never not ✧ mark lee

39

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"Hey Jaehyun."

Dasom was walking behind the rest of the group as they headed to the car to drive to the location of the party. Jaehyun looked back at her at the mention of his name and slowed down until she caught up with him.

"What's up?" he asked, noticing that Dasom had seemed to be acting a little nervous as soon as they had left Nevaeh's apartment. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Dasom nodded, but her eyes were glued to the ground as they walked. "I was just wondering... who exactly is gonna be at this party?"

Jaehyun thought for a moment before answering. "Honestly? I don't even know, we were just able to invite anyone we wanted," he explained. "I invited the least people I think, just some idol friends, the 97 boys, and a few others."

"Right," Dasom said, biting her lip. "But there's gonna be a lot of idols there, no?"

That's when Jaehyun realized what was causing Dasom's nerves. He remembered how she had been staring at herself in his mirror before, eyes narrowed like she was analysing herself.

Even if she didn't know many idols, it was probably affecting her self esteem as she must have been thinking she would be the only non-idol there. She had her insecurities, but she didn't know that she really had nothing to worry about, at least not in his eyes.

Unsure of what to do since he couldn't just lie to her and say there wouldn't be lots of idols around, he just went with his gut and slipped his hand through Dasom's, giving it a squeeze. She flinched at his initial touch but calmed down immediately after.

"Yeah, there's gonna be many idols," he shrugged, looking straight ahead as they walked so Dasom wouldn't be any more uncomfortable. "But there's also gonna be many who aren't, and even if there weren't, you gotta remember that idols are normal people. We're all just here for a good time at the end of the day, and I'll make sure you have a good time too."

Dasom looked up at Jaehyun, wanting to reply but no words were coming out of her mouth. He was genuinely such a caring guy despite looking like the opposite quite often. He even opened the car door for her and got in after she did, still not letting go of her hand throughout. Dasom didn't mind, it was comforting to her. She let their hands rest on her thigh as Doyoung started the car and began driving.

Taeyong had been observing her since Dasom had first come to his dorm to help Doyoung out. He had nothing against Dasom alone, but the more he saw of her interactions with Mark and now Jaehyun too, the more his unease grew.

Through his periphery while staring in front of him, he could see that Jaehyun was holding on to Dasom's hand tightly, something he'd never seen Jaehyun do with any other girl who he had been around.