NCT Imagines (Requests Open!)

Let Me Help You Forget (Johnny)

Tears welled up in your eyes as you turned the volume up on your headphones.  The song traveled through your ears and to your heart which pounded slowly.  The bus hobbled over to the side of the road, stopping with a sudden jolt.  Some passengers left while new ones filled their empty spaces.  A man brushed past you, and you turned your head at the smell of his cologne.  It was the same one he used to use- your ex-boyfriend, that was.

As you got off at your stop, you noticed a girl holding a bouquet of calla lilies.  They were his favorite flowers.  You were offered tea at the office.  He had made you tea every morning with more milk than water and three spoons of sugar because you were fond of sweet things.  As you took a sip, you frowned, shaking your head at the strange ratio of water to milk.  

You plopped down at your desk, trying to shake these foreign thoughts from your head.  You couldn't think about him.  He was gone now.  He'd never come back to pick up your broken pieces.  To him, you had just been someone else- a pretty girl with a so-so personality that he used to help him forget.  How had you been so oblivious?

One of your colleagues waved a hand in front of your face, and you were quickly jarred from your thoughts.  Felix smiled warmly and pointed to your phone which was spazzing with vibrations noisily on your desk.

You swiftly answered and were greeted by the only other voice that could make your insides melt.   Even though you couldn't see him, his presence through the phone comforted you.  The tears threatened to fall but only because whenever you were with him, you felt so safe.  He never gave you anything to worry about and took care of you no matter what.  Seo Johnny was like the tree in front of your childhood house that you used to swing from and plant flowers around.  It would offer you shade on hot days and cry with you as its leaves withered away in the winter.  That tree would never change.

"Do you want to come over after work?  I'm planning on baking a lot today, and we all know you have a big sweet tooth."

"I'll be there," you grinned.  "I'll see you after work."

You'd met Johnny in college many moons ago.  Not knowing he was a culinary student, you always wondered where that heavenly smell of food was coming from.  It was only when you saw him unloading trays of brownies and cookies from the common kitchen area that you had connected the dots.  And of course, you'd been best friends ever since.  It became a tradition that he'd bake for you whenever you were sad.  The sweetness you lacked in your life, he replenished with his own goodies.  

The day whizzed by as you anticipated spending the evening with Johnny.  As you were leaving the office, you noticed his simple silver sedan parked outside, and he waved to you through the rolled down window.

His hair was simply styled, and he wore a plain cardigan and jeans.  Everything about Johnny was just like that.  Simple.   As you slid into the passenger seat, the familiar smell hit you, and you felt warm and fuzzy inside.  Johnny rarely wore cologne, but he also smelled like a fresh bar of soap and fruity shampoo.  Strangely enough, that comforted you.  

"Ready to go, Y/N?" he asked with a grin.  The oven is pre-heating so we might wanna go fast."

You shot up alarmingly fast.  "YOU LEFT YOUR OVEN ON UNATTENDED?!"

"Buckle up!" Johnny chirped as he stepped on the gas, and your bodies lurched forward as the car gained acceleration.  The tears screeched as he swerved his car into the driveway.  His house was just as you remembered it- the familiar circular bushes and the crape myrtles on either side.  

Before his parents had relocated back to Chicago, they had handed the family house over to Johnny, hoping he'd be responsible enough to take care of it.  Little did they know he was running the oven without even being home.