letters | nct dream

no. 9

ahri

"soooooo let me get this straight. renjun is the one who likes wonyoung?"

i woke jaemin up so that i could interview him as well. funny that he was actually awake when he heard me knocking on the door.

"yes" they both said in unison.

"after all this time. all those gifts and notes since the school year started came from him?!" i asked them. well, it was more like i asked myself.

"yeah. he liked her since we were kids but didn't really have the guts to tell her personally." jaemin stated.

"but, doesn't he know the misery he caused wonyoung?"

they eyed me weirdly.

"okay i was exaggerating but, wonyoung isn't really comfortable with all of this. why didn't he just surrender to me. i had to wake three people up to get to the answers and i didn't really get the sleep i deserve" i whine.

"he was afraid that if he revealed himself, you'll tell wonyoung and it'll ruin his friendship with her." jeno said, trying not to fall asleep.

"if he just asked nicely then i wouldn't tell wonyoung, and besides, wonyoung told me that you guys don't interact with her anymore. except for jaemin who sometimes wave at her." i gestured towards jaemin. unlike jeno, he was wide awake.

"in one letter, renjun told me that donghyuck didn't know wonyoung that much when in fact you guys were childhood friends. what the--" i cut myself off, wondering if i should continue.

"wait" i made a dramatic pause, "why do you guys act like you don't know wonyoung personally? why do you avoid her? what happened?" they both looked at each other, wondering if it's a good idea to tell me something or not.

"you see, when we were in elementary, wonyoung acted like she didn't know us, she acted like one of those rich snobby kids you see in a tv series. she was the first one who avoided us, so after that, we thought that she hated us and we didn't bother her anymore. now that we're in highschool, we didn't expect to see her again, but she's different now. she's thin, pale and looks like she's sick everyday. a huge contrast as to what she looked like in elementary. i tried to get closer to her through those waves and i kept asking her if she was okay because i was worried." jaemin explained, a sad look was evident in his eyes.

my eyes casted downwards. i didn't know any of that. she didn't tell me anything about her past.

"well.. i think wonyoung's hurting." i looked at the ground.

"what do you mean by hurting?" jeno, who was trying to battle sleep itself was now fully awake with wide eyes.

"i think she has depression. it was quite obvious." i said softly.

the atmosphere in the room got worse, as if it wasn't tense enough.

"what can we do to help her?" jaemin asked eagerly.

"please convince renjun to confess to wonyoung, then maybe if you guys talk to her again.. maybe, just maybe, she'll be okay." i stood up and slowly headed for the door.

"we will. and thank you for taking care of wonyoung, you've always been by her side when we weren't there." jaemin was standing beside me now.

"no need to thank me. it's what friends do." i stepped out of their apartment and made my way home after hearing them shut the door.