Aera entered her house as soundly as possible, so as to not let anyone know that she was home. She took her shoes off and tiptoed upstairs into her room, the joyous sound of laughter greeting her from Yuqi's room, which was next to Aera's. She closed the room door behind and sighed as she slid down and curled up into a ball. A few tears spilled out of her eyes, partially wetting the sleeves of her sweater.

School was just not the same without Dae

Aera cried till the laughter and many voices coming from Yuqi's room had died down. Aera got up from her curled up position and dried her eyes, convincing herself not to think about Dae. She tied her hair into a bun and took off her contact lenses, replacing them with her big, round, and clear-framed spectacles. She ripped off her sweater and started to remove the makeup she had applied to cover her dark circles. She was good at makeup, seeing as it looked like she never she had dark circles.

If only people knew...

She grabbed a towel and went into the bathroom for her second shower that day.

⩽⨝⩾

Aera walked out of the bathroom, wrapped in only a towel, and went into her room. She dried herself and changed into a black hoodie and grey sweatpants. She grabbed a pack of cigarettes and her favorite lighter and stuffed the two into her backpack. She then sat in front of her dressing table and let open her hair, watching the brown curls fall till her waist. She brushed her hair till they shone in the sunlight and applied makeup under her eyes to hide the dark circles. Once she was done, she slung her bag over one shoulder and headed out of her room and down the stairs. She sat down in front of the door to wear her sneakers. 

"AERA? IS THAT YOU?" Aera heard her mother call. 

"Yes." Aera replied. 

"You're going out already? You didn't even meet me when reached home from school. Is it too much to ask for some love from my youngest?" her mother complained as she sat down beside Aera on the ground. 

"Yes mama, I'm going out." Aera muttered, focusing down, partly to avoid her mother's gaze, and partly to tie her shoelaces.

"Where are you going? And with those awful glasses on?! Why can't you wear your contact lenses?" 

"I have to meet a classmate for partnered project mama. I don't need to wear my lenses." Aera mumbled, drawing circles on the wooden floor with her finger.

"Speak louder Aera. You've got such a pretty face that it would be no problem finding a husband for you. But with that attitude, I don't know." her mother nagged. 

"I'm going out for a partnered project." Aera declared and got up, walking out of the house as she slammed the door behind her. She was tired of her mother's nagging. But she never blamed her mother for it, because she knew that the nagging was her mother's way of dealing with Dae's death. 

When Dae died, the entire family broke. And everyone had gained a flaw while dealing with his death. Mingi turned into a playboy, breaking every girl's heart the way his own heart was. Yuqi broke on the inside, and chose to be brave for her family. Aera turned into a sociopath, not talking to anyone except Felix and her immediate family. Her mother started nagging at every small thing, wanting everything to be perfect at all times. And her father overworked himself for the first few months, until he came to realize that Dae was really gone, and was never going to come back. 

Aera sook her head, freeing her mind of all thoughts Dae-related. She checked her watch to see that it was 5:30 p.m.; 1 hour before she needed to meet Jisung. She turned away from the direction of the café, deciding that she had enough time for a detour.

⩽⨝⩾

Jisung entered the NCT manor along with the rest of Dream. He looked around, and saw all of WayV, and Jungwoo, sitting in front of the huge flat screen TV in living room watching a movie. 

"HEY, YOU GUYS ARE BACK FROM CHINA!" Chenle shouted, throwing his bag on the floor and plopping down beside Kun. 

"How was China?" Renjun asked, sitting beside Yangyang. 

"China was really nice, it was wonderful being back home." Kun responded, turning around to look at Dream with a warm smile on his face. 

"AND WE PUT 15 GUYS IN JAIL!" Ten exclaimed, still focusing on the movie playing on the TV.

"That's really good." Jisung smiled, turning to go into his room when Jungwoo called his name, making him stop and face Jungwoo. 

"Taeyong wants to see you. He's in his office." Jungwoo spoke, his gaze not moving away from the TV. 

Jisung nodded and walked towards Taeyong's office, mentally preparing himself for the meeting. He knew what it was about, and he had a lot of complaints against it. He stopped in front of the office door, taking a deep breath before knocking. 
"Come in." He heard Taeyong say. 
Jisung opened the door slowly, walking into the room as he took not of his surroundings. 

Taeyong's office had walls made of dark wood and a floor made of black marble. Taeyong himself was seated in his chair behind his table that was made of fine oak, looking perfectly regal in his three piece suit as he looked over some documents. There was a white rug under the table, contrasting the dark room. The ceiling was high, and the intimidating aura that the room and Taeyong gave off was enough to make anyone squirm in their seat, but not Jisung.

Taeyong was like a father to Jisung. Taeyong took Jisung in when Jisung was just 11, and helped Jisung turn his life around. Jisung was homeless, hungry and defenseless when Taeyong found him. Jisung would always be grateful to Taeyong for everything the latter had done for him.

