Apocalypse ✦ Nomin

19

⊱ ───── { Jaemin } ───── ⊰

"Jaemin...I love you," Jeno says with a trembling voice.

Jaemin's heart skips a beat at the sound of sincerity that saturates Jeno's words. He wants to tell him he loves him as well, but he feels himself hesitate. Jeno finally uttered the words he's been longing to hear be spoken from the lips of his love, but he can't help but feel he'd caused him far too much pain to instantly cave in and return the sentiment. Not as long as he proved his father's wants and needs were placed above his own.

"Jaemin, wake up," a voice comes to him, yet again, like a gust of wind that whispers in his ear.

He continues out of the door, and in that moment, Jaemin startles awake.

"Huh? What?" he speaks frantically as he tries to get a grip on his surroundings.

He's back in his room, still clinging onto his teddy bear.

"Are you okay? You were mumbling in your sleep," Mark asks as he stands over Jaemin with a concerned expression.

"Yeah...no...I just had a weird dream," Jaemin murmurs with a furrowed brow as he sits upright in bed.

"You seemed distressed. Should I be worried?" Mark responds, but Jaemin shakes his head.

"No, I just...it's fine. It was just a dream," Jaemin assures himself more than Mark. Truthfully, it felt real. It was as if it actually happened, but there was absolutely no logical explanation for it having actually happened. Certainly it was just a realistic dream and nothing more.

"Are you sure?" Mark inquires.

"Yeah," Jaemin confirms.

"Okay...well...I'm afraid to say this, but something demonic was detected in this room. Taeyong sent me to figure out what it is and to get rid of it, immediately," Mark informs him.

"What?" Jaemin questions in disbelief.

"May I please see the teddy bear?" the black haired man asks as he holds his hand out.

"What? No!" Jaemin exclaims.

"Please don't make this process any more difficult than it needs to be," Mark pleas, "I'm begging you."

Jaemin pouts his bottom lip and reluctantly hands Mark the bear. He hovers his hand over the plush toy and allows a radiant light to emit from his hand. When it fades, he shakes his head and extends it back towards Jaemin.

"It's clea-" the man drops off his statement, mid-sentence as something catches his eye, "What's that?"

He points to Jaemin's ring finger, and Jaemin snatches his bear away.

"It's nothing. I've had this ring since I got here," he denies.

"No, you didn't," Mark retorts, "I would know. I took it off for you before we left your aunt's house. It was the only piece of jewelry you were wearing, and I knew Jeno also...oh..."

Jaemin clutched his left hand in his right one, hoping Mark wouldn't take it from him.

"Jaemin, hand over the ring," Mark commands in a deathly serious tone.

"No!" Jaemin raises his voice.

"Listen to me, Jeno did something to that ring. I need to figure out what it is. If he put a curse on it, I-"

"He would never!" Jaemin barks viciously at him.

"You don't know that," Mark tries to keep his cool, "If you don't give it to me, someone else is going to take it with force and destroy it without learning what's wrong with it. Give it to me so I can try to figure out what he did."

"Mark, please...don't take it from me," Jaemin begs.

"I'm sorry," he replies as he holds out his hand, "I'd rather you be safe than sorry."

Jaemin's eyes glisten with tears. He hesitates a moment, then reluctantly wiggles the ring off of his finger. He places it gently into Mark's palm, and the man curls his fingers around it.

"I'll try and hurry with it, but I need you to be patient. Okay?" Mark requests, but Jaemin does not respond. He sits there, staring at Mark's hand as he already feels a part of his soul aching at the loss of the ring. Every time he felt just a little closer to Jeno, it was somehow ripped away from him.

"I'll be back later to escort you to meet with Chenle. Try and rest a little longer," Mark advises. When there's no answer, he sighs deeply and turns to leave.

Jaemin slowly sinks back down in his bed and stares up at the dimly lit ceiling. He frowns deeply as he begins to wish for one more chance to speak to Jeno. But that wasn't realistic. No, Jaemin would have to settle for speaking to Jeno in his dreams. At least there he still loved him.