Care || n.jm

🧸twelve🧸

"We're home!" Jaemin announced, walking through the front door. Haneul was beside him, taking her shoes off.

"Noona!" The kids shouted, running up to Haneul. They all went to hug her and kiss her cheek.

"Of course they choose Haneul over me." Jaemin faked a sob as he walked up to his older friends. He placed the ice cream cake on the table. "Haneul and I bought as a token of thanks."

The two adults both looked ready to pass out. Taeyong, the first to regain his soul, shook his head. "How do you take care of these kids? I feel like I danced for days!"

Jaemin stood steadily as he unpacked the cake. Donghyuck suddenly appeared on the boy's shoulders and started pulling at Jaemin's hair. "The evil monster needs to die!"

"They're like angels. Only to Haneul." Jaemin monotonously stated. He cut slices of the cake for the kids and handed them out with Taeyong's help. Haneul had taken a seat across Johnny who handed her a slice.

"Okay kids, what's the rule if you drop food?" Jaemin asked.

"Tell Hyung." They answered sweetly.

Jaemin took a seat beside Haneul. She offered him some cake but remembered how he couldn't eat it.

"You should have bought something you could eat." Haneul frowned.

"I'll feel full if you eat a lot though." Jaemin chuckled.

"Is it just me or this cake is too sweet." Johnny grumbled, putting his fork down. "I feel nauseous."

Taeyong nodded as he left the fork hanging from his mouth. "They say if you feel nauseous you should eat something spicy."

"Is something wrong?" Haneul was clueless to the two adults' bitterness.

"Last time I visited, you two were at each other's necks. Did something happen in between?" Taeyong questioned.

"That's a secret." Jaemin grinned. Taeyong just rolled his eyes and took another bite from his cake.

"It's a good thing our little Haneul is opening up. Mark would be happy to see it." Johnny stated, earning another nod from his bandmate. "Let's get down to business. Well of course about the situation we're all in..."

"I forgot to mention something." Haneul dug through her bag and pulled her sketchbook out. She carefully opened the book on a certain page. "The night before my brother and the dream members went to eat at the diner down the block. I saw this little girl when I tried to go in."

On the page was a kid with red short hair and straight cut bangs. She was cute with rosy cheeks and freckles scattered on her face. She looked oddly familiar to the trio.

"Wow." Jaemin's eyes were wide in awe. "You drew this? All I could draw is a stickman with a shadow."

"And what did she say?" Johnny asked.

"She said she would help me and just ran in the diner." Haneul answered. She looked over at Jaemin who raised a brow at her glance. "Did she approach you guys?"

Jaemin shrugged. "I wasn't even with Dream that night. I fell asleep after doing the laundry."

"Is it alright if I take a picture of it? I'll send it to my sister so she could help search." Johnny asked. Haneul nodded and pushed the sketchbook closer to them.

Jisung toddled up to Haneul and raised his hands up to her. The girl scooped him up in her arms and let him cuddle up to her. Jisung tilted his head and let out a gasp before pointing at the drawing.

"It's Yeojeongie."

Jaemin's eyes widened. "Wait this is Yeojeong?"

"What are you talking about?" Johnny asked.

"Remember when Jisung was rushed to the hospital and we had to leave the kids? They said Yeojeong came to play with them." Jaemin answered.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Haneul frowned.

"Well I thought they just had an imaginary friend so." Jaemin muttered. He mumbled an apology before looking at Jisung. "Where did you see her?"

"Junie's book." Jisung murmured, feeling shy at the sudden attention. He pointed to the picture book Renjun was holding.

"Renjun can you come here for a second?" Taeyong called. Said boy was confused as he walked over to them.

"Can he borrow your book?" Haneul asked, pointing to Taeyong.

"Only because Noona asked." Renjun handed the book to the elder and rejoined his friends in the living room. Jisung followed after him, wanting cuddles from his brothers now.

"Isn't that the cartoon girl from We Young?" Johnny pointed out. Taeyong nodded, confused to why it would be here. He opened the book and read it out loud.

"The little fairy walks around at any time of the day
looking for friends who are willing to play.
Sometimes the little fairy finds people who need help
and will use her magic or even get involved herself.

The little fairy's mind can never be changed
and the person she helps must must find the way.
Once he spells have been cast,
there will be no such thing as going back."

"So... all common sense and logic is out the window I guess? We're really dealing with the possibility of magic?" Jaemin spoke up as an attempt to lighten the mood.

It all seemed so irrational but seeing how his friends were children once again, it seemed... rational.

"It's my fault then they're in this mess." Haneul's voice was shaky as a pang of guilt washed over her. "Maybe I really shouldn't have gone to the diner that night."

"Look, it's no one's fault so don't feel down." Taeyong comforted. He closed the book and put it in his bag. "For now, we need to track down the author and figure out what you need to do to break the spell."

"That way, everyone can go back to the way we were living." Johnny added. He looked over to Jaemin. "You must be itching to get back in the practice rooms."

"Noona! Junie and Hyuckie are fighting in the bedroom." Jeno informed, running up to the adults.

"Please excuse me." Haneul mumbled, swiftly walking away. It was perfect timing for her to be called away.

She didn't know if she could hold it in longer.

A/N

So we finally have some plot development

Shall we return to our regularly scheduled fluff