Care || n.jm

🧸two🧸

"Hey! Sit down!" Jaemin barked, irritated at how the kids were running around and making a mess.

"Don't tell me what to do!" Mark shouted back, throwing a slipper at Jaemin. The pink haired boy gasped and grabbed the slipper.

"Come here you little runt!"

The kids all froze in place, pure terror in their glossy eyes. They burst out crying as they hid behind Haneul's legs as she did the dishes.

"Hannie!" Mark sobbed into her shins.

"Apologize. You were being rowdy." Haneul simply said, finishing up the dishes. "And if you're nice enough I'll give you all candy, okay?"

"Lot's of candy?" Jisung asked, head tilting to the side.

"Yes. Now go apologize." Haneul said. The children looked at each other before lining up in front of Jaemin.

"We're sowy." They all bowed, Chenle falling over from the weight of his head. Chenle's eyes became glossy as the pain hit him.

"It's okay. Ouchies will go away." Jisung comforted, rubbing Chenle's forehead. "When Noona kisses It later it will go away."

"Why do they listen to you but not me." Jaemin sulked. It felt like every second with the child versions of his friends made him lose 1 year in his life.

"Because we like Noona. You're just a butthole!" Donghyuck teased.

"Ew butthole." Renjun giggled, pointing at Jaemin.

Jaemin took a deep breath, channeling all the patience from his ancestors to keep him from yeeting his friends out the window.

The doorbell rang and Haneul zoomed past Jaemin to get the door. As rude as it seemed she just wasn't comfortable with new people, children being the only exception. Her heart palpitated in the most painful ways and her mind never gave her good thoughts when she was in situations like this. It had been like that since that day.

"What's the emergency?" Taeyong asked the moment she opened the door. She let out a sigh of relief and let him in.

"This." She said, pointing to the 6 children standing in the kitchen.

"Hyung?"

"Who are these kids? Why is Jaemin here?" Taeyong walked up to the kids who jumped onto him. "Wait a minute why does this kid look like—"

"It's hyungie!" The kids cheered, smothering him with their tiny hands. After some time the 'kids' got bored of Taeyong and Jaemin took it as a chance to distract them with Pororo.

"So you're telling me you just woke up an Mark turned into a kid?" Taeyong questioned.

"Also the other kids. Don't forget them." Jaemin added.

"Yeah. After a while he couldn't remember anything past his age but he still knows the people." Haneul answered. She looked over at her brother who was happily watching. "What do we do?"

"Well, I'll try to tell the managers the dreamies have family emergencies and left right away. You need to watch over them while I try to find out what happened." Taeyong said.

"Why not take them to a doctor?" Jaemin suggested.

"And risk them being experimented on?" Haneul gasped.

"You watch too much dramas." Jaemin huffed. The girl glared at him before turning to Taeyong with a concerned face.

"Well, the doctors probably won't believe us. I'll ask Johnny for help so you two watch over the kids."

Haneul's eyes widened once her mind processed the words. "Wait. Two?"

"Jaemin has to be here. You can't handle six kids alone. Take it from me." Taeyong explained. "It would be weird if all of dream left and Jaemin was the only one left."

"But I don't want to!" Haneul groaned. "No offense."

"All offense taken." Jaemin muttered, leaning into his seat. "I don't want to stay with someone rude anyway."

The two looked at each other before snapping their head to the opposite direction with a "hmph" coming from them both.

Who are the real kids here?

"Noona." Jeno quietly called. He pointed over to Renjun who looked uncomfortable. "He needs to go potty."

Haneul smiled softly and got up, excusing herself from the conversation. The two disappeared into the hall and Taeyong gave Jaemin a stern look.

"Try to understand her, Jaem. Do it for Dream." Taeyong begged. "I'll do my best to be quick so just put up with it:"

"I don't understand how rude she can be." Jaemin said.

"I know that being rude is unacceptable, but maybe you just need time to understand her. Why she pushes people away." Taeyong said. "She can't control it."

"Control what?"

"It's not in my place to say." Taeyong got up and looked over at the kids. "I thought the same too when I first met her. You'll change your mind when she warms up."

"Is hyung leaving now?" Mark waddled up to Taeyong and hugged his leg. "No!"

Taeyong crouched down and placed his hand on Mark's small shoulder. "Hyung needs to work so that you guys can have fun. Can you be a good boy and help them out?"

"Okay! Come back soon, okay?" Mark said. Taeyong nodded and Mark cheered.

Jisung toddled towards them with shy steps. He raised his small index finger up to Taeyong. "Promise?"

"I promise." Taeyong said, poking the tip of Jisung's finger with his.

"You make promises with your pinky Jisung." Jaemin said, pointing to his pinky. Jisung looked at his pinky in awe as Jaemin showed him the correct way to make promises.

"Are you leaving now?" Haneul asked, walking back in with Renjun.

"Yeah, I need to start if we want to fix this problem quickly. I'll drop by from time to time." Taeyong answered. "Can I talk to the kids before I go? Privately?"

Haneul nodded and left, Jaemin following after. The two stood in silence at the laundry room. Haneul stood in the far corner away from Jaemin.

"Look, I don't get what your deal is but if you want to help your brother and my friends stop being an ass." Jaemin said, breaking the silence. He looked at her small figure that seemed to get smaller with every word he said.

What happened to her confidence earlier?

"Schedule. I'll make a schedule on how we can help each other." Haneul muttered. "Just one thing please."

"What?"

"No contact. We're not friends."

"Fine by me."

A/N

A hate relationship I see. I have so much planned for this story please don't let it flop 😔