Jeno watches as Jaemin puts his phone on his lap after reading a text message from his mom telling him to come home already.

Jaemin looks up at him and smiles, "I need to go now, Jeno." he says and grabs his phone again, "But wait, let me text Renjun first."

Jeno nods, "Sure."

After sending a message to his bestfriend, Jaemin gets up from the couch and Jeno follows him behind.

"Let me walk you home, please."

Jaemin turns to him and pouts, "Is it alright?"

"Of course, it is. Let's go now? I want to talk to you more, Nana." Jeno offers his hand and the younger doesn't hesitate to take it.

"Auntie, I'm just gonna walk Jaemin home. I'll be back later!" Jeno yells and Donghyuck's mom responds an 'okay' from the dining area.

They ignore the stares of the visitors when they leave the house. Jaemin ignores the intimidating feeling of their stares that still lingers and crawls in his skin. It's scary.

Jaemin lets go of Jeno's hand and clings to his arm instead. Jeno notices but doesn't question it, he just smiles.

"So, tell me about anything you like." Jeno begins.

"I don't know." Jaemin shrugs, pouting. "Nothing's interesting about me."

"Impossible." Jeno softly laughs. "What about your ambition or goals in life? I'm sure you have."

Jaemin's lips curl into the side. "I want to be a successful doctor in the future."

"That's great!" Jeno wraps his arm around Jaemin's waist. "Why do you want to be a doctor?"

"I really want to be of help to others." Jaemin replies, "Specifically, I want to be a surgeon. That's why I took medical biology as my course, just saying."

"Hey, you know, I remembered in one of my dreams, one of your relatives gave you a toy doctor set as a birthday gift for your 7th birthday, right? It's always been vivid in my mind the scene where I played with them with your cousins, pretending I'm the doctor giving them, as patients, checkups. It's a nice memory of yours that I got to experience even if it's just in my dream." Jeno suddenly says that made Jaemin look down, pink blush starting to form on his cheeks.

"Honestly, it was one of the best memories I had when I was a kid because that day, I felt genuine happiness." Jaemin giggles with shyness, slowly looking up at Jeno. "How about you, what's your ambition?"

"Can you try to guess?" Jeno's lips curl up into a little smirk.

"Mhm," Jaemin pouts, "If I can remember it clearly, you want to be uh..." He stares at Jeno who is just smiling down at him, his eyes nowhere to be seen when he's smiling. He looks cute. "A pilot?" He smiles when he sees Jeno nods.

"Yeah. But I took architecture as my course."

"Huh? Why? It should be aviation or something."

Jeno shrugs, "People change, they say."

×××

As they turn to the corner, Jaemin's grip to Jeno's arm tighten. It's not that Jeno minds. No, really, he doesn't mind.

"Is your house just nearby?" Jeno asks and Jaemin just nods. He looks at him with soft expression, tilting his head to the side like a confused puppy. "What's the matter?"

"I just hope they don't scold me." Jaemin replies lowly. So low, Jeno could barely hear it. "Help me, Jeno."

"I'm sure they won't." Jeno reassures, taking his other hand to his. He carresses the back of it with his palm to calm him. "I'll stay for a while if ever they scold you."

Jaemin nods and finally lets go of the older's arm. They stop in front of their house and he sees his father outside, arms crossed against his chest. Jaemin gulps and Jeno stands behind him.

"Good evening, Mr. Na." Jeno greets Jaemin's father, bowing 90 degrees angle as a sign of respect.

"Evening." Mr. Na responds, looking directly at Jaemin. "Where have you been? Where's Renjun?"

Jaemin glances at his father and fidgets on his fingers. "He's in his soulmate's house. Jeno here just accompanied me. He's only a friend." He says in a low voice.

"Who?" His father raises an eyebrow.

"Jeno." Jaemin's voice remains the same.

"You come here and talk to me louder, Jaemin." Mr. Na's voice is calm yet Jaemin feels intimidated, he doesn't know why himself.

Jeno watches as Jaemin walks closer to his father as he remains standing in front of their house. He sighs.

When he's closer to his father, he doesn't speak. "Jaemin, why are you quiet? Are you okay?"

"Y-you're not gonna scold me, are you?" Jaemin asks, still in a low voice, but this time it feels like cracking. He bites down on his lip.

"Did you do something that make me upset?" Jaemin shakes his head, looking down at the ground. "Then why would I scold you?"

"I-I don't know."

Mr. Na ruffles his hair and smiles a bit. "You're a good kid, Jaemin. Did I ever scold you?" Jaemin just shakes his head again. "Now, introduce me to your friend. He's just standing there, watching us."

Jaemin finally sighs of relief and looks up at his dad. He smiles at him a bit. He has his father's smile. He turns to Jeno and gestures him to come over. Jeno notices that and immediately walks towards him.

"Good evening again, Mr. Na. I'm Jeno, Jaemin's sou—friend." Jeno smiles a bit.

"Hello, Jeno! Would you like to stay for dinner?"

Jaemin widen his eyes and shakes his head. "Dad, it's okay, he doesn't need to join us. Please."

"I'm asking Jeno, darling."

Jeno blinks and looks at Jaemin who's already looking at him. He's gesturing him 'no' by shaking his hand in front of him.

"Uh, I think I'm good, Mr. Na. I just had my dinner at my cousin's house." Jeno finally replies and Jaemin sighs loudly.

Mr. Na looks back and forth to Jaemin and Jeno then to Jaemin then to Jeno again. "All right, if that's what you want. Thank you for walking my son home. I hope next time that I invite you, you'll finally join, okay?"

Jeno nods, "Okay, Mr. Na. I have to go now. Have a good night." He bows 90 degrees angle again before waving good bye to Jaemin.

Jaemin waves back and walks to Jeno. He leans forward and is about to give him a kiss on the cheek but he taken aback and just taps his shoulder. "Bye! See you soon."

"Bye, Jaemin."

"Let's go inside now, Jaemin-ah."

Jaemin turns to his father and walks towards him. He waves at Jeno once again before the latter walks away and leave the front of their house.

He and his father both go inside their house with him closing the door behind. He sighs and sits on the couch, taking his shoes off.

"Is he really just a friend?" His father asks but he pretends not to hear it.
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