village girl › nct 2018

76

iM gonna miss heraphany :')

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           3RD PERSONS VIEW。

"jaeyoung-ie, what are you reading?" chenle's face suddenly popped out from the side as she read her book.

a bit flustered at how chenle's face was so close, she looked up and chuckled, "a new book."

lucas raised a brow, "another book? weren't you reading a different book yesterday?"

jaeyoung sheepishly smiled at the boy, "i finished that book last night."

"hm? what time did you sleep?" jungwoo tilts his head, his voice clearly showed how concerned he was.

"i... don't really remember, but the sun was already rising."

jungwoo frowned, "jae, you need to take care of yourself more, please?"

jaeyoung smiled softly, "i will, i'm sorry."

lucas gawked at the book she was holding, "you must really like books!"

renjun raised a brow, looking up from the canvas he had on his desk, "she loves them, sushi." he said making lucas scrunch his face. "sushi?!"

"taeyong-hyung and jaeyoung actually has the same favorite book, don't you?" chenle pointed out, taking a seat beside her as he snuggled up close, wanting to read the book with her.

jaeyoung nodded, "i actually do."

chenle smiled, "continue reading, i'll read with you."

slowly, a few minutes passed and her grip on the sides of the book loosened the more she felt drowsy. a yawn escaped her lips, resting her head on top of chenle's who was already asleep. her eyelids dipped close and both were finally shut down.

renjun sniggered, "they fell asleep."

jungwoo chuckled softly, "cute kids."

lucas stood up from his seat, "i'm gonna go meet up with the others, jaehyun-hyung called me."

"why? is something wrong?"

lucas shook his head, "no. nothing's wrong. they're designing the lanterns for–"

"shhhh." renjun shot him a warning look and lucas immediately slapped his hand on his lips.

"r-right, nearly slipped," he chuckled awkwardly, "i'm gonna go now." he gently opened the door, a bit struggling as he couldn't really stand keeping quiet.

once he was gone, renjun run his fingers through his hair, finally finishing the painting he had been doing. jungwoo peered over to take a look, "woah, that looks so pretty!"

this time, renjun decided to paint a silhouette of a girl, a crown on top of her head as she faced hundred os floating lanterns that were colored in shades of pink, purple and golden yellow.

"of course," renjun said with a smug smile, "it's injae."

jungwoo hummed, "are you gonna give it to her?"

the younger boy nodded, eyes trailing onto the sleeping girl beside his sleeping brother. "i know she said that she didn't really want any gifts, but i want her to accept this at least."

"we're gonna have a picture taking tomorrow with jaeyoung, by the way."

renjun grinned, "i know. it's been so long since we took a picture with us eighteen smiling."

jungwoo smiled, "then we should make it the best, shouldn't we?"

"her actual birthday is on thursday, december twenty but she insists to celebrate it on the twenty first, which is perfect for our plan."

renjun nodded, "really perfect."

• • •

"wah, so pretty!" doyoung exclaimed as they watched the landscape photo being hung up on the empty walls of the palace.

donghyuck had his lips open as he gaped at the photo, it looked so different compared to the past pictures they took.

this one was very different. not because jaeyoung was in it, but because they looked happy. no longer did they feel alone and isolated, everything felt so bright and colorful. their once dull eyes now replaced with gleaming ones.

proudly, they smiled at the camera. in the middle, sat a girl who smiled along with them. her heart was beating fast as she gazed upon the picture.

jeno poked her cheek, "pretty."

stifling a laugh, she shook her head, "no~"

"yes!" jisung agreed, and stared at the picture.

tomorrow was jaeyoung's birthday and they had decided to take a picture as memory to keep. tomorrow was also a big day since it meant that everyone would be down at the town central to celebrate the special day.

there would be events, games, songs, and even different types of stage acts that would be presented.

"are you excited for tomorrow, jaeyoung?" taeyong questioned her as he laced an arm around her shoulder, leading her to the courtyard.

"quite nervous actually." she honestly stated, looking down at the carpet flooring.

taeyong's fingers ran through her hair as he combed it gently, "don't worry, i'll be there with you."

she chuckled, "i know."

"what are we doing out here?" she questioned and flinched as it started to snow. eyes shining brightly as she looked up, tiny snowflakes fell onto her pretty face as the prince watched her, a smile lingering on his lips.

"jaeyoung?"

"yes taeyong?"

"you really sparked my attention didn't you?" he chuckled and approached her, looking down as they stared into each other's eyes.

jaeyoung tilted her head and reached up to touch the specks of snow on the prince's cheeks, "did i?"

"you did." he said, "and did a very good job at it." mumbling, he crouched down, a handful of snow in his palm. he grinned and threw the handful towards the girl, shocking her.

"yah!"

he ran as the girl grabbed some snow, dashing to catch taeyong.

the other princes soon arrived and jisung pouted, "yah! don't leave us out!"

"h-hey, stop chasing me!" jaeyoung whined and tried to run away from jaemin, unfortunately failing as she wasn't fast enough to outrun the incredibly fit prince. catching her in his arms, the two screamed as they fell onto thick snow.

jaemin hugged her tighter, wanting to keep her warm from the snow as he helped her up. "whoops, sorry," he laughed with her.

he was glad that he met her, especially that time when he decided to go all rebel and escape the palace for a bit. he didn't regret it at all, after all, he met jaeyoung.

"nana," she called softly and he hummed, craning his attention towards her. "the name of the boy i first met." she continued with a smile, "the rebel who went out the palace without anyone knowing."

jaemin crinkled his nose and shook his head, "you're making me sound bad– when in general you're the bad one here."

jaeyoung raised a brow, "how come?"

"well, not technically bad, more of a blessing so basically good– you get what i mean."

"and why am i a blessing?"

"you healed eighteen broken hearts."

—

cue healing by seventeen