warm like a gun | ot23 nct; ot5 red velvet

Chapter 4

He calls Jungwoo as soon as he's done for the day. "Are you free? I need to ask you something in person."

"Uh, yes," Jungwoo says. "Where?"

"Will you meet me in the big park, by the pond, in thirty minutes?" Jaehyun asks. He wonders vaguely if he's been bugged, but he doesn't remember touching anybody today. Still, he adds, "And bring that scanner."

"Sure."

"Great, thank you."

Jaehyun hurries to the nearby station and hops on the monorail. The park feels more correct for this sort of meeting—this isn't something to be spoken of in the warm light of a kitchen. The cool night air by the pond is much more fitting. He's also hoping the quiet trickle of the artificial waterfall would mask their voices.

Jungwoo is already there when Jaehyun arrives; he'd expected it, since Jungwoo's apartment is so close to the edge of the park. He's sitting on the bench near the waterfall, one leg crossed over the other, barely visible in the dim light. He has a long, tailored coat on, and sleek business shoes. As he draws nearer, he sees he's wearing leather gloves as well. He looks every bit his part—the smart, successful son of a billionaire CEO.

Jaehyun and Jungwoo's paths would have never crossed, but Kun, who had lived just a few houses down from Jaehyun when they were younger, got a sponsor in their 9th year, and had transferred to the bigger school where all the rich kids went. Kun had made friends with Jungwoo early on, and had introduced him to their friends. Jungwoo had roped Doyoung, a now well-known singer, in, and so they all got to know Doyoung, too. Their group had expanded this way—Kun had been the first to receive sponsorship, then Mark a few years later, then Sungchan and Jisung, only months apart. Mark had introduced them to Jeno, an actor. Jisung introduced them to Chenle, the son of the CEO of Zhong Technologies, and Chenle had inserted Dejun, another singer and one of his good friends.

Generally, relationships of all kinds don't stray beyond class divides. Friendships aren't common, but they also aren't rare. What's interesting is the romantic relationships in their large friend group. Of course, there's Taeyong and Ten, both from poor families, who had been together since 11th year. Yuta, from a matchbox house, and Sicheng, from the lower-middle class suburbs, had been together longer, since around 9th year. And while Donghyuck and Taeil had only gotten together a couple of years ago, their relationship was solid. They're also both from relatively similar economic backgrounds, so it isn't as odd.

Jungwoo, however, had fallen head over heels for Yukhei, and Yukhei had been no better. They'd danced circles around each other for years. It was as infuriating as it was endearing, so Jaehyun had been elated when Ten told him just last weekend that they finally talked about it. Jungwoo and Yukhei are about as opposite as two people can get when it comes to background, but they work somehow. And then, there's Jeno and Jaemin. Jaemin's parents died around a year ago, just a few weeks after Jaemin's 19th birthday. Luckily, this meant he was able to keep the little stack unit his family had lived in since he was an adult, but it also left him with very diminished income. Jaehyun had always had a soft spot for Jaemin, so he'd taken care of him when he could. Jeno is from a rich, famous family, on the other hand. Though he and Jaemin haven't made anything official yet—likely because of the stigma around class divides—all Jaehyun can say is Jaemin is very lucky to have him. He knows he can always go to Jeno's place for a sleepover if his power shuts off, or he just doesn't want to be alone. In any case, it takes some worry off of Jaehyun's plate.

"Hey, Woo," Jaehyun says when he gets close. "Thank you for meeting me so late."

Jungwoo pats the spot next to him, giving him a warm smile. "It's not that late," he says. "And it's no problem. Are you okay?"