Maeri fiddled with the hem of her leather jacket as she sat on the couch, staring into space, a million thoughts invaded her mind.
peeling the dried skin off her lips habitually as she didn't even notice Minho coming inside the living room, standing by the kitchen frame as he watched the young girl be deep in thought.
Holding a bowl of ramen in his hands, he walked over to the girl and sat beside her, laying the bowl on the coffee table at the center of the room. "Hey." he called out, bringing her out of her deep thinking.
She blinked her eyes a few times and looked to her left, seeing the worried elder already looking at her. "Hey." she smiled at him and looked away.
"What's got you thinking at this hour?" he asked, putting an arm behind her on the couch.
Looking down at her hands that rested on her lap, she fiddled with her fingers as she didn't know what to tell him. "I don't really know." a chuckle escaped her lips as she scooted closer to the elder.
Minho sighed and patted her head softly. "Have some ramen, it helps when you can't sleep in hours like this." he pointed to the ramen he put on the coffee table not long ago.
"Thanks hyung." she smiled and laid her head on his shoulder for a moment before leaning forward to dig in the food he made for her.
He flashed her a smile and stood up from the couch. "No problem. Seungmin, Chan hyung and I will just be at the basement when you need us." his feet pattered on the wooden floors of the house as he made his way down the basement by the kitchen.
She hummed and slurped on her noodles and her soup, letting out a sigh of satisfaction as she ate it peacefully on the coffee table, legs crossed in an indian seat beneath.
Just then her mind wandered back onto the painting that she and Chenle had discovered not so long ago.
A thousand scenarios had invaded her head once again.
Overthinking the situation as her thoughts distracted her and interrupted her peaceful 3am meal.
The sudden cripples of anxiety had crawled in her, sending a shiver down her spine as she thought of her dead father leaving out a million clues that she chose to ignore and it was all starting to get to her- leaving the main question in her mind.
"What's my father's relationship with Chenle's family then?" she muttered to herself.
Maeri's phone suddenly started to ring loudly on the couch, startling her- nearly giving her a heart attack. "What the- who's calling me at this hour?" she took her phone from the couch and turned it upside down to look at the caller ID.
Jaemin🦄
Answer | Decline
She contemplated for a few seconds whether to pick it up or just let it ring.
Staring at her phone and she let it ring fuve more times before she pressed 'answer' and pressed the device to her ear.
"Jaem." she greeted him with a soft but yet cold tone.
"Hey." he greeted back his tone unusually deeper than the high pitched tone he used when making calls.
She waited for him to say something but the line was quiet for a few seconds making her anxious as to no reason why. "What's got you to call me at this hour?" she tried her best to not sound shaky.
It made her nervous that he jad called her all of a sudden, it's not like she hasn't had a word with him and Taeyong for a nearly two months already.
"Wherever you were with Chenle, be careful. It doesn't seem safe out there." Jaemin hung his hand on the frame of the glass windows while he looked outside of the empty large meeting room, his only source of light was the moonlight of dawn
Maeri furrowed her brows and widened her eyes, heart beating in a fast pace as to why he knew she was with him. "H-how did you know?" her anxiety growing as she over thought once again when she heard those words leave Jaemin's lips.
"You know how we have eyes everywhere, Ri. Just keep safe, alright?" he said, his tone genuine as always when it came to people when he cared for a lot.
"D-did Hyunjin tell you?" she fumbled with her words as she gulped the growing lump in her throat, the pressure sending an unknown feeling of heaviness in her body as she had thought of the latter. "Does Jisung k-know where I am?" she trembled as her heart broke in a thousand pieces just by mentioning his name for the first time in nearly seven months already.
"No, he doesn't know where you are and who's with you but if you want to see him you know how to get back home." he smiled even though he knew she wasn't seeing him but he felt the need to smile. Just as he turned around, Jisung was just entering the large meeting room, closing the door behind him. "Speaking of- I'll get back to you sometime, I'm hanging u-"
"Jaemin wait!" she cut him off.
Jaemin stopped midway and furrowed his brows, slowly bringing the phone back up to his ear.
He heard her hold a sniffle back.
"How is he? Is he doing fine?" she asked, voice sounding shakey through the other line.
He looked at Jisung who was slowly approaching him, hesitating whether to answer her question or not.
Gulping the lump in his throught, he let out a quiet sigh as he looked away from the boy and back out the window. "Mhm he is." he answered shortly trying to not act suspicious around the younger. "Anyways, I'll get back to you in some time. Bye." his tone turning colder as he pulled the phone away from his ear and with that, he just ended the call, not giving the girl a chance to even say a word back.
Jisung had stopped in front of him and furrowed his brows at the elder. "Who was that?" he asked, his face completely stoic as if he was immune to any emotion that wanted to kick in him.
"Hyunjin just wanted to meet up the day after tomorrow, nothing special." Jaemin replied as bland as possible.
The younger eyed him for a second before nodding in approval, handing him a manila folder.
Meanwhile....
Maeri sat on the living room of the house, slowly pulling the phone away from her ear as she had heard from the boy.
A tear escaping her eye as she thought of him.
Wanting to hug and hold him tight like there's no tomorrow and spend the rest of her life with him but sadly things can't go their way for she still can't forgive herself, nor love herself.
She was still as broken as she was and she was just waiting to either be fixed or thrown away.
Sighing heavily she looked down at the unfinished ramen and had no energy to finish it anymore, standing up and taking the bowl from the coffee table, placing it on the kitchen sink, leaning on the counter while it neared 4am.
Looking at the ticking clock, she decided to finally wake Jeongin and Felix up for a morning run to try and clear her mind off the boy she badly missed and wanted.
Pretty short chapter tho..... thoughts??? what theories do y'all have??? anyhoes..... hope u guys liked it. Love y'all.