Beautiful // Nomin

~45~

Jeno was drinking at the BBQ restaurant again.

He'd been in another heated argument with his father, and he'd actually been grounded. Jeno was incredulous; the last time he'd been grounded was in middle school, and now he was a high school senior. Grounding was still a thing?

He didn't believe in it, plus he was frustrated with his father, and so he broke the rules and sneaked out of the house when his parents had both gone into their rooms and he was sure they weren't coming back out.

Thus why he was sitting at a small restaurant, drinking beers alone at 12 midnight.

He was scrolling Instagram although his eyes were just glazing over the screen, taking nothing in. His thumb-scrolling was just a habit, and so familiar that if his phone hadn't rung, he might have just fallen asleep sitting there doing that.

Jeno's eyes shot open at the sudden noise and vibration and he looked at the caller.

My love.

His heart skipped a beat. When was the last time Jaemin had called him?

Jeno cleared his throat and picked up more than readily. "Wae?"

"Jeno-yah..." came Jaemin's voice through the speaker, seemingly distant.

"Jaemin?"

"J-Jeno-yah, I'm hurt," Jaemin's voice breathed unevenly.

"Where are you," Jeno said urgently, standing up. He felt suddenly dizzy, standing up so abruptly after drinking a bit.

"I don't know," came the weak reply. "I'm drunk and hurt. I can't see anything, it's so dark..."

"But wh—"

"I think I'm gonna faint."

"Send me your location," Jeno demanded. "Can you?"

Deathly silence filled the other end.

"Jaemin-ah," Jeno barked. "Talk to me."

"I'm tr-trying," the younger boy whimpered. "Baby, I can't, my fingers..."

Jaemin calling Jeno "baby" had always made Jeno feel like he was on clouds, but he couldn't feel anything warm right now. He was scared, so scared to lose his love to an unknown condition. "Jaemin, try," he pleaded.

The strong resolution to rescue Jaemin somewhat steadied Jeno's drunken steps. A minute passed before a ding lit on his phone, and Jeno saw that Jaemin had sent his location.

He was an hour away.

Jeno called one of his father's chauffeurs, Mr. Choi, and asked him to come pick him up. Mr. Choi was wary in that he knew Jeno was grounded and shouldn't be outside, but he came anyways, hearing the urgency in the boy's voice.

He drove the sedan quickly and picked up Jeno, seeing his unstable condition, obviously drunk. "Jeno, I'm taking you home," he stated.

"No," Jeno retorted. "Take me to here." And he pulled out his phone screen and showed Mr. Choi the location.

"Why," the older man combatted. "That's an hour away, in the middle of nowhere; it's past midnight, you're supposed to be at home, and you know you're grounded."

"Take me," Jeno said gruffly, unlike his usual self.

"Why are you out drinking? Wait until your father hears about this," Choi frowned.

"Don't tell him," Jeno's expression changed, pleading. "Just take me there, please. My best friend is really hurt. He just called me. Please, Ah-Choi..."