react | nomin

21

jeno has seen a lot of things and been a lot of places. he's met a lot of new people and walked a lot of new territory.

but the cemetery in the upper part of the country was definitely not one of them.

having jaemin give him directions to where his parents were buried had sent him on an adventure. since he was never informed of where his parents had been laid to rest.

paju was a peaceful city. not too much was going on, but the scenery was beautiful and jeno had to stop himself from turning to look at jaemin every time his eyes would light up in awe at the flowers (though were slightly wilting because of the cold weather) that decorated the sides of the street along with the trees whose leaves were transitioning from the different shades of green to the beautiful variations of red, yellow, orange, and brown.

it took jeno a half an hour of driving to finally reach their destination. which wasn't as long as it took for them to reach namiseom when they had went about a week ago.

when jaemin had finally pointed out the cemetery, jeno had made sure to find a suitable parking spot before he twisted his keys and pulled it out of its socket, placing it in the front pocket of the suit he was wearing.

after all, he wasn't able to attend their funeral. jeno wanted to dress his best to present himself to the people he had called his future parents in law for years.

he remembers joking with them about it, but mr. and mrs. na just sent him sweet smiles follower by, "we'll make sure to take care of you the way you take care of jaemin." followed by a lighthearted, "we'll make sure to dress our best for your wedding!"

in the deepest parts of jeno's mind, the memory still lingers and makes its way into the train of thought every now and then which not to mention, he has running around almost all the time.

this time though, the train had came to a halt at the station once jaemin had told the conductor to stop overthinking things. the conductor being jeno himself.

"jeno? are you okay?" jaemin had inquired. jeno had finally looked up from the steering wheel he didn't even notice he was staring at and turned to look at jaemin with a small smile. "of course. i just got a little lost in thought, that's all."

"are you sure?" jaemin asked just to be sure.

jeno nodded, "completely. don't worry too much about me, nana." he reassured before unbuckling his seatbelt and opening his door. jaemin on the other hand had took a second to process jeno's facial expression and tone of voice before shaking it off and too doing what jeno had did.

the walk to the graves was silent.

leaves that have fallen off trees crinkling under their footsteps and the soft whistling of the wind were the only sounds that could be heard.

maybe the occasional dog barking, too.

jeno wasn't exactly familiar with grave etiquette, so he brought everything he had seen doyoung bring to their grandparents graves when they would visit.

soju, fruit, and of course, a bouquet of white roses for mrs. na and a cactus for mr. na because back when mrs. na was cleaning her garden up from weeds, jeno had curiously asked what her and her husbands favorite plants were.

she said hers were white roses because of the meaning behind them. purity, innocence, sympathy, and spirituality. the symbol of true love, she said.

as for mr. na, he liked cacti because jaemin had gotten him a miniature one for his birthday and he says he watered it for a year not wanting it to die because it was his absolute favorite until jaemin caught him one day and with a confused expression on his face asking him why he was watering a fake plant.