Sunless World (JaDine AU)

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AN: in my head, i've casted Arjo Atayde as Nathan and Angel Aquino as Zenaida. Lol.

Nathan has been staring at James for the past 5 minutes.

He just can't believe what he was seeing.

And there it was again.

James's phone sounded and he was quick to get it. Nathan watched as he read whatever was on the phone and...

he's smiling again.

An actual genuine smile.

Nathan has known James since they were kids. They had grown up together like siblings and had been best friends ever since.

He was probably the person who knows James the most. He was his confidant and he had been with him through highs and lows.

And James rarely, as in once-in-a-blue-moon-during-a-leap-year kind of rare, smiles. And he seems to have been smiling--grinning even, for the past minutes he had been there.

The only one he knew who could make James smile effortlessly was Sebbie. Even he has to try hard to get one out of him. But now, now he's... really smiling.

Nathan seriously considered crying. Whatever James was looking at on his phone, he hoped it continued making James smile. He didn't care if it was memes, maybe porn? or maybe an actual chat mate (which he really can't imagine but hey, 10 minutes ago he didn't think he'd see James smiling like that).

Nathan was really curious but opted not to point out his friend that he was smiling--or even disturb him in anyway, because he might stop.

Quietly, Nathan left the papers he was meant to give James on one of the table and then exited the room.

---

After James's dinner with Nadine that fateful night a few weeks ago, they didn't part ways at once.

Nadine had invited him to stroll through the mall and just talk. One thing he confirmed about this meeting was that he really couldn't say no to her. She just had a sort of pull on him.

They've talked more about each other with Nadine sharing things about her work and once in a while, asking James about his.

After a while, Nadine asked if they could buy milk tea and they walked towards her favorite store. James had bought the tea this time, since Nadine already paid for their dinner.

They've spent about one more hour just talking until Nadine's bodyguard had started calling her and she had to go.

She looked like she didn't want to, but she shared that she didn't want her mom to get angry at her bodyguards so she rarely escapes--even if she can.

Before she went, she exchanged numbers with him and asked him to add her in social media. When she found out he didn't have any social media account, she had made him make one right then and there.

And that's what brought him to now.

Nadine had added him on Telegram and has been sending him messages since parting ways that night.

At first, it was a little awkward to James since he didn't know how to reply to all her messages (or even how to chat with someone). But he learned she didn't always needed a reply. Sometimes, she just wanted to share something, much like how she is when talking in person.

It was mostly Nadine who send messages, talking mostly about her day and once in a while ranting about an inconvenience or two.

After a while, James had reciprocated and started sharing, too. Mostly if there were any interesting thing that had happened to him (which wasn't really a usual thing).