Broken Melodies (NCT)

Johnny

He backed away as he surveyed the room, taking in the kids fighting with a sense of amusement. He wanted to laugh at the kids' goofy forms and the way they sparred. Two kids were throwing punches with their thumbs sticking out, dancing around the room while two more were straight up wrestling on the ground. He blew his whistle, stopping the kids.

"Alright, looks like we're out of time! Good job, I'll see you next week." he saw the last of the kids out, finally being able to get rid of the cheery instructor smile. 

"Tired already training the midgets?" his friend Peniel asked, leaning against the window to watch the kids leave. "Don't know why you're tired; those kids were just about killing each other, and they're still full of energy. Look at them go!" 

"It's not the physical exertion, it's the pressure of appearing lively and gentle as to not scare the children away." his other friend, Joshua, laughed, sighing in mock sympathy. "Honestly, I'm not even mad Boss made you the Head Instructor. Babysitting twenty ten year old's while also teaching them defense? I'll stay as your gentle-manly support." 

Johnny rolled his eyes. "The pay's good, or I wouldn't even keep this trash job. What of the little adventure you guys had, hunting down the person who owed Sehun money?" 

"That loser? We tracked him down, found out he still had around 500,000 Won owed. We jumped him in the back alleyway, bloodied him up pretty bad. And then, if you could believe it," Peniel's face lit up with glee as he recalled the events. "His girlfriend called, asking if he was okay, why wasn't he coming home, if he was okay, if he wasn't thinking of hurting himself over the dropout and his parents' deaths. Sehun took pity on him, he's too soft I tell you, and gave him two more months to pay off his debt. It was exciting, really." 

"Who came with you?" 

"Yuta was doing a night shift at the zoo, taking care of one that was really old, I think, so he couldn't come. It was just me, Joshua, Sehun, and Shownu." 

"And who was it this time?"

"I don't really remember," Peniel frowned. "It's not my job to keep track of them. His girlfriend called him, 'Nana', I think"

"You idiot, even I remember," Joshua sighed. "It was Jaemin. Na Jaemin."

He was familiar. Johnny knew who he was, just couldn't remember where. Was he a colleague, a distant friend he didn't have contact with? He didn't know, but the name alone was enough to kill the mood, and freak him out a bit. He would have to think about it for longer.

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"Mom, I'm home," he announced as he stepped through the door. She, as usual, didn't answer, only stared blankly upwards, button eyes counting the ridges on the ceiling. Johnny sighed, feeling ridiculous as he adjusted the life-sized wooden doll to sit on the couch. 

"I wonder if you remember who Na Jaemin is, Mom," he said, not believing he was talking to the doll, again. "Peniel mentioned he was in debt to Sehun, but I really can't remember who he is. He's important, I can feel it." 

What was he doing, talking to the doll? Get a grip on yourself, Johnny, Mom died years ago, and you constructed this doll yourself to delude yourself into thinking she's still around. Get rid of it and move on with your life, is that really so hard? 

Yes, it was. Talking to 'Mom' gave him the illusion that he wasn't alone, that someone was there to comfort him. The doll probably knew more about him than his friends did, as he was careful to regulate his emotions to always appear lively and happy in public. 

His phone vibrated in his pocket; Joshua was calling him. 

"Hey, I noticed you were a bit weird since the entire debt thing was brought up. You want to tell me what's wrong?" 

"It's nothing." Johnny said, a sound hollow even to him. "I remembered him from somewhere, I just can't remember where." 

"He had to be pretty special to make you react that way," Joshua's tone was playful, amused now, and Johnny knew his friend wasn't taking the situation seriously anymore. "Who is it? Did he take your crush, or beat you in every exam?" 

"No!" in spite of himself, he laughed. Trust Joshua to joke him into a better mood. "It's probably nothing. Just an old classmate." 

"Alright" Johnny knew Joshua would relay this news to the entire friend group, and he would never hear the end of the teasing: the fearless Seo Johnny was visibly bothered trying to remember where Na Jaemin came from. "By the way, someone came to the defense building, trying to find you." 

That was odd. Nobody looked for Johnny. "Who?"

"His name was hard to pronounce. Something like Zhong. . . Chanel? Either way, he said he was friends with you and asked where you were."

"And what did you say?"

"I said you weren't here and to fuck off before we jumped him." he could feel Joshua shrugging through the phone. "He left pretty quickly afterwards." 

They said their goodbyes and hung up, thinking. Johnny knew exactly who it was: Zhong Chenle, the heir to the rich Zhong family's fortune. What would a child of such wealth want with Johnny? They hadn't contacted each other in years. Yuta would know what to do, he was also a mutual friend of Chenle's. 

"Hey." he said the moment Yuta picked up his call. "Where are you?" 

"I'm in front of your house." came the disturbing reply. "Open the door." 

"What?" Johnny rushed to the front window, pulling open the blinds to see his workout buddy Nakamoto Yuta, phone to his ear, the other hand waving as he smirked. Johnny was surprised to see the man here, when he was supposed to be at the zoo working, but immediately open the door nonetheless. 

"What's this I hear about you not remembering who Na Jaemin was?" Yuta asked, crashing on the couch where Johnny had thankfully hid the doll before letting him in. "I didn't believe it. We're the main reason that kid dropped out of school, remember? We used to break in and harass him so much he left." 

"That was him?" Johnny felt slightly sickened. He had memories of the bullying, of course, but never tried to remember the kid's name. He could now recall what he, Yuta, and Jaehyun had done to that poor kid in dizzying detail. 

"Yeah, we snuck into the school and bothered him since he was 16. He dropped out at 18, and is working at a cafe." 

That's right. He could attribute a name to that unknown second kid they used to harass at school; the things they did to them was horrible, but he had to admit it felt good to beat on something smaller than him. His mom had died recently during that time, and he was angry. They had to stop once Jaemin dropped out and the other kid figured out how to threaten them with his rich parents' money, but charges were never pressed and they got away scott-free. 

"We were assholes," Johnny admitted. 

"But it felt really nice to hit them, like releasing pent-up anger, right?" he couldn't argue with Yuta. He had spent the entire time desperate to know who Jaemin was, but once he did he wished he hadn't. He was torn between the need to internally justify his actions, and the knowledge that it was unforgivable, what he did to those kids. It stretched the silence enough to make it awkward, making Johnny hastily change the subject. 

"So Joshua said Chenle visited the building today. Why do you think so?" 

"Chenle visited me too. Invited me to some dinner party, and asked me to relay the message to you if I had the chance, that we were to meet him at 5 PM near a boat labelled "Lotus" at Mica Harbor." Yuta paused, looking uncomfortable. "Na Jaemin will be there, too."