#jaemin nct dream

[nanazluvs]

the category is: jaemin live screenshots

[acescavern]

OPERATION RIZZ - NA JAEMIN

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EDITED NOTE: I just want to thank you all so so much for the love you've shown this fic! to celebrate, check out the early release of End To Start!

Pairing: Na Jaemin x fem!reader (Ft. Yangyang, Haechan, Johnny, Jeno, and mentions of other nct members, nct dream are the friend group, the Jeno and his girlfriend mentioned are the same pairings from Quiet and Game over!)

Genre: Fluff, angst, humor, college au nct,

Synopsis: In an attempt to teach Donghyuck how to get a girlfriend, Jaemin helps him make a list only... that list seems awfully familiar.

wc: 7.8k ( my longest fic yet, I have perished.)

warnings: reference to the sexual activity that happened in Game Over between Jeno and his girlfriend, Mentions of smoking a joint at a frat party but no detailed usage and not by the two mc, Alcohol, Drunk reader, swearing, cringe pick up lines, reader, and Jaemin play the horror game 'the quarry' but no spoilers, timeline jumps a bit but I'm certain it's still understandable, mentions of harsh pranks being pulled by readers previous roommates, hints at previous roommates being bullies to the reader.

A/N: Hi, my lovelies. This fic was a wild ride, I'm telling you. I'm still not satisfied with the header but we move ig. This took me five-ish days I think, mainly cause I left it for at least three of those. I honestly hope you love this as much as I do. If I have missed any warnings please let me know! @sexygrass you asked me to tag you in the finished product! here you are,

Feel free to send me asks to talk about the fic, I love talking about fic characters.

Feedback and reblogs are appreciated!

It was a funny thing to watch Donghyuck fail miserably. It was even funnier to watch the brightly colored cocktail drip from the ends of his hair, soaking into his pristine white t-shirt. To Jaemin, it was the best entertainment in the world to watch his friend flirt terribly. There was a reason Jisung called him bitchless. Not to doom any potential girl Donghyuck could end up with, but the guy was just a walking beacon of cringe pickup lines.

Like tonight. Jaemin had watched from his spot perched on a barstool a few seats away as his friend confidently walked up to the bar. He’d internally winced as Donghyuck had added his own drink to the girl’s tab and he’d tried so hard to still his facial features when the said drink was promptly tipped over his head following the line he gave. “You owe me a drink, I dropped mine when I looked at you.”

It was safe to say that the man crashed, burned, and disintegrated. Jaemin couldn’t hold his laughter for long, barely able to set his drink down on the bar without spilling it before the howls of laughter racked through his body. He felt a hand slap down on his shoulder, the sounds of Yangyang’s own hysterical laughter hitting his ears.

“It’s not funny! Look at my shirt!” Donghyuck growled in annoyance, fingers plucking the wet material away from his skin. “I’m going to clean up...”

The man moved to brush past his two friends, Yangyang stilling his laughter long enough to reach out and grasp his sleeve. “I wouldn’t, Restrooms occupied.” He straightened from his hunched-over position, his voice strained from holding in further laughter. “Think Jeno’s trying to one-up over Jaehyun, dragged his girl in there and locked the door about twenty minutes or so ago.”

“For fuck sake!” He whined, foot kicking at a leg of Jaemin’s bar stool.

Jaemin stood, finally able to keep his laughter at bay. “What did you expect? He literally dragged us here in a fit of jealous rage.” He scoffed light-heartedly, slinging an arm over Donghyuck’s shoulder. “Come on, let’s just go home - Yang, you crashing at Hyuck’s too?” Jaemin craned his neck to catch his fellow 00’ liner’s answer.

Yangyang shrugged in acceptance of the offer, slinging his own arm over Hyuck’s other shoulder.

“So,” Hyuck began, pausing to slurp some of his McDonald’s strawberry milkshake through the disintegrating paper straw. “You’re telling me that my lines don’t work at all?”

Yangyang and Jaemin gave a pointed look to each other, almost as if trying to decide who should be the bearer of bad news. Jaemin gave a slight sigh, his mouth poised ready to talk but his brain still trying to come up with an answer.

“It’s just … You’ve got no rizz” He let the statement hang in the air, chewing into his cheek as Donghyuck blanched at the blunt statement.

“And you have?” He jeered in defense, chuckling in amusement.

“Dude, he’s the rizzler.” Yangyang piped in, the amused grin on his face broadening. “Jaemin’s got effortless rizz and he doesn’t even try.”

Jaemin was startled when his friend threw himself over his lap with a drawn-out dramatic cry. “Then help me!” He pleaded, loosely gripping Jaemin’s collar to shake him.

“Christ! Okay, Okay!” He gave in pretty quickly, shoving Donghyuck off of him with a little effort.

Jaemin shook his head at Hyuck’s antics, Yangyang laughing along with him. No words were spoken for a few moments until the latter made an announcement.

“Let Operation Rizz commence.”

Over the course of the next ten minutes, the two made Donghyuck write down his own step-by-step guide how to get a date.

Jaemin plucked the notepad from his friends' fingers, reading through them with a grimace of distaste.

"Step one is wink?" He read off in disbelief, nearly choking on air when he read step two. "Flirt with her best friend. Are you insane?"

He snatched the pen from Hyuck, ripping the list out of the book and scrunching it Into a ball.”We’ll rewrite it.”

"That's what the Buzzfeed article said to do!" That comment alone earned him a paper ball to the head.

"You need to practice and observe." Yangyang was right, it would be handy to have an actual female to be a 'test subject' as it were.

"But who? The only girls Hyuck know hate him and the only girl I kno–" Jaemin's words stopped dead as he caught onto what his friend was hinting at. "Absolutely not. ____, would never agree to this."

At least Jaemin hoped his roommate would be repulsed enough by the idea to call him crazy and move on.

The thing is, Jaemin had been a little selfish when it came to you. He had very rarely invited you to hang with any of his friends, not that he had to — you were purely roommates who had the same computer science class. That was how you met him. Jaemin had rocked up to class, late and unbothered. It was you who caught onto his small tales of anxiety when he struggled to catch up, wordlessly sliding your notes on the previous few slides onto his desk.

STEP ONE: BEFRIEND

After the lesson had ended and various students began to pile out of the door, you slowly started to pack up your things. A throat being cleared gained your attention, Jaemin looking at you sheepishly, a hand rubbing the back of his neck.

"Thanks for that." A smile of chagrin directed toward you. “I thought I could catch up but Mr. Kim just goes so fast.”

You chuckled, pinching your notes from the table to put them in your bag, zipping it up, and turning toward your classmate. “Next time, don’t be late.” Jaemin was drawn to the way your eyes crinkled at the corners when you granted him a grin. “It’s my turn to be late next class.”

True to your word, at 8:45 am the following Thursday, you snuck into the back of the class. You looked disheveled and half-dead to your fellow classmates. You didn’t want the unwanted attention that was sure to be drawn to you if you scrambled down to a vacant seat at the front, instead, you slipped into the closest empty seat on the back row.

You tried to make as minimal noise as possible when taking your things out of your backpack and you were so preoccupied with the action that you almost jumped when a few sheets of paper were slipped wordlessly onto your desk from the seat next to you.

The two of you fell into an unspoken routine this way. Jaemin would take notes for you to copy if you were late and vice versa, an unspoken rule being you took turns being late. For you, this wasn’t a problem. You were rarely late, something Jaemin noticed when he was hurriedly yanking on his jeans in an attempt to leave on time. He had secretly cursed you at that moment. Jaemin couldn’t be late, it wasn’t his turn and the rule was unspoken.

The next time you were late, you were very late. Jaemin had honestly thought you weren’t coming, his eyeline drifted to the door on multiple occasions. An odd feeling of disappointment settled in his chest. You had become the highlight of his day, Jaemin found himself looking forward to his computer science classes for once.

When you did finally turn up and slip into the seat next to him, he noticed you didn’t even make a move to remove your things from your backpack. You just stared straight ahead, hair drenched from the horrible weather outside and unshed tears pooling at your waterline.

One look at you and Jaemin’s teasing expression faded. He set his pen down, angling his body toward your seat. “Are you okay?” Jaemin almost slapped himself, it was obvious you weren’t.

You raised the damp sleeve of your sweater to wipe at your face, “Sorry I’m late, Jaemin.” Your voice was raw and croaky, he was sure you were going to get sick. “I slept in my car.”

The male blanched, eyebrows shooting to his hairline. Jaemin was sensitive enough to keep his voice low and careful, trying to coax the answers to his many questions from you. “Why, What happened?”

You sniffled quietly, fighting the urge to curl into yourself and hide. “My housemates locked me out again.” Jaemin’s expression softened, his hand reaching over to tuck your wet hair behind your ear. “Then my car broke down on the way to campus.”

Jaemin had heard about how your housemates were. You’d ranted to him in many lessons about what they were like. The only reason you were all housed together was through the private landlord student accommodation scheme set up for students who didn’t want the dormitory life.

He knew full well that it was a popular-eat-nerd food chain out there and he was grateful his grandma paid his rent for him - Always grandma’s favorite boy. It only took a few more of those incidents for Jaemin to offer his precious games room. He proposed a very convincing argument.

“Look, It’s a steal!” He exclaimed, “No rent and we just split the rest of the utilities and grocery costs, your own room, closer to campus, and me!” Jaemin flashed you his pearly whites at his winning argument.

“I can’t just take up your space like that, Jaemin.” You sighed, as much of an amazing offer it was… You didn’t want it out of pity.

“We’ll probably barely see each other! We can split the chores and work something out.”

It was safe to say you ended up caving into the offer. Any college student would snatch up the deal of accommodation with no rental costs.

Jaemin sat open-mouthed as you bobbed your head in agreement with the idea. “Hm, Yang’s right. I’m the only girl you know that won’t get violent when Hyuck acts like a douche.” You sat back in your chair, swiping Jaemin’s iced coffee from the table and taking a sip through the straw.

“I’m sorry, what?” He spluttered, “Hyuck gets attached, clingy. What if he likes you?” Jaemin’s worries were irrelevant to everyone else but him.

Jaemin didn’t like the idea of Donghyuck catching feelings but he supposed he may be acting on possessive instinct. He shook his head, avoiding the look Yangyang was giving him. It was like the guy was trying to analyze his expressions and read his mind. He felt momentarily exposed.

“Speak of the devil and he shall appear,” You snickered, “Donghyuck, sit.”

Hyuck brushed off his barista apron, shoving his order pad into one of the large pockets in the front as he sat at the vacant chair at the table. You sat up from your slouched position in your chair, sliding Jaemin’s coffee back over to him - the cup being halfway empty by now.

“Show me what you got.” You tapped the table with your hand.

