sour (nomin)

17

Jaemin woke up in a cold sweat, and a groggy feeling over riding his body. He knew he wasn't sick it just meant he had a really great nap. 

He realized quickly that it wasn't the next day, as he could smell dinner being cooked and could hear the chatter and arguing of the rest of the boys.

He sat up and rubbed his eyes with his fists, trying to chase away the fatigue.

He didn't know whether he should go out to the main room or not, as the thought of Jeno being out there sent a shiver through his spine. 

He decided to muscle through it and give himself a pep talk while he walked to the bathroom and brushed his teeth, afraid of his rancid nap breath drawing attention to him. 

He breathed in deeply before slowly opening his door, aware of the fact that he probably looked like a zombie walking towards everyone. 

He knew everyone had ceased what they were doing, as every noise in the dorm had stopped abruptly upon his door opening. He rolled his eyes slightly at that but kept walking, as he knew there was no turning back.

His mind was filled with the fear that Jeno would start a fight about everything that went down, but quickly shook it off, realizing stressing about it would only make it worse.

He had finally made it out of the hallway and looked up to see everyone trying to go back to whatever they were doing without Jaemin noticing, but failing miserably. 

Jaemin archived where Jeno was sitting at the long table, making it obvious that he was trying to avoid eye contact with the other, and slowly made his way to the far couch closest to the front door.

Slumping down on to it, he turned his attention to the TV, not interested in any of the conversations or games that were occurring, and focusing more on fully waking up from his deep slumber.

He had zoned out, and was startled at the feeling of a hot plate being set in his lap. He looked up to find Renjun looking at him with a concerned look, Jaemin had quickly come to the conclusion that everyone knew about the situation already.

Jaemin sighed and looked down at his plate full of food, not wanting Renjun to tell him how right he was. 

"Jaemin, I love you," Renjun says quietly as he leans down, lightly kissing the crown of Jaemin's head. Jaemin gives him a confused look, wondering where the hell that came from.

"Um, love you too?" Jaemin says, as Renjun gives him a sad smile while walking towards the kitchen. 

Jaemin looked at his food with even more confusion, Renjun was never the one to give him affection, sure tough love, but never real affection.

The rest of the night went like that, everyone acting weird around him, as if they were walking on broken glass. He knew he had had a full break down less that half a day ago, but those weren't extremely out of the ordinary. They all had their moments, which they all silently agreed to forget about after the fact. 

He had wanted to ask Mark or Haechan about it after getting up to finally put his plate in the dishwasher, but was quickly whisked away by Jeno's tight grip on his wrist. 

He felt his heart jump to his throat as the scenarios of what could happen began to roll in, he had contemplated ripping his wrist away, but decided against it knowing this would've had to happen sooner or later.

He felt eyes burning in to the back of him, which caused him to send one last yearning glance at the rest of the boys.

They had finally made it to their room as Jeno calmly closed the door and sat down gently on his own bed.

Jaemin followed suit, sitting across from him with his hands fidgeting immediately upon being set in his lap.

"Jaemin look at me," Jeno says in a demanding but soft tone, making the butterflies in Jaemin's stomach flutter slightly.

Jaemin looked up through his eyelashes at the emotionless face a few feet from his own.

"Management set me up with a girl that I've known in our company for a quite a while, and one who I, coincidentally, have had a crush on for a long time. They told me to tell you that they want us to still act nice on camera, but we aren't required to do any more than that. In fact, they told me that we didn't have to be by each other in public unless instructed to do so, so we can finally go back to what we're comfortable with."

Jaemin had looked down mid-conversation with a small smile, feeling comfort in the fact that Jeno had seemingly flipped a switch and didn't care about him at all anymore. He could count on one hand the amount of times he felt cared for by Jeno, but he knew those were the most important memories that he had of the other.

"Yeah, yeah this is good. I couldn't imagine a happier ending, you get a girlfriend and I get my old roommate back! This is the best news I've heard in a while," Jaemin says, his smile not reaching his eyes and his voice not capturing the enthusiastic tone that his words should've sounded.

Jeno kept his emotionless look on as he nodded, slowly standing up and walking to the door with his head held low.

"I'll be moving my things out tomorrow, I'm sleeping on the couch tonight," Jeno says, not looking towards Jaemin as he opens the door.

Jaemin nods at Jeno's words, his smile slowly fading as Jeno moves farther and farther from his sight.

Once the door closes he flops back on to his bed, getting a strong sense of deja vu as silent tears roll down his face. He once again lets sleep over take him, feeling the same he has for the past few nights, wanting nothing more than his mother to be by his side. 

AN: Okay so I'm really unmotivated and I feel like this chapter could've been better, but I didn't update yesterday. Comment what you think!!