make a wish ⌗ nct

twenty one °

it was a bright day in seoul, but since it was still winter, snow was still present, making its appearance all around the city.

the four gathered at a bus stop, waiting for a bus to get to the animal shelter. while jeno and hyejin were chattering noisily, cracking inside jokes here and there, jaemin and doyoung were, well, standing apart from each other rather awkwardly. the two barely knew each other, and the only times they've talked together was when jaemin signed up for the event and on zoom.

much to the two's relief, a bus soon came and all four of them got on. before jeno could take a seat next to hyejin, jaemin had sat down in a split second, smiling smugly at jeno.

jeno's eyebrows furrowed in confusion for a quick second, but he was soon grinning from ear to ear after realising what jaemin was up to. the two boys fist bumped each other secretly, unaware that doyoung was eyeing them suspiciously.

"doyoung?"

"yes?" the boy replied, ears perking up to hear whatever the girl had to say next.

"how long is this bus ride?"

"about an hour."

hyejin's lips parted, as if she were to say something, but nothing came out. it was clear that she was disappointed and not hoping that to be doyoung's answer.

"carsick," jeno whispered into jaemin's ear. "she has carsick." jaemin peered over his shoulders, glancing at the girl who had closed her eyes, hoping to reduce the discomfort she would experience from being carsick.

jaemin gently moved hyejin's head onto his shoulder, allowing her to rest. surprised and baffled, hyejin opened her eyes and turned to face the boy, just to meet jaemin's brown orbs staring right into hers.

"get some rest if you can," jaemin cooed, looking away from hyejin. the girl hummed in response, shifting in her seat.

"thanks jaemin," hyejin murmured, mentally praying that her carsickness would not hit her today. she was not prepared to embarrass herself in front of everyone by vomiting or looking extremely tired.

doyoung could've sworn that he saw jaemin's cheeks turn into a light shade of pink when he saw the two look into each other's eyes. as much as he wanted to smile at how cute young love was, he couldn't help but to feel an unexplainable, jittery feeling deep down in his heart.

"and we're here!" jeno exclaimed as the four stood in front of the animal shelter, able to hear dogs barking and cats meowing from afar.

an old, winter-white haired man in a thick down jacket approached them, limping as he waved enthusiastically at the group.

"hello everyone! i'm joo sungho, you guys can call me mr joo!"

"hi mr joo!" jeno responded excitedly, standing on his tippy toes. hyejin couldn't help but to chuckle at her friend's reaction, she knew that even if jaemin didn't offer jeno to play with his new video game, jeno would've still came to volunteer either way.

smiling at jeno, the man continued. "i can't believe you guys made it! i'm getting old and it's hard for me to take care of all the animals, so i try to look for volunteers to help me out. disappointed to say, many people decided to cancel their voluntary activities last minute due to the cold weather, and it's been giving me a headache," the man sighed, yet still having a bright smile on his face.

"your main task today is to clean up the cages, follow me everyone and i'll show you guys how things work around here!"

OKAY so first of all apologies for not updating last week, something so sudden came up and i got super busy for the past week 😭 when i get time to do so, i'll definitely write a long chapter or do a double update to make it up!!! and i'm really sorry if i haven't been able to reply to comments or read your books, i'll try to find time asap to do so!

and i know you're probably wondering why is the chapter already ending, but here's the fun part!

so just to clarify, the members in the maw lineup are the potential love interests of hyejin (except shotaro because he's her brother!!!) so anyone like jeno or other members that might get featured later in the book are not hyejin's love interest.

WOULD YOU RATHER HYEJIN SPEND HER DAY VOLUNTEERING AT THE SHELTER WITH (ONE VOTE PER ACCOUNT):

A. NA JAEMIN

B. KIM DOYOUNG

the next chapter will be based on your votes for whoever hyejin is spending her day with, so make sure to vote because your vote matters 😳

see you guys in the next update!