You, Jaemin, and Yangyang watched as Hyuck ran a hand through his hair, his left eye dropping into a wink that could only be described as cringe when he leaned forward toward you. “Are you a transformer?” He paused a moment, long enough to give an over-exaggerated lip bite, his flirty gaze running up and down your torso. “ ‘Cause you’re Optimus fin-” His confidence was harshly broken as you mocked the sound of a loud buzzer.

“Pickup lines don’t work anymore, Dude.” You crossed your arms over your chest. “That was- …. I don’t actually have words for how bad that truly was.” Donghyuck’s face fell.

“Technically, we’re skipping step one because you already kind of know ____. So, step one is ‘befriend’. If she was a stranger you’d have just failed miserably.” Jaemin said to his friend, lifting his coffee to inspect the cup of the missing liquid.

“Alright, What’s step two?” Hyuck shrugged, looking expectantly at his friends.

STEP TWO: GET TO KNOW

Back when you had first moved in with Jaemin, the two of you were more than awkward. It felt odd for each of you to see each other in your most vulnerable states. At home. In class things were different, that was a side of you that prepared to go out and face the day, a social mask slipping in place.

It took just one instance to get over the hurdle of timidness between you both. One Saturday, Jaemin had just gotten back with the groceries, the list crumpled in one of the bags he was hefting. You were leaning against the breakfast bar in the kitchen, a mug of coffee - specifically a Chocolate Mocha from a sachet - cupped in your hands.

Once all of the bags were strewn over the kitchen counter and the floor surrounding the fridge, you set your mug in the sink and began helping.

“Oh, no way!” You gasped, holding up the box of frozen desserts. “Two-ball-screwballs?” Jaemin looked up from shoving frozen food into the freezer drawers, a surprised smile on his face.

“Yeah! My mom used to get them for me every Friday after school.” He shut the drawer he was working on.

“I thought they were discontinued!” You gushed, tearing open the box and removing the cone-shaped cup. “I love these.”

Jaemin’s shoulders perked, his eyes brightening. “You’re kidding! My friends think they’re low tier.” He took the box from you, removing one of the plastic cones for himself and putting the rest into the freezer to save them from melting.

“Low tier? Your friends are low tier.” You scoffed jokingly, peeling off the top.

Jaemin rose to his feet, accepting the teaspoon you offered to him. “I’ll pay you ten to say that to Chenle’s face.” He chuckled, diving his spoon into the red cherry slush.

“What other gems are you hiding?” You questioned, spoon hanging from your mouth as you began to finish off the groceries with your free hand.

“Depends, do you like video games?” Jaemin lifted himself to perch on the breakfast bar.

“I like watching people play them,” You cast a glance back at your roommate. “I don’t have the hand-eye coordination for them.”

Jaemin hummed in thought, his gaze locked onto the dessert in his hand. “If I set up in the living room, do you wanna, maybe, watch me play?” He offered, discreetly peering up at you without lifting his head.

He watched you ponder over the idea a moment before nodding, “Sure.”

That night, you and Jaemin settled onto the couch with the controller firmly in his hand. You stared at the opening game screen ‘The Quarry’ glitching back at you. Jaemin had promised you that this wasn’t so much of a fast-paced game and more of a multiple choice.

“It’s a horror game-” He caught the look of unease on your face. “But it’s not that bad! It’s like a movie but you choose what happens and each option you choose alters the game path. It’s really cool!” The look on his face, as he describes one of his favorite games, will forever be your favorite expression on him.

His eyes light with excitement, and the controller drops to his lap as he uses elaborate hand gestures to explain the concept to you. There’s a feeling deep down that you want him to look like that whilst talking about you. But, that’s stupid, right? You’d only known him a few months at that point.

“Can you turn the subtitles on? I can’t hear a thing without them.” You nudged him with your elbow, prompting Jaemin to stare at you in amusement.

“If I wanted to read a book, I would.” He quipped, still navigating the settings to turn them on for you regardless.

You were only on the first chapter of the game and somehow you’d ended up scrunched up into Jaemin’s side, all awkwardness from before long gone. “No no! Don’t go down there, That’s just stupid!” You shouted, peeking up from his shoulder.

“____,” Jaemin laughed, “We have to, it’s the gameplay. We gotta follow Max into the cellar.” A hand left his controller to pat the top of your head.

You were both late for class the next day.

“Get to know them? How long will this take?” Donghyuck complained, a pout playing at his lips.

He wasn’t a patient man and quite honestly, this was taking longer than he had thought. You cast him a sharp look. “Hyuck, you said you wanted a girlfriend. A lot of work goes into the buildup.”

“Can’t you just date me and then I don’t have to get to know anyone?” He huffed, letting his forehead drop to the table.

His question earned him two abrupt shouts of “No!” Both Yangyang and you exchanged slightly shocked looks at how quickly Jaemin said it along with you.

“Ugh! Fine, so, I get to know them.” Donghyuck lifted his head. “Do I have to ask questions?”

A mumbled ‘He’s hopeless’ under your breath had you receiving two kicks under the table as Jaemin responded to the question. “Yeah, Ask about her hobbies, and family, know the basics, and find a niche to get into deeper conversation.”

“Noted. So, find things in common, then?” Hyuck voiced the question with slight uncertainty.

You grinned, tapping his arm to reward him. “Yeah, exactly!” You studied him a moment, face scrunched in thought. “Say… Hyuck, is there someone in specific you’ve got your eye on?” You questioned.

Hyuck laughed nervously, the three sets of eyes staring at him intently making him slightly nervous. See, Donghyuck always had an obvious tell when he was hiding something. First, eye contact became nonexistent. Then, he would over-blink, his friends joked that he’d take off if he blinked too fast. Lastly, the incoherent defense. Hyuck was doing all of those things.

“Do we need to teach you to lie as well?” Yangyang teased, jabbing his friend in the side.

“Speak for yourself, I don’t lie.” You spoke, pretending to inspect your nails until Jaemin’s snort of laughter cut across the table to you.

“Yeah, right. ____, who ate the last two-ball screwball?” He quipped, an eyebrow raised in challenge at you.

“Uhm, Luna.” It wasn’t Jaemin’s cat.

STEP THREE: GESTURES OF KINDNESS

It was rare for you to go out with your friends. It was rare for you to get drunk, too. You had declined an invitation to the neo-frat party for months, much to the disappointment of your friend. It was after four months of living with Jaemin that you found out he was going, only then did you finally accept the next invitation you received.

You’d spent all afternoon following your friends around the shopping plaza to find the right outfit. Your outfit was at your friends' house, you didn’t see the need to overdress for drinking in a stuffy frat house full of sweaty college kids.

The first glimpse of you Jaemin had caught that day was an hour into the party, the frat house in full swing. He’d been roped in to help set up, his friend Mark being a part of it and Hyuck being heavily involved. Jaemin had been looking for you all night and when he finally caught you, you were talking to Johnny.

Jaemin felt unsettled, though he had no choice who you spoke to. He kept glancing at you, hand gripping the solo cup tighter in his hand the more you laughed at Johnny’s jokes. You’d been drinking, that much was clear. Your cheeks a rosy red and your eyes slightly glazed with intoxication, Jaemin had caught onto how you swayed subtly on the spot, your hand gestures over-exaggerated, and your giggles that seemed to happen at everything Johnny said.

Jaemin’s gaze tore away from you when a hand waved in front of his face, his mind catching up with reality when he saw his best friend. “Jeno, sorry, didn’t hear you.”

Jeno gave his friend a knowing look, shaking his head. “You were staring, if you like her then tell her.” He shrugged, lifting his beer bottle to his lips to take a swig.

Jaemin frowned, his eyeline drawn to you once more as he shook his head. “It’s a bad idea, we live together.” As much as he hated to admit it, Jaemin wondered if inviting you to live with him was a mistake for this reason. “It’d be awkward if it didn’t work out, Jen.”

It’d taken Jaemin only one month of living with you to come to the conclusion that he was slowly becoming head over heels infatuated with you. He wasn’t entirely sure if it was love yet, but Jaemin knew you made him feel things that were an entirely new experience.

“If you’re so headstrong on it, make me a bet.” Jaemin’s attention was stolen away from you once more, his eyebrows scrunched in an expression that told Jeno that he wasn’t really listening at all. “If you end up dating by… let's say, the end of the academic year, then you have to get a tattoo.”

Jaemin gulped slightly, he wasn’t a fan of needles. But he was so sure he would be able to resist you. “Fine, if we don’t, you’ve got to get one. In a place of my choosing.” Jaemin mastered a grin, shaking Jeno’s hand to seal the deal.

When Jaemin turned back around, you or Johnny were nowhere to be seen. His mind’s implication of what it meant had his heart dropping into his stomach. He bitterly shook his head, downing the rest of the ‘special punch’ in his cup.

Jaemin went on with the party, utterly miserable at the thought of you holed up in one of the various upstairs bedrooms with Johnny. Of all people. You had to choose the biggest player out there. It was almost like Jaemin was walking around with his own cloud of self-loathing thundering over his head.

He’d thrown himself onto one of the lawn chairs that surrounded the outdoor pool, running a hand over his face. However, he soon froze when he spotted Johnny. The frat member was with Jaehyun and the frat leader, Taeyong. Jaemin noticed the absence of you immediately and it had him springing up from his seat with a slight stumble. Jaemin wasn’t drunk, he was just bordering the line between tipsy and lightly mellow.

Jaemin tapped urgently on Johnny’s shoulder, the older male turning to him with a doped-up smile. Johnny removed the joint from his mouth, offering it out to Jaemin with a hazed blink. “Where’s ____?” Was his immediate response.

Confusion clouded the elder's face for a moment before he laughed loudly. “Man, she’s wasted!” Jaemin gritted his teeth as a bout of smoke wafted in front of his face.

“Yeah, good to know.” He rushed out in exasperation. “Where?” Johnny’s smile dropped as he shrugged.

“Last I knew, she was asleep on the stairs.” Jaemin didn’t wait for any further explanation, bolting it back inside the house and to the sweeping staircase near the front door.

Sure enough, that’s where he found you. Your lips set into an adorable pout from where your head had hung in your slumber. Jaemin was certain that your neck would hurt in the morning if he didn’t take you home. Though, looking at you… Jaemin couldn’t fight the fond chuckle escaping him.

He knelt down at the bottom step, lifting his hand to gently sweep your hair back. His lips pursed as he took in the state of you, fingers tugging your t-shirt dress down your thighs from where it had risen in an attempt to shield your modesty. He squeezed your knee.

“____,” He called to you gently, a hand on your shoulder to lightly shake you awake. “____, c’mon. I’m taking you home.”

A groan left your closed lips, your body attempting to twist to the side as if you were casually rolling over in the comfort of your bed. Jaemin wouldn’t let you, firmly shaking your shoulder again. He sighed in relief when your eyes finally opened, squinting at the light.

“There she is.” He grinned, both hands moving to your cheeks to steady your lolling head.

