escort | njm

fourteen.

"Being a good boyfriend, being your boyfriend."

"Pardon? I couldn't hear the last bit, could you speak up a little?" And she misses the important part of that one statement, what else better could she have missed out? "No, no. It's nothing important at all." Jaemin mumbles, brushing it off and with no scalding hot tea near Areum's lips to distract her this time.

It's not as if she isn't already aware that the title of being the best and perfect boyfriend in the entire world would be entitled to him only. Not as if she doesn't sit in bed and imagine a parallel universe, a life other than the one she's living in right now, where Jaemin is lovely and wonderful and lawfully belongs to her and her only. He knocks on her door unannounced in the evening with a bag of local korean food take-out. He reminds her of the sheets of paper she had forgotten about throughout the day of studying.

He'a wrapped in Areum's duvets with her and judges the recent Instagram post of korean guys she has followed, rating their looks when he's actually the only male she has in her eyes. It's as if she already has him but doesn't at the same time. "Of course, your dates would have known how great of a boyfriend you are." She bows a little at the waitress placing the steaming baskets of dumplings with white fog clouding over it. "It's fake though, it's all just for the money and it's only a night slash evening." He reminds her, chopsticks making their way towards the dumplings.

"Better than nothing though, at least you get money out of it." There's a sigh leaving her dry lips, one out of disappointment. "Oh to be rich and rent myself a fake boyfriend to accompany my lonely insomniac ass..." How she wished dearly she was that level of rich to rent Jaemin and no one else, she'd have the luxury of hiring him as a fake boyfriend for the rest of her life. "That could happen but your parents aren't the CEO of some multi billion dollar corporation, then you could hire me and do nothing but cuddle or play a duo."

"Nothing but the truth, it's been a whole while since I slid my fingers across the fretboards though, might have gone rusty with the skills." Jaemin brings up his cup of tea towards her, going in for a toast. Toast to knowing that some people are born with a silver spoon in their mouths. Toast to knowing that some of those people can get hold of something Areum could only imagine in her parallel universe she had drawn up — a day with Jaemin. More than just a night. A night spent dressed up in their most comfortable clothes, arms wrapped tightly around each other's waist. A night spent as a couple, rather than Areum and Jaemin, cute nicknames for each other without boundaries.

Toast to knowing that even if she'll never get to have him like that, she gets to have him like this just as a friend and then to have him as nothing at all just a mere stranger. "You don't need to rent a fake boyfriend for a night when I'm here." Jaemin jokes around her once he sees her successfully swallowing the dumpling without choking. "For real though, back to the point, you shouldn't spend time with someone you hardly know. It's like a waste of money just like that, you don't get to see the guy after a day or night, it's useless."

He doesn't understand the main point, she'd give up everything just to be with him.

And he's off to stuffing his cheeks with the steam dumplings on the table, his double finger ring with a chain attached colliding with his chopsticks giving off a loud metallic sound. "My bad, sorry." His apology was muffled with the sizzling juice of the dumplings flowing down from the side of his lips, grabbing the nearby napkin as he stuffs the last dumpling into his mouth. "Now that was a lot of pleasure."

Jaemin fishes for his wallet in his pocket, grabbing the card with two fingers and eyed her. He says that he has made more money and is almost richer than her now by accompanying wealthy socialites — even ones that don't attend their school, because word spreads like wildfire considering the success of social media, more than he earns a month at the center. He probably is not going to give up this gig so close into the future, he's having fun while earning money so it's a win-win situation.

"Just because you proclaimed you are richer now doesn't mean you get to pull the 'I'll pay for everything we do together' card. I said it was my treat today." Areum warns, sending him a glare from the side. They've always shared the prices of whatever they consumed, when they specially bought a cake for Eun-Yi's birthday. When he stole half a bag of her Doritos Chips and ended up paying half the price of it for his consumption, Areum ends up sneaking the money into his bag. They still fight over it a lot, never letting each of them have their way of solely paying.

"I'm rich, I do whatever with my money and you have no say over it." He sticks a tongue out at her, petting her head with the outstanding height difference between the both of them. "That is very insultingof you, I can hear my heart breaking into pieces, don't you remember when I bought you your first Off-White products... Accept the god-damn money I'm trying to transfer to you Jae." Areum points towards her phone, waiting for his approval and he shakes his head. "Nope." Popping the 'p' end consonant as he smiles in glee at his easy victory.

Walking down the sidewalk, side by side, Jaemin wraps an arm around her waist and pulls her in for a hug, her face planted into his chest and inhaling the mint scented perfume from his shirt. "You deserve to be treated once in a while, Areum. You've done so much and cared for me but not once complained about it." And his 'once in a while' was equivalent to almost every other time where they dined out or when he showed up at her doorstep unannounced with takeouts in his hand.

"If only people knew how lucky they were to get to know you and if only they knew how lucky they were to get your name rolled off their tongue Areum..."

If only Jaemin knew that he was exactly the same. It's an honor to know him, to stand by him and look after him. It's a blessing to be able to love him even if it's kept in the dark.