escort | njm

thirty-one.

Areum currently finds herself rummaging through the thick pieces of cloths that she never knew she had owned, sitting in her closet as they collected dust. The party was 3 hours away and she still hasn't picked out an outfit for herself. She'd never agree to the party if she knew that someone she really dislikes but doesn't have a reason to do that, to be there with him too.

"Do you need help?" She feels his back close against hers, and her body stiffens. Areum could feel the warmth of his breath cutting through the cold air of her air conditioner. If she were to turn around or even look to the side slightly, his face would be mere inches from hers. "I asked if you need help with picking out your outfit, angel." She feels his voice in her stomach. That's not good. Voices should stop at the ears, but sometimes — not very often at all, actually — a voice will penetrate past her ears and reverberate straight down through her body.

Jaemin has one of those voices. Deep, confident, and a little bit like butter, and it never fails to get to her despite the two years they've been together. "Yeah I guess?" Areum could feel her breath hitch, the feeling of losing her voice when she barely managed to reply to him. "This would look hot on you." His palm brushes against her shoulder blade, the other placed on her waist to hold her when he shifts her to the side a little while getting the outfit.

Her mind wasn't even focused on whatever he was saying or what he pulled out, it was his hand placement, the one right at her waist. "Earth to Areum? Hello?" She snaps back from her train of thoughts when she hears his buttery voice and the snapping of his fingers. "Are you okay with this one?" He points at the black prom dress, with long sleeves, exposing her back and parts of her thighs. "Yeah definitely, of course."

I'd wear anything you pick, I would even wear nothing for you. "You're welcome." He has the sweetest smile, how could someone ever so perfect exist. It pains her mentally and physically that this perfect man right in front of her isn't hers, yet or maybe never she thinks.

He could be the one she writes a storybook about, a story of their love so beautiful. They could be sitting in the library, Jaemin scribbling through his essays while Areum sat there with her mittens on. Snow danced in the light, a choreographed ballet conducted by the gentle wind. As she watched, her eyes grew that tiny bit wider, the white flakes settling on the branches of the tree as it fell.

And he could be there, flipping the pages for her as she struggled with her mittens on, smiling fondly at her. She wants a love so sweet, where she falls for him first but he ends up loving her more, but would that ever happen with Jaemin? Possibly, or not. "Earth to Areum? Hello?" It's always that deep magnum voice that has her toes curling whenever he brings her out of the train of thoughts.

"Yeah, my bad. Don't you needa run along to get ready?" She scratches at her head, probably tired from the lack of sleep. "Oh yeah, right. I gotta go, see you there, bye." Jaemin strodes out of her bedroom, slipping onto his shoes before closing the door behind him. "I don't care how complicated and long this takes, I still want you." He mutters to himself, she was the only one who made him feel like that.

They were so close yet so far, worlds apart, and the only similarity they had was not being able to tell each other of how they truly felt. That faint memory of him realising that something had changed between them, how she looked at him then. When her eyes used to show nothing but happiness and now, it was nothing but adoration in her eyes whenever she looked at him. The way her eyes lit up as if her whole world depended on him, it made him feel something. But nothing enough for him to realise her love for him.

Jaemin's nothing but a guy who goes on nightly dates on Fridays as an escort, just for the money as he struggles to pay off his fees and textbooks. Mugging his homework late into the early nights, where occasionally, or most of the time, he'd find his fingers hovering over Areum's contact.