Doubler || NCT || Completed

44

"I will leave willingly."

Yujin's words were followed by a stunned silence. Other than Taeil and Jeno, both of whom had seen the look in her eyes before she had said anything, no one had expected her to provide them with such a solution and it took them a moment to react.

Xiaojun's impressive eyebrows lowered into a frown, while Kun and Winwin stared at Yujin with wide, surprised eyes.

Jungwoo's sweet face was shadowed by a sad expression, and Yujin felt a tug in her heart. It would've been nice to get to befriend her old classmate after all these years but perhaps that wasn't meant to be.

Taeyong stared at Yujin, torn look in his eyes, and the conflicted emotion made him seem younger, especially since he was still sitting on the floor, looking tiny and confused.

Doyoung's mouth was agape and he seemed to be in shock.

Chenle, Haechan and Jaemin had similar mixtures of surprise and sadness on their faces.

"No", Jeno whispered. His hand was intertwined tightly with Yujin's and when she looked into his eyes, the look in them pained her to the core. His barely audible whisper made her feel like she had kicked a dog after promising to stay by its side forever.

She couldn't respond to him.

Apparently, his voice had similar affect on Doyoung, because the older guy flinched and leaned backwards on his seat.

"That's not what we meant!" Mark was the first one to speak out loud. He sounded panicked as his distressed eyes were darting between the dreamies and Yujin. "We have to understand what happened first!"

Chenle jumped up, startling everyone. He turned to glare at Yujin. "You can't leave", he told her as anger replaced the shock on his face. "They can't kick you out!"

His furious eyes shifted to Doyoung, daring him to say something.

"I'm just trying to keep us safe", the older guy defended himself against Chenle's wrath. "Like Taeyong said, we can't afford many mistakes, and we can't let stuff like this happen."

"Hyung, to me it seems like you're trying to blame Yujin blindly", Jeno's voice was raspy. He was holding onto Yujin's hand as if he was scared that she would disappear. Doyoung stared at him, unable to answer or turn his gaze away.

Jaemin nodded in agreement with his best friend. "It does feel like your main goal now is to create sense of security by pretending that everything is her fault."

"It's not fair to start with such a strong assumption of who's guilty", Haechan added.

"Now you're trying to guilt trip Doyoung", Yuta pointed out with a frown.

Chenle was still fuming. "I own this apartment and none of you have any right to kick her out!" he snarled.

"We aren't trying to kick her out", Doyoung said, returning the glare. "We are trying to follow the agreement we made less than a week ago. She herself said that she's willing to leave."

Hint of anger flashed in Jeno's eyes. "Of course she said that she will leave", he retorted. "How else would she react when you attack her like that?"

Yujin swallowed. Jeno's protective voice, as well as the other dreamies being on her side made her feel warm but, at the same time, it made everything more difficult.

"That's enough, Jeno-ya", she said gently and turned his face with her fingers so that she could see his anxious eyes. "I've made up my mind."

He defied her decision, his gaze asking her to reconsider. She smiled at him sadly and her thumb brushed over the mole underneath his eye.