Jaemin honestly couldn't help but grin in return for the drunk smile you gave him. It was like you were suddenly sprung with energy. “Jaemin!” You launched forward, both arms wrapping tight around his neck.

His hands had to settle on your back to stop you both from toppling over. Your roommate coaxed you to stand, brushing down the crumbs and dirt from your dress. Jaemin made you lean on the wall as he unzipped his hoodie and tied it around your waist.

“Okay, I need you to hold onto my neck… but not strangle me. You got that, ____?” He spoke slowly as if talking to a child because Jaemin had come to realize that’s exactly how drunk you were.

He left you on the second step, crouching down and patting his shoulder. It was embarrassing how many attempts it took to get you securely on Jaemin’s back but eventually, you succeeded in the climb.

The man carried you all the way across the campus and into the blocks of student housing like this. The whole way you were singing at the top of your lungs, Jaemin even joined in when you started singing Twice’s Fancy. He noted you got quieter at the end of your street and when your light snore hit his ear, he knew the reason why.

There was a struggle for him to unlock the front door with you still on Jaemin’s back. Trying not to let the three cats escape was an even bigger feat that Jaemin managed. He also managed to get you off his back, setting you down on your bed. Your shoelaces were already half undone in a loose tangle, Jaemin not having to work very hard to get your shoes and socks off your feet.

The brown-eyed man looked frantically around your room, spotting the cotton pads and micellar water on your desk. Gentle strokes of the cotton pad across your skin removed the smeared makeup on your face. Jaemin was amazed you didn’t wake up, especially when he got to your eyes.

His fingers lingered on your face, a sad smile gracing his lips. “I wish things were different, ____.” Jaemin shook his head with a sigh, dropping the used cotton pads into your trash can and setting them next to your bed.

With a glass of water and some Advil at your bedside, Jaemin gave into temptation and pressed a light, lingering kiss to the top of your head before tucking you in and parting from your bedroom.

“Acts of kindness?” Donghyuck echoed. “If I help her out at the library, does that count?”

“She works at the library?” Your mouth was covered by Donghyuck's palm.

“Don’t announce it to the whole coffee shop, ____!” He hissed, yanking his hand away and shaking it out when he felt something slimy brush across his palm. “Okay, ew.”

“Hm, that’d work, try something a little more meaningful though, Hyuck” Yangyang suggested as he stood, slinging his backpack over his shoulder. “I gotta go, botany class starts soon.”

The three of you echoed your goodbyes, turning back to the list on the table once your retreating friend was out of sight.

“So, your crush is one of the librarians?” Jaemin questioned, his face shriveling at his next thought. “Do not sit here and tell me that it’s Mrs. Choi...”

“Gross! No, she has warts on warts.” Hyuck shivered at the very thought of it. “She’s our age.”

Donghyuck could practically see the wheels turning in both of your brains as the two of you tried to work it out. He could also guess when yours and Jaemin’s thought waves seemed to of aligned. He found it slightly freaky how you seemed to have a full conversation with just a look.

“Oh, her.” You nodded your head in approval. “Good choice, Hyuck. She’s a friend of mine, really shy.” You hummed.

“You’re not gonna put in a good word for me, even if I ask… are you?” The man’s shoulders deflated as you shook your head.

“Alright then… What’s after the acts of kindness?”

STEP FOUR: COMPLIMENT TASTEFULLY

Jaemin remembers clearly the day he thought his heart jumped out of his throat and threw itself into the lake.

It was one of the rare occasions that he had invited you to hang out where his friends were - He wouldn’t admit but the only reason he did was that Jeno’s girlfriend was begging at his feet not to be the only girl. So, Jaemin invited you.

His eyes widened at the arctic sleeping bag you pulled from the trunk of your car. “Where did you get that?”

You gave a nonchalant shrug, “What do you think I used when I used to sleep in my car? Takeout wrappers?” His mouth snapped shut as you unzipped the door to your one-person tent, flinging the sleeping bag inside to deal with later. It was only when you had zipped your tent back up did you turn to him again. “Thanks for building the tent for me.” You beamed at him, your hand patting his shoulder in thanks.

“Thanks for driving all our stuff down here. I didn’t realize we had so much.” He glanced around at the half-set-up camp circle. “I should go and help Jisung-ie.”

The two of you went around separately, helping the group set things up, and come nightfall, the nine of you were crowded around the campfire. Jaemin wasn’t listening too much, the brunette was too preoccupied with the way your eyes shone in the moonlight and how the flame from the fire gave your skin a breath-taking glow. He nudged your side with his elbow subtly.

Jaemin was going to compliment you, he was going to tell you how beautiful you looked out there with nature but the words died on his tongue when you looked at him with your showstopping smile. All he could do was nudge the bag of marshmallows toward you.

There was a multitude of reasons why Jaemin couldn't tell you and reason number one was sat across from you both, staring at him with a pointed look across the dancing heat of the fire. Lee Jeno. Jaemin’s best friend nodded his head firmly in your direction, rolling his eyes when Jaemin just shook his head and broke eye contact.

The whole of the three days camping, Jaemin hadn’t had a minute alone with you. Not even on the drive back, with the other car full - Chenle had borrowed his mom’s six-seater - that left three people, including yourself, in your car. So, you, Jaemin, Renjun, and the luggage were in your little two-door car.

The both of you were relieved when you finally arrived home. As much as Renjun was the best company for a two-hour drive, all he did was complain about how little Donghyuck and Chenle helped pack away. It was nice to just have silence.

You had time for a shower and a nap and Jaemin had time to go through the plethora of photographs he took on the trip. He hadn’t realized he took so many, mostly of you. Jaemin stopped on one he took of you by the lake. You were posed beautifully, unaware of the camera pointed toward you. Your smile beaming, the way the sun encased you made you look almost ethereal. Your arm was lifted, eyes locked in fascination on a baby blue butterfly that landed on your index finger.

That was Jaemin’s favorite by far. He had no idea how long he had been staring at the image on his camera, nearly jumping out of his skin when your voice sounded close to his ear. You’d leaned over the back of the couch to take a look.

“Oh, I didn’t know you even took that.” You marveled.

“Hm, It’s one of my favorites.” He murmured quietly, glancing up to watch as you climbed over the back of the piece of furniture to sit next to him.

“The sun makes me look so cool!” You leaned further over, looking at the image in more detail.

Jaemin shook his head, handing the camera over to you. “Nah, You always look that pretty.” He’d said the sentence without thinking.

A light blush coated the apples of your cheeks. Jaemin hadn’t complimented you like this before, no matter how many times you’d longed to hear something like this from your roommate. Your heart was doing somersaults in your chest. You wondered for a moment if he meant it but when Jaemin didn’t comment any further on the matter you decided not to ask.

“Oh.” You had no idea what to say in response and Jaemin thought your newfound shyness at his compliment was well worth the slip-up.

From then on, Jaemin made sure to give you subtle compliments every so often. Taking personal satisfaction in the color of your cheeks and the shy smiles that would occur.

“And remember, Hyuck. No pickup lines.” Jaemin spoke slowly, hoping that it would get through his friend's head.

Donghyuck hummed in thought before eventually nodding in defeat. “No pickup lines. Not even one.”

Jaemin looked almost proud, giving his friend a light fist bump. “Go through the steps, I need to know you aren’t going to mess this up.”

Hyuck sighed, lifting the list to read out the steps so far. Both you and Jaemin sitting opposite him in anticipation. “Alright, Step one is befriending.” He thought a moment. “So, like, make a connection so we aren’t strangers?” He trailed off on a question, looking to your faces for confirmation.

If your grins were anything to go by, he was doing fine. “Step two is Get to Know.” He took a sip of his coffee, writing a few notes next to the bullet point. “Like, find out her hobbies, places she likes, TV shows, music, food, and maybe things about her family. That sort of thing.” He sounded confident enough with step two that you or Jaemin didn’t make a single comment.

Donghyuck cleared his throat, pausing on step three. “Gestures of kindness?” His confidence wavered. “Can’t we skip any steps?”

“No, No skipping, You got this, Hyuck. Think about it.” Jaemin was awed at the way you gently encouraged his friend. Jaemin and the rest of his friend group usually took the harsher approach, teasing him to no end.

“Alright,” Donghyuck looked visibly in thought for a moment. “Like offering her a ride home or… or staying behind to help her organize the shelves at the library?”

Jaemin hummed, nodding. “Yeah, if you can work out something more solid that would mean more to her then try that. Otherwise, I think that would work. Or bringing her lunch, If you know what she likes.”

“Got it,” Donghyuck scribbled down more notes. “Step four is Compliment Tastefully.” He looked back and forth between you two. “No pickup lines. But, natural?” He tilted his head at the question.

“Yep, Girls love to hear small compliments. About anything.” You offered, “How we’ve painted our nails? Our hair?” You listed off things for him to jot down on the paper, ending with; “Little and often.”

“Thanks, is that it?” Hyuck glanced down at his notepad again, a frown on his face. “None of this includes actually getting the title of boyfriend.”

“No, there are two more steps. The next thing is..”

STEP FIVE: INVITE OUT ( NOT A DATE )

Jaemin fought tooth and nail for these tickets. He had no idea how much they were going to cost nor how many people were biting to attend the event. He remembers when you scrolled through a TikTok of the exact same event but in Paris, beneath the Eiffel Tower.

The way your face lit up when you shoved the phone in his face, rambling about how cool it was. So, when Jaemin caught wind of there being an outdoor cinema on the hill hosted at your very own University campus over the break, he just had to get you there.

But, how would Jaemin get you there without you thinking that he went through so much trouble just to get you a ticket? He thought of telling you that he found them on the ground but that would be ridiculous. There was no way you’d believe that.

Jaemin thought about it the upcoming week of the event, until the day before. You’d entered the apartment, slamming the door behind you much harsher than Jaemin was used to. His head peeked up from over the back of the couch.

“____?” He was met with angry grumbling, and the thudding of your shoes being dropped onto the floor after taking them off. “You okay?”

“Why do people have to be the way that they are?” Your sudden question stunned him for a moment, Jaemin meekly shrugged.

“Good afternoon to you, as well.” He chuckled softly, rising from the couch and rounding the half wall to the kitchen. Already on autopilot to make you a drink.

“I tried to get tickets for Grease In The Park.” Jaemin froze with his hand mid-way in grabbing a glass from the shelf.

“Oh? Really? How did that go?” He cleared his throat to try and curb the nervous waver in his voice.

He glanced over into the living room, seeing you throw yourself onto the couch with a defeated frown on your face. “Someone said they were selling theirs, so I paid way more than I should have for them and they were fake!” You had every right to be pissed, you wasted money that you could be using for gas and next month's car insurance.

Jaemin visibly relaxed out of your eyeline, filling the glass with soda and walking back to set it on the coffee table in front of you. You peered up at his bright, toothy smile, your frown deepening when he laughed softly.

