silence - nct, norenmin

⍣ 19 ⍣

"hello boys. are you jeno and renjun?"

"hello mrs na. this is us." jeno replied immediately.

the day before, the three boys had agreed to work on their project on saturday afternoon.

jaemin had invited the two boys over to his house since it was a place he was comfortable in, and he wanted to be the more comfortable possible, mostly around jeno and renjun.

who knew, perhaps that he could talk to them one day?

sunmi had encouraged him to do so.

"come in, come in." jaemin's mother invited the two boys in before closing the door behind them. "so..." she started, looking successively at the two handsome guys. "you already know that jaemin is selectively mute, don't you?"

"we do." renjun answered with a nod.

"okay... so... jaemin told me that he was getting more comfortable around the two of you, but i still want to make sure of something." jaemin's mother continued. "i guess i am just worried for my baby, but he has been through a lot."

"that's what we understood..." jeno nodded.

"i just want him to be safe and feel at ease, you know. you two are the first persons he brings home, so i guess you hold a particular place in his heart. please take care of him. he's very fragile and... i'm always scared that he'll never be happy again..."

just when jeno or renjun were going to answer, they heard loud footsteps coming from the corridor to their right.

"mom!" a voice shouted, approaching more with each word. "they should be here very- "

jaemin appeared in the living room, his eyes glued onto jeno and renjun that were here and looking back at him.

"...soon." he finished his sentence in a very low voice.

had he just talked in front of renjun and jeno?

had they actually heard his voice?

would they think his voice his annoying? squeaky? too low? not manly? bothering?

damn, he felt like passing out at the moment.

on their side, jeno and renjun couldn't believe their ears.

had they just heard jaemin talking?

was this melodious and clear sound jaemin's voice?

the two boys were completely memorized, the beautiful sonata of jaemin's voice replaying in their minds on loop.

oh, if they could listen to it over and over again...

"yes, they're here." jaemin's mother chuckled at her son's expression.

jaemin glared at his mother for not telling him sooner and motioned to the two boys to follow him towards his bedroom.

renjun and jeno did as they were told, entering jaemin's bedroom after a few seconds.

jaemin closed the door behind their back, inviting the two boys to sit down on the edge of his bed as he fidgeted with his fingers while looking at his feet – something very usual to do for him.