the amor files: lumos || jaemin na

year four - a group full of secrets

jinah, in hindsight, should be more surprised than she really is. tampering with the wolfsbane potion, at the very least meant that renjun was hiding just how truly capable he was, and at the most, renjun was able to withstand putting donghyuck through more pain than absolutely necessary.

but all at the same time, jinah couldn't find it in herself to truly hate this man at all. for some reason, she knew instinctively that renjun was not all that he seemed. nor was he all that he said. so, when it really came down to it, this young fourteen year old boy was an intellectual that was hard to match - even for jinah.

"renjun?" donghyuck asks with a voice so heartbroken that it shakes jinah out of her thoughts. she watches, almost in horror, as donghyuck collapses onto his knees, eyes filled with tears as he stares at his best friend, unsure of what really to think or what to do.

"donghyuck," kannika whispers, rubbing his shoulders gently. "please, i'm sure there's an explanation."

jaemin is silent, watching how every single person reacts to this shocking information. donghyuck looks as though he's been betrayed; kannika is too busy trying to soothe him to really think about renjun; jinah is unsurprised, although anyone can tell that underneath her hard exterior, she's a little shaken; jeno is torn between trying to examine renjun and comforting donghyuck.

at face value, it's easy to take renjun's words to heart and lose all sense of trust. but as jaemin and jinah exchange a deep look, both of them know that what they're thinking is the same: even now renjun was hiding something.

"i think everyone needs a moment for themselves," jeno says slowly, his eyes darting in between jaemin, jinah, and renjun respectively. "kannika, donghyuck. come on, i think we need to get out of here for a couple minutes."

donghyuck doesn't say anything as kannika drapes his arm around her shoulder, and the three of them leave the kitchen, jeno turning around once before continuing out of the kitchen.

jinah and renjun remain in a silent tournament for several minutes. neither of them say a single word but jaemin can almost envision them playing an intense game of wizard's chess, unwilling to concede to each other and for a split second, jaemin is almost afraid of his best friend and his other best friend's sister.

renjun is the one to break the silence - although jaemin cannot fully tell whether this means that he lost or won. 

"i knew about the wolfsbane from the moment that donghyuck revealed himself to be a werewolf," renjun explains, never once breaking eye contact with jinah. "but it's not exactly as easily brewed as you think. the ingredients are much more expensive than you can even begin to imagine. and on top of that, we would need enough to brew seven doses for each night preceding the actual full moon."

jinah folds her arms over her chest, shaking her head. "tell me the truth, renjun. if money was an issue, jaemin or jeno and i could've snuck some from our parents. i assure you, neither of us are stupid enough to play along with this."

jaemin was not going to admit that he fully believed renjun.

"i'm getting there," renjun says, rolling his eyes and once again, jaemin realizes just how much renjun and jinah have in common, as much as it was horrifying and strange to think about. sure, jaemin had always thought that renjun was a little strange. he didn't really react things, especially emotional things, the same way that donghyuck or even jeno did. in the beginning, it was almost as if he was observing how the rest of them reacted in order to formulate the correct responses, eventually relying on a past storage of reactions to find the right one to use.

"but there's another large issue with giving donghyuck wolfsbane. you probably don't know it - even donghyuck and kannika - since you're all either purebloods or just don't pay attention in potions," renjun says pointedly, and jinah has to bite down on her tongue to keep herself from snorting inappropriately. "anyway. wolfsbane is incredibly poisonous to humans. if even a little bit comes in contact with human skin, it can cause incredible harm. donghyuck is half-blooded, which could mean that even though he's got half wizard genealogy, we don't really know how much he could get affected by the wolfsbane."