cough syrup | n.jm

chapter two

"What's got you in such a bad mood suddenly?" Jeno asked as he plopped down on the couch next to Jaemin.

Since returning home, Jaemin had been glaring at the television, but it was clear that he had something on his mind, as the TV wasn't even on. Only sparing a glance at Jeno, Jaemin shrugged and leaned further into the couch.

"It's nothing, don't worry," Jaemin replied.

From where he was in the kitchen, Renjun looked over, making eye contact with Jeno. The two both shared a knowing look. It wasn't uncommon for Jaemin to downplay his feelings. Renjun shrugged and made a subtle movement of his hand, hinting to Jeno that Jaemin would most likely say something if Jeno just gave him space.

Jeno sighed and got more comfortable on the couch, "Alright," he said.

But as expected, Jaemin spoke a few minutes later, "What does it feel like when you're around your soulmate?"

That caught Jeno and Renjun's full attention. It had been almost a month since Jaemin bonded with his soulmate, but it had been hard to know exactly who it was, given how many fan meets and performances they had done around that time.

Because of that, Jaemin hadn't been that interested in knowing much about soulmate bonds further than what they learned back in soulmate education class in middle school.

"Why are you wondering?" Renjun asked as he approached the living room and sat on the couch next to Jaemin and Jeno. He held a bowl of fried rice as he got comfortable. Jaemin eyed Renjun's food, and before the older boy could get a bite of his food, Jaemin swooped in and took a spoonful.

"Hey!" Renjun snapped as Jaemin leaned away, cheeks stuffed with rice. "Get your own food," Renjun grumbled.

Jeno chuckled, seeing his friends bicker, but his smile slowly disappeared as he turned to Jaemin. "Why do you ask? Did something happen?"

"I just ran into an old acquaintance," Jaemin said, "It just felt weird seeing her again,"

"Who was it?" Renjun asked, and Jaemin involuntarily winced at the question, even though he knew that he would be asked it.

"Just someone we used to train with before you joined SM," Jaemin explained, hoping that his answer was specific enough that Renjun would stop asking questions but vague enough that Jeno wouldn't put two and two together.

"Is it—" Jeno started to ask, but the way Jaemin snapped his head to look at his friend was already a dead giveaway. "Seriously? I didn't even say her name yet," Jeno chuckled.

"Forget it," Jaemin said, "Pretend I didn't ask you guys anything,"

"Hey, hey, wait a moment," Renjun said, immediately pulling Jaemin to sit back in his seat. "Secrets are no fun, share with the group,"

Jaemin made a face, "I ran into Ahn Dami at the pharmacy today. It felt weird seeing her again. I just want to make sure it's not what I think it is,"

Jeno knew Jaemin and Dami's history well; he had lived through it with them. Renjun didn't know about their past, but he had heard enough from Jaemin about his dislike for Dami to know that he wouldn't voluntarily bring her up unless he was serious.

"You should probably ask Jisung or Mark about soulmate stuff," Jeno said honestly, "They would know a lot more about what it's like to have a soulmate than the two of us," Jeno motioned to him and Renjun.

Neither of them had met their soulmates yet, but it was completely normal at their age. Most people met or bonded with their soulmate by the age of twenty-two, give or take a few years.

Jeno always said that he didn't mind waiting for his soulmate. For him, it just meant that when he bonded with his soulmate, it would be an even more special moment since they had been waiting to meet each other for so long.

And for Renjun, he had said many times already that his soulmate was probably someone back in China, which was why he hadn't bonded with his yet.

Jaemin shrugged not really keen on asking Mark or Jisung about soulmates. Not that Jaemin didn't trust them, but more that he didn't necessarily trust how knowledgeable they would be in this type of thing.

Mark was just as clueless about soulmates as Jisung was. Jisung, who had just met his soulmate back in April, was finally just starting to understand how soulmate bonds really worked. Mark still acted like a total newbie to having a soulmate despite being bonded to his for a year now.

"I'll just ask Jaehyun Hyung," Jaemin decided instead.

"That's probably a better idea," Renjun agreed, having come to the same conclusion that Jisung and Mark would probably just make Jaemin more confused about soulmate bonds.

Jaemin nodded and got up to head to his room. He could feel Jeno and Renjun's gaze follow him until he was inside his shared room with Jeno. Closing the door, Jaemin plopped down on his bed and quickly called Jaehyun.

It took a bit for Jaehyun to pick up, but when he did, Jaemin could hear the sound of other people in the background.

"Hello?" Jaehyun answered.

"Hyung, are you busy?" Jaemin asked as the sound of shouting got louder.

"Nah, don't worry about it, that's just Doyoung yelling at us to clean up," Jaehyun explained. "As if his own room isn't a mess itself," Jaemin could hear the eye-roll from over the phone.

Jaemin grimaced as he remembered the last time he went to visit the NCT 127 10th floor dorm. It had been a mess but something told him that if Doyoung, of all people, was yelling at them to clean up then it was definitely worse than before.

"So, what's up?" Jaehyun asked.

"Oh," Jaemin said, remembering why he had called Jaehyun in the first place, "It's soulmate stuff,"

"Go on," Jaehyun replied, trying to get Jaemin to elaborate more.

"What does it feel like when you're around your soulmate?" Jaemin asked, not wanting to dance around the topic. There was no reason for Jaemin to hide the fact he had a soulmate. Most of NCT, if not everyone, already knew Jaemin bonded with him but didn't know who it was.

"Why? Do you think you ran into them?" Jaehyun asked. The voices in the back of the call got quieter as Jaemin assumed Jaehyun had stepped into another room.

"I don't know," Jaemin replied, "I was just curious,"

Jaemin's vagueness must have been some sort of answer itself because Jaehyun only hummed gently in response to Jaemin. However, the voice that answered wasn't one that Jaemin had been expecting.

"If you're asking about it, you probably felt something different today, right?" a new voice rang through the phone.

Jaemin took a moment to process the change in person, but eventually, when he realized it was just Doyoung, he relaxed a bit. Both Doyoung and Jaehyun had been bonded to their soulmates for almost two years now. If Jaemin were to ask anyone about soulmates without them making a big deal about it, it would be the two.

"I mean, I guess it wasn't anything too crazy, but I couldn't tell if it was a soulmate bond or if I just hadn't seen her in a while," Jaemin said, though he really hoped that it was just that he hadn't seen her in a while. If what Jaemin thought was true, then the thing that he had been trying to ignore for the past four years would be for nothing.

"Oh, so this is someone you know," Jaehyun said. "Then it'll be a good thing if you two are soulmates,"

"No," Jaemin couldn't think of anything worse than that. "It can't be her,"

"Oh, do you not get along?" Doyoung asked.

"Hyung, it can't be her." Jaemin insisted.

There was no way that Jaemin could accept the fact that Dami could possibly be his soulmate. Even though in the back of his mind he always had a nagging feeling that her soulmate tattoo wasn't just coincidentally in his handwriting.