ɪᴄᴇ ᴄʀᴇᴀᴍ ᴀɴᴅ ᴡᴀғғʟᴇs | ᴍᴀʀᴋʜʏᴜᴄᴋ

six

Jaemin had been ignoring Donghyuck and Donghyuck knew. It was so obvious. Donghyuck didn't know what he had done wrong. Had he annoyed Jaemin by being too hung up over his grandma? Was Jaemin slowly losing interest in their friendship? Or maybe Jaemin was busy— yeah, it must've been that. Jaemin and Donghyuck treasured their friendship too much, it would be impossible for one of them to lose interest after spending so many years together.

On the other hand, as Donghyuck felt as if his friendship with Jaemin was worsening, his friendship with the others was strengthening. The other day, Renjun had hugged Donghyuck and told him he liked him the most out of their friends group. It wasn't much of a surprise, since Renjun never hid the way he felt towards people, yet it still surprised Donghyuck. He was happy he managed to get involved in a friends group that's seemed inseperable. He wished nothing would change (except for Jaemin's current attitude toward Donghyuck).

"Hey," Jeno waved his hand in front of Donghyuck and chuckled when he jerked his head back in surprise. "We're on a date, yet you're spacing out?"

"Ah, sorry," Donghyuck mumbled, a small smile etched on his face and he brought his milkshake to his lips. After the incident with the desserts, Donghyuck had decided to forgive Jeno properly. The whining and constant affection he gave melted Donghyuck's heart and he couldn't bring himself to be angry at Jeno for any longer. "I was just thinking about stuff."

"Like?" Jeno leaned down and took a sip of his coffee (coffee? Donghyuck thought Jeno hated coffee). "You know you can tell me stuff."

"It's about Jaemin," Donghyuck watched as the hand Jeno outstretched towards him froze for a split second (stop thinking about that Donghyuck, he told himself).

"What about Jaemin?" Jeno placed his hand over Donghyuck's and looked at him with confusion.

"He's avoiding me," Donghyuck sighed, throwing his head back to emphasize his stress. "I don't know what I've done. But I'm ready to say sorry for whatever it is."

Jeno pat his hand softly before pulling away with a frown. Donghyuck waited for him to say something but instead a long silence settled down between them. It wasn't awkward or comforting. It was just silence. They had nothing to talk about. That was another thing Donghyuck realised.

Ever since Donghyuck started hanging out with Mark, Renjun and the others he began to lose things to say to Jeno. It used to be so much fun before, when they were still new to each other and learning about each other. But it didn't make any sense. If it was about how long they had known about each other then Donghyuck should've gotten bored by Mark as well. It didn't make sense.

"Jaemin?" Jeno spoke out loud when the freshly dyed blonde walked into the cafe. Jaemin looked around in surprise and finally noticed Jeno. He smiled brightly as was going to shout a reply but then his eyes travelled to Donghyuck, who kept his back facing him.

"Hey," Jaemin said softly, shuffling closer to them and stood awkwardly beside them. He glanced down at Donghyuck but the older kept his eyes glued to the table, the milkshake in his hand getting stirred by his straw. "Hyuck."

"Nana," Donghyuck nodded before talking a big gulp of his milkshake. Jaemin looked over at Jeno for help, but the latter only shrugged and looked at Donghyuck with the same amount of worry Jaemin did.

"Hey, I'm sorry for not being able to hang out with you," Jaemin started, already getting an idea of why Donghyuck might be upset. "I'm just really busy recently."

"So busy that you can't even reply to my texts?" Donghyuck turned his head to the side and caught Jaemin's eyes. The younger flinched at his harsh tone and let out a sigh.

"Hyuck, please understand," Jaemin crouched down beside him and took his hand into his own. "I would've replied to what you had said but my teachers had been telling me about internships and the whole process of applying and—" He took a deep breath and Donghyuck immediately felt horrible for doubting him. How could've Donghyuck ever doubt Jaemin, his best friend? "I'm sorry."

The way Jaemin held his head low and his voice flattened near the end of the apology, Donghyuck felt bad. He had thought that Jaemin was sneaking behind his back and doing things he didn't even want to think about, but he actually wasn't. Donghyuck couldn't believe that he had assumed such disgusting things about his best friend.

"No, no," Donghyuck hurriedly said, guilt and regret clear in his voice. "I'm sorry. I should've understood that you were busy."

Jaemin stayed on the floor for a while longer before looking up with grateful eyes. They shared a smile and Jaemin reached over to hug Donghyuck.

"Guys, don't ignore me!" Jeno complained and Donghyuck wanted to laugh.

"Sorry, sorry," Jaemin chuckled and he pat Jeno's cheek. "I should get going now."

"Why? Can't you join me and Jeno?" Donghyuck pouted and Jaemin smiled at him fondly, pinching his lips before shaking his head. 

"Can't. I got an assignment to finish," Jaemin ran a hand through his hair and Donghyuck just realised it was a different colour. Jaemin caught his lingering eyes and wiggled his eyebrows. "Dyed my hair, does it look nice?"

Donghyuck nodded dumbly, still amazed by how well Jaemin was pulling off the colour and Jeno spoke up. "Yeah, you look nice Nana."

Donghyuck blinked in confusion when Jaemin and Jeno shared a sweet look between them but he brushed it off. He was in no position to question Jeno and Jaemin's relationship when his own one with Mark was such a mess.

"We need to meet up, okay?" Donghyuck grabbed Jaemin's hands before he could leave. "Just a few months ago we used to hang out with each other all the time. I wanna do that again!"

"Yes, yes, you little baby," Jaemin laughed and then pulled his hands away. "I'm going now, but we'll meet again soon."

"Yes!" Donghyuck cheered and waved goodbye to Jaemin. He turned to Jeno to tell him something when he realised his milkshake was gone. "What—where—" Donghyuck glanced outside the window to see Jaemin walking down the road with a milkshake in his hand. A chuckle escaped Donghyuck's lips and he shared what he found funny with Jeno. "Jaemin has a tendency to steal my stuff, but I'm alright with it."

For the rest of the date, Jeno remained silent