New Year's Kiss | N. Jaemin

Act IV. Sc 3 | Revisit the Past pt. 2

4.03

2 hours flitted by as the sun shone down, it's harsh rays seemingly melting the ground beneath it. A comfortable silence ensued between the two as they continued to reminisce about old memories, but a silence can only hold out for so long.

"Being here reminds me of good and bad memories" Jaemin starts, still at the park with Eunbi.

"The good I get, but bad? What do you mean?" Eunbi asks as they're both seated, lying on the trunk next to each other, their heads unknowingly perched beneath their initials roughly carved into the tree from years ago.

"Remember that one time we were all playing hide and seek and it started raining all of a sudden?" Jaemin says.

"Haechan was fighting for his life trying to prove that he won" Eunbi laughs.

"That man can never back down from a competition until he's the winner," Jaemin shrugs.

"If only the man had as much motivation for school as his competitiveness, he would honestly be at the top of the class."

"Oh for sure. But lucky for us he isn't or else we would've been his worst enemies..."

"But I don't see why that was such a bad memory?" Eunbi backtracks.

"It's what came after that prompted how everything started falling apart." Jaemin sighs.

"Uhm, care to share? Or you don't have to. It's okay," Eunbi says as she tries to tiptoe around the topic.

The thing is she knew it was about Jaemin's parents. But she never got to know the whole gist of their divorce because that's when Jaemin decided to cut her out of his life. Eunbi was still hurt over it even though the bitter feelings went down as the years passed by. But the feelings were still there, and she hoped she could finally get some clarity.

"Found out my parents' love were built on lies. And that I was the only reason they stayed together," Jaemin coldly bellows out.

He adds, "I just wished they didn't stay together because of me."

"What...exactly...happened?" Eunbi hesitantly asks.

"It's a long story."

"I have time."

"...So, that's what happened. My dad left the house and never came back. I mean he sent letters and emails here and there, and a birthday or Christmas gift every year but I just couldn't see him the same. He's probably out frolicking with his new lover—heck maybe it was his secret lover all along. And I couldn't see my mom the same way either. I know she still loves me and she tries her best to act the same way but I can never see her in the same light again just like my dad," Jaemin finishes with a tone of finality in his voice.

"I'm—I'm so sorry," Eunbi replies as she goes in to give Jaemin a hug. It was the second hug they shared in a 2 hour span.

Surprisingly Jaemin melted quickly into her embrace. A few seconds into the hug she hears sniffling coming from the boy and even as she feels her shirt getting soaked, Eunbi patted his back soothingly.

"Why didn't you tell me all about this back then? Was it because I was close to your parents too?" Eunbi lets out a whisper.

"That was one reason."

"Why else wouldn't you tell me?"

"It's hard to say," Jaemin says as he detached himself from Eunbi, a downcast expression falling onto his soft features.

"I won't push you. But it's kind of hard for me to understand why you also pushed me away all of a sudden. You know I would never judge you right? Not back then, not even now, not in the future either," Eunbi says.

"One day you'll find out, just give me a little more time," Jaemin reassures but in his mind, all he thought about was the fact that, I was madly in love with you back then, and I think I still am in love with you. But watching my parents made me not believe in love.

"I know you said that earlier and I don't want to push you, but don't I deserve an explanation?" Eunbi adds as she looks down on the grass.

"Just trust me—I know that's a lot to ask coming from me especially since I've broken our promises from back then. But believe me when I said I've matured and thought about everything that's gone wrong. I'm willing to make it right between us. I'm also tired of arguing with you everyday about the pettiest things and I'm sure our friends are tired as well," Jaemin lets out as he takes ahold of Eunbi's chin, tilting her face up so he can directly make eye contact with the girl as he got this off of his chest.

Eunbi's breath hitched as they made eye contact throughout the whole duration of Jaemin's speech. And even though she heard what he said, it felt as if his words are floating out one ear and out of the other. She was struggling not to let her eyes flutter down but as Jaemin spoke, it seemed as if his lips were the most mesmerizing thing and all the girl could think was I wanna kiss him again.

Eventually, Jaemin came to a stop and caught onto the fact that Eunbi seemed as if she was in a daze. But when he saw her eyes land on his lips one more, the desire to kiss her overcame him. Suddenly they were both leaning towards each other simultaneously, like a magnetic pull that could not be forced apart.

But just as they were about to close in the few centimeters that would seal their fate, a ringing sound pierced through the silence—unfortunately coming from the back pocket of Jaemin's jeans.

Fuck, he thought.

Eunbi also cleared her throat as she broke away saying "you should take that."

"Yeah uhm I should. I gotta go too. See you at school," Jaemin hurriedly bids her a farewell as he jogged across the grass towards his car, taking his call at the same time.

*A/N: hello—ik y'all wondering where I went LOL. I gotta be honest, the way I work is through sporadic energy bursts & I'm SO SO sorry 😭 bc that means you'll never know when I'm gonna update next💀 I swear I have the rest of my chapters planned out it's just the writing part that always takes time (obvi). & I have a bad problem w/ procrastination bUt I also don't wanna write something when I know I'm not gonna be able to put out my best work. Ya feel me ?? Anyways hope y'all have a good day <33