𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗱 ➪ 𝙢𝙖𝙧𝙠𝙝𝙮𝙪𝙘𝙠

15

— tw, this chapter deals with self harm ):

it was a chilly evening, people wearing coats and wrapping themselves up with warm articles of clothing, and then there was jeno sitting in a sweatshirt and basketball shorts, eagerly waiting for the bus to arrive. everything was confusing him at the moment and he was just hoping he'd get to jaemin's fast.

the whole situation with donghyuck, jaemin, and mark were gnawing at him. he wanted to know about what happened so badly. jeno's mind was making up random possibilities as to what all of this could be and it honestly just tired him, making him more frustrated than he already was. donghyuck wasn't exactly helping, simply texting him to meet jaemin before he does something regretful. it was scary. suddenly everything depended on jeno and it was the most worrisome thing.

the day mark came, jeno was buzzing with nothing but excitement. he told his friends to come too, making sure that mark would feel happy and at home with them all. when jaemin said he couldn't come, jeno didn't think much to it. he should've. he should've checked up on him.

jeno went to his house the next day only to be met with the sight of cuts adorning jaemin's pale skin. it was painful to even see, he couldn't imagine how it would hurt. that day, for the first and last time, jeno saw jaemin breakdown and it was pitiful. tears and heart wracking sobs, jeno ended up crying with him.

he swore to himself that he would care for jaemin like there was no tomorrow after that. hearing about jaemin possibly doing what he did again from donghyuck made jeno afraid. the fact that donghyuck knew why he did it in the first place was what jeno really wanted to know. nothing else mattered except for jaemin and the bus couldn't have come any later. they didn't live close by and going by foot would take at least an hour.

after three minutes of waiting, the bus finally showed up and jeno hopped on, glad it was finally here. the bus was crowded so he stood there, nervousness filling him up. if he didn't make it on time, he'd blame himself more than anything because he had the opportunity to save someone that was of high significance to him. all of this made jeno dizzy. he couldn't stand it. he wasn't exactly the best at comforting someone, how would he ever manage to control what actions jaemin did?

✧ ✧ ✧

jeno had come to the conclusion that the bus was going way too slow and took twenty million stops every four seconds. he didn't have the time for this, so he got off the big moving box and sprinted with every last bit of energy. it was probably already too late. heart racing at an irregular pace, jeno hoped and hoped everything would be okay.

he finally made it to his destination, grabbing the extra key from the mailbox and welcoming himself into the tiny home. jeno dashed up the stairs, sweat glistening on his fair skin. he made it in front of jaemin's room and didn't hesitate at barging in. there jaemin was, tears running down his face and big doe eyes looking back at him. the biggest frown was etched onto his pretty face and jeno wanted nothing more than to comfort him.

"jeno." jaemin cried out, covering his face with his hands. jeno practically ran to the tiny boy's side and fell to his knees, immediately enveloping him in a tight and warm embrace.

"it's okay, i'm here." the older managed to rasp out, holding the crying boy with all his might. he wasn't quite sure how to help since the situation was difficult to decipher and didn't know if jaemin would be comfortable with being asked questions, especially not in this state. so he sat there with jaemin until his breathing was more stable and the tears had stopped flowing. jeno tried his absolute best to soothe the younger to a point where he would feel safe in his arms.

"you didn't try and do anything right?" jeno trailed his hands down jaemin's arms, holding the bottom of his wrists delicately. he simply shook his head no and jeno sighed in contentment. he finally did the one thing he wished he could've done that night and it was the most wholesome feeling.

although he'd never admit it, the moment was filled with pure bliss for jeno. the tranquility of the room was like a blanket of security over the two and the single lamp emitting a dull light was more than enough to make everything seem okay, or at least for the time being.