Ameliorate | Jeno FF

18

"Ryujin? Where's-" Jeno's eyes widened and he rushed to Mirae's side, holding her up by the waist. "What happened?"

Mirae simply looked down, so Ryujin spoke for her. "Some idiot was bullying her." She shook her head. "Poor girl was being smothered into the wall."

"Oh my gosh," Jeno tried to make eye contact with Mirae who simply avoided his gaze. "I'm so sorry I wasn't there."

"It's not your fault." Mirae mumbled, slipping out of his grasp. "I'm going to go sit." She limped away to the closest unoccupied table.

Jeno turned to Ryujin. "Thank you for finding her. I owe you."

The female shrugged. "Nah, don't worry about it." She cracked her fingers in one go. "I'd do anything to help her."

"Because she's your sister?" He watched her gaze at Mirae.

"Yeah." Ryujin was silent for a moment. "She didn't do anything wrong, she hasn't done anything wrong, yet here she is, getting all the crap for it." Her gaze returned to Jeno. "Take good care of her dude." She turned away, walking out of the arcade.

Jeno made his way to Mirae, whose head was resting on the table, eyes squeezed shut. One of her arms was cushioning her head while the other wrapped around her body, as if trying to soothe herself.

"Mirae..." He gently put a hand on her shoulder only to receive a wince from her. He bent down instead, removing his hand. "Let's go somewhere else, I think it's too crowded here."

She slowly lifted her head, still avoiding eye contact as she nodded. Jeno took off his jacket, telling Mirae to lift her arms slightly. He wrapped it around her waist, tying it at the front. Turning around and bending down in front of her, he signalled for her to get on his back.

Hesitantly, Mirae placed her arms on his shoulders, allowing him to lift her off the ground. Her legs wrapped around his torso and she lay her head on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry Mirae." He said as they walked out of the arcade. "I shouldn't have let you go alone like that."

"It isn't your fault." Mirae said. "Stop apologizing."

He walked out of the thankfully empty mall into the parking lot. "Do you need anything? Ice? Ointment?"

"No." She said plainly, hands suddenly clinging onto his shirt.

Jeno noticed, quick to tighten his grip on her legs. As he approached his car, he shifted Mirae to carry her princess style. He felt her bury her head into the crook of his neck, arms circled weakly around his shoulders.

"Can you stand?" He asked, stopping in front of the black sedan. "I need to take my keys and you need to sit in the car."

Mirae nodded, allowing him to set her down on the ground. Jeno grabbed the keys in his right pocket, unlocking the car doors and opening them for Mirae before making his way to the driver's side.

When he sat inside, he noticed that Mirae had kicked off her shoes and had her knees brought up to her chest, head leaning away from him and against the window. Sighing, he reached over her, buckling her seatbelt.

"Are you sure you don't need anything?" He asked, buckling his own seatbelt. "I can call Johnny-"

"I'm fine." She angrily stated.

Jeno was silenced. He pulled out of the parking lot and drove off to her house. He would glance to his right to make sure she was okay. Noticing that her body was shaking, he placed a hand on her arm.

"I'm sorry." Mirae's voice was weak. "I didn't mean to sound so mean."

"No, it's fine." He replied, removing his hand and placing it back on the steering wheel. "Do you want to go home right away?"

"Can I just stay with you?" She asked. "I don't care where you want to go, I just wanna be with you right now." Mirae mumbled.

He nodded, taking a different road that lead to Han River.

~*~

The two had been sitting in silence for a while in the parking lot that overlooked the river. Jeno had rolled down their windows just slightly to let in fresh air. Too afraid to initiate conversation, Jeno simply sat beside Mirae, occasionally checking to make sure she was okay. Or, maybe constantly.

"You know, you could just ask if you're so worried." Mirae watched him look at the steering wheel.

"Sorry, I just wanted to give you space." He looked back at her.

"Jeno, what was up with Ryujin?" She finally looked him dead in the eye.

He tilted his head to the side. "What do you mean?"

"Why did she help me? What were you two talking about?" She questioned.

"Oh, well I was wondering what was taking you so long and when I saw her at the back of the arcade, I asked if she could check on you, since I can't go into the women's washroom." Jeno explained. "When she came over with you, I was unbelievably worried. I think she noticed and well, she just told me to take care of you."

Mirae looked at the river. "Are you two close?"

"I guess in some ways, yeah." He leaned back. "We grew up together since our fathers were close."

"Oh." Mirae shut her eyes, tilting her head back. "I see."

Jeno glanced over to her, afraid he had struck a nerve. All this time, Mirae hadn't told him about herself and the deal with her parents. He knew lots of the details from his sister, Ryujin and his secretary but never bothered to bring it up, wanting Mirae to do so when she was comfortable.

"Does Ryujin have siblings?" Mirae suddenly asked.

Jeno felt his heart stop for a moment. Was he supposed to lie or tell her the truth? He looked away, as if he was thinking.

Taking a breath, he turned back to her and said, "No, not that I know of."

a/n: welp-

Also is mirae lowkey jealous or she just hates ryujin? What do you think?