we the cursed, nct dream ✔

part fifty

⇉ the one where they're running out of time.

part fifty

"Hi!" Jiya chirps, swinging the door open.

"Hello." Juno beams brightly, gesturing to the boy behind her. "I hope you don't mind my bringing him along. Don't worry, I've made him promise not to say much."

Jiya laughs as Haechan rolls his eyes. "No, it's fine. Come on in."

She motions at the small couch inside, indicating for them to sit as she takes the bed. Juno takes a seat beside Haechan as she retrieves the camera from her satchel. "How have you been?"

Jiya shrugs lazily. "I'm doing well enough." Then she turns her shrewd gaze on Juno. "What about you? You were in a coma, last I heard. Everyone was talking about it."

They're sitting close enough that Haechan feels Juno stiffen. He taps her thigh and she promptly loosens up, eyes flickering over to him for a brief second before returning to Jiya. "Oh, you know. Shit happens," she says, as vague an answer as any. Then she swiftly changes the subject. "You don't mind if I ask you some questions about Dano?"

Jiya nods. "I'll answer what I can."

"Okay." Juno sets the camera on the table. "And is it okay if I record? Just your words."

Jiya nods again.

"Okay, let's begin." Juno presses the button on the camera to start recording and pulls out a little notebook from the inside of her jacket. "First question."

"You really wrote down what you want to ask?" Haechan leans over to read what's on the lined pages. "Loser."

"What did I tell you about keeping your mouth shut?" Juno cocks a brow.

"To not do it."

She just shakes her head, not ready to entertain his mischief. "So, Jiya. How long had you been friends with Dano for?"

The girl thinks for a minute. "Since our first year here. I didn't know him before that."

"And personality-wise, has he always been the same?"

"Well, he was definitely less..." Jiya trails off, struggling to find the word. "Vindictive? Mean? I don't know. He didn't start screwing around with girls until about second year, and I didn't realize what was going on until the end of that year."

"What did you do when you found out?"

"Of course I confronted him. Multiple times. But he'd always tell me not to worry, that it wasn't a big deal, just some fun. I believed him."

Juno eyes her. "Did that change?"

"One of my close girl friends came crying to my room in the middle of one night and told me what was happening. I honestly hadn't known he was..."

"A rapist?" Haechan interjects. Jiya winces, and Juno shoots him a warning look. He shrugs. "It's the truth."

"But why did you stay?" Juno goes on to ask.

"I'm going to sound so stupid, but I held on to hope that he would change. I thought maybe... I could change him. He treated me well. Never one day did he so much as raise his voice at me, and he always listened to me." Jiya's face darkens. "Well, until he started getting stronger."

"Did Dano have feelings for you?"

"He asked me out, once. I said no, I didn't think of him that way. I couldn't when he'd become such a bully." Jiya wipes at her red eyes.