Aeri's writing ideas go wild as soon as she meets Na Jaemin, the perfect character.
However, she's so focused on painting him as perfectly as possible that she ignores the furry of fiery hair that takes her to night walks and shows her secret places...
The fancy party was far from being what I had expected, the atmosphere was far from being as dense as I'd thought it would be. Jaemin's mom was a sweetheart and her eyes sparkled with happiness when she saw me, almost the same way as Jaemin's eyes light up when he's excited about something. The other guests were actually really nice and so unlike the gossip-lover kind of old people that I had imagined.
One of mrs. Na's friends excused herself in order to answer a call while we were talking about the career as a novelist (fun fact: she was miss Kang's aunt and she seemed to share the passion for writing with her niece) and Jaemin suddenly showed up near me, making me slightly flinch.
"Everything alright?" He asks and I nod with a genuine smile on my face.
"To be honest I didn't really expect to enjoy this evening so much," I say.
He smiles and looks at me with his warm glimmering eyes and for a second time seems to stop and the background music, the chatter and the laughter seem to fade away.
"Aw look at them, they're so cute together!" I hear the lady I was talking to earlier saying.
Another woman which I recognize as being Jaemin's grandmother stares at us in awe and I feel my cheeks heating up. I smile awkwardly as I feel Jaemin's hand sneaking up over my shoulders and pulling me closer to him, breath hitching in my throat.
"Yeah, she's the cutest," he says smiling and I slowly lift my head to look at him, searching for any kind of humor on his face.
Did he really say that? Or was I dreaming?
He looks down at my face and the closeness of our faces makes my eyes slightly widen. Maybe he figures it out, because a sweet grin makes its way up to his lips and I feel my cheeks getting hot once again.
"Excuse us for a second..." Jaemin says without taking his eyes off me and pulls me by my left wrist towards the backyard of his house.
We leave the ladies chuckling and giving each other suggestive looks and honestly, I wasn't so sure how I was feeling about that. Once we arrive in the backyard, he lets go of my wrist and looks at me with the same sweet smile that made my knees turn to jelly a few minutes ago. However, I decide to gather up my courage and stand tall because my walls couldn't be broken down so easy, so fast. I needed my cover to be able to write about him. I needed to keep myself in the position of the observer. I couldn't step in the action or things could've gone bad.
"What was that about?" I ask crossing my arms over my chest.
His smile widens as he steps closer to me.
"What did you want it to be?" He asks in a lower tone and my eyes slightly widen again.
This is not Jem. Jem would never act like this.
He chuckles at the sight of my face.
"Nothing, don't worry, Aeri," he says smiling. "There's somebody I don't wanna hurt."
"Whom?" I ask confused.
His smile fades slightly, a glint of surprise crossing his face.
"Somebody who cares deeply about you," he smiles.
I shake my head after my brain proceeds his words.
"No way, Jem, Jeno is my best friend-..."
"I wasn't talking about him," he still smiles, despite the seriousness of the conversation and I can't help but mentally curse at him for making me feel so torn.
Who could possibly care about me so deeply that me and Jaemin being a thing could hurt them?
"Why did you bring me here?" His smile widens once again and he looks at the ground for a second, before looking into my eyes once again.
"To thank you. Like really thank you, if you weren't here, I would probably be sitting in the living room and listening to my uncle's stories about his first car."
I laugh.
"That's alright, I'll always be here if you need anything," I smile.
He shakes his head.
"You shouldn't," he says with a tint of bitterness in his voice.
"Why is that?" I ask.
He looks at me for a few seconds, giving me enough time to admire his perfect features.
"Children, we're serving the cake now!" Jaemin's mom says from behind us and I flinch in surprise.
"We're coming!" Jaemin gestures her and I look at him, disappointed that I might never get my answer.
Guessing that, he simply smiles again.
"Listen to what you heart's trying to tell you, Aeri," he says before we get in the house once again.
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