karaoke machine | p.js

3.08

Jisung thought about it a lot. Maybe more than he had ever thought about anything in his entire life. The pros and cons of confessing his feelings to Naerin became a jumbled mess in his mind as he rolled onto his back in bed.

There was a gentle knock on the door that caught his attention. Turning to see who it was, Jisung sat up slowly as Jaemin came into his room. Jaemin sat on Jisung's bed and let out a long sigh.

"I called you four times," Jaemin said.

"What?" Jisung looked around his bed for his phone before grabbing it off of his nightstand. Sure enough, there were a series of unread messages and four missed calls from Jaemin. "Ah, sorry, I didn't even realize,"

Jaemin shrugged as he threw himself across Jisung's bed, ultimately crushing the younger male as he did. Jisung grumbled but continued to let his hyung suffocate him with his love.

"What are you doing here?" Jisung asked.

"Can't I come see my favorite baby," Jaemin asked, snuggling his face into Jisung's body.

Sometime last year, Sungchan, Shotaro, Jaemin, and Jeno had moved out of the NCT dorms. Most of the NCT members now had their own apartments, or in Sungchan and Shotaro's case, they had moved into the trainee dorms once more to prepare for their debut in the new boy group that would be coming next year.

The only remaining NCT Dream members to stay at the company-assigned apartment were Jisung and Renjun. The two had moved to a smaller, but nicer, apartment while Jeno and Jaemin got their own apartments.

"You must be thinking a lot," Jaemin said.

"What?"

Jaemin sat up and pointed at Jisung's forehead, "Whenever you're thinking your face goes blank and your eyes glaze over. It makes you look stupid,"

Jisung stared blankly at Jaemin, "Wow, thanks,"

"You're welcome," Jaemin said before jumping to his feet, "I'm going out to shop with Dami today. Want to join us?"

"And third wheel? I'll pass," Jisung replied shaking his head and throwing himself back onto his bed.

"You can invite Naerin," Jaemin offered as he pulled his phone from his pocket.

"You know I can't do that," Jisung said with a soft sigh.

As much as he wanted to spend time with Naerin, Jisung knew that he first had to sort out his own thoughts. Despite telling Kangdae that he loved Naerin, Jisung felt lost about what to do next. Confessing his feelings to Naerin would be too reckless. In the end, it would only chase her away.

"I mean, you want to get closer to her again, right?" Jaemin asked. "This is a good way to start doing that,"

Jisung gave Jaemin a skeptical look, "I can't just ask her to hang out, hyung. We're not that close anymore,"

"Exactly," Jaemin said as he turned his phone to show Jisung, "That's why I asked her for you, she said she'll come,"

Jisung's eyes widened as Jaemin got up to leave. "Jaemin!" Jisung called after him but Jaemin simply ignored his protests.

"Get ready. We're leaving in fifteen minutes," Jaemin said.

–––––

The mall was mostly empty that day but even so, Jisung was a bit worried about running into fans out in public. He had seen and been in enough mobs to know that it was an entirely possible situation whenever he went out with his friends.

So unlike Jaemin and Dami, who opted to not wear a mask, Jisung had a white mask on and the hoodie to his black sweatshirt pulled over his head. He looked awkward standing next to Jaemin and Dami. From the outside, it would look as though Jisung was third wheeling on his older brother's date.