuing.

"It's just...these boys work really hard and they're really talented and I want them to have their best shot of making it through this final sort. I know you can't be biased during the exams, and I wouldn't ask you to be, but is there any way I could bring them to tomorrow's session? Even for only one day, but just so you could give them some tips?" He asked nervously, a hopeful smile on his face.

She contemplated it for a bit. She didn't want to show favoritism, and she wasnt supposed to get attached incase they ultimately failed. But she knew that it was already too late for that.

"Only four of them?" Jaemin nodded his head. "They can't tell anyone about this." He smiled in response.

"So is that a yes?"

"Yeah, go ahead and bring them tomorrow. Tell them to be ready to work because it might be the only chance they're gonna get and they only have a few hours." She smiled at him. He let out an excited gasp, having wanted to train with his friends for a while now.

"Jihyun, you're the best! Thank you so so much!" He was jumping up and down in excitement as she stared at him with an amused smile on her face. "I really want to hug you right now, can I hug you?" He asks excitedly.

"Uh I'm kinda all gross and sweaty right now," she says, looking down at her body, "but sure why not." She looks back up at him as he comes barreling into her, engulfing her in his arms. He picks her up and spins her around, the girl laughing as he whispers little 'thank you's over and over before putting her down.