Golden ◂ NCT Jaemin

47 ◂ Stuck

we go up

we go up, uh uh uh, go up

◂ 47 ▸

Lately, Jaemin had been trying his best to teach Jie how to cook. If not for her own sake, it could at least become a nice activity to do together, for themselves and the kids--

uh, the rest of the Dreamies.

That afternoon, Jaemin and Jie had been busy preparing dinner for them and Taeyong who would stop by after finally returning from his business trip. All of a sudden, Jaemin slung an arm around her waist.

He pulled her closer, eyes lingering on her beautiful brown orbs.

He had been rather sweet today. Although she enjoyed it, she easily noticed that something was off.

"What is it?" she asked eventually, side-eyeing the pot that was happily bubbling on the stove.

Jaemin hesitated, shifting his weight from one leg to the other.
"I am not sure how to say this the right way."

She quickly understood what he meant. "It's okay," she reassured. "I won't misunderstand you."

And since it was Jie, he didn't have a hard time taking her word for it. So he mentally walked through what he wanted to say before he actually made the suggestion.

"How about you try calling Taeyong by his name today?"

Jie frowned, visibly confused. "I use his name all the time."

"Yeah," he agreed quickly. "You use it to talk about him. But when you actually talk to him, you always call him 'boss'."

Which Jie had to agree to, yet she also felt the urge to point out,
"He is my boss."

"And I am your colleague but you still call me babe," Jaemin retorted quickly.

"That's because you are also my boyfriend," she argued.

"And Taeyong is, at the very least, your friend."

Taking a deep breath, she leaned her head back a little while keeping her eyes on Jaemin. He seemed pretty certain about this and even Jie herself had to agree that he was right.

Yet, not knowing what to say, she stayed quiet. Locking eyes with the boy that slowly ran his hand up and down her back, she suddenly felt torn.

"I won't force you to do anything. But if all you are trying to achieve with this is to keep your distance from him, then you can stop now." He smiled, leaned his head a little closer to hers. "Didn't you already agree that we are a family?"

Actually, Jie spent the next couple of seconds looking for an excuse or anything else to say in return, yet ended up not finding anything. Regarding this matter, she couldn't argue much.

So she scrunched her nose, looked down and sighed.

"You are annoying," she mumbled and pushed herself away from him, turned around and walked over to the stove to stir the sauce inside the pot.

Surprised, he watched her walk away at first before quickly following her. With her back facing him, he slung his arms around her waist.

Seeing how adorably frustrated she looked, Jaemin couldn't hold back his smile. He knew she was trying hard.

"You are cute," he whispered. Since she ignored him, he mentally took a step back, tried to reassure her yet again, tried to make sure she didn't feel pressured. "You don't have to say it. I just thought he would be happy about it and you two would get a chance to grow closer."