"Hyung?" Jisung called as he took a seat in front of Taeyong. 

"Yes, Jisung, how was school?" Taeyong gently asked, putting his documents aside. 

"School was great hyung. I met Aera like you wanted me to." Jisung responded politely. 

"And how was Aera? Do you think she'd be a great addition to NCT?" 

"She'd make a good spy with that stony personality of hers. When I was talking to her, it felt like she was a robot, not a human!"

"The information that we have on her does say that she's only nice to her friends." Taeyong reminded him.
"She doesn't have friends! People call her the sociopath!" Jisung exclaimed, annoyed with the girl he forced to meet earlier that day. 

"Easy Jisung. You don't know her that well yet." Taeyong spoke. 
"Yes hyung. But I feel like I know her enough to say that she's a bitch."

"Jisung, don't judge someone based off of your first impression. Anyway, you're meeting her tomorrow at school next. Am I right?" 

"No, I'm meeting her at 6:30 for our science project. The teacher just had to do shoulder partners!" Jisung grumbled. 

"It's 5:30 already! How did you reach home so late?!" Taeyong exclaimed as he checked the time, sounding like a worried mother. 

"Jeno hyung and Jaemin hyung wanted to try out for the Basketball team, Haechan hyung tried out for the drama club, and Renjun hyung got accepted for the art club. So me and Chenle waited in school for their after school activities to end." Jisung explained, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck. 

"You and Chenle should also join an after school club. It would do good for the two of you. No matter, you go get changed and leave as early possible. It's not good to keep a lady waiting." 

"She's not a lady." Jisung grumbled as he got up and walked out of Taeyong's office. 

Jisung stomped to his room, glaring at anyone he passed by, leaving people surprised with how annoyed he was. He reached his room and slammed the door behind him, throwing his bag on the bed. He ran his hand through his hair out of frustration, really annoyed with the fact that he had to meet Aera again. He was also irritated with people telling him to be nice around Aera.

Bitches like Aera didn't deserve to be treated nicely. 

Jisung went into his bathroom, hoping to get his mind off of Aera with a nice long shower. 

⩽⨝⩾

Jisung exited the bathroom, feeling calmer than before, as her rubbed his hair with a towel. He was dressed in sweatpants and a black sweatshirt. He grabbed his bag and slung it over one shoulder as he raced down the stairs. He passed the living room where he saw WayV and Dream binge-watching a kdrama. He laughed at the sight, finding it funny, how everyone was cuddled up and cozy as they watched the drama with concentration. 

"I'm going." Jisung informed, laughing a bit at the end as he realized everyone was too focused on the TV to notice him. 

He walked to the manor entrance and sat down to wear  his sneakers. "Jisung, do you need a lift?" he heard Jaehyun call.
"No thanks hyung, I'm fine!" Jisung responded.

"No no. I'm going to the same part of town and I'll drop you wherever. No way is our maknae going to walk that far!" Jaehyun exclaimed as he grabbed his car keys and sat down beside Jisung to wear his own shoes. 

"Alright hyung. I'm ready!" Jisung said as he finished tying his laces and readjusted his bag's strap on his shoulder. 

"Alright. Let's go." Jaehyun spoke, heading out the manor with Jisung following him. 

⩽⨝⩾

The car ride was silent. Neither Jaehyun nor Jisung spoke a word, both sitting in comfortable silence. Calming music was playing on the radio as Jisung looked out the window, subconsciously smiling as watched the buildings pass by.

"You know Jisung?" Jaehyun asked, glancing at Jisung. 
"Yes hyung?" Jisung responded, looking at Jaehyun. 
"I overheard a bit of your conversation with Taeyong."
"Oh."

"And, I just wanted to say, that if you feel like she's a bitch, then she most likely is one. I trust your judgement. However, you've only known her for 6 hours, which is not enough time to get to know someone's character. And from what I collect, that girl is complicated. What I'm really trying to say is, treat her the same way she treats you. Maybe that will get her to open up. If the other person's being a bitch, you don't need to be a gentleman. You can be a bitch too." Jaehyun spoke, glancing at Jisung from time to time. 

Jisung smiled at Jaehyun, happy with the latter's words. This was exactly why he liked Jaehyun; Jaehyun was cool with everything. But Jaehyun's words made guilt churn inside Jisung's stomach. After all, he knew that Aera acted the way she did because he was new to the school, and him being friends with her would destroy his social life before it could begin.

"Hyung, she's not totally a bitch." Jisung sighed. 

"AHA! I KNEW IT!" Jaehyun exclaimed, hitting the steering wheel out of pure joy, making the car honk really loudly at an old lady crossing the road. "Oops." he mumbled and stuck his head out the window. "SORRY!" he shouted and came back inside. "Please explain." Jaehyun requested politely. 

