ridin | na jaemin

chapter twelve

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trigger warning: mentions of blood and needles

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Minjeong didn't get much sleep that night after Jaemin called.

It wasn't uncommon for her, but she would still wake up because of them.

Nightmares.

They were about nothing and everything, and it bothered her how she couldn't remember what they were about. It was usually just her free-falling or dying in some type of way.

And there was always someone there. Always the same person. Yet their face was so blurry that she couldn't even recognize if they were male or female. That's what bothered her more than dying each week.

It was another sleepless night for her. Not wanting to go back to sleep for God knows what reason, Minjeong decided to finish an assignment that was handed to her a few days back, knowing that she probably won't have time for it in the near future.

It didn't take long for her to find all the materials, but just as she was about to actually start with the project, the knock on her front door made her stop in her tracks.

She wasn't usually anxious about those things, but because of the nightmare she had about an hour ago made her blood run cold. Nevertheless, she decided to go and open the door, a gun ready in her left hand.

"Jaemin?" Minjeong let out a sigh of relief.

"Can I come in?" Jaemin asked, his breaths shallow.

"After you called me like that last night? Wow, the audacity." Minjeong laughed.

"Look, I'm sorry about that. But I'm in a shitty situation right now, and you're the only one that can help." Jaemin sighed, hating himself for the fact that he was apologizing to Kim fucking Minjeong, at her front door, and asking her for help.

Of all people, it had to be her.

"What the fuck would you need my help for?" Minjeong scoffed, completely dismissing the fact that the boy in front of her was in danger.

"Can you just let me in for fucks sake? I'll explain." Jaemin yelled quietly.

"Whatever," Minjeong mumbled but let him in anyway.

Only after the boy entered did she see the blood on his right sleeve.

"What the fuck did you do?" Minjeong asked panicking as she dragged him to the kitchen.

"I had a solo drug deal." Jaemin hung his head low.

"And it didn't go well I see. Why didn't you call someone?" Minjeong asked.

"Because it was a secret deal. And everyone hates solo missions. That's why we don't usually have them." Jaemin answered.

"Still, you could've called someone," Minjeong ruffled her hair a bit out of frustration, "Hell if you called me, I'd come."

"Do you have a first aid kit?" Jaemin questioned.

"Yes. But there isn't much in it. I don't have anything I can clean your wound with." Minjeong replied as she placed the kit on the counter.

"Can you go to the bathroom? You can clean your wound with water, and I'll go buy some things." the girl instructed.

"Where's the bathroom?" Jaemin asked, not wanting to go into any other room to avoid invading her privacy.

"Just down the hallway. There should be some spare clothes in the room on the left." Minjeong answered before closing the front door.

It didn't take her long to find everything she might need in the convenience store, considering the girl mostly went to that one because it was the closest to her house.

Meanwhile, Jaemin struggled to take his soaked shirt off, his right sleeve almost completely stuck to his skin because of the now half-dried blood.

"I'm back," Minjeong stated as she entered the apartment, making Jaemin panic.

"I'll be out in a second." the boy hurriedly replied.

"Take your time," Minjeong answered, "Not like I have a fixed sleep schedule, this doesn't really make a difference anyway," she mumbled under her breath after a few seconds.

"So, care to explain what happened and why you came here instead of going home?" Minjeong questioned once Jaemin unlocked the bathroom door.

It's not like she was spying on him or anything, she just didn't like the idea of cleaning blood or anything else from her kitchen counter. She wasn't homophobic, but she didn't have enough nerve to clean after someone who came to her house, uninvited, at some stupid time of the night.

"I had a solo deal. Didn't go great, as you can see, and I know that Jisung and Chenle would be very worried if I came home like this." Jaemin answered all of her questions in the simplest way he could.

"So you decided to just invite yourself to my place, even though you, quite literally, yelled at me and said that I was worth nothing a few days ago?", Minjeong questioned, chuckling a bit afterward, "Nice. Good to know that I'm worth enough for you to come here and disturb my peace."

"Look, I didn't mean to come here out of the blue, I just have nowhere else to go." Jaemin defended himself.

"Sure you couldn't go to Jeno's, or Haechan's?" Minjeong raised a brow, knowing there was no reason he couldn't go to his friends' places.

"They all decided to sleep over at our apartment." Jaemin hung his head low.

"Whatever, let's just get this over with," Minjeong mumbled under her breath before organizing everything she bought on her bathroom sink.

"Does it need stitches?" she asked once she cut through the fabric of her shirt.

That was my favorite.

"Yeah, it's very deep in the middle. Do you know how to stitch a wound?" Jaemin asked.

"How hard can it be?" Minjeong just shrugged at his question, making Jaemin gulp nervously.

"Want me to guide you through it?" the boy was hoping she'd say yes, and his prayers were answered when Minjeong nodded.

It took them one full hour to stitch up a wound that was about the same as four pennies placed side-to-side.

"All done." Minjeong proudly mumbled because of the needle that was placed in between her teeth while she cut the excess thread that was hanging loose on the boy's arm.

Jaemin spat out the towel he had in his mouth, which Minjeong aggressively stuffed once he was done explaining, so she wouldn't have to hear his voice or grunts of pain.

"You'll be sleeping in the guest bedroom, it's the only door on the left from here. There are spare clothes in the room if you want or need some." Minjeong explained as she cleaned up the bathroom sink and everything else.

"Where did you put the shirt you had on when you came?" she asked, turning all her attention to the boy, who was already looking at her with tired eyes.

"I put it in the trash. Didn't know what to do with it." Jaemin shrugged, before standing up and leaving the bathroom.

"Goodnight," Minjeong called out before she closed the door and began her morning routine.

It was just about time for the sunrise and since she was already up, she decided to go for a morning run. Jaemin was probably going to sleep late anyways, considering he didn't have classes that day.

She was happy that the boy was exhausted because that gave her enough time to go to university in the morning and take care of him afterward. Even though she didn't like Jaemin, she was going to take care of him like a woman would take care of her son.

Because as much as Jaemin thought the girl was heartless, Minjeong couldn't help but worry for him when she saw him in that state.

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