... ᴀɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇʏ ᴡᴇʀᴇ ʀᴏᴏᴍᴍᴀᴛᴇꜱ | ɴᴀ ᴊᴀᴇᴍɪɴ

| t h i r t e e n |

jaemin grunted as your body collided with his, his eyes turning to glare at you, "watch where you're going, will you-" his before glaring eyes filled with confusion as you tried to push past him, your head lowered to the ground. without realizing the strength he used, he grabbed your arm, "wait, y/n, are you crying?"

he almost sounded concerned for a second there, but you couldn't get your hopes up. 'are you crying?', what a dumb question when there were literally tears rolling down your flushed cheeks. as if you'd care, you wanted to say, but only two words managed to actually escape your lips, "fuck off."

a small hiccup left you, and never before had you felt so small and vulnerable in front of jaemin. with your eyes on the ground, you failed to see the way his eyes furrowed, the way his eyes seemed to soften. you didn't see a hand slowly move up to your head with the intention of stroking it either because as soon as the hiccup had left you, you were twisting out of his grip. jaemin could only watch as you disappeared into your room, and he rather awkwardly lowered his hand. he didn't have time to feel embarrassed for himself right now, there were other things much more important.

of course, confronting and hopefully comforting you was a priority, but if what he feared was true, he needed a word with his study partner. he really hoped that she hadn't said anything bad to you - that was what he at the moment feared. he found himself in front of the table within seconds, and he asked jieun, tone a bit harsher than he had anticipated, "why was she crying?"

"jaemin! you're back! i thought about the next part, and i think it would be a good idea if we now researched-" jaemin felt his heart hammer against his chest. his body felt hot. he cut her off with another question, his hand reaching over to slap the laptop shut, not even caring if they lost all their work, "are you fucking deaf?"

it was like pushing a button, her nice smile dropped immediately, a frown replacing her features as she leaned back, her arms crossing. jieun uncrossed her arms again mere seconds later to run a hand through her hair, replying to his question, her tone a lot different from before, "that girl needed a reality check, i did you a favor."

jaemin blinked, the hotness starting to spread through his body. what had happened to the sweet and nice girl he had been partners with. there was a buzzing sound in his ears, very faint, but definitely there. was he really getting this upset? he shook his head, "what are you even on about?"

"i just told her the obvious." she shrugged.

"and what exactly is the obvious?" jaemin asked almost immediately after, and he could only stare at her as she sighed and stood up. she moved her hand to his hair, twirling a piece of it before he swatted her hand away like it was a fly that was disturbing him while he read book or something. from the way a deep frown appeared on her face, she wasn't very happy he had rejected her affection like that, but jaemin didn't care - he just wanted answers.

"just told her that she was annoying and unlikable and that jeno left her because of that." jaemin almost asked her to repeat herself, not quite believing what he was hearing. remembering your tears, he managed to convince himself that he had heard and understood her correctly the first time, and he took a deep breath.

"what else did you say?" the girl in front  of him scoffed, her eyes rolling to the back of her head. she was getting tired of the questions, jaemin guessed, but she answered it anyways, "gosh, i told her that you'd leave her soon as well. maybe get an easy fuck out of her and that's why you've been putting up with her. before you try denying it, you know it's true, jaemin!"

jaemin blinked. 'what the fuck?' was written all over his face, he was sure, but he couldn't really control his own facial expressions in that moment. then it felt like someone had thrown a bucket of ice cold water at him as he realized that what you had been telling him from the very beginnign had been true. god, if he had chosen to believe you instead of jieun, all this ignoring and all this bickering and fighting would've never taken place at all. jieun looked at him, her shoulders moving up in a small shrug, not at all caring about the fact that she had just admitted to saying all those horrible things. she believed her own words 100%, and that just made her even more pathetic in his eyes, if he was allowed to be brutally honest.

finally he shook his head.

"i know it's true? are you even listening to yourself right now? all this 'i did it for you, jaemin' bullshit is fucking stupid. who in their right mind would tell someone they barely knew all that? for what fucking reason? because she was mean to you at first?" he wasn't sure about what he was saying, it all just came out at once. he wasn't even sure if his words and sentences were understandable or if it was pure word vomit coming out of him. it was not his intention to shout at her, but he wouldn't be surprised if you had heard it all the way from your room.

jaemin didn't view himself as stupid, but in that moment, words could not describe how incredibly dumb he felt.

jieun said nothing, and jaemin was positive he could see her lips wobble a bit. he then let out a laugh, a laugh so humorless it almost hurt. he rubbed his face, asking a question that sounded a bit muffled as he spoke against his hands, voice not as loud as before, "was she even mean to you? or was it the other way around?"

no answer.

he removed his hands. guilty, that was what jieun was. her eyes were on the ground, looking anywhere but him, and she was picking at her own nails. she flinched slightly as jaemin spoke up again, "talk."

"jaemin, i think you should calm down-" the girl finally answered, her voice small, and jaemin saw red. he spoke up before he could stop himself, "calm down? you've been treating her like fucking shit, and i chose to believe you over her, biggest mistake of my goddamn life. no, biggest mistake of my life was agreeing to work with you on this stupid project that i've done the most of anyway."

it must've looked quite funny as he pointed at her, his voice roaring through the apartment. yeah, you 100% heard it this time. there was no way you hadn't, and jaemin was sure even your neighbors had heard his outburst.

he was utterly exhausted. he wanted to drop to the ground, drop out of school, disappear from earth even. with a sigh, he managed to keep his voice low as he said the next words, "get out of our apartment, i'll work on this project alone, you can fail for all i care."

"i thought you hated her." her voice was shaking, and jaemin almost laughed at her again, but he held himself back seeing as it would have been an ultimate dick move to do so as she had started crying. jaemin didn't really care about her tears though. a small groan left the male, "hate her? god, you've gotten it all wrong. now listen to me, i never want to see your face again, you make me feel sick."

jaemin was too tired to care about whether he'd gone overboard or not. another sigh left him as the door to the apartment slammed shut, and even though he felt quite the relief she was gone, his body was still tense. he could hear his own heartbeat in his ears, and he rubbed his face harshly before turning to look in the direction of your room. fuck, he had quite a lot of making up to do.