“I don’t see how this is funny, Jaemin.” You grumbled, your foot jutting out to hit the back of his knee. Jaemin only nudged your legs back to perch on the edge of the couch, fingers tugging open one of the drawers in the wooden coffee table.

He produced to you an envelope, raising an eyebrow as he waved it in front of you. “Just go with me.” He stated simply, “Jeno’s now going with his girlfriend. I got a spare ticket.”

He’d never seen you move so fast, snatching the envelope from his hands to peer inside. “Holy shit! You’re not joking? These are real?” You gasped, catching the holographic authenticity sticker on the tickets. “Jaemin, Oh my god!”

Jaemin let out a grunt as he was tackled by you, his back bracing his fall against the cushions. Jaemin stilled for only a moment until he relaxed, his arms winding around your back to gently pat along your spine. “Is that a yes?”

It was and the very next day you were flattening out a picnic blanket under a blossom tree on the hill. The perfect spot to get the best view. If anybody stood up, it wouldn't obstruct your view and it was perfect. You’d insisted that you and Jaemin pack a cooler of snacks and some sandwiches, and much to his surprise you’d packed a Two-ball Screwball each.

Jaemin honestly couldn’t recall the plot of the movie, you were amazed he had never seen Grease before. Even after watching it underneath the blossom tree in the greenery behind the University's main building, Jaemin couldn’t recite the storyline. All Jaemin could remember was watching you with stars in your eyes as you belted out the lyrics to nearly every song.

As the fading notes to You’re The One That I Want got quieter, you turned to him. Jaemin loved you like this, unapologetically you. Cheeks red from the excitement and singing, eyes wide and wondrous in the nature's air. And then you floored him, leaning over to press a meaningful kiss to his cheek.

His lips parted in surprise, his own giddy smile widening as you pulled back an inch to look at him. “Thanks, Jaemin.” You whispered between you. “This has been the best movie theatre experience ever.” and with that, you tugged the spare blanket around the both of you, naturally hugging into Jaemin’s side.

Jaemin complained before about the effort to get the tickets but in that moment he vowed that he would do it again ten times over just to relive this moment.

“You’ve got to make it sentimental. Somewhere she’s always wanted to go but don’t overdo it.” Jaemin pointed at Hyuck in a warning.

“Don’t overdo it? How much do you think this place pays me?” He snorted, gesturing to the coffee shop the three of them had been sitting in since Hyuck’s shift ended two hours ago.

“They’d probably pay you more if you did your job and stopped giving us free coffee.” You shrugged, poking at Donghyuck’s shoulder.

“I’m not even on shift right now!” Donghyuck protested, slapping his hand down on the table. “Do you really want me to start charging you for coffee?”

Jaemin’s lips tugged into a fond smile, letting his friends argue as he slid the paper and pen back toward himself to write the final two steps. He stared at it for a few moments, glancing up at you only once before nodding his head and flipping the paper face down.

Your playful stint with Donghyuck ended as Jaemin stood from his seat, slinging his backpack over his shoulder. “I’ve written the last two steps down.” He began, avoiding your eyes. “I got class in fifteen.”

Jaemin swiftly left you both sitting there, Hyuck already scrolling on his phone when you nudged him. “Aren’t you going to look at step six and seven?” You nudged the paper toward him.

“Eh, read ‘em to me.” Donghyuck shrugged, glancing up at you from his game.

You rolled your eyes, reaching over for the paper. You flipped it over, skimming over the last two steps. Your heart stilled, your body seizing in shock as your brain caught up.

“Oh my god, I’m an idiot.” You whispered, Donghyuck finally glancing over to you.

“I could have told you that, but why?” His head shoved into your eyeline to look at the paper.

‘STEP SIX: WAIT FOR HER TO NOTICE’

“So? Why are you an idiot?” He looked puzzled, eyeing your frozen form carefully.

“Look at this list,” You wave it almost frantically. “Jaemin has done every single one of these things for me.”

“Oh, Yeah. That’s cause he’s in love with you.” Your friend said casually, your head snapping in his direction.

“What?” You choked in disbelief, dropping the list to the table once more.

“I’m surprised you haven’t caught on yet,” Hyuck laughed, “Kinda tragic if you ask me, unrequited love and all.” He yelped when he received a smack to the forearm.

“It’s not unrequited!” It was almost comical how his eyes widened at your exclamation.

“Then go and find him, look at step seven.”

STEP SEVEN: CONFESS

You left the coffee shop in a clumsy mess, nearly headbutting the door on your way out. Honestly, you were beating yourself up over this. Just how long had you been tiptoeing around each other like this? How long had Jaemin been waiting for you to notice?

Of course, there were some intrusive thoughts shoved into the chaos of your mind. Like; What if you were overlooking this? What if Hyuck was lying? What if Jaemin had gotten bored of waiting for you and moved on already?

You skidded to a stop at your front door, suddenly remembering he wasn’t home. Jaemin was in class for at least two hours and you’d just run all the way back to the apartment to confess to him. However, with one whiff of your body, whilst taking your shoes off, you were glad he wasn’t home yet. It allowed you to shower, do your hair, and spritz some of your favorite perfume over yourself.

When Jaemin arrived home, he found you pacing the length of the living room. He wondered if you’d wear the carpet out at this rate. “Did Hyuck understand the last two points okay?” The question hung in the air as he straightened from removing his shoes.

Jaemin knew that this was make or break. You either caught on to his subliminal message or it went right over your head and he would have to revoke the entire list. Though, the look you gave him at that moment said you understood very well.

“How long?” Your voice was a mere whisper, fingers tangling amongst themselves as your feet came to a stop at the end of the couch.

Silence. Jaemin said nothing, his backpack falling from his shoulder to make a dull sound on the carpet. He rubbed the back of his neck nervously, Jaemin was having trouble reading your expression. He wasn’t sure if the tears that were overspilling your eyes were a good thing or not. His teeth bit into his cheek.

“Jaemin, how long?” You moved in closer, your voice was desperate.

“A… a while.” He mumbled. “Too long,” He shook his head, suddenly finding the stain on the carpet much more interesting than the tears that spelled the pain on your face.

You sniffled, closing the gap between you to gently cup his cheeks with your palms and lift his gaze back onto yours. Jaemin caved, leaning into your loving touch with eyes fluttering closed. Warm hands cupped over your own.

“Please,” You’d never heard such vulnerability in Jaemin’s voice. “Let me down gently, ____.”

Jaemin’s eyes opened slowly, already feeling the numbness of rejection seep into his bones. But, you just shook your head with a watery smile. It made him hurt more, his first thought wondering if you were intentionally going to make him suffer for this.

“Oh, Jaem, I don’t plan to let you down at all.” Your whispered words were like a wash of color in skies of grey.

Jaemin’s breath of relief relaxed his shoulders and he wasted no time in connecting your lips. His kiss was gentle, surprisingly so for how long he had been waiting for you. Your lips were soft and he could taste the remanence of the drink you’d had earlier. Your lips slotted over Jaemin’s like they were made to be there, like a missing puzzle piece. It felt right.

It was you who pulled away first, slowly opening your eyes to smile shyly at him. “I love you, Jaemin.”

“I love you, ____”

©acescavern, Please do not copy, repost, or translate my works. Reblogging is allowed.

[h34rtbeat]

BAD RELIGION

pairings: na jaemin x afab!reader

warnings: blasphemy, oral (f receiving), misogyny, purity culture, hard use of gender roles, dubious content (bordering non-con)

a/n: i’m back🤞🏻pls send in ur asks and requests i feel shitty and need to write. make sure to check rules since they have changed!

born and raised, surrounded by ideology that made no sense to those who weren’t involved. skirts that went below your knees, paired with pitch black tights that left no doubt of how your family felt about ‘those’ teenage girls.

cross hanging from your neck, you felt as if you were crucified as well.

every. single. moment. was. gods.

it was not yours, no, never yours. it was the heavenly fathers, for him to decide your fate, not you, not anyone else. yet, it seemed twisted into men deciding it for you, rather than you for yourself.

life has seemed to regulate a new rule every year. when you were 12, you were not allowed to wear that nail polish.

13, no shorts that short!

14, no concealer!

15, a smack on the hand for even thinking of uttering a word of a shorter skirt!

16, a slap to the face for breathing words of sin to another being. as time continued, they just became stricter and stricter.

your mother only watching as her modesty prevailed— beauty in a sea of blood.

a bead of sweat rolled down your neck as it was heating up. the cramped bible study room not allowing for any breath to be shared unless it went up and above.

those shorts your parents hated would’ve been useful.

a pit formed in your stomach, how you dreaded such times. winter was okay with those unfashionable clothes, but heavens above, you couldn’t have fun in summer.

you left he class early, finishing your prayers as soon as you could. though none were sincere, there was one that was nearly the truth.

“please, father, give me your strength.” you didn’t desire strength or power. you just wanted summer shorts.

but, you knew what your mother would say.

“it’s impure!” her offended— almost scream-like voice resonated in your skull as you stepped on the pavement to head home. your legs were burning up. your neck still burned.

her hand slapping your neck, ushering you to stir faster.

your uncles would be visiting soon, why the hell weren’t you cooking faster?

now, as you walk home in the heat, you’re reminded again. this was not yours to choose, nor would it ever be. you had no idea of what surprise your father had planned for you at home.

he seems like everyone else. a churchboy, a gleaming smile, and that cross also hanging around his neck.

you felt your stomach churn, as you shook hands.

“my name is jaemin..” he muttered, through a smile. was that also gods smile? you didn’t know, or bother asking. he smiled and smelled like a god, is all you could register.

you replied with your name, releasing his hand as quick as it came. was he close with your father? oh, he was a family friend from what you could see.

“stop staring and go to the kitchen.” your father patted your shoulder, making your body stiffen. your necklace jingling as you walked into the kitchen.

stirring some mixture of whatever it was that your mom called it, you caught yourself before your mind could wander.

your ears listened diligently, catching bits and pieces of your father, his parents conversation. he seemed to stay quiet. it felt like a slap to the face hearing his mother brag on about jaemins girlfriend. or whatever she was— his mother described the woman being someone jaemin had a keen interest in.

you didn’t know it was you.

thus, the thoughts wandered. was he really so different? what was so different about him that it allowed this?

how could he have a loved one, wasn’t it gods choice? was that what liberation was?

after pressing enough dough into small balls for your mother, she pressed them on the stove, making them into flat tortillas. then, you had to go check on the slow cooker, was the meat ready?

then, your actions halted when you saw that man step into the kitchen, that same smile plastered on his face.

“I hope i’m not interrupting..” he chimed, walking over to your mother, “these look wonderful.. are you sure there’s nothing i can help you with?”

“oh, no honey! it’s my and my daughters duty to do this, please, i assure you, go sit back down with your father!” your mother ushered, patting him on his shoulder.

your mothers tone was so sweet, your finger almost twitched as you chopped some carrots. she was so willing to give her gratitude to anyone but you.

