Hatred: Nomin

Broken glass: 24

Jeno waved Donghyuck out of the door and then crept back into the kitchen feet padding softly on the cool tiles, up to Jaemin who was hovering over the stove with immense concentration.

He snaked his arms around Jaemin's middle, his voice velvety in Jaemin's ear.

"Smells divine."

Jaemin whirled around, pointing a wooden spoon accusingly. "Stop distracting me!"

Jeno just smiled, pushing the spoon out of his face to lean in and pepper kisses soft as rose petals to Jaemin's lips. For a second Jaemin pleaded with his eyes, resisting but with little force, until he melted into Jeno's fingertips pressed against his back.

He mumbled breathily. "I need- to cook."

Jeno ran his hands through Jaemin's hair once more, eyes glimmering, before nodding and letting him turn around in his grasp, now resting his head on Jaemin's shoulder and swaying them gently.

Eyes shut, lulling music, the thrum of the fan and the hiss of the fire, Jaemin warm and pressed against his body; in this moment Jeno thought he might've found heaven. It was so peaceful- tranquility like a water pool in the mountain tops shielded from harm, blue as the sky with not a ripple in sight.

"I never want this moment to end." Jeno nuzzled against Jaemin's neck as he jittered away from the ticklish movement.

Jaemin smiled in agreement, but it didn't quite reach his eyes. He found the pit of his stomach heavy once again, and each day he was more and more certain it would never leave.

Deftly sweeping up the plates and serving up the stewing food, Jaemin grabbed his wine glass and emptied it, hoping to clear the sullen feeling in his chest.

The plates were clattering against the table but the movements were slow and languid, a draining motion, and the light buzz in Jaemin's mind couldn't account for the way time seemed slow.
He smiled anyway, always and onwards.

Around the table, and pull the chair out, and seated and smile, and make small talk and smile, and push food around his plate and smile some more because he was falling in love and that's what you do when you fall in love.

But he didn't feel like smiling.

And then there was a thud, a clicking slamming sound, heavy metal against a padded surface.

Jeno moved faster than Jaemin, spinning around midway through a sentence Jaemin had only been paying mild attention to, peering over his shoulder and out of the window.

He finished his mouthful of food and spoke. "Was that a car door?"

And then everything sped up again. The alarm bells were blaring, resounding against brittle bone, Jaemin felt like his skull was quivering and it was nauseating, and he snapped back into reality like an electric current had jolted him awake.

"Shit."

Jeno still looked placid, maybe a little on edge, but more worried about Jaemin than whatever it was that had caught his attention to start with.

He slowly placed down his fork, weary. "Jaemin, are you okay?"

Jaemin was out of his seat, he knocked his wine glass and it cracked against the wooden table, bloody red pooling on the surface slivering to the edges in veins. Jeno was darting around, pulling the glass up and reaching to stop staining the carpet, but Jaemin was already moving, briskly approaching the window with a morbid curiosity.

His breath caught.

"Jeno... we need to go."

"Huh?" Jeno was busying himself, occupied with the spillage that Jaemin had caused and mind elsewhere.