oneshots • nctdream x aespa

long-awaited confession 🐰⭐️

"Stay close." Jaemin says as he holds Minjeong's right hand while weaving through the crowd in the middle of Seoul on Seollal's (Korean New Year) Eve.

Minjeong had already told Jaemin that this was a bad idea. Going out on a day before Seollal was a mistake, and he will regret it later on due to the large crowds of families, friends, and even couples eating out and celebrating this festive occasion together. Not to mention that this morning she saw on the news that the temperature would drop to at least -4°C during the night. And she's hungry.

"I told you that I wanted to stay at the apartment tonight and order in. This was the worst idea that you've had this 2023, and the year's just about to start." Minjeong playfully says this while following Jaemin out of the crowd.

"I just didn't want you to mope in the dorms while everybody is busy celebrating one of the best days of the year." Jaemin laughs, "And besides, I wanted to eat something that was not pizza and chicken today."

They have been friends since her second year of high school, but this is the first time that they won't be able to celebrate Seollal with their families at home. Minjeong's parents went overseas to visit her brother's family, and Jaemin's family will be celebrating the holiday in Busan, but they both can't join due to the amount of studying and workload that they have in their last year of college.

"Fair enough." Minjeong replies as they walk through the last of the crowd. "How long until we get to the restaurant?"

"Not long, just a couple of blocks away from here. Good thing we're out of the crowd now." Jaemin says while looking towards the other side of the street, waiting for the green light to turn red.

"This better be worth it." Minjeong says as the light turns green and they start crossing the street.

Halfway through, Minjeong realises that he's still holding Jaemin's hand. It's warm, she thinks; I don't have pockets or a hot pack to keep my hand warm.

She convinces herself and keeps on holding Jaemin's hand while hoping that he doesn't realise. Minjeong would be lying if she said that she wasn't enjoying this. She's had a tiny bit of a crush on Jaemin since they first met, and the years that they've spent living as classmates didn't help her feelings. Even her best friend, Ningning, knows and teases her for it, no matter how much she denies it.

"Minjeong-ah." Jaemin seriously says it, and Minjeong almost misses it while she's lost in her own thoughts.

"Yeah?"

"I'm so glad I get to celebrate the holiday with you."

"What are you talking about? We haven't started drinking yet, and you're already drunk!" Minjeong tried to divert the topic because she could feel her cheeks getting warm.

"Hey!" He laughs, "I'm serious."

"I'm just kidding, it's nice to celebrate with you even though I hate crowds and I'm hungry and cold." She laughs, joking, while she turns to look over at Jaemin, realising that he's been staring at her while walking.

Jaemin smiles at her, suddenly stops walking, and whispers, "You're beautiful."

"What?"

"What do you mean?"

"What did you say?"

"Nothing. Let's go." Jaemin tries to divert her attention to the street ahead of them, but Minjeong hears what he says anyway; she just doesn't know how to respond to it.

Stupid. Jaemin thinks as they start walking towards the restaurant that he wanted to bring Minjeong to. He just blurted out what came to mind while looking at her. She looks so beautiful, and his stupid mouth made sure to blurt it out the same moment that he thought of it. He almost blew it before anything happened. His family wasn't even in Busan. He just found out that Minjeong would be staying alone in her dorm during the break, and he didn't want her to be left all alone. He also thought that this would be the best time to tell Minjeong how he feels—how whipped he is for her—in Jeno's, his best friend's, words, not his.

He planned how this night's events would unfold. He's planning to bring Minjeong to one of her favourite restaurants because if there's a way to that girl's stomach, it would most definitely be food. After a nice dinner, they would go over a few drinks and hopefully end with him professing his love to her.

Well, that part he hasn't been able to figure out yet. He wanted to just wing it, because if there's an adjective that you could use to describe Na Jaemin, it would be spontaneous. Holding hands was not part of the plan, though. He didn't want to lose her in the crowd, so he automatically held her hand. He's just happy that Minjeong didn't seem to notice that they were still holding hands even though they were way past the crowd already.

Jaemin was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't realise that they were already in front of the restaurant, almost passing by it.

"Here we are," Jaemin says as he walks up the front to the door of the restaurant, where a sign says that it's full.

"Shit."

"That's fine; let's just eat somewhere else." Minjeong tries to assure him.

"No, Minjeong, this isn't fine. This wasn't how this was going to happen," Jaemin pulls his hair while walking back and forth. "I wanted this night to be special and romantic because this is the first Seollal's Eve that we're celebrating together, and I was supposed to woo you with great food because I know how much you love food, and we were going to go drinking after, and I was going to confess how much I've liked you since the beginning and—"

"You what?" Minjeong finally blurts out when Jaemin isn't even looking at her. He didn't know how to react now that he had spilled everything out of frustration.

"I'm sorry, Minjeong. I like you. I really do. I just haven't mustered up the courage to say so because, even though people think I'm fearless, I'm scared of you. Not in a bad way. I just don't know how you feel about me. We've been friends for a few years now, and I just thought that it's now or never since we're graduating in a few months, and I thought that I might regret it if I don't say anything," Jaemin pauses.

"When you told me that you would stay in the dorms during this holiday, I thought that this was the best time for me to confess my feelings for you. I know that this is abrupt, and I don't even know where I'm going with this because I'm just saying everything that comes to mind and...please say something." He begs as he notices that Minjeong was just looking at him, bewildered, while he bares his heart out.

"Jaemin, calm down, okay? I like you too. Why do you think I allowed you to hold my hand during the walk over here without saying anything? I don't even like holding hands with other people." Minjeong smiles at him.

"I thought, no, I hoped that you didn't realise so that you wouldn't pull your hand back."

"Stupid." Minjeong laughs. "Now let's go because I'm really hungry. We can still do the date that you planned some other day."

"Promise?" Jaemin smiles, offering his hand for Minjeong to take.

"Promise." Minjeong reaches out and interlocks her fingers with Jaemin's.

•hii its been sooo long since i last update this book oh my gosh i'm so sorry to anyone who waited for a new update 🙏🏼 uni has been hard for me this semester so i can't bring myself to write and post often , and eventually yesterday was my last paper in final exam so i'm free to do anything noww 🥹
ps: i did double updatee and thankyouuu for 15K 🫶🏼