“if you say so, ma’am.” his eyes crinkled in interest, he knew your mother was going to say that. jaemin knew what families like yours were like. only hearing a daughter— he could already predict what they thought of you.

though the bible states everything is pure born, jaemin knew. he knew your parents thought you were tainted from both. why?

because the existence of a woman is a sin to those heavily involved in church.

he saw the way your eyes lingered on your mother, the way your knife slipped and you slit across your palm on accident.

“ow!” you reeled back, and instead of pain from your injury; jaemin saw it. the fear instilled by your parents- not the holy figure. your hand shook.

“oh..” your mother feigned faux concern, nearly shoving you to the sink to clean your wound, “she’s just so clumsy, isn’t she?”

you felt a lump in your throat. though you tried as you might, you could feel your throat tighten, the space seeming more cramped. you grabbed a towel, running off to the bathroom.

jaemin didn’t miss a beat. following after your panicked state, he watched as you closed the door. you didn’t lock it. his eyes narrowed, smile faltering.

you really had his interest this time.

you were so interesting— pure as ever. the way the blood trickled, he could only imagine.

his hand on the doorknob, he checked to see how far he was from the table. though, even if he was close, he doubts your parents would care.

they were so willing in handing you off without your knowledge.

your eyes widened in panic as he walked in.

“w-what are you doing here!?” your voice was meek, scared. he liked that. jaemins smile returned, as he went behind you.

“you didn’t lock the door. I figured you needed help anyway. that wound looks.. pretty bad.” his voice was smooth, calm. though his eyes were at the wound, his calm smile prevailed.

you didn’t say anything in response, even as he was behind you. his arms reached over, moving your non wounded hand away.

“I’ll help.” you paused, only making it easier for him. his soft hands were cleaning your wound.

you felt heat rise to your cheeks, averting your gaze nervously. he chuckled softly, leaning his chin on your shoulder.

“why.. is your head there?” you inquired, as his warm body was now even closer. you prayed that he couldn’t hear the way your heart beat.

“it gives me a better view, when i’m standing like this.” his response was plain and simple, you couldn’t fault him for it. maybe it really did give him a better view.

your lips parted to protest, but his movements had no intent of malice. if you did protest, it would show how impure your thoughts truly were.

“th-thank you.” you muttered, as he stepped back. you patted the wound with the towel, hissing softly.

“no biggie.. after all, you’re…” his eyes narrowed ever so slightly.

“…hurt.” he finished. he wanted to confess and say ‘mine’, since— your parents did say that. but, he felt that letting you find out on your own would be better.

he softly grabbed your waist, moving your body to sit on the toilet lid.

he looked in the drawers, pulling out the first aid kit. he kneeled, your body was so warm. you were too shy to say anything when he grabbed you in such a way.

you looked away, as he wraps the bandage tape around the palm of your hand.

“it’s a shame this happened,” he mumbled through focus. “since you have such nice hands.”

you felt your blood rush. you weren’t complimented often, never so freely either. he said it with such ease, he genuinely meant it.

jaemin peaked up at you, curiousity in your gaze, possession in his.

“never been complimented like that before?” he probed, closing the first aid kit.

“n..no.” you managed to stammer out. he made you feel nervous, looking down at your hand.

he laughed softly, kneeling back down. he grabbed your hands with his, his chin resting on your covered thighs. this was strange— he was strange! it was too much, you just met him and he’s doing all of this!

“I think i’m fine now. we should get back out there, your parents will start to won-“ he tugged your hands softly yet with enough force that it lunged your body down.

“no. they’ll be fine. i’m pretty sure your parents don’t want to see you after that anyway. what’s the rush?”

he was right. your parents would be upset if you did come back out. silence hung over you and jaemin, as you just stared into his eyes.

“did your parents tell you?” jaemin suddenly broke the silence.

“tell me what?” you pulled back, sitting normally again.

you didn’t even notice how much closer he was getting to your heat, the way he’d rubbed his cheek on your thighs.

“…that you belong to me now.”

your eyes widened in so many emotions— shock, horror, surprise, anger. most of all.. betrayal. all those years of punishments, slaps… your knuckles red and swollen from the ruler smacking down on them at church; just to be given to a man you didn’t know.

maybe he just wanted to scare you, but you couldn’t say anything. the worst part is— he wasn’t lying. you knew, at some point..

you’d be like your mom, given to a man.

“no words, hm? I guess I’d feel that way too..” he mutters, his voice full of pity but his eyes full of something else.

“you know, our heavenly father is watching over us in heaven. jaemins tone was mocking, nearly taunting you.

“do you think he chose this fate for you? all those years of devotion, all wasted because you’re someone’s property now.”

you felt tears brim at your eyes, wanting to be angry. to rebuke, yell, scream kick.

you couldn’t. you just couldn’t. his hand rubbed soothingly on your covered legs. the position made it seem like he was worshipping you.

he wanted this. he wanted your purity. you said nothing- and he’ll grant you that. your time to accept.

he didn’t stop, though. his hands wandering down, rubbing your calves under the skirt.

“you’re so soft…” he praised, he blushed, turned on already by your soft skin.

“stop that.. what are you doing?” wearily protesting did nothing to falter him.

“shhh. let me have what’s mine.” jaemin cooed, relishing in the feeling of your warm skin.

you stifled back hot tears that spilled.

“oh, nono, baby.. don’t cry.” his hands delved, going to your thighs. “it’ll feel really good right now.”

you silently pleaded with him to stop, to let you go.. but your pussy welt warm.. and wet. it was a strange feeling, one you hadn’t felt before.

“please stop, our parents might hear us..” you importuned, as the hot feeling grew stronger.

“they’ll only hear us if you’re loud.”

you covered your mouth with your hands, as he lifted your hips up. he slid off your skirt, spreading your legs just enough for him to see your clad panties.

“you’re not telling me to stop.. so i’m going to keep at it.” his fingers rubbed your slit through your white cotton panties. jaemin felt like he was on cloud 9, you trulywere pure.

every movement of his made your body tremble, your left hand covering your mouth, the other going down and gripping his arm.

“calm down.. i told you, it’ll feel good.”

and he wasn’t lying. lying was a sin, after all.

his slender finger moved your panties to the side, and he delved into your sweet essence. your body, naturally, jolted.

“no! don’t go there!” you whined pitifully, as your hips grinded against your will.

his tongue was licking in that area— that sacred area. it felt warm, hot, you felt like you were gonna pee.

“p-please, i’m gonna pee!”

he paused his slurping momentarily.

“you’re not gonna pee, and if you do.. let it happen.”

he delved in more, his nose brushing and rubbing against your nub. you held your hand over your mouth. you prayed— to whatever it was, that no one could hear this utter indecency between your wet legs.

soaking his mouth, he tasted your innocent pussy. his fingers soon made their way, your thighs tightening around his head.

every movement of his made your body jolt and twitch, you couldn’t think.

your hand went down, rubbing his hair because you were scared of tugging it. your feet thrashed, as you leaned over, letting a pressure form in your tummy.

pressure and heat combined, as you felt the pressure release, painting jaemins lips a clear white.

he looked up at you, his mouth sinful, eyes full of greed.

“it feels good to be impure, doesn’t it?”

you panted softly, covering your face in utter shame. what came out of you? what was he doing with his mouth down there!? jaemin locked his lips, letting your panties slide back on naturally. as you delved in your shame, he put your skirt back on.

“let’s go to your room.”

snapping you out of your shameful demise, you looked up at him as he stood. your necklaces were hanging off your necks, a reminder of the sins.

“we need to go out and see them.”

“no we don’t, that’s nonsense. I’ll make up and excuse, too.” he replied, a promise of you not being in trouble.

hesitantly, you and him walked to your room.

no one had any idea, only a concerned murmur from his mother.

“her wound must’ve been pretty bad..”

moments later, jaemin let you lay in your bed. he sauntered out of your room, into the dining room.

“say.. is it alright if i stay with her? she wasn’t feeling well after her cut.”

[neobubz]

Hunter (M) - Prey Sequel

this is the sequel to my story prey (m) if you haven’t read that please stop and go read that one first before continuing. for those who have, thanks for taking a look at the sequel! i truly hope you enjoy this wicked little story. this is of course like the other one going to jump back and forth between time frames so please be aware of that. once again, i hope you enjoy and i hope to see you in my future stories 💜

Word Count: approx. 26.7k

Paining: fem reader x jaemin feat. jeno and haechan

Warning(s): time jumping (past and present will be divided by a header don’t worry), mature audiences only, explicit language, crime drama, crime solving, psychological thriller, house fire, very slow burn, storytelling, m*rder, spouts of anger (ch*king), sex, smut, abusive relationship, a long ass story ^^

Disclaimer: though it doesn't need to be said, this is just a story. i do not know any of the parties involved, don't take this sh*t seriously. also, as i am not one familiar with crime/court proceedings/durations of time involving solving a crime/police business some of this information (if this is your job) will be wrong. i tried my best with the dozens of crime dramas i watch XP

Preview:

“Depends on what you tell me here.”

“Do they really think that I would do something as deliberate as to set my home on fire with my child and I barely escaping it unscathed?! What kind of lunacy are they snorting down at your precinct?!”

“I know you would do anything to protect your kid. We all know that but my boss doesn't. So I need you to tell me EVERYTHING. The events leading up to the fire and what happened afterwards. I need to know it all and DO NOT leave anything out.”

Gulping your head slowly turns to Haechan. “Exactly how much of everything do you need to know?”

Holding up his work phone he shows you the voice recording app. Turning your head away he says, “everything.” 

ⓗ ⓤ ⓝ ⓣ ⓔ ⓡ

Staring blankly ahead of you not even bothered by the flashing red and blue lights you watch as men and women bolt towards a fiery beast. This couldn’t be…this wasn’t supposed to happen. And yet it was…

One by one they line up and spray water on this creature trying to tame it — an opening is created and another group rushes inside their silhouettes getting lost in the smoke that pours out of every opening. They were looking for any survivors, or rather one survivor.

Glued tightly in your arms your sons’ whales bring you back to him. Your white button down shirt soaked through from his tears. Wrapping him tighter in your arms you shield him away from the unfortunate event befalling your family. His face buried in your chest he repeats ‘mommy…mommy…mommy…’

If it wasn’t from the shock of everything you  know tears would cascade down your cheeks uncontrollably as are his. Nothing went the way it should have today... There shouldn't have been an accident … this wasn’t supposed to happen… 

The brave souls who tried to tame the beast run away coughing and falling to the ground. Their teammates rush to pull them away before they’re snatched by the beasts’ flames. Inside was far too hot for anyone to withstand for long periods of time. A man giving orders tries to get his team to spray water straight ahead to allow yet another team to enter, but just as a new round of men and women prepare to go inside another massive explosion sends those closest flying back and all others to duck.

