a month had passed and while the nomin couple were happier than ever, they seemed to be the only lasting relationship for jeno.
both him and jaemin had quit their jobs at the bakery much to everyone's dismay and jeno had finally moved in with jaemin, completely abandoning his own apartment. jaemin convinced jeno he didn't need a job, reassuring his boyfriend that he had money to last them centuries.
jaemin was slowly including jeno in his more private life. he introduced jeno to jisung, telling him he was an important coworker of his. although jeno didn't know much about jaemin's work life, he was fascinated by it.
he knew that jaemin was in a gang but he believed it was the kind of gang renjun said his was, the kind where they get rid of only bad people. jeno admired jaemin for that, thinking of his boyfriend as a hero.
donghyuck and renjun had tried to reach out to him multiple times before eventually giving up. felix and ten still send him messages every now and then to check up on him, reminding him of how much they love him every time. jeno felt bad, he really did, but he knew donghyuck and renjun probably told them their story full of lies too.
he'd rather only have jaemin than a group of manipulators.
"what are you thinking about, pretty?" jeno snapped out of his thoughts and looked at his boyfriend who had just entered their apartment. jeno was in the middle of making them dinner, knowing jaemin had a long meeting that day.
"nothing much, just daydreaming." jaemin kissed jeno's forehead and nodded, looking at the ingredients scattered around the counter as he wrapped an arm around the older's shoulders
"already smells and looks amazing, my love." jeno blushed and playfully hit jaemin's arm.
"how did your meeting go?"
jaemin shrugged, removing his arm to take a seat on a stool.
"boring but important, i guess. we found out more about renjun's gang and their next plans."
jeno listened while continuing to cook their food, serving it to jaemin once it was finished, not suspicious about anything jaemin said.
not realizing jaemin had left out a large chunk of their meeting.
jaemin woke up the next morning with jeno's head on his chest. he smiled and watched his boyfriend for a couple of minutes, stroking his dyed blue hair and admiring how peaceful he looked. it hurt jaemin to see him looking so innocent when he knew how many things were going on that he didn't know about. he almost regretted involving jeno in his life but after all, he knows he's selfish.
more minutes passed and jaemin forced himself to get up, carefully placing jeno's head back on his pillow. he hating leaving the older alone while he attended meetings and his workplace but he'd rather jeno be lonely in their apartment than alone in the city.
he threw on whatever clothes he grabbed first and headed out, making sure to lock the door behind him. sungchan was waiting for him in the car outside the building, greeting him with his lovable smile. he drove in silence, leaving jaemin to go over everything in his head before they finally arrived.
everyone bowed to jaemin when he entered the building, which was normal, but he didn't fail to notice the tension in the room. he furrowed his eyebrows but continued on his way to taeyong's office.
as he predicted, jisung and taeyong were already seated in the office. he walked inside and took a seat with them, raising an eyebrow as he waited for one of them to speak.
"good morning, jaemin." taeyong spoke politely and jaemin rolled his eyes.
"just get to the point."
"we finally know their exact plan, start to finish. do you remember the basic idea that came up in the meeting yesterday?" jisung felt incredibly nervous but masked it with his confident voice and body language, not wanting to make jaemin more frustrated than he already was.
"jeno could be in danger of being killed, that's all i give a shit about." jaemin glared and jisung sighed, clasping his hands together.
"well that's incorrect, but the real plan isn't much better. they're using renjun to take him away, more than likely that means kidnapping him.they already tried the nice, friendly approach and jeno still stayed with you. as of right now, they don't plan to kill him, but if it comes down to it then they'll use him to make us surrender and if we don't, they will probably seriously hurt him or kill him. if we do surrender, we're dead. renjun isn't aware of the killing part, he thinks they're only taking him away from you."
jaemin ran a hand through his hair and stood up, looking at both of the men.
"if you really think they're taking jeno away from me, you better think again. i don't care if this leads to a whole fucking war, you will do everything in your power to protect lee jeno and make sure he's never harmed and if anybody in this gang even thinks of betraying us or surrendering, they lose their life. you watch their every move, know every single plan they have and you stay one step ahead of them. if you somehow screw everything up and they attack, you contact me straight away and send guards to jeno. do i make myself clear?" jaemin looked at them with cold, emotionless eyes, something that everyone but jeno sees.
"yes sir." taeyong and jisung nodded, knowing jaemin meant every word he said and knowing what extent he'd go to for jeno.
