SHAKEN - JUNG JAEHYUN

Sobbing

The members looked confused at their sobbing member; he was never one to be emotional for no reason.

Mark had just gotten his phone back and was now holding his stumbling, sobbing member, "Renjunnie, what's wrong? What happened?" He asked worriedly, with a little bit of panic in his voice.

Haechan ran over, "Hyung-ah, what happened! Is he hurt?"

Mark shook his head, indicating that he didn't know.

I was still in shock, tears dripping down my face, "Why? H-How are you here?"

Every member in the room turned to look at me, in shock.

"Jess? Do you know him?" Johnny asked.

Renjun regained his balance and practically ran full speed towards me, wrapping me tightly in his arms.

I heard Johnny's voice, "What the hell is happening?" But I ignored him walking past a hoard of worried members.

"What are you doing here?" we asked at the same time, still in each other's embrace.

Renjun began, "The last time I saw you, you-"

I shook my head and he understood, "I'll tell you everything when we're alone."

We had both stopped crying and calmed down and Renjun was now holding my hand. Johnny brought us both bottles of water and looked at us expectantly. "Are you gonna explain how you guys know each other now?"

"I- I just don't understand how I didn't know you were in NCT Dream. Like, I know it's been almost two years, but I should've recognized you on at least one of NCT's Instagram posts or something."

Renjun began explaining to the members, "When I went back to China during our break a couple years ago, I met Jess."

I continued, "I studied abroad during my sophomore year of college. To study Chinese and psychology."

The members nodded, understandingly.

"But how did you guys meet?"

Renjun answered, "Technically she met Chenle before she met me-"

"She knows Chenle too?" Johnny exclaimed.

I looked at him in surprise (insert shocked Pikachu face again), "Wait, how do you know Chenle?"

"He's in NCT Dream too" Renjun answered, laughing at my expression. "Anyway, she walked into Chenle's uncle's restaurant but at the time her Chinese was still iffy. I guess his uncle somehow noticed that she spoke Korean and asked Chenle to translate. Then when I went to meet up with Chenle to hang, he had brought her with him, and we offered to show her around."

"What in the fucking kdrama?" Mark said, while Renjun laughed.

Renjun continued, "Long story short, Jess and I became close friends and we hung out almost everyday of my break. And then-" He quietly drifted, looking sad, "And then we had to come back to Korea around the same time she-" He drifted again. "She left too."

I patted his shoulder in reassurance.

"Wait, but that still doesn't explain why you're here, Jess." he claimed.

I bursted out laughing, "Johnny is my older brother."

"What?" He yelled, as he turned to Johnny, "You have a sister?" he shouted toward Johnny.

All the members laughed, still a bit confused. We all decided that they would go back to practice and I would explain my situation to the members during the dinner.

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6:30 PM

Renjun, Johnny, and I had stayed in the practice room after everyone was done to catch up. All the members were already at the restaurant and were expecting to meet me. According to Mark, Johnny bragged about his "baby sister who graduated with two degrees" a lot.

I took a deep breath and Johnny patted me on the back. "You ready?" he asked.

I nodded as he opened the door, revealing the three of us.

I froze at the sight of 23 men, all now looking at us with huge smiles. Renjun sensed that I was overwhelmed and held my hand.

"Woah there Renjun-ah," Yuta laughed, "We only left thirty minutes ago, what going on here?"

Renjun smacked his shoulder, "Shut up, you guys are making her nervous."

Johnny brought me around to meet the members, which now included Kun, Ten, Jungwoo, Xiaojun, Hendery, Jeno, Jaemin, YangYang, Shotaro, Sunchan, and Jisung.

After greeting everyone, I looked around expectantly, in search of my second friend.

I knew he was near when I heard his dolphin shriek. "AH! JESS! I THOUGHT RENJUN WAS PLAYING A PRANK ON ME AT FIRST! I. CANNOT. BELIEVE. THAT. YOU'RE. HERE." he pulled me into a hug, swaying side to side.

I giggled, "I missed you so much. I can't believe you're here."

"I knew Johnny had a sister, but who knew it was you?" He laughed.

During the dinner, I got to know more of the member's personalities. Taeil was outoging and extroverted, like Chenle but less sarcastic. Taeyong, Doyoung, Yuta, and Jaehyun, all part of 127 and hyung line, felt like the "moms" of the group, taking care of everyone's needs. I could tell that Dream were all really good friends with each other, as Mark, Haechan, Renjun, and Chenle joked around a lot. Finally, WayV; they were shocked to hear that I knew Renjun and Chenle, even more shocked when they found out that I fluently spoke Chinese.

"Hi, nice to meet you guys." I said, in Mandarin. Renjun and Chenle were beaming with smiles, excited for their other Chinese members to meet me.

"Hi Jess," Kun said, shaking my hand. "It's nice to meet you, I'm the leader of WayV."

"Are you comfortable speaking mandarin?" Xiaojun asked.

"Yeah, I'm pretty fluent. I studied abroad in China during my sophomore year of college. That's how I met Jun and Lele."

They scowled at the nicknames. "Hey! I know that's what mom calls us, but stilllll." Chenle whined, the rest of WayV laughing at our exchange.

"Jess," I heard Johnny call my name. "I'm gonna be busy tomorrow, until around dinner time. Are you okay getting around yourself? You can drop Jake off at SM's daycare anytime, I already spoke to my manager." He told me, whispering the last sentence.

I nodded in response to him.

Renjun overheard our conversation and pulled Chenle over. "Jess, do you wanna spend time with us tomorrow?"

"Aren't you guys busy?" I chuckled.

Chenle answered, "We only have a schedule in the morning; we'll be done by lunch time."

I looked at Johnny.

"Go for it, have fun." he said, reading my mind.

The two boys beamed, linking my arms with theirs, me in the middle. "It'll be us and the rest of Dream, okay?" Chenle said.

"That's fine. I already know you two and Mark and Haechan, so I think I'll be okay."

Renjun suddenly had a serious expression on his face. "You know.... We should probably talk about," he paused. "You know-" he rubbed his belly in a circular motion.

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If you guys are still reading, THANK YOU SO MUCH! I'm actually super nervous about my first story being out to the public but hopefully it's enjoyable!!