"For starters, she did act like a bitch. But, she did it so that I would not become friends with her, because she thinks that if I become friends with her, my social life will be destroyed. And since I'm new, I'm guessing she wants me to have a chance at having a good social life. I heard her say something like this to a friend of hers on the rooftop. But she was a bitch to him too. She told him to his face that he was a vulnerability for her, because that's what all friends are. She even told him that she was friends with him only because she and some dude called Dae were close to him. And then that friend of hers told her to stop living in the past and that Dae was dead, and then she told him to get lost. I don't get it. Who's Dae? And that poor guy was so sweet to her and she told him to get lost. And she was behaving like such a bitch in front of him, even though he was only looking out for her!" Jisung rambled, not noticing how Jaehyun turned pale as he heard the name Dae.

"Dae?" Jaehyun questioned, swallowing the lump in his throat. 
"Yeah. Dae." spoke Jisung, speaking of the unfamiliar name with vary, and mysterious tone. "Your stop's here bud." Jaehyun spoke as he stopped the car on the curb for Jisung to get off. 
"Thanks hyung. I love you." said Jisung with clear affection present in his voice as he jumped out the car.

As Jisung opened the door of the café, he couldn't put words for the relief he felt after telling Jaehyun about the conversation he had overheard earlier. He didn't even know how much he felt like telling someone about it until he told Jaehyun. A small smile made its way onto his face, him feeling happy. But his smile was wiped right off of his face as he caught sight of Aera sitting in a booth. 

He walked towards where Aera was sitting, and took a seat in front of her. "Hi." he greeted politely. 

"Hi." Aera spoke, looking up from her phone. She kept her phone aside and sipped her coffee, that Jisung deduced must have been bought before he reached. 

"So, the science project. Do you know what we are supposed to do in it?" Jisung asked, raising one eyebrow. 

"No."

"I didn't expect you to. You were just binge watching Wednesday during Science. Anyway, Mr. Kim told us all to raise one mammal. Of course, some kid went ahead and said that was too much for one person to do alone, so now we have to do that with shoulder partners. And now, we have to report on the mammal's progress, as well as our own, at the end of every month." Jisung explained, eyeing Aera's reactions. 

"So like a baby project minus the baby." Aera muttered, making Jisung's eyes widen once he made the connection. 

"I'm gonna go get something. Do you want anything?" Jisung asked as he stood up, avoiding looking at Aera. 

"An iced americano." Aera mumbled, going back to scrolling through reels on her phone. 

Jisung walked over to the counter and gave his order to the girl standing behind it. The girl kept trying to flirt with him, but went unnoticed by Jisung, who was preoccupied with his thoughts. 

Aera seemed different. The intimidating aura that she had around earlier had worn off. Her aura now seemed broken, and tranquil. She looked different with her glasses on. She felt different.

Jisung paid the money, grabbed his order, and went back to Aera, who hadn't seemed to have noticed him to be back. "Here." he handed the americano to Aera. She looked up from her phone, her eyes softening at the americano, and took it from Jisung's hands. She murmured a thankyou and sipped from the new cup. "What about the bill?" Aera asked, pushing a few strands of hair away from her face after she set down the coffee.

"Don't worry about it, you can pay next time." Jisung smiled. 

"If there is a next time." she mumbled, going back to her phone. 

"Which animal should we choose?" asked Jisung, trying to get Aera to interact more. 

"Fishes die fast, cats are cats, I am not getting a tarantula or snake or frog, rabbits and guinea pigs and hedgehogs and hamsters are too small and boring for me, how about a dog?" rambled Aera. 

"Dogs are nice. Which breed?" Jisung questioned, feeling happy that he managed to get Aera to input something. 

"Let's see. Golden retriever? They are adorable, and energetic. Or a cocker spaniel? They are smaller, and energetic." Aera spoke, keeping her phone aside. 

"Golden retrievers. I like big dogs. And one of my hyungs raised a golden retriever, so he would be able to help." Jisung answered. 

"How about we find a place to get a puppy?" Aera asked, grabbing her phone once again. 

Jisung observed her actions. The way she held no expression as looked through her phone, unlike how people normally would. But she looked pretty. She had a pretty face, Jisung wouldn't deny that. 

"You're pretty." he blurted out, causing Aera to stop momentarily and look up at Jisung. She tilted her head, trying to see if he was being honest. 

"Too bad you have a resting bitch face." Jisung covered up as Aera went back to scrolling through her phone. He could've sworn he saw her lips curl upwards for just a second. 

Maybe she wasn't so bad after all.

⩽⨝⩾

i imagine Aera to look like this.

edited: 18 Oct 2023, i think she'll look like this

sorry for any grammatical errors, i didn't have any time to edit this chapter.