parents | na jaemin

FOURTEEN

"wait, really?"

jaemin stopped, processing what she said. even though it was the response that he wanted, he was still shocked that she actually said the words.

"yes, and come on, we have to keep walking," ahyoung pulled him by the wrist as they continued to trudge through the sand.

"so we're friends now?"

"yes, we are, please go back to your joking self, serious jaemin feels weird to me."

"hey!" jaemin said indignantly. "i'm just trying to have a genuine moment."

ahyoung let out a small laugh. "i know jaem, i know."

jaem, jaemin smiled at the nickname. 

what a special thing to remember.

"earth to jaemin?" ahyoung waved her hand in his face. 

jaemin blinked. "oh sorry," he apologized. "i think i'm a little tired. we've been here for almost nine hours you know."

"i can't wait to go to sleep," ahyoung said, skipping alongside the boy. "look, we're almost back," she pointed forward, directing jaemin's attention to their parents and jiyoung. "wait jaem, one more thing."

the boy turned his head curiously towards the girl, wondering what she was about to say. they stopped walking for a moment, ahyoung pulling jaemin's arm to keep him in place. 

ahyoung cleared her throat before speaking. "i know we're only just friends, and we're not exactly super close or comfortable around each other, but if you ever want to talk about anything going on, i'm here, you know."

jaemin nodded, giving her a small smile. 

"thanks ahyoung."

~

the feeling that ahyoung got after lying on her bed after that insanely long day at the beach (and a shower when she got back, of course) was a sort of relief that couldn't be described.

how blissful it was.

even more so that ahyoung's parents and jiyoung had decided to go eat a late dinner with the na family. mrs. min could tell her daughter was exhausted, allowing her to stay back in the room for the evening. she even helped ahyoung get food for dinner, going across the street to buy malatang while her daughter showered. 

"i should call jeno," ahyoung decided, sitting back up. she got off the bed, walking over to the desk that was in their hotel room to sit down. propping up her phone against her waterbottle and dialing her friend, ahyoung carefully opened the malatang her mother bought, happy to eat the food. 

"hey youngie," jeno waved through the phone. "you caught me at a good time, i just finished showering. looks like you did too?" he gestured towards her.

"mhm," ahyoung nodded as she took a bite. "how's camp?"

"tiring, but fun," jeno answered, setting his phone down before climbing onto his bed. "genuinely feels like my legs are going to snap off my body sometimes but it'll all be worth it," he smiled. "what did you do today?"

"we were at the beach for basically the whole day," ahyoung replied. "i think i have sunburn all over my body."

jeno laughed at her words. "must've been fun though," he continued. "how's jaemin?"

"oh, about that," ahyoung remembered. "i guess, we're sort of friends now."

her best friend's eyes widened. "what happened?"

"he apologized for everything," she answered. "and i told him i want to forgive him. and that we can be friends, for now at least," jeno continued to nod as she explained. "nono, i think something really bad happened to him."