Perfect Imperfection| ZCL

⁴basic ride to the police station

I knock at the front door and wait patiently for somebody to open it. The small chance that Chenle has already read my notebook was bothering me deep down and all that I wanted was to have my stories back.

I hear footsteps approaching the door and a few seconds later, it opens.

"He-..."

And Jaemin looks at me surprised.

"...y," I whisper, still stunned by the situation. "And sorry for bothering you, I must've got the wrong address."

Lee Donghyuck, you little piece of shi-...

"Hey, Aeri!" He smiles. "Come in, you're not bothering me."

"It's really just a misunderstanding, I'll leave so-..."

"No, really, come in. Do I not deserve an explanation at least?" He asks on a serious tone but smiles warmly.

I sigh and follow him inside. His house was far from being something you'd call "too much". It looked cozy and warm, spacious enough and it looked like it would smell like baked cookies on a Saturday evening. However, it was lacking something, it made me feel like I shouldn't be here.

Well, of course, I really shouldn't be here, but-...

"So what brings you to Nana land?" He asks, closing the door behind me.

I smile as I take my shoes off.

"Nana land?" I ask as he passes by me, heading towards the room in front of us which looked like a kitchen.

"My house, of course." He says, turning to look at me. "Would you like to drink something? I have water, coffee, tea-..."

"Water is fine." I nod, trying to make things as easy as possible for him.

But realising the only one who's having a hard time is me.

He brings me a glass of water, gesturing me to follow him into the room next to the kitchen, the living room. It was pretty decorated, neat and it really reminded me of Jaemin somehow.

"Story time!" He beams while sitting on the sofa, looking at me.

I give him a confused glance before realizing what he's talking about. I sit in an armchair across from him and clear my throat.

"So I bumped into one of my classmates today and we accidentally took each other's notebook... and I need mine so I wanted to pay him a visit. I asked my friend Donghyuck to send me his address... because he's good at this stuff, but he, hopefully accidentally, sent me yours."

Jaemin chuckles. My heart twirls.

"I haven't known Lee Donghyuck for too long but I don't think it was by accident." He smiles.

I sigh.

"You're right... I should've known that he was gonna prank me again," I say and Jaemin gives me a small smile.

"Again?"

"Yeah... we've been friends ever since we were in primary school... and he barely misses any chance to make me regret it," I say, shrugging.

"I wish I could be friends for somebody that long..." he sighs and I look at him confused.

Before I can say anything, my phone rings. I excuse myself and pull it out of the pocket of my jeans, only to see Jeno's name displayed on the screen.

"What is it, loser?" I ask after sliding the green button.

"Aeri, we kinda... uhm, something happened and we might kinda... need you to get us out... of the police station?"

"You might kinda need me to what?" I say incredulous.

"Please, pretty please!" I hear my best friend asking in despair. "I promise to explain all of this later, I-..."

"You better," I sigh. "I'm on my way."

I end the call and stand up, Jaemin following suit, looking at me confused.

"Is there anything wrong?" He asks me on a concerned tone.

"Just my friends going to jail, you know, the basic," I laugh my anger away. "I'm so so incredibly sorry, Jaemin, I promise to make up for this soon-..."

"Don't worry about it," He says putting on a jacket. "I'm not gonna let you walk alone at this hour anyway."

I look at him stunned as he makes his way to the entrance door.

"Let's go!" He says and for a second, I feel like his smile might shine brighter than the sun.

*

I find Jeno and Hyuck sitting at one of the desks in the main police office, looking at the policeman in front of them with puppy eyes. However, he was oblivious to their miserable gazes, as he was writing something that I assumed was a report.

"Lee Jen-..."

"Guys?"

I turn around and I find my classmate looking at us bewildered, his bright orange hair ruffled, strongly contrasting with his dark clothes. He looked like he had been running to get here and I can only imagine the reason why this weird combination of humans were here tonight at the police station.

I close my eyes and sigh.

"It's time for the explanation, boys," I say and cross my arms over my chest.

"Are you the owner of the house?" The police officer asks, ignoring me.

"Which house-..."

"I am," Chenle says behind me and both me and Jaemin turn to him bewildered.

I frown and turn to my friends, rage taking over me.

"Okay... what the hell did you do?" I ask.

"They broke into a house, but the security alarm went off and they were caught by one of our equipage " The police officer states while gathering the papers. He looked young, young enough to seem amused by the whole situation.

However, I was pretty much stupefied.

"You what?" I ask on a higher pitch than my usual voice.

"We really didn't mean any harm, we-..."

"Save whatever you have to say for the juries, this young man shall press charges against-..."

"I won't!" Chenle jumps near us. "I won't, this has all been a misunderstanding, we'll sort it out."

"Are you sure, kid?" The police officer asks Chenle incredulously and the boy nods his head firmly.

"Yes, there's really no need of any paper or such... we'll figure it out!" He says.

The police officer looks at him confused for a few seconds before sighing and waving his hand tiredly.

"Fine, I guess," He says, before turning to Jeno and Donghyuck. "You two are free to go now... try not to get in trouble from now on, though."

My friends nod their heads and thank the police officer while standing up. The man waves them off and returns to his papers. He looked too young to be imagined eating donuts like the cops in movies but I couldn't get over at how funnily unbothered he seemed to be by the whole situation.

"Hey, kid, I need you to sign some papers," the man tells Chenle and he hurries to his desk.