best friend 》 nomin

26

"The ceremony is about to start, son." An older man patted Jeno's shoulder, giving him a wrinkled grin. "We better get in there."

Giving the man a nod, Jeno returned the smile. "Alright."

It was a beautiful morning, with songbirds whistling against the backdrop of a clear blue sky. The air was sweet and cool. All of the Lee's relatives were gathered together, joy on their faces and love in their hearts. The almost-happy couple were making final preparations for their special day.

Overall, it was a cheerful place.

So why did Jeno want to leave?

He didn't even know that guy. Was he an uncle? Distant relative? Were they even related? He had no idea.

In fact, he didn't know anyone here. There were a few relatives he vaguely remembered from his younger years, but no one close to him.

Jeno was absolutely positive he could have left the place and not a single person would have noticed or cared. Oh, how he was tempted to.

He was currently in a lobby of some sort, with couches, paintings on the wall, and two doors. One led to the wedding chapel where he was supposed to be, the other to the outside world where he longed to be.

His legs ached to move towards the unsupervised door, to escape and flee home, to be rid of this stiff suit.

What would he even do at home though? If this were any other time we would have called Jaemin, but no. It was a bit complicated at the moment.

Perhaps that was why the poor boy was so unenthusiastic about being here. His opinion on everything had seemed to decrease lately as the separation went on. It was killing him.

So, no. As much as he wanted to, he had no real reason to escape this place other than uncomfortableness. As much as he didn't want to, he would stay.

Taking a deep breath, Jeno stashed away all of his negative thoughts, burying his worries for later.

Noticing a mirror close by, he quickly took a peek, grateful that he did. His loose tie and unkempt, ran-through hair would not have put him in a good light for his not-so-close relatives.

He quickly fixed the problems, sighing to himself. He had looked perfectly fine this morning, but certain worries replaying like a broken record had slowly changed his persona.

Steps from the room he needed to be in, he stopped short when the doors of his escape route flew open.

Turning around, he was shocked to find a particular out of breath boy racing towards him, untied apron strings waving behind.

In his surprise, Jeno could only stare, barely whispering the name he had been missing for what felt like eternity.

"Jaemin?"

His heart clenching in his chest, Jeno had so much he wanted to say. So much he wanted to explain and apologize for. He needed to beg, to plead with the younger for a way for their relationship to go back to at least a little of what it was before.