Spawn ✦ Nomin

27

Jaemin's eyes open ever so slowly. They feel heavy like lead, and he finds it intensely difficult to open them.

"Jaemin!" someone inhales sharply.

As his vision comes into focus and he comes to, Jaemin finds a boy standing over him in the middle of a dimly lit room painted completely white. He hears a machine beeping a bit too loud in his ear, a weird contraption that looks like a clip is attached to his left index finger, and an IV is inserted into his arm.

"Renjun?" Jaemin asks in a hoarse voice. He winces at the extreme tenderness of his neck.

"Don't speak," Renjun hastily commands him, "The doctors said you shouldn't try to talk for a little while while your throat heals."

Heals?

Jaemin mouths 'what happened' to Renjun, hoping he could read his lips.

"You were with Jeno in a bookstore when a man attacked you. He had choked you until you went unconscious. Jeno used your phone to call me and help take you to the hospital," Renjun explains.

Jaemin furrows his eyebrows as he tries to recall the events prior to him blacking out. He swore Sehun never laid a hand on him. But that's absurd. It's impossible for him to have suffocated without something blocking his airways. Maybe his memory was wrong. Maybe he was far too stressed to remember properly. Surely that was it.

"Jaemin," Renjun says in a low voice as he leans in closer, "Please stop hanging around Jeno."

Jaemin's expression scrunches up in bitterness, and he shakes his head. He wouldn't do it. He didn't want to. He mouths to Renjun that it wasn't his fault he got attacked.

"You were never just randomly jumped in the middle of a bookstore until you met Jeno. If there aren't people targeting you because you're friends with him, he clearly carries around a lot of bad luck," Renjun insists, "Jaemin, it's bad enough your aunt..." His voice trails off, unable to speak the words from his mouth. He lets out a deep exhale before continuing. "You already deal with enough at home. I'm serious. I don't wanna come home one day to hear you were murdered and that your body was found in a lake somewhere."

'Where's Jeno?' he mouths, ignoring Renjun.

"You really don't care, do you?" the older boy questions in disbelief. A faint scoff leaves his mouth. Jaemin stares at Renjun without any sort of response. He was right. He didn't care. He particularly liked being with Jeno, and one bad occurrence isn't enough to accuse him of being a danger. He wasn't even the one who attacked him. It was Sehun.

"I've got packing to do," Renjun mutters, "Hopefully you'll still be alive when I get back."

At that, Renjun turns his back on Jaemin and walks away. He doesn't even do much as say goodbye before exiting the room and shutting the door behind him. The cold manner in which Renjun was acting causes Jaemin's stomach to sink. He wants to apologize, but he doesn't have much to apologize for, even if he could. He would still be with Jeno, and he would ignore Renjun's warnings despite his persistence. He felt connected with Jeno, somehow, and he couldn't help but feel he wanted to know more about him.

Despite their opposing opinions on Jeno, he couldn't handle losing his best friend. He just hopes Renjun's bitter feelings would be gone when he gets back from China.