NCT Imagines (Requests closed)

A little bit older (Jaemin) Part~2

Y/N was eating lunch in the classroom. She had avoided the cafeteria for fear of running into Jaemin. She could not face him after her little stunt yesterday.

When she had told him that she valued and liked him he had smiled and patted her head. "I value and like you too, kiddo."

"Not like that," She had replied, wringing her hands. He furrowed his brows, his confusion was painfully obvious.

"I've had a crush on you for so long but you only see me as a child no matter how hard I try to act maturely." The first tear threatened to spill from her eye but she rubbed her eyes to make it go away.

She looked at Jaemin through her blurry vision and for the first time did not like what she was seeing in him. He was looking at her the same way one would look at a kicked puppy. "Thank you and have a good day," she uttered tersely, turned away from him to run.

"Y/N, wait!" He grabbed her wrist and spun her to face him. "I'm so sorry," he breathed. "I had no idea I was hurting you by how I was treating you."

"It's fine," she lied as she tried to pry her arm from his iron grip. She was mortified by the rejection. Even more than that, she felt stupid.

Stupid. Stupid. She told herself. Why couldn't I just hold my tongue?

"Y/N, I never thought about you that way. To me, you are only-"

"You don't have to say anything else. I always knew you would never return my feelings. I don't blame you, so you shouldn't blame yourself either. I was just being an idiot."

He finally released her. Y/N took a few steps back before running away again. Her tears flowed freely now that no one was watching. She had gone home and studied extra hard for the test to distract herself. Jaemin had called her a couple of times and she had ignored all of his calls. She was going to switch her phone off when she received a text from him asking if she got home safe. She cursed at herself before replying with a 'yes' and turned the device off before Jaemin could call again.

Now as she chewed on her sandwich she felt angry at herself for making things awkward for Jaemin. He was always friendly to her and to everyone else and Y/N had mistaken that kindness for something else.

She remembered the first day of school here when she was 'the new kid' and everybody already knew each other so Y/N had had no friends. She had been eating alone at a table when someone placed a tray opposite her. "May I sit here?" Jaemin had asked with a warm smile. Y/N had just nodded her head. He had been very amicable in his speech and kept her company during lunch until she made her own friends.

As the last class ended, Y/N rushed to get out of school before Jaemin could see her. She didn't even know if he would approach her but it was best to be safe. She just wasn't ready to see him.

She continued this routine for a week. Trying to stay away from him all the time. Whenever she spied him or his friends from afar, she would change her route. Until one day when Jaemin caught her at the school gate. Y/N would have run away had they not made eye contact. She reflexively took a step back and Jaemin held up his palms. "I won't force you to talk to me if you don't want to," he uttered slowly. "But you should not be punishing me like this," he said, much to her confusion.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"So you've decided to talk to me?" His face lit up like a Christmas tree when he said that and Y/N couldn't help but go along with it. She missed him too much.

They were silent as they walked to the bus stop side by side with a careful distance of two feet between them. Y/N had crossed her arms on her chest while Jaemin's were in the pockets of his pants. The awkwardness surrounding them could be felt from a mile away.

Jaemin cleared his throat before speaking. "Why were you avoiding me?"

"I was embarrassed and... I was afraid I had ruined our friendship and that things would be weird between us."

"I see." He nodded. "I was surprised," he said and Y/N winced. "I had no idea you liked me that way. I thought I was only a senior, maybe a friend to you, nothing more because that's how I felt about you. But when you started keeping away from me and ignoring me all my days were horrible."

Y/N glanced at him, his brow was furrowed and his mouth was set in a grim line. "I wanted to talk to you just like before but you wouldn't even let me see you." Y/N's heart was beating faster by the second. Jaemin had never spoken like this before. "Would it be cruel of me to ask you to be my friend again?"

Friendzoned again, ouch. But at least this way Y/N would still have his company. "No. I'm sorry about how immature I was. Perhaps I'm a child after all," she said quietly, looking directly into his eyes. A small smile found its way on Jaemin's face, its warmth making Y/N's heart melt like ice cream.

"I won't treat you like a child again," he said solemnly. "So, are you saying you'd eat tteokbokki with me again?"

Y/N smiled too, "only if you're going to pay," she joked and Jaemin grinned widely.

xxx

tbc.