Your sons’ cries become louder. Turning away tears finally fall onto the top of your son's head. Your home, the place you’ve lived together with your child for the past seven years, gone. All the memories of his first moments…destroyed. 

“Ma’am… Ma’am!!!” A voice says next to you. “MA’AM!!!!!” They scream startling you. A woman dressed in a paramedics uniform holds her hands out in front of you. “Ma’am, I’m sorry that I startled you but I need to check you and your son for injuries.” She says calmly.

“W-We-We’re fine…” you say but your voice cracks.

“I need to make sure, please,” she gestures to an ambulance that sits a few feet away from where you’re standing.

Looking down at your son, you see a few scratches on his cheek. “O-Okay…”

Leading you away from the firefighters who are desperately trying to get the raging fire under control, you and your son are placed inside the ambulance while two paramedics look both of you over for any type of injury. Your mind drifts away from what the female paramedic is doing, eyes laser focused on the entrance to your home. Your jaw tightens as bile threatens to erupt from within you. You jackass…why did you let this happen?!

“Ma’am,” the female paramedic calls you to attention. “You have a pretty nasty burn on your arm. I don’t think it’s severe but you should still get it looked at.”

Glancing down at your fiery skin you turn to where your son is being fully examined inside of the ambulance. “And my son?” 

“He’s alright ma’am,” the other paramedic smiles happily. “Isn’t that right buddy?” He asks your son who doesn’t speak.

“I’m sorry,” your voice comes out weak and tired. “He’s a little shy around strangers.”

“There’s no need to apologize. What the two of you went through – ” the male paramedic stops speaking, his head lowering to the floor of the ambulance.

“My daddy…Where’s my daddy?”

You freeze at the word daddy. Turning to the paramedics they both give each other unreadable looks.

“Ummm, we’ll go and find out right now. Don’t worry little man,” the male paramedic says before hoping out of the ambulance. “We’ll be right back.” He nods down at you.

Watching them like a hawk they walk over to who you assume is the fire chief. He at first waves them off aggressively. His eyes cold as ice. He appeared to not want to be bothered as he focuses on keeping his team safe. The paramedics, however, don’t leave. Instead the male paramedic steps forward whispering something in the fire chiefs’ ears. Immediately, his head turns to you. The coldness in his eyes vanishes the moment his fall to yours. Instead his eyes show sadness or pity — you can’t quite tell at this distance. Turning back rather rigidly he says something before waving the paramedics off. Moments later both of the paramedics start their trek back to you and your son, but as they get closer there is an eeriness surrounding them.

“The fire chief said he’ll be over to talk to you personally in just a minute. They’re still trying to get everything under control. Also, there were a few firefighters inside when the explosion happened so —” the female paramedic starts. 

“Th-There are people inside?!” You interject. 

“Don’t worry ma’am, he said that they are the best of the best. They’re okay and looking for a safe way out. So it’s best to focus on yourself and your son right now, okay?”

“When will they get out? They need to get out before another explosion happens! Good lord!!!” You start crying uncontrollably. “How in the world did this happen?”

“Mom…my…” your son whispers beside you before clambering in your arms again, “don’t worry… daddy will be okay…” he tries to soothe you but your tears come out faster than before.

ⓗ  ⓤ  ⓝ  ⓣ  ⓔ  ⓡ

Standing before you gleaming from ear to ear is the man who has single-handedly fucked up your entire world. His brown hair slicked back, eyes sparkling with promise and unfortunately, admiration – he wears a black suit jacket, white button shirt, black tie and black trousers. You, a white wedding dress…

How did this happen? How could your life get twist turned upside down like this? Just a year ago you were in your own apartment climbing up the corporate ladder and now you’re about to get…

“Do you take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband?” The judge asks you.

Lawfully, the small sliver of who you once were snickers at the word. If only the judge before you knew what hell you’ve been through. If she knew what this piece of shit did she would arrest him on the spot and open up a whole investigation! 

Taking in a deep inhale, you close your eyes savoring the last moments of your freedom.

If only she knew… if only you could tell her, to give her a hint that the union she was about to officiate is a fraud, but you can’t…

Gripping your hands tightly the man you’re supposed to be in love with smiles his repulsive cheshire-like smile as he awaits to hear those faithful words ‘I do.’ Exhaling once more you do what’s best for you and your child that is currently kicking up a storm inside of you. Either telling you to marry the ass hat in front of you or trying to knock some sense into you and blurt out what you desperately want to say to everyone around. 

“I do.” You speak but your voice is broken and flat. 

You fall prey to the pressure of what would happen if you did reveal everything. The twisted web of lies this snake may whisper to others — it was too much of a risk. You can’t risk anything, not in your current state. 

“Well, if there are no objections,” the judge pauses for a second.

Objections? Why would there be any objections? This fox waited for the perfect opportunity to have this sham of a wedding. Your parents who are currently in a luxurious cabin in their mountain getaway for the next four days – that was so lovingly paid for by the demon in front of you. This little trip is sadly your own dumbass fault. You foolishly let it slip one night that your parents like to travel and remember why they decided to spend the rest of their lives together – away from you, away from distractions, where they can be with each other and remember all the years filled with memories. And of course, the devil used this information against you…

“No objections here!” Your mom shouts a glass of wine in hand via zoom call.

Glancing to the people around you, a group of men whom you’ve never seen before, your actual witnesses to this horrible union — all eyes are bright and happy for the two of you, all except one. Their eyes pierce through your soul as if they can read every thought, every movement of your body. Quickly, before he notices something he shouldn’t, you avert your eyes and focus instead on the hem of your dress as the judge looks around and gives everyone a chance to speak up.

“Well, if there are no objections, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride!”

As if you were in some twisted romance movie, Jaemin eagerly leans in. His hands cupping your cheeks ever so gently, he places his lips against yours. His lips are glossy and soft while your painted red lips are stiff as a board. Like hell you were going to kiss him! You played your part. You weren’t going to give him anything more than the bare minimum. But that didn’t stop him at all. His one hand, closest to the judge, drops to your waist as he pulls you to him. The room erupts with cheers and applause from his guests and your parents. Tears prickle at your waterline, the last hope of freedom leaving you as your tears fall to the floor. 

“Congratulations!” Your parents shout.

Putting on your mask you smile gleefully at the screen. “Thank you mom and dad,” your lips quiver for a second. “S-Sorry you couldn’t be here.”

“We are too!” Your mom wipes her eyes. “We need to get together the moment we’re back in town.”

“Of course! A celebratory dinner,” Jaemin wraps his arm around your waist. “Plus, I know my beloved wife will want to talk to her mom about the nursery.”

“Ahhh!!! I can’t wait to get back! We’ll go shopping and help you two set everything up, won’t we honey?” She turns to your dad.

“Of course! Cheers my boy! May nothing but blessings fall upon you both.”

“Thank you, sir.”

Your parents end the zoom call by stating they’ll call later but to enjoy the rest of the day and have fun. As your parents say their goodbyes, Jaemin's guests swarm the two of you. 

“Dude! You did it!”

“Didn’t think you’d be the one to marry first but congrats!” 

“How does your mom feel about this one?” Another glances at you. “On second thought, fuck’em, you’re gorgeous!” He swoops down giving you a hug. “Welcome to the family!” 

“Hey! Hands off my wife,” Jaemin jokes.

“Hands off his wife and future baby,” a soft voice catches your attention. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you. My name is Jeno.”

“Baby!” Jaemin wraps his arm around Jeno’s shoulders, a huge smile on his face, the same smile that captivated you when you first saw it. “This is my best friend, Jeno! Jeno, this is my beautiful wife! Told you she was gorgeous!”

Nodding and smiling Jeno keeps his lips pressed together tightly before speaking. “You did, you did.”

“Come on! We need to celebrate!” Getting behind you a shorter and rather petite young man smiles sweetly. “I’m Renjun, it’s a pleasure to meet you. Now, I know this is going to seem weird but I need to put this blindfold on you.”

“N-No!!!” You squeak and try to move away but strong arms keep you from going anywhere.

“It’s okay.” Jeno chuckles. “Just a small, very small party we put together to surprise you guys. I promise nothing will happen. See,” he gestures with his chin towards Jaemin who is already blindfolded. “Everything’s fine. I promise.”

As you look into Jeno’s eyes your rapidly beating heart starts to calm down. There’s something about his gaze that makes it seem like it’s okay to believe him. That it’s okay to put your faith and trust in him. Then again, you fell for that trap before too.

“I can put it on myself.” You state bluntly.

“Independent woman, I like her already. Hey toots! The names Haechan! How this guy ended up with a beauty like you is beyond me, but once you’re done with him come and find me!” He winks.

“Really, Haechan? They just got married!” Shoving him aside a rather nervous yet charming man reaches out his hand. “I’m Mark.”

Shaking his hand you then slide the blindfold over your eyes. Hands grip your shoulders as a soft and soothing voice fills your head. 

“The rest of the introductions will have to wait, but if you’ll just keep your hand in mine I’ll safely lead you out to the car.” Jeno whispers. 

“Why exactly do we need the blindfolds again? Isn’t the party at our house?” Jaemin chuckles.

“Who said it was at your house?” Haechan’s voice booms next to you. “Renjun, Mark, get Chatty Cathy out of here. Jeno and I will handle his beloved bride.”

“Princess!!! Don’t worry you’re in safe hands!” Jaemin shouts his voice getting farther away as he continues to speak. “Haechan don’t you dare touch her or this nice judge will have to charge me for murder!”

Giggling behind you the judge speaks up. “Have a wonderful day you two and congratulations!!! But please, no murdering anyone!!!!”

Strong hands intertwine with yours, their hand warm and comforting. “Okay, start walking forward.”

ⓗ  ⓤ  ⓝ  ⓣ  ⓔ  ⓡ

Through a crowd of first responders you hear your name. Turning to the voice you see Jeno thrashing his way through trying to get to you and your son.

"Jeno..." you whisper. "JE-JENO!!!!" You scream for him to find where you are.

“Will you move?!" He shouts at a few firefighters. "I know the people of this home! Move!!!" With one final shove he bursts through the barricade they tried to make and sprints to you. Engulfing you in his arms he holds you tightly. “Are you okay? When I saw the news I came right away.” Pulling back just enough to inspect you, he cups your face in his hands. “What the hell happened? Did you get hurt? What did they say?" He checks your face for any injuries.

"Jeno,” you start sniffling. “I don’t… I don’t know what happened. It just…it just…”

Pulling you back to him he holds you in his arms. “Don’t worry, everything's going to be okay now. Is everyone safe?” 

Nodding you step aside so he has a view of his nephew who is still sitting inside of the ambulance. “Little man!"  He shouts, grabbing your sons’ attention. 

“Uncle Jeno,” he starts to cry again. 

