Night Shift // nomin

2:30am

After Renjun told me that news, my heart sunk whenever Jaemin came. I was aware of what he was struggling with and that only caused me to pity him.

I swayed back and forth behind the counter. I was contemplating in asking, but would that be too sudden?

"Jaemin?"

The boy tilted his head up, staring at me with his usual tired gaze.

"Can I possibly..." I inhaled out of nervousness. "get your number?"

He tilted his head to the side.

"Um..." he looked down, his hands wrapped around the pint. "Sure..."

I grabbed a pen that was lying around in the back.

"Here, wait let me see if I have paper." I placed the pen onto the counter in front of him.

After roaming around behind the counter, I spotted no paper in sight.

"You can just write it on my hand." I concluded, extending my arm towards him.

He placed his ice cream on the counter, taking the pen into his hand.

"Are you sure?" he asked, biting his lip.

"Positive."

His other hand wrapped around my wrist, holding my arm steady as he wrote on the back of my hand.

While he was writing, I noticed his hand was trembling.

He released my wrist and my eyes averted down to my hand, jagged numbers written across my skin.

"Thank you." My lips curled up into a small smile. "Do you need my number?"

He nodded slowly.

I gently touched his wrist, not wanting to make him uncomfortable. I didn't want to cause anymore pain to that area.

The pen glided across his the smooth skin on the back of his palm.

"There." I pulled back.

"Thank you." he mumbled, taking his ice cream and heading towards the door.

When the door fell shut, I looked down at the ink once more. I hope I can set you free from this, Na Jaemin.