the dreamies met up in the parking lot after school as usual.
jaemin and jeno were the first ones out, followed by chenle and jisung, then donghyuck.
as classes were done, students were starting to make their way out of the building. but there were no signs of renjun.
jeno seemed to be the only one concerned, none of the boys commenting on their friends absence as they chatted amongst themselves.
"where's renjun?" he asked the boys. they all shook their heads and shrugged, except donghyuck who was too immersed in his phone to hear.
"he wasn't in any of my classes after lunch," jaemin added, jeno agreeing as well. "hyuck, was he in any of yours?"
donghyuck looked up at the four staring at him.
"what?"
"renjun. was renjun in any of your classes this afternoon?"
"nah. he went home early with his sister," he stated, unaware that the others weren't told.
"oh..." jaemin nodded, and then realized what his friend said. "wait, meili?!?"
"meili noona?" jisung perked up at the name.
"yeah..." donghyuck responded, going back to his phone.
"that's a good sign then," chenle added and started fiddling with a long piece of his bangs that were overdue for a cut. "i hope they mend whatever was broken between them."
"me too," jisung pouted, jaemin patting his son's shoulder. "whenever we go over to hyung's, noona is always locked up in her room or out with her friends."
chenle nodded in agreement.
"it's about time they fixed things up," jeno let out an exhale, pushing his hair back from his face. the boys had began to walk to his car, which was the vehicle they drove around in often.
jeno was the only one, with a car atleast, that dream could trust to drive. renjun had his own car as well but the boys were scared that he would get in an argument with donghyuck and crash them.
jaemin slid into jeno's passenger seat like usual, the others beginning to get into the back seats.
"i miss meili," jaemin mumbled, quiet enough for only jeno to hear.
"same," he whispered back, rubbing the boy's shoulder.
jeno and jaemin had been the closest to meili, aside from mark of course.
it had hurt them when meili shut them out.
it had hurt meili as well, since you can't really throw away an unproblematic friendship like that so easily.
the girl had actually been the one to bring the friend group together, so it they had really felt it when she was gone.
jaemin and her had been inseparable since kindergarten, which was how renjun had met the boy.
jeno and mark had been in her art camp in the first grade, along with jisung and chenle who she didnt befriend until the year after.
last for them to meet was donghyuck.
it all started when 6 year old meili and renjun, and 7 year old mark had been playing a game of hide and seem at the park with their babysitter.
the three had always been babysat together, since their parents had to work often and they couldn't be left alone.
mark had been it and was counting, so meili, renjun, and their babysitter, aera, had run in different directions.
meili ran to one of the play structures that would be well hidden from mark, and quickly crawled behind it.
there was a child there as well, around the same age as meili with tears silently trickling down his chubby cheeks.
"are you alright?" she had exclaimed, hurrying to the boy's side.
she noticed his red knee, likely to be scraped up by the playground's wood chips.
meili gasped and grabbed onto the boys tiny hand.
"i have bandaids in my pocket, do you want my to make your booboo disappear?" the boy cutely nodded, so she pulled out a strawberry patterned bandage.
"do you have a water bottle with you?" meili asked the boy. he handed her his bottle and she pulled out a tissue from her pocket, pouring a bit of water on it.
"this might sting a bit, so you can squeeze my hand, okay?" he nodded and the little girl slowly began to clean his cut.
the grip on her hand had tightened as she finished up so she rubbed her thumb over the back of his hand.
"there."
balling up the tissue, she slid it into her pocket.
letting go of the boys hand, she began to un package the bandaid.
"what's your name?" she asked, slowly placing the bandage over his scrape.
"d-donghyuck," he uttered quietly, earning a smile from the girl.
"awesome! i'm meili."
a small tear had snuck its way down donghyucks cheek, meili widening her eyes.
"why are you still crying?"
"i dont know," he shrugged.
meili came close to the boys face and wiped the tear away with her sleeve.
"all gone."
she then quickly leaned in and pecked his cheek, like her mother would do to her when she was younger.
the boy's eyes grew as large as flying saucers as the little girl's gesture.
the kicking of wood chips could then be heard and a head popped in from the side of the play structure.
"found you meili!"
meili squeaked in surprise, causing donghyuck to jolt.
"hey, i dont know you!" mark exclaimed, noticing the boy next to his friend. "why do you look so sad?"
he crawled in next to donghyuck's other side.
"i'm mark, what's your name?"
"that's donghyuck!" meili proudly smiled. "my new friend!!"
"really?" mark's smile took up his full face. "can we be friends too?"
donghyuck shyly nodded, causing mark to cheer.
renjun had heard noise coming from where meili had hidden and was concerned something was happening.
he called aera over who followed him over to the structure and they saw mark, meili, and another little boy with them with large, wet eyes.
the three looked up when aera and renjun poked there heads in.
"mark, who's this," she asked the oldest of the four, who smiled up at her.
"this is donghyuck! meili found him!"
aera looked over at meili who was holding donghyuck's hand.
"what happened?" she asked the young girl.
"donghyuck scraped his knee and i fixed it for him! look!" she pointed to the decorated bandaid on his knee.
aera nodded and crouched down next to the boy.
"where's your parents?" she kindly asked him.
"i came here with my baby s-sitter," he managed to say, and then pointed out of the play structure.
"do you think you could show me where?"
donghyuck nodded and allowed the girl to pick him up.
they exited the small area and donghyuck pointed over to the benches where a girl was frantically looking around with a phone pressed to her ear.
as the five came closer they could hear her panicking on the phone.
"i can't seem to find him anywhere, but i'll keep looking," she quickly said into the phone.
"excuse me," aera gained the girl's attention. "are you looking for donghyuck?"
the girl saw donghyuck in aera's arms and visibly relaxed.
"oh my gosh, where did you find him???" she exclaimed, holding out her arms to hold the 6 year old.
"meili found him in one of the play structures with a scraped knee," aera explained to the boy's baby sitter.
"i'm glad he's safe," she then places the boy down so he could walk over to the twins and mark. "thank you so much."
"of course," aera giggled. "hey, aren't you in a couple of my classes?"
the two began chatting, leaving the four kids to continue playing.
"i'll be it!" renjun volunteered, causing mark and meili to squeal and run away.
mark was holding onto donghyuck's hand and began to run away with him, leaving meili to hide alone.
donghyuck ended up being in their class at school, causing the boy to become closer with the group of friends, meeting the other four through there.
in present time, the boy stared out the window as jeno drove, thinking back to the moment that he had met meili at the park.
he felt as if he could still remember the feeling of meili's warm lips against his cheek, the first time he had experienced her mother-like personality.