“Hey Buddy!” He scoops him up into his arms. Your son’s tears keep pouring down his cheeks just as yours start up again. “There…there…everything's going to be okay."

"Da-Daddy..." he mumbles through his tears. "Daddy was..." he cries more.

Turning slowly to you Jeno’s eyes widen with shock. "Where is Jaemin?"

Covering your mouth you shake your head. "He-He...He…” you can’t bring yourself to utter the words. 

Everything happened so fast. One second the three of you were in the kitchen the next you’re outside with your son taking cover before the house went up in flames. It just doesn’t make any sense…

“Where…is Jaemin?” Jeno asks again.

“He was still inside when the house went up in flames,” you start choking on your tears.

"Mommy got hurt," your son points to your arm. "She saved me!"

Staring down at your arm, Jeno’s grip on your son tightens. "Of course she would," he smiles at him. "She would do anything to make sure you're safe."

"Is that so?" A gruff voice pulls everyone’s attention. "Would you do anything?"

Immediately getting in front of you, Jeno blocks you from this stranger's view. "Who are you?!" He demands.

"I believe I'm the one who should be asking all the questions. I'm the one who will be overseeing this investigation."

"Investigation..." Jeno mumbles. "Wait, this is just a house fire, shouldn't the fire chief be in charge?"

"It would have just been a house fire but now we're investigating a possible homicide."

"HOMICIDE?!" You and Jeno shout.

ⓗ  ⓤ  ⓝ  ⓣ  ⓔ  ⓡ

Your hand grazes over the pictures that were taken from your wedding reception. The smiling faces of Jaemin's friends who have strangely become quite important people in your life since that day. Renjun and Haechan bickering after Haechan shoved some of your wedding cake on his face. A slight smile tugs at the corner of your mouth at the hilarious memory. Those two are like Tom and Jerry, constantly doing things to piss the other off but at the end of the day would feel incomplete if the other weren’t around. 

Then, there is Mark, Chenle, and Jisung smiling sweetly for the camera, but the best part of the picture are Chenle's fingers behind Mark and Jisung's heads while he smiles extra bright for the picture. The little sneak thinking that he would get away with giving them bunny ears – he would have too if Jaemin hadn’t sent everyone copies of the pictures. 

When the guys came over for a meal that’s when the arguing began between those three ensued, thank goodness when you brought out the food they forgot what they were fighting about — making the rest of the evening quite pleasant. 

Finally, your hand stops at a picture of yourself, Jaemin and Jeno. This one being your husband's favorite picture… You can hear his voice ringing in your ears when he printed out the picture,

'My two favorite people in the world... We should frame this one, don't you think?'

After the fake wedding and reception and when all his friends left to go back to their homes the mask you were wearing shattered. You didn’t have to pretend anymore to be happy about what was supposed to be the best day of your life. You could let your sorrow show and make sure the man that has single handedly ruined your life know exactly how you felt. Which meant going back to avoiding him every chance you got. There was no talking, no listening, and no doing anything that he requested you to do. The only thing you did was sit on the window seat staring out at the world that is no longer your oyster. This wasn't a marriage, this was a life sentence.

Slamming the album closed you place it back on the bookshelf next to all the other fake memories he's created to fit his twisted fantasy. The only memories that are real are the moments with your son. Everything surrounding the child you fortunately, yet unfortunately share with him are the realist moments between the two of you.

Opening up the album specified for your first pregnancy, you stare at a picture of the two of you from your first doctor's appointment, the memory playing out in front of you as if you were watching a movie. Jaemin couldn’t stop fidgeting despite the fact he knew you were pregnant before the doctor confirmed it. Whether his fidgety behavior was due to the anticipation of you blurting out that you’re being held against your will, or because he was truly excited to hear if your symptoms were in fact true that the two of you would become parents — you still don’t know to this day, but shockingly his behavior must have been normal for first time dad’s because it sure didn’t flag as unusual to the doctor or nurse. 

Turning the page you push down the memory of wanting to shout to the doctor, to the people in the waiting room that you were a victim of the man sitting next to you. Deep down you were desperately screaming for help, for someone to call the cops but from the moment he approached you at the last gate and told you that you were pregnant you lost the will to fight. The only will you have left in you is to make sure that your son has a happy life and knows NOTHING of what befell you. 

Looking down at the next picture you gently giggle at your first ultrasound photo. That day Jaemin said your son looked like a little lima bean. Strangely, it was a sweet moment. His eyes were glued to the monitor as a trickle of sweat dripped down the side of his face. He was always nervous when it came to your checkups. It was as if he was waiting for someone to pull the rug from underneath him. But the moment the nurse found the tiny little bean shaped baby growing inside of you, his shoulders slumped down and his body relaxed. 

He earnestly asked if you guys can have a photo and turned to you smiling brightly. As if this picture would cure all diseases, as if the child inside of you would solve all the world’s problems — he grabbed your hand gently, pulling it up to his lips where he gave your knuckles a kiss.

‘Thank you.’ He whispered. 

‘For what?’ You asked. 

‘Thank you for making me a father. I swear I will do everything in my power to ensure that you and our baby are safe. I promise.’ 

And you knew he meant every word…

After your son’s first ultrasound there are plenty of photos of your growing belly. Jaemin becoming quite thrilled watching the growth of you and your son. At first it was a little weird to you. You didn’t like seeing how big your stomach was getting and the small stretch marks that started to appear, despite rubbing cocoa butter on your stomach every day. But Jaemin being Jaemin reassured you every day…

‘Princess, you’re not fat, okay? You look amazing!’ He says holding up the camera. 

‘I told you I don’t want to take any more pictures.’

‘Don’t you want our son to see these when he’s older? To know that he has the best mother in the world?! To know that she took the best care of herself as well as him?’

‘Yeah, like a picture is going to show all of that,’ you roll your eyes. 

‘Please, just one more?’

‘Fine. Take it.’

In hindsight these pictures are some of the ones you treasure the most. Knowing the best gift you could ever receive in your life was with you – growing with you day by day, both of you getting stronger helped to heal some of the wounds you’ve suffered. 

But nothing will ever top the moment that both Jaemin and yourself saw your son’s face for the first time with the three-dimensional imaging. This was the moment where you knew everything was real! That this was happening! That you were about to be a mom! And Jaemin's words after seeing your son's face for the first time darn near broke you...

'You did it,' he whispers next to you. 'Look at him... he's gorgeous... great job, mom.'

Those words of validation for some strange reason had your heart and mind playing games with you. The Jaemin you first met was in that room with you, looking at the beautiful life you both created, together. His eyes glistening with tears despite his lips trying to hold back the proudest smile the world has ever seen. At that moment, you had the Na Jaemin back...

But those moments didn't last. The moment you left your appointment realization came crashing down. This isn't real. These moments are fabricated to fit one person's psychotic fantasy. Even the child that grows within you was not created out of love, but out of survival. Those weeks where you submitted to him while you painstakingly planned your escape, only for this gift and curse to keep you tethered to him.

"You know it doesn't have to be this way, right?" An all too familiar voice whispers behind you. "We can make this work between us. For the baby at the very least," his arms wrap around your waist pulling you to his chest. 

The numbing sensation you’ve grown accustomed to starts to slither up your body. It starts from your toes to your ankles, sinking deeper and deeper into your flesh. These past couple of months since the wedding you’ve learned a new skill — how to completely shut down any and all feelings. Letting whoever has control do whatever they please. 

"I've asked for your forgiveness so many times. I've been on my hands and knees for you. I've bowed my head on the ground before you. Yet you haven't forgiven me..."

But just like the venomous beast he is, Jaemin finds a crack in this new skill of yours. Bursting through like a bull he shatters everything before facing the one emotion that is always below the surface, rage. 

"Do you really think you deserve forgiveness, Jaemin? What if the roles were reversed? What if I bowed my head to you? If I begged and pleaded for you to forgive me after kidnapping you and gas lighting everyone in your life for my own fucked up fantasy, would you forgive me? Would you forgive me if I had forcefully rode your dick to kingdom come until I ended up pregnant further linking us together? Knowing full well no matter where you go in this world there will always be a part of me attached to you!! Would you still forgive me?!" You shout, your eyes and fists clenching.

Squeezing you tighter in his embrace, his forehead falls to the top of your head. "No.” He whispers. 

Startled, your body freezes up. Did he… wait, he didn’t just say, “no?” You ask.

“No. I wouldn’t be able to forgive you. I’m not going to pretend that I would. I won’t and I can’t lie to you like that. What I did was,” he pauses sighing, once again his arms wrapping tighter around you. “Is, wrong. The past few months since you’ve started to ignore my existence I’ve done a lot of thinking.

“I was scared that you were going to leave me. I was scared that the one source of happiness I found on this earth was going to disappear. Logically, I know if it was meant to be we could have made it work, but I had never fallen so fast and hard for someone in my life. In fact, I’ve tried to avoid falling in love completely.

“I can say that it was because of my parents, I can say that it’s because of crappy exes who didn’t care about me but about the money my family has, but that’s not the complete truth. When I lost my grandmother a piece of me broke that day. She was the only person who saw me. She was the only person to look me in my eyes and see Jaemin, not Na Jaemin, the son of a multimillionaire, the one to take over the company one day.

“She just saw me, her grandson. When you came into my life and we started talking, it was like I was seen,” he sniffles. “Someone was finally looking at me for me.”

“And you’re telling me your friends don’t see you for you?”

“They see me as the kid who’s from a rich family. Plus, it’s not like they aren’t from well off families either.”

“You’ve doubted their loyalty?”

“Never.”

“Then you trust them and accept that they see you for you.”

“Only one person.”

“Jeno?” You inquire.

Nodding he nuzzles his face in the crook of your neck, his arms loosening for his hands to rest on your round belly. “Please…tell me what I can do. Tell me what I can do to start over. To show you the kind of man I truly am…please..."

"Confess."

His body stiffens behind you. His heart pounding against your back. Closing your eyes you wait for any type of reaction from him. Whether it be anger, tears, or worse…

“Confess?” He asks, but his voice sounds distant.

“Yes. Confess all of your crimes towards me.”

Instead of answering you, he wraps his arms around you, pulling you flush against him. His breath hot on your neck, you pray that he won’t do anything drastic. “I…I need help…” He chokes back a few tears. “Please, I need help… don’t make me… I’m sorry…”

“You need more than help, Jaemin. You kidnapped me, locked me in that room, and had me play that fucked up game for lord knows how long! You need to pay for your crimes!”

Jaemin buries his face into the crook of your neck. “Aren’t I paying for them already? You don’t talk to me. You won’t even look at me! You barely let me touch you. The only time you show an ounce of your true self is when we’re at your doctor's appointments. That’s it…”

“And how exactly am I supposed to act? Do you want me to put on a mask and pretend like I’m happy that my life was uprooted? That I barely get to see my family, oh, and the only time I do is when I’m around you? Come on, Jaemin…”

“Fine…” he sniffs and tears himself away from you. “Just… just let me at least be here when the baby is born, okay? After that…” he takes a deep yet shaky inhale. “I’ll confess to everything, okay? I’ll turn myself in.”

