Care || n.jm

🧸nineteen🧸

"Will Noona be okay?" Jisung asked as he stared at the door to the guest bedroom. "Will she be able to give goodnight kisses?"

"I'm not sure Ji. She just needs time alone first to collect herself." Jaemin answered honestly, patting Jisung's head.

It had been about five hours since the incident and Haneul had locked herself in the guest bedroom. She refused to eat dinner and talk to anyone. They respected her need for space but they couldn't help but be worried.

"I wish an alien would take that man." Renjun grumbled, angrily scribbling at the paper. "It makes me happy to know Donghyuck threw the glitter in his eyes."

"He deserves it for being a—" Donghyuck looked over at Jaemin who looked at him expectantly. He decided not to use bad words. "—bad guy."

"Today was my turn to sleep next to Noona." Chenle pouted. He was fairly excited as he had to wait two days before his turn.

"It's okay. I'll sleep next to you." Jeno comforted, trying to act cool. Jaemin put Jisung down and turned to the piano behind them.

"Shall I play you guys a song?" He asked, cracking his knuckles. He pressed on a couple of notes as he tried to get a feel of it. "It's been a while since I last played.

"You know how to play that?" Chenle asked, eyes sparkling.

Jaemin nodded and let his fingers do the rest of the work. He played 'River Flows in You' with a steady pace. He swayed slightly as he played, mind drifting to a certain girl.

He didn't know why but now that he listened to the song again it reminded him of Haneul. It gave him the image of a blue sky that slowly darkened as gray clouds slowly came in.

He accidentally pressed the wrong key, breaking the trance that they were in. Some of the kids laughed at him while the others clapped.

"It was nice." Mark smiled, clapping his small hands.

"You suck." Renjun and Donghyuck teased.

"Cut me some slack. I told you it's been a while." Jaemin mumbled, putting the cover back over the keys.

The creaking of a door made the group go quiet as their attention fell on the disheveled girl. Her eyes were swollen and the tip of her nose was red. Her hair stood in different directions, tangling at the bottom.

"Hi um." Haneul greeted with a raspy voice. "Can we talk?"

"Kids, can you go play in the bedroom while we talk?" Jaemin quietly instructed. He quickly went to the kitchen to pour her a glass of water.

Mark, being the responsible eldest, gathered his obedient brothers into the bedroom and shut the door.

Haneul sat at the spot Jisung was at and waited for Jaemin to come back. She accepted the glass of water with both hands and downed the water in one go.

"Are you feeling better? You're not forcing yourself?" He softly asked, taking a seat beside her. He put an arm around her and rubbed her arm reassuringly.

"I thought I could escape it and bury my past. In the end it keeps coming back to me." Haneul bit her lip as she felt herself get choked up again. She had just finished crying yet here she was on the verge of tears. "Every time I feel like I'll be okay the world comes crashing down on me. I'm sick of it."

"I don't know anything about what happened or who he is, but know that I'm here for you and I will protect you." Jaemin consoled. He wanted to help her but this was the best that he could do.

The best he can do is try to understand her and help her back on track at her own pace.

"I'm sorry for dragging you into this. Even my brother and the rest of Dream." Haneul apologized, her tears finally falling. "You guys should be living your dream instead of being stuck here with me."

"Don't blame yourself, Princess. You shouldn't think like that." Jaemin cupped her cheeks and used his thumbs to rub the tears away. "None of this is your fault, okay? You didn't want this to happen."

She pulled him into a hug, hiding her face in his chest. He let Haneul cry into his chest, the fabric of his shirt dampening at the tears. He pet her hair and didn't say another word. Once she calmed down, he pulled away to grab her another glass of water.

"Can I open up to you about something?" Haneul asked.

He needed to know.

Jaemin nodded as he had her drink the contents of the glass. "Anything as long as you're not forcing yourself to."

"Back in Canada when Mark left for Korea it would be a lie if I said I wasn't lonely. I was a really shy kid so his friends were my friends." Haneul started. "When he left I had to make my own friends and everything went downhill from there."

Jaemin nodded, letting her know he was listening. He guessed this was when that bastard came into the picture.

"I met Damien on the first day when I was in sixth grade. He was really nice to me and helped me break out of my shell. He introduced me to his sister Alicia and we were happy. It lasted for about two months until some other kids joined our group."

Haneul paused to take a breath to calm herself down. Jaemin noticed this and held her hand. "You don't have to force yourself to relive it."

"I can do it." Haneul assured. She had already rehearsed it so many times. "They started talking about how I was too sensitive and how much of a pushover I was and decided to treat me as the group pet."

"Group pet?" Jaemin questioned.

"Their source of entertainment. Even if it meant getting physical or attacking me emotionally or mentally." Haneul looked blankly at the scars on the palm of her hands caused by her nails.

The scars that reminded her of how she endured their torture.

"And I couldn't do anything because if I did, they would do something to ruin Mark's career."

A/N

Aight so we opening up the past now

I was supposed to update last night but there was like a sixteen hour long power outage akfkanfkag