kdrama | l.jn

t h i r t y f i v e

"Thank you for coming.", Jaemin said, as soon as he opened the door for Mark and Aerin. They both entered the home, removing their shoes.

"Not like I had the choice...but it sounded urgent so...", Aerin said, walking into the living room where the rest of the boys were, "Now, is any of you going to tell me why you got my brother to kidnap me in the middle of the night and bring me here?"

"I think it's better if we show you.", Renjun said, positioning himself behind her and pushing her towards the stairs, like Mark did, with the group following behind.

Renjun opened the door of Jeno's room and Aerin's eyes widened at the view of a completely different room than the one she used to know. The furniture was the same but the disposition was completely new. Aerin's eyes landed on Jeno who was making his bed, putting the pillows at the top and adjusting them. He didn't seemed to be in his normal state as if he was just wobbling around in a dreamy-like state.

"Is he drunk?", Aerin asked, furrowing her eyebrows.

"What? No!! We're still underage Aerin!", Jaemin whispered/yelled at her.

"He hasn't been sleeping the past few days and all he does is drink an unhealthy amount of chocolate milk, taking a shower every two hours and tidying his room again and again and again.", Renjun enumerated, shaking his head softly at Jeno who didn't even notice their presence yet.

"He changed the disposition of his room four times already.", Chenle added, crossing his arms.

"Yeah, he gets 150% more hygienic when he gets...", Donghyuck started, stopping to find the right word.

"...sappy?", Aerin finished for him.

"Yeah, it's been a long time since we've seen him like this.", Jaemin said.

"Last time was the first time he broke up with Somin.", Jisung added the little TMI, making the other guys give him a look.

"Please, talk to him.", Renjun said as everyone got out of the room, leaving the two alone.

Aerin turned to Jeno, slowly making her way to him. She looked at him dusting one of his pillows again and again and again until she finally called his name, "Jeno?"

"Aerin?", his voice was soft, almost a whisper, "Am I hallucinating?"

"Come on, let's put you to bed hum?", she said with the gentlest smile that she could give, the kind of smile she would deny ever giving to someone. Aerin grabbed the pillow in his hands putting it on his bed, one hand still holding onto his. His hands felt a lot rougher than usual, not that she held his hands on daily basis. She could feel the light scratches his fingernails made into his palm because he probably clenched his fist too hard. A habit she noticed he had every time he was nervous, frustrated or angry.

Jeno lied in his bed, Aerin putting the covers over his body, "I'm really sorry, Rin-ah.", the look in his eyes when he looked up at her made her heart hurt. He was so sincere and desperate.

"It's okay.", she send him another gentle smile, stroking his hair softly.

Jeno grabbed her hand, bringing it delicately to his lips before kissing it lightly, "Please be real.", he begged with his eyes closed, still holding onto Aerin's hand.

The girl stood there for a solide minute, thinking about the thing she was about to do.

"Scoot over.", she said and Jeno executed, letting enough space for her to lie down.

Jeno immediately put his arms around her waist, pulling her closer in a hug, "I missed you."

It was a simple- well maybe not simple since they were both in his bed but still it was just a hug. Right? It wasn't a big deal. Right?

Then why was her heart beating so uncontrollably?

"I'm sorry for what I did."

"I told you, it's okay. I'm sorry I made you feel like shit for protecting your parents. I get it. I was a little upset but I understand.", Jeno didn't say anything back, just brought her even closer to him, pecking her hair.

After a few minutes in that position and Aerin passing her hand through his hair, Jeno finally opened his mouth to say, "Do you know why I always went back to Somin?"

"Because you were dumb and in love?"

"Yaaah!", he whined sleepily, "Dumb maybe, in love...that's some big words. Are you still awake?"

Aerin hummed, snuggling into the crook of his neck, "I'm listening."

"You know, my parents are each other's first love. Growing up my mom used to tell me how they met and fell deeply in love with each other. I always expected to fall for someone for the first time and the last. That's why probably why I kept coming back to Somin, she was my first and my stupid self expected her to be my last. I thought it was easy, you know, being like my parents. First love, highschool sweethearts, getting married and taking over the company. But i realized that it was not as easy as I expected it to be. I started dating Somin, mid-freshman year, she was really sweet and shy at first, I totally fell for her but then slowly she would show a new side of herself. We went from the honeymoon phase to fighting almost all the time about stupid things and I was always the one coming back to her. There are so many people who married and had a happy life with their highschool sweetheart you know, I thought 'why not me?' but we all know how that turned out."

Aerin moved back a bit to look at him, "It's okay to not end up with your first love or highschool sweetheart. I think that cliché is so overrated. For example, my parents. They knew each other back in highschool but they weren't that close, just acquaintances. Then they never seen each other again after their highschool graduation, all the way to their third year in college. My mom got a part time job at this new coffee shop near the university's campus and my dad went there with one of his friends to try it out one day. He almost didn't recognize if it wasn't for her name tag and now here they are. Happily married with, may I say, two incredible children. What I'm saying is that you don't have to end up with your first love to be happy. It's okay if you don't follow in your parents' footsteps. Plus I don't think you can call 'ending up with Somin' a happy ending.", her last words earned a little chuckle from Jeno, whose eyes transformed into crescent.

"Thank you for making me feel better. I'm glad you're the one I like now.", Jeno said, bringing Aerin closer to him again and resting his cheek on the top of her head while her eyes widened at his words.

a/n: this one is a little longer bc i'm a sucker for late night talks + i love aerin's parents 🤧 and i officially finished writing kdrama, we still have a long way to go yall