Mr. No || NCT || Completed

46 - Where Renjun is a doughnut

"You want me to do what now?"

It had been a while since Jaemin had been so baffled by Renjun.

Renjun frowned. "You heard me."

Calling Jaemin and telling him to come to the Dalah Café after work to hear about his plan had been completely Renjun's own idea but now that he was standing there, leaning against the counter and staring at Renjun with his ridiculously handsome face, Renjun was starting to feel irritated.

"I want you to say it again because there is no way that I heard you correctly", Jaemin retorted, looking down to his americano with three extra espresso shots. "Maybe I should reduce my caffeine intake if it's making me hear things."

"Stop being so dramatic."

"I'm serious. I'm having hard time believing that you just told me to go to Chaewon – ". Jaemin turned his head briefly, glancing at the girl sitting on the other side of the café by the window with her grandmother's diary and a large cup of cappuccino. "To ask her out on a date."

Renjun's hands were itching to hit something. "I knew that you heard me."

"What in the fried rice with extra cheese is wrong with you?" Jaemin snapped and pointed at him with his almost full drink. Working as a kindergarten teacher had gifted him with the ability of faux swearing. "You've gone insane, haven't you? I'm certain that you didn't wear a hat and sunscreen in Jeju and got a heatstroke."

"It was cloudy the entire time." Renjun didn't even try to hide his sour mood. Why couldn't Jaemin just accept his plan without any questions? "And stop changing the subject. I don't have time for your nonsense."

"You don't have time for my nonsense?" Jaemin echoed, his voice dripping with disbelief. "Says the guy who spends every minute of his free time going around with a cute girl, introduces her to his friends and goes on a trip with her, and then suddenly tells someone else to ask the same exact girl out."

Renjun's neck was hot. "She has been helping me with my investigation and it's – that's it."

Jaemin placed his elbows on the counter and rested his chin against the palm of his hand. Out of the corner of his eye, Renjun could see at least half a dozen girls checking him out. While quite a few of them had been making eyes at Renjun earlier, some of the bravest asking for his number, Instagram handle or a selfie (the answer to all of the inquiries had been resounding "no") before taking pictures of him in secret, it was clear that even his 'fan club' wasn't immune to Jaemin.

"Are you pretending that nothing else has happened?" Jaemin questioned, blissfully unaware of the swarms of young women staring at him like he was the last doughnut in the world. Renjun was happy that for once he wasn't the doughnut of interest.

He, however, wasn't happy that the doughnut of the hour was being so perceptive about the blurred lines of his relationship with Chaewon.

The fuzzy memory of Chaewon's lips against his, the taste of soju in her breath and her hands in the nape of his neck invaded Renjun's mind with such a force that his entire body flinched as if he had been electrocuted.

He wasn't supposed to be thinking about that. Not now, not ever again.

Jaemin scoffed, looking almost like he had just read Renjun's mind and seen the scene he was so desperately trying to forget.
"That's what I thought."

"It doesn't matter what happened. The Winter Gala is next week and I'm losing hope of finding a way out of the engagement before then. Whatever happened between Chaewon and I, doesn't matter, so don't think about it." The words were like tiny shards of glass that mauled Renjun's throat and tongue when he forced them out of his mouth.