Night | NCT

Four Years

Four years.

It took four years for Xiaojun to muster up the courage to ask the girl sitting beside him out. That was four years of watching Yuri fall in love with someone else, staying by her side through the rejection, being her person when her clan was falling apart, and being there when the clan was being rebuilt.

Yet to Xiaojun, four years felt like nothing at all.

...

"I can't believe he rejected me so coldly." Yuri cried as Xiaojun slowly patted her back, letting the girl cry into his shoulder. "I can't believe that Lucas rejected me like that."

"He missed his chance." Xiaojun reassured her, biting his lip. It was weird for him to talk about his close friend like that but right now, he was there for Yuri, not Lucas.

Xiaojun had known Yuri had the biggest crush on Lucas for the longest time, how could she not? Lucas was tall, athletic, good looking, and charming. There was not a single flaw in the male.

Except that he didn't believe in dating. And Yuri hadn't known that.

Xiaojun felt bad not telling Yuri sooner, but he had no idea how to bring it up. He didn't want to hurt the girl, as she knew her older brother would be at his throat if he did, and boy did Yuta scare the crap out of him.

So he just stood there, patting the girl's back as Yuri continued crying for another half an hour, praying that she couldn't feel how fast his heart was beating to have the girl in his arms right then and there.

...

"It's weird." Yuri said as she stood beside Xiaojun over Sora's grave, staring at the letters engraved into the stone. "It feels weird to lose both of them at once."

"You're not losing Seri, she's just leaving the Academy to lead her kingdom." Xiaojun told her, placing his hands in his pockets.

"Sora's still gone." Yuri pointed out coldly.

Xiaojun didn't know what to say as Yuri began to walk away, her head hanging low.

As he stared at her disappearing figure, Xiaojun couldn't help but think about what had he said wrong for the girl to walk away from him like that.

...

"I can't believe I got assigned to her." Yuri mumbled as she stared at her notes.

As Xiaojun silently listened to the girl rant about mentoring Nari as they sat together, studying for their exams. Apparently, Nari wasn't terrible when it came to skills but she talked way too much and got distracted way too easily, making Yuri's job ten times more difficult than it should have been.

The issues with Yuta and her mother probably aren't helping either.

"I'm sure you'll figure it all out." Xiaojun said softly, but apparently, those weren't the right words as Yuri gave him the dirtiest look.

"Ugh, you don't understand. It's just so frustrating. Maybe I should just talk to Mark instead since he's a mentor too."

Ouch.

It was like Xiaojun's heart was shattered into a million pieces as the words effortlessly left her mouth without a second thought.

Yuri seemed oblivious to how what she said had affected Xiaojun as she continued talking, but the male was no longer listening as he began packing up his things.

"Wait, where are you going?" Yuri asked as Xiaojun stood up, slinging his bag over his shoulder.

"To train." Xiaojun said, bitterness in his voice. "I'm not a mentor anyways."