knight in amor | na jaemin

Cinderella

"Oh my god! Have you tried these?!" She asked, excitedly running to the Chinese ramen brand that she hadn't seen around Korea in ages.

"Nope" he said with a small smile, finding her child like behaviourism sort of cute.

"Its so fucking amazing! You basically cook them like normal ramen but me and my brother used to break the noodles, cook them, add rice and mixed it all together with the spicy squid sauce and they were jus-" her sentence started slowing down as she realised she had just outed the fact that she had a brother to him...she was growing increasingly transparent around him and she wasn't a big fan of that.

She had built a brick wall around herself over the last few years, she was used to people trying to break it down but never had she ever experienced someone talking to her through it on the other side, allowing her to take it down herself brick by brick.

"Really? That sounds amazing!" Jaemin said, not commenting about her brother, understanding that it wasn't a topic for him to know.

"Yeah its just...whatever" she said, pursing her lips into a thin line, walking away from him awkwardly, while he smiled and grabbed two of the spicy squid flavour ramen cups and add it to the trolley when she wasn't looking.

"Do you mind if i add some things to the cart as well?" Jaemin asked politely

"Oh no, of course, go ahead" she said with a smile, running to another aisle while he remained around the meat section, rereading the long list of specific meats and brands that Haechan had asked for.

"That's a lot of meat...are you having a barbecue or some?" She asked curiously when she returned back to the card with some bags of frozen peas and sweetcorn.

"No, this is just my preferred dietary options, do you have a problem with that?" He asked with hands on his hips and she widened Her eyes

"Oh...no i just meant that...like its just..a lot of meat..i mean...uh-" her nervous statements were overpowered by his hearty laugh and she looked at him, displaying her confusion.

"I'm just messing with you Cinderella" he said, smiling at the nickname he had just given her

"Don't do that, man you actually had me for a second....i hate you" she said with a frown as she watched him laugh at her whiny reaction as she chucked the frozen vegetables into the trolley

"Sorry sorry. Yeah my friend is hosting a barbecue sometime this week to celebrate me coming back to Korea so yeah" he said with a smile

"Oh shit...where did you live before?" She asked

"Umm i travelled a lot...i went to Venice for a small trip with my grandad before we came here" he said and she nodded

"Why did you come back?" She asked, looking around the stalls to see if there's anything else she needed

"Just for ... work really" he lied

"Umm you should...come..to the barbecue" he said and she slowed down her walk to look up to him and he cleared his throat.

"I mean like...i don't know...if you're free Friday night then let me know, who can say no to pork belly" he said and she chuckled, looking back ahead of her.

They waited in line for check out, he couldn't help but smile at her getting infatuated by every little bubblegum packet or protein bar near the checkout area, plopping them into the basket without much thought.

"Good evening" she greeted to the cashier and he smiled at her as she and Jaemin started ti place the food onto the conveyor belt.

"That will be ₩355,442" the cashier said and she gasped

"Wow, Jeyi and Jungwoo eat like pigs" she scoffed before reaching into her fleece jacket to reach her wallet but the sound of a ding made her look up to see Jaemin paying for all their items through Apple Pay.

"Thank you sir, have a good day" the cashier said, helping Jaemin pack in the items into bags as Yeseul remained shocked.

"Can you seperate the meat from the other food please thank you" Jaemin said to the cashier as Yeseul pulled Jaemin aside by pinching his mint green hoodie

"You didn't have to do that! I wanted to repay you for everything you've done so far" she said and he shook his head

"Don't worry about it, think of it as a birthday present" he said with a wink before returning back to the cashier to pack the bags. The two left with four shopping bags, one bag in each hand, Jaemin purposely giving her the lighter ones, before loading them into the back of his car.

"Thank you, seriously" She said, helping him close the trunk and he smiled

"Don't worry about it, now get in and give me directions on where to drop you off" he said, opening the car door for her once again before sitting down on his side.

She gave him directions to the apartment complex and they arrived shortly.

"I can help you bring them up" he offered as he parked into the visitor's parking space

"No no! I've troubled you enough...I'll call Jeyi or Jungwoo" she said opening her phone

"Jungwoo?" He asked

"Oh did i not mention him before? He's Jeyi's housemate" she said and he nodded as he watched her call them both on a groupchat call. After a few tries, they both realised that none of them were going to pick up.

He smiled as he watched her try to carry all the heavy bags with her willpower and strength

"Don't wanna make two trips?" He asked with a smirk

"Nope, that's pussy behaviour" she huffed making him chuckle

"It's really no trouble, my evening is free and I'm sure it won't take long to drop off your groceries" he said and she smiled, eventually giving up

"You're...godsend" She said and he chuckled, helping her take out the bags from the trunk. They walked to up the parking lot and into the elevator, taking it all the way up to the apartment

"Apologies if it's a bit messy" she said sheepishly as she punched into the code to open the door.

"Yeseul? Is that you?" A voice called as she entered the hallway with Jaemin

"Yup" she replied with a sigh, wobbling into the living room placing the bags down

"I was so worried! What took so long?!" Jeyi asked

"Clearly not worried enough, you didn't answer my calls" Yeseul said

"Yeah you're right, we were busy watching the office" Jungwoo piped up

"US or UK version?" Jaemin asked, entering the living room

"US obviously, i have taste" Jungwoo said in a duh tone

"Wait is..is that..."

"Na Jaemin, Jeyi, Jungwoo" Yeseul introduced each other, keeping it extremely brief

"Hey nice to see you" Jeyi said before turning back to Yeseul

"Go get changed!" She said excitedly clapping her hands

"For what?" Yeseul asked with a groan

"Its still your birthday missy, we must celebrate with karaoke and tteokbokki, two of your most favourite things" Jeyi said excitedly and Yeseul smiled at the effort she made

"Oh, Jaemin you should come too!" She offered

"Oh no..he's probably busy-"

"I'd love to"

"Great! Invite your friends too! Yeseul doesn't have any friends so the more the merrier!" Jeyi exclaimed

"Hey!" Yeseul said taken back

"Babe you don't even have an insta account, that just signifies that you have no friends" Jeyi said and she rolled her eyes

"You don't have to come-"

"I just texted my friends, you should go get changed" Jaemin said with a smirk and she chuckled dryly seeing his smirk making her somewhat nervous

"I will...go change" she sighed, disappearing into Jeyi's room to get changed.