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[ third pov ]
haechan slipped on the pajamas jeno lent him. he had just finished taking a hot bath; he quickly gathered his things and walked back to his room. the image of the man was still clear in his head and he'll be lying if he said it wasn't bothering him at all.
"maybe mark was right." he mumbled as he ruffled his wet brown locks. he set down his stuff and left after grabbing a pillow and blanket. jeno offered to have him sleep in his room tonight, which was something he really needed.
"can i come in?" haechan asked after he knocked on the door. shortly after, a pink haired boy opened it. if he remembered correctly, his name was jaemin. the other smiled immediately as he stepped out of the doorway for haechan to come in.
"hey man. you look exhausted, it must've been a tough night."
"yeah, it really has." haechan replied as jaemin shut the door. he ran over and jumped onto the bed, patting the empty spot beside him.
"come lay down." he offered as he combed back his pink hair. haechan threw his pillow onto the bed and hopped on. they laid closely next to each other as jaemin wrapped a blanket around them.
"jeno's helping out mark right now, so it's just you and me." he explained with a cheerful tone. it struck haechan that someone living here could be so happy. he briefly nodded and they remained quiet for a while until jaemin spoke up again.
he didn't face the other, instead both of then just stared at the ceiling above them. "you know..." jaemin started, catching haechan's attention. "i'm glad i could finally meet you. i've never thought that i'll ever meet the son of the man who saved me."
haechan shifted uncomfortably, uneasy with the topic jaemin brought up with his dad. "what do you mean by saved you? he asked, genuinely curious as to why everyone here respected someone like his dad so much.
"he brought all of us here when we didn't have any other place to go." jaemin paused, slowly drifting off to sleep. "and believe it or not, none of us had a home until we met him." his voice started dragging as a slight smile formed on his face. his heavy lids shut and he fell asleep beside haechan.
haechan didn't sleep that night. instead he stayed up thinking about all the things that his dad didn't tell him. he thought about the life his dad had that was so much more significant than the one he had with him.
because in his eyes, his dad was just a asshole who abandoned his own son. but for others, his dad was someone who gave them something they could properly call a family.