we the cursed, nct dream ✔

part sixty-nine

"No, I'm not ready," Jisung pouts. "Do you really have to leave?"

"Aww, Jisungie." Juno wraps him up into a hug, and he has to bend down quite a bit for her to reach. "I'll text and call all the time, okay? So you won't miss me too much."

"That's not-" the boy begins, but something over her shoulder catches his attention. "Oh, look who it is."

Jeno nods curtly at Haechan as he approaches the group. "Good thing you showed up eventually, for your own safety."

Haechan just widens his eyes at his friend before resting them on his girlfriend. "Hey."

"Hi," she responds simply.

"Okay, everyone. Let's leave them alone and go." Livi begins to herd the group away, despite the protests of a few.

"But I want to hear what's going down," Chenle whines.

"Give them privacy, you brat. We'll be back in like five minutes," Livi tells Juno, and then they're all walking away.

Haechan speaks first. "I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"Not picking up your calls or texts. For running away that day. If this is hard for me, it's even harder for you."

"True." Juno cocks her head. "But that doesn't invalidate your feelings. And I thought we agreed that whenever you had something bothering you, you would talk to me. I hoped you would."

"I know." He runs a hand over his face. "Sorry. I keep fucking up."

"That's allowed. You can make it better, though." Juno drops into the hard seat beside the one Shawty's carrier is sitting on, patting the chair beside hers. "Talk to me, Sunshine."

He sits down beside her, closes his eyes for a moment. "What am I supposed to say?"

"Maybe explain why you ghosted me for a week?"

"Oh. Right. I don't know." Haechan heaves a sigh. "I think maybe I was just a little sad that you'd been thinking about this plan this entire time and never once brought it up to me. I would've liked to know, I guess. But this isn't just about me."

"Yeah, but I should've told you. Maybe I'm not the best at communicating, either."

"We're a match made in heaven, huh?"

"That's what I've been saying."

"Anyway, that was one reason. I felt blindsided, a bit. But I think what scared me more is how much I'm going to miss you." He pauses, trying to find the words. "We just started, you know? There was still so much time to spend together, so many more things to learn about you and about being with you. And now you're leaving. I think I was pissed, not at you, but at our time having to be cut short. But it was no excuse to run away like that. Or ignore you."

"Maybe not, but I understand." Juno picks at the hem of her dress. "Honestly, I was considering just not going. For the sake of you and me. But this is one of those things that just feels right, you know? I can't properly explain every reason I feel like I have to do this; I just do. It's just time to... go."

"I wouldn't have wanted to be the one holding you back."

She sighs. "You wouldn't have been, not really. It was just the safer choice." Then she stops, averting her gaze. "But know that I get it. It's not fair to make you wait, so if you want to break up, I completely understand."

"What? No. I don't want to break up." Haechan sits upright in panic. "Why? Do you want to break up?"

"Of course not. I just thought maybe you would."