𝙳𝙴𝙲𝙴𝙸𝚅𝙴𝙳 |ᶰʲᵐ

Chapter 14

"what?" the boy looked at her in shock. He watched as she came closer him, making his breath hitch. This felt like the first encounter they've had with eachother, when she knew his identity the moment she saw him.

"no?" she teased as she smirked at him. Jaemin didn't dare to move, one inch and it would ended up with a kiss. She blinked as she waited for a while, she didn't get any response so she backed away. Jaemin relaxed himself only to get hit at his arm by Shinrae making him winced in pain.

"then stop acting so weird, we've lived with eachother for a month now okay," she said as she continues to munch down her bag of chips, rolling her eyes at him. Jaemin sat back up properly staring at her.

"then stop teasing me, its not nice," Jaemin huffed as he crossed his arms.

"then stop being so awkward, we're friends!" she snapped back.

"we are?" Jaemin says with a smile as his eyes lit up. Shinrae eyed him and responded with a "duh" at him making him hug her tightly, thanking her in the hug. Shinrae didn't expect such action as her eyes widen, she looked down at him as she smiled back. They let go of the hug and proceeded to watch TV.

Meanwhile, the dreamies were now back to their dressing room after the show ended to pack up their belongings. Chenle and Jisung immediately slumped over towards the couch, tired after such a charismatic performance they just did a few moments ago. They had a small smile formed on their faces, proud of their second stage debut. They thought they did well, as the crowd gave them such a wild and energetic response.

Not long after that, they all finally started to pack up and headed straight towards the van back to the company. Mark was seated right at the back on his phone, checking their schedule as there would be another live stage show they had to attend this Sunday. He gave out a huge sigh of relief and laid back against his seat, loving the one day off for him and the members.

The members were all silent in the van, all doing their own things; the older members shutting their eyes as they took a quick nap while the younger members were all stuck just focusing on their phone screen, playing games and some sort. The van soon slowed down and stopped at their destination. They all went out of the van and headed inside. Mark was right behind the crowd as they all went down the hallway.

"no news sir, no records of any recent deaths. He left no traces whatsoever,"

Mark stopped his tracks as he quickly made his way and leaned against the wall right after passing by the office. The members noticed his friend's odd behavior as they made looks towards him. Mark motioned his hands, telling them to quiet down as he shushed. They look at each other and nod as they continued walking down the hallway to their locker rooms. Mark took a few breaths before turning back to eavesdrop the conversation that Sooman was currently having with another individual.

"maybe he went further out of town,"

"then I'll go get more people to look for him sir, don't you worry,"

Footsteps were heard making Mark retreat and quickly went to the lockers room to see the others. He entered the room and panted. The members turned to look at him in surprised as they all stopped doing what they were doing before.

"hey you okay?" says Haechan as he walked up to his friend. Mark got back up to his feet as he patted his friend's arm who was trying to help him up earlier.

"so what happened? what did you hear?

"jaemin seems to be somewhere out of Seoul" he states making the others look at each other in surprise.

"what?"

"yeah, they're really sending out more people to search for him,"

-

The weekend finally came to an end and it was a new week. There wasn't anything out of the ordinary for everyone in the house; Jin with his job, Soo at home and the kids in school. Speaking of school, Shinrae has been caught up with a lot of school work lately and mid term season was coming up pretty soon. Jaemin barely even sees the girl around except during lunchtime and dinner. She was busy, and Jaemin didn't want to intrude so he lets her be.

Jaemin was currently ruffling his now wet hair, grabbing a towel to dry it up after his shower just a few minutes ago. He stood right in front of the bathroom mirror and stared at himself. Well more likely, his black hair. He smiled, he actually liked the dark color on him. He stepped foot into his bedroom and hung his towel by its rack. Grabbing his dirty clothes, he went out of his room and turned to check if the laundry basket by the end of the hallway was there. And there it was. He made his way to it, putting his clothes in there and brought it with him to do the laundry.

Walking down the hallway, he made his way to Jae's room. He knocked on the door and there wasn't any response. Curious, he opened the door to see the little boy on his bed, all fasten asleep in his school uniform. He smirked as he made his way towards his closet to grab some clean clothes then walked back up to him, sitting down on his bed as he smiled, looking at how peacefully asleep he is right now. Jaemin tried shaking him a bit, to wake him up but he wouldn't budge. He pursed his lips as he gently lifts him up to take off his clothes then puts on his pajamas before tucking him back to sleep.

Jaemin now has what he needs and slowly made his way out of his room. He closed the door shut behind him and began to walk away. Just as he was about to approach the stairs, he noticed Shinrae's door was slightly open. He didn't thought too much about it till he heard a few laughs from inside her room. He stopped his tracks and turned to look back at her bedroom door.

"bruh no we're not doing that!" she laughs.

"- really? my house? well okay then,"

"-yeah Saturday, see you then!"

Jaemin was m leaning his head right next towards the wall near her door as he listens. He made a weird look, trying to make out what she meant by this house on a Saturday. Footsteps from inside heading towards the door made him retreat immediately as he casually walked down the hallway to approach the stairs.

"Jaemin!"

He stopped and slowly turned around to see Shinrae standing by her door. She told him to wait up as she made her way up to him.

"what's up?" he said.

"i'm inviting a friend over this Saturday for a biology project," she spoke.

Now he finally understood what she meant by the call earlier. He let out a soft sigh as he smiled, he knew what he needed to do. The walked down the stairs and headed towards the laundry room. Shinrae insisted on helping him out with it as grabbed the laundry detergent from the cabinet. The two watched and waited till the clothes were ready to be dried. Jaemin stood there and turned to look at Shinrae who was on her phone.

"so what time is your friend coming?" he asked.

"he said sometime in the morning though,"

"-maybe like a 9 or 10 perhaps," she said to him as she looked up from his phone. Jaemin furrowed his eyebrows as he tried to recall what she said to him.

"he?" he blurted out.

"what?" she looked at him to then realize what he said and slowly nodded.

"oh," she looked at him confused, he looked at her with nervous smile. Shinrae didn't think much about it and turned to look back to the washing time. It went off seconds after and they proceeded to take them out. Jaemin can't help but to look at her as she puts the clothes away. He thought to himself, he didn't know why it bothered him.

why her mentioning the word 'he' bothered him that much.