Apocalypse ✦ Nomin

27

⊱ ───── { Jaemin } ───── ⊰

"So Mark questioned me about if I saw anything or anyone suspicious," Chenle states as he leans his back against the door to Jaemin's room and folds his arms over his chest, "Apparently my soul mate caused a security breach because he's still not an angel."

A faint, amused grin rests on Chenle's face as he says this, causing Jaemin to faintly smile as well.

"And you guys didn't get caught?" Jaemin inquires.

"Nope," Chenle chuckles lightly, "Mark couldn't find anything before the signal cut him off."

"Signal?"

"He was tracking Jisung down with a signal pointing to his location, but it vanished the second he left. Mark is in a bit of a panic, so he sent me back here to keep an eye on you."

"That sounds really risky. What if either of you got caught?"

"Well...here's the thing: rules are kind of a pain. It's fun to bend them, sometimes if you know you're smart enough to outwit the person trying to enforce those rules," Chenle explains, "And don't get me wrong, I absolute love Mark, but he's not exactly...what's the best way to put this...the most competent guy to act as a police officer on his own. Now, if Donghyuck was alongside him, they'd be more tricky to outwit, but Hyuck is busy doing damage control on Earth. So."

Jaemin nods slowly as a question gnaws at the back of his mind. He needed to wait to make sure Chenle was done talking about the Jisung situation, but he was desperate to ask. He was tired of letting the guilt eat away at him.

"Can I ask you something?" Jaemin questions upon realizing there was a long enough pause to interject.

"Yes, of course."

"If I wanted to find out someone's soulmate was...how would I do that?"

Chenle cocks his head slightly in curiosity. Jaemin looks down at his bear and plays with one of its soft little ears as he avoids looking at him.

"Why would you want to know?"

"I'm just curious," Jaemin answers hesitantly.

"No...you're looking for someone in particular...aren't you?" Chenle questions, and although Jaemin refuses to acknowledge him with a response, he takes this as confirmation, "Who are you looking for?"

Jaemin shakes his head.

"This is something I want to do alone, so just tell me-"

"I can't let you do that, Jaemin," Chenle interjects, silencing him, "Mark and Taeyong want me to watch over you to make sure you don't manage to get yourself into trouble or are harmed by any demons. If anyone catches you alone, they'll punish you for it and reprimand me. They'll force more angels to guard you, and if that happens, we'll both be screwed."

Jaemin internally squirms as he tries to do mental gymnastics about how to get him to retrieve the name of the soul mate. Unfortunately, there's only two options.

"Can you take me?" Jaemin inquires.

"No," Chenle denies, "If both of us are missing from the places we're intended to be and someone comes to get us, there's going to be a problem. It's not safe while Mark and the others are running around trying to figure out what happened and how to fix their security."

"Then what if you went and got it for me?" Jaemin asks with a tired, helpless tone to his voice.

"I'm not sure I ca...wait..." Chenle speaks as his train of thought changes, "Maybe when Mark escorts you to meet with Renjun, I can-"

"I need it before then," Jaemin dismisses him.

Chenle lets out a deep, exasperated sigh.

"I only have one other idea, but it may get me a lecture if I get caught," he mentions, "I'll try to get someone to watch you while I run off to quickly find the name you need, but I need you to tell me who I'm supposed to be looking for."

"Chenle, no, don't risk getting in trouble for me," Jaemin denies.

"Please stop and just give me a name, already. The sooner I leave, the sooner I can get back."

Jaemin nods slowly in understanding and lets out a deep breath before uttering the name that has been in the back of his mind, waiting to be spoken.

"Huang Renjun."