NCT 127 Stories : One-Shot

The Heart Flutters: Jaehyun x Dahyun (Twice)

Jay looked over, craning his neck behind Johnny to look at the pretty smile. Her eyes were shining is she tried to hold back her laughter, lips pressed together, hands clasped before her, fingers interlacing. When it came to her, nothing escaped his notice. She colored her hair and it looked pretty. Well, she could do anything at this point and still look pretty to him.

Jaehyun realised that Johnny was looking at him, holding his own smile, then it hit him, he was blatantly looking at her, IN PUBLIC. He gulped down his nervousness and looked around, avoiding looking at the fans. Fears he didn't want to address came rushing. What if a rumor sparked, what if fans became aggressive, what if someone, anyone found out about his crush.

"Hey." Johnny nudged his shoulder bringing him back to reality, to the roaring crowds. The SM town concert was a great way to get introduced to the seniors. In a daze, with a smile fixed upon his face, he moved in line. Every part of him was too aware of Daeyun walking a couple paces ahead of him but he avoided looking at her with all his might.

As soon as he was safe distance behind the stage, he felt his shoulders sag without realising how tense he was. He felt a hand on his shoulders and found Johnny looking down at him with a mischievous and yet a reassuring smile.

Jaehyun felt like punching and hugging his friend at the same time. That day for the first time, he vowed to be cautious until he was so sure of himself that no humor could hurt his or her image. He had seen first hand what a mob of fan's cyber bullying can do to an idol even if there was nothing going on.

If only he knew how hard it was going to be to keep that promise, he wouldn't have made that promise to himself. For now, he looked at her beautiful red hair contendly. Blindly following behind until they turned into a room, marked with their group name. Johnny nudged him a little and he kept going. Trying not to look over was the hardest in the moment when he realised he was turning around.

Why he wanted to catch her eye in that moment he didn't know then but a few month and he realised his crush was bigger than he had known.

Sitting in his room, a day before ISAC, he was looking at some of the old pictures he had acquired of before debut. In a background, of one of his photos, a pre-debut Dahyun was in the background, blurred, hand raised looking at someone out of the frame. Alone in his room, he had the leisure of privacy and so he zoomed in. She was so simple back then, even in the blurred lines, he could see her smile widely and stare. He sighed wistfully.

There was something different in her, something others in his professional line rarely had. She was happy and positive but he girliness wasn't invoked in a typical ideal way. The sweetness came naturally to her, no battling eyelashes, no delicate hand moments or even a shy voice. She was loud and open and laughed heartily. Her smiles weren't practised.

The more he thought about her, a yearning began, something that often felt these days as he found his thought drifting to her. He still remembered the first time he had felt overwhelmed by her pretty smile; her debut stage 2 years ago. The more he saw her, the more he wished her smiles to be turned his way but he never had the courage to say anything. First, the uncertainties of debut and then the worries of 'making it'. These days, he did feel like they had made it but now his schedule was so busy, he barely had time to step out of the practice room or attend events. Tomorrow would be his first social presence in a really long time.

He was greatly looking forward to seeing her. His heart was racing and sleep evaded him.

The next morning, Jaehyun was the first to get out of bed, get prepped up and meet his flatmates in the front room. Partly because he was excited and partly because he had more preparation to do than the others. He didn't skip a single skin care routine that morning, something he never did.