ⓗ  ⓤ  ⓝ  ⓣ  ⓔ  ⓡ

“There we go, all better!” The nurse says as she finishes bandaging your right forearm. “Now, you’re going to need to avoid getting your arm wet for a while until it heals properly,” she starts.

“How long exactly?” You inquire.

“Well we’ll schedule you for an appointment in about a week at the wound center. There is a hospital across the river that specializes in the treatment of wounds and Dr. Andrews, the one who came in and initially inspected your arm,” you nod. “Well, he’s the head doctor there so he will be checking on your healing progress. He said that you’re very lucky and it’s not a serious burn, but to be safe for the next seven days if you can avoid getting water on your arm it would be for the best.”

“Wh-What about bathing? And my son, I need to give him baths!”

“I wouldn’t mind volunteering,” a snarky voice startles both you and the nurse. “That is if you don’t mind disrobing in front of me.”

Exhaling deeply you let out a loud groan. “What are you doing here, Haechan?”

“Jeno called us,” he steps forward. “Now, now, don’t look so miserable. You’ll break my heart.”

“He called you and you decided to sprint over here? How nice of you.” You spat.

“Look, I was just joking about the bathing thing. My sister can help you with that if you want,” he shoves his hands in his pocket shrugging. “As for the little guy, aren’t you staying with Jeno?”

“Yes…”

“Well, there you go. Plus, the little dude is like what 10? He can handle a bath by himself.”

“He’s six and a half,” you growl. 

“Easy now,” he smirks. “I was just playing.”

The nurse's eyes bounce between you and Haechan confused. “Exactly who are you, sir?”

“I’m the guy who’s going to be interviewing her for the homicide of Na Jaemin.” 

“WHAT?!” You scream. 

“Shit woman! Do you have to make my ears bleed?”

“I swear!” You look at the nurse. “I swear I didn’t do anything! Haechan! You jackass! What the hell is going on?!”

“Look,” he holds up hands trying to calm you down. “We both know you wouldn’t do anything to hurt Jaemin, especially not with your son around. The problem is that they found a body in YOUR home where there was a fire and Jaemin is nowhere to be seen. I’m not sure about the condition of the body but it’s already on its way to the coroners. 

“To be frank I shouldn’t even be on this case since I know you, but I can’t let this go to anyone else. Jaemin was my friend and when he married you, you became family to me. Until everything is resolved I’m going to make sure you and your son are safe. So just relax, okay? Tonight I’ll come over and explain everything that’s going to happen to you and Jeno. Call it a courtesy visit because we’re friends.”

“Haechan,” tears form at your waterline. “Please, you have to help me… I didn’t do anything! I swear! I could nev —”

He hushes you with his pointer finger against your lips. “I know and I hate knowing that right now you’re the prime and only suspect.”

“But I…”

“Ma’am, if this is your friend I’m sure he’ll do all that he can to help you. And if you said you had nothing to do with this incident you’ll be fine. The most important thing to focus on right now is healing so you can take care of your son.” The nurse rests a reassuring hand on your shoulder.

“She’s right. It’ll be fine and I promise I will find out what happened to Jaemin.”

“Thank you, Haechan…”

“Of course.” His attention goes from you to the nurse, a somber look deep in his eyes. “So, is she able to answer a few questions now?”

“I don’t see why not, but please nothing too stressful. Ever since you showed up her heart rate has acted up,” the nurse teases. 

“I always knew you were into me,” he wiggles his brows and blows you a kiss.

“Go fuck yourself, Haechan.”

“If you don’t mind can we have a little privacy please?”

“Oh, yes.” The nurse nods and leaves. “If you need anything just press the button I gave you.”

“Thank you.”

You watch the nurse leave and close the door behind her leaving you and Haechan alone. Letting out a huge breath Haechan joins you on the bed. 

Looking out the small window in your room you ask the dreaded question. “How bad is it?”

“Depends on what you tell me here.”

“Do they really think that I would do something as deliberate as to set my home on fire with my child and I barely escaping it unscathed?! What kind of lunacy are they snorting down at your precinct?!”

“I know you would do anything to protect your kid. We all know that but my boss doesn't. So I need you to tell me EVERYTHING. The events leading up to the fire and what happened afterwards. I need to know it all and DO NOT leave anything out.”

Gulping your head slowly turns to Haechan. “Exactly how much of everything do you need to know?”

Holding up his work phone he shows you the voice recording app. Turning your head away he says, “everything.” 

“That’s a little personal don’t you think?” Peeking back at him you see him press the button and know there is no way to get out of this. 

“Why don’t we start from the beginning? Actually, none of us know this, but when did you first meet Jaemin?”

You shrug, “almost two years before our son was born.”

“How did you meet him?”

“I got lost while taking a back road and ended up at his grandmother’s estate where he was staying. I had gotten hurt while trudging through the woods near her home and he allowed me to stay until I was better. He even invited my parents over so I wouldn’t miss spending the holidays with them.”

Shocked, Haechan chuckles. “Damn he did all that?”

“Yes it was very nice of him.”

“When did the two of you become official?”

“New Year’s Day.”

“How long did the two of you date before getting engaged?”

Rolling your eyes you start growing irritated. “Are these questions necessary? I mean really?!”

“Yes they are. We need to figure out if you had any reason to harm him.”

Turning away from Haechan you can’t help but remember all those months that you were locked up in that fucked up labyrinth of a home. How Jaemin made you play that perverse game hunting you down like you were a rabbit and he the wolf. Not to mention the use of his pride and joy, Nana… 

Your head springs up. “The dogs!!!!” You scream. “How could I have forgotten?! What the hell is wrong with me?! Where are the dogs? Are they okay?” 

“The two males seemed to have run away because they were located a few miles away in a different neighborhood. They’re safe and currently staying at a shelter until you’re able to care for them.”

“And Nana! What about her?”

Haechan shrugs, “we don’t know what happened to her. No one reported a dog that was found. I’ll check with the fire house, but as of now she may have perished in the fire.”

“She’s…she’s gone?” Tears spring to your eyes.

“I’m sorry, I know how much she meant to everyone.”

“Oh, Nana…” you cover your mouth as tears fall onto your hand. 

Your lips hidden from Haechan lightly tug at the ends. Fighting back the urge to smile, you let the appearance of grief take over your body. That hellish beast will no longer haunt you! She’s gone! Finally out of your life for good! 

It’s terrible to admit that you’re ecstatic she’s gone, but you are. She never got used to you being around. She would snap, bare her teeth, snarl, and bark at you. Not to mention all the times she purposely rushed past you making you lose your balance. The only sad part is that you will need to tell your son that his favorite dog in the whole wide world has passed away. Now that is going to be hard.

“So,” Haechan starts the interview again. “You were going to say how long you dated Jaemin.”

“We dated,” you sniff, “for about seven months and got engaged three months after I found out I was pregnant.”

“After your son was born, how was your marriage to Jaemin?”

“M-My marriage?”

“Yes, how was it being married to Jaemin? Did the two of you fight a lot? How did you manage being a new mom and a wife?”

“I… u-ummm —”

ⓗ  ⓤ  ⓝ  ⓣ  ⓔ  ⓡ

“Okay, I’m going to need you to give me one more biiiigggg~ push, okay?” The doctor instructs you.

“I can’t! I can’t do it!” You cry out.

“Princess you need to, okay?” Jaemin holds your hand in his. “You can do this, you can do anything you set your mind to.” He kisses your sweat drenched forehead.

“No! Seriously I can’t!” You start to cry. “It hurts!”

“Sweetheart, just think in one more push you’ll be able to hold your son in your arms. In one more push it’ll all be over,” he lays his head on top of yours. “I can’t imagine how much pain you’re in, but you just squeeze my hand as hard as you need to, okay?”

“Okay!!! On three I’m going to need you to push!” The doctor says enthusiastically.

“I can’t!” You now hold onto Jaemin’s hand with both of yours.

“You can do this!” He kisses your forehead once more.

“One…two…” taking a huge breath in, you brace yourself and squeeze the living daylights out of Jaemin’s hand when the doctor says, “THREE!!!”

“Yahhhhhhh!!!” Both Jaemin and yourself shout for different reasons. 

“We’re almost there just a little more,” the doctor instructs.

“Ahhhh c’mon!!!” You growl.

“You’ve got this princess just one more push!” Jaemin winces when you squeeze his hand again.

“AHHHHHHH FUCK!!!!!!!!” You scream.

And after the longest push of your life you hear the first cry of your baby boy. Immediately your body falls back onto the hospital bed, drenched in sweat. Your chest rises and falls quickly as you desperately try to catch your breath. Peeking down at the doctor, Jaemin’s eyes widen when the doctor holds up your baby.

“Princess! Princess!” He wraps his arm around your shoulders. “Look!”

Opening your eyes, you see the most beautiful baby in the world. Bursting into tears, Jaemin holds you close to him repeating ‘you did it! You did it!’ While his tears fall onto your cheeks.  

“Okay, we’re going to cut the umbilical cord now,” the doctor informs the two of you. “So, would you like to do the honors, dad?” 

Jaemin glances down at you. “C-Can I?”

“He’s your son, go ahead.” You reach up a clammy shaky hand and place it gingerly against his cheek.

Giving your wrist a quick kiss, Jaemin rushes over shaking from top to bottom. He’s given a pair of surgical scissors and the doctor tells him where to cut. After he is finished, they quickly take your son over to get a quick checkup, weigh in, and clean up, before he is placed in your arms. 

Consumed by this unspeakable feeling of pure love and adoration you stare at this beautiful baby. Feeling his breathing start to match your own, you wrap your hand gently around his. 

“You’re so beautiful right now,” Jaemin whispers next to you. 

Scoffing, you roll your eyes. “Yeah, I’m sure. I’m all sweaty, my hair’s a mess and sticking to me, I must look like a mess right now… So, don’t lie to me.”

“I’m not lying. You’re glowing right now. And I never want to forget this sight for the rest of my life.”

Peeking up at him you gasp at the state Jaemin’s in. Eyes and nose red from the tears he’s fighting hard to hold back, but the smile on his face could make the devil himself change his ways. It’s simply angelic. Then again, the bright ceiling light above him helps to create this angelic atmosphere around him. Bending down he rests his forehead against yours as his hand cups your cheek.

“I love you so much.”

Closing your eyes, you bite your lips before uttering, “I know, Jaemin.”

Letting out a hurt laugh he kisses your nose before pulling back. “Thank you for allowing me to be here.”

“Jaemin,” you whisper.

“I’ll set everything up for the two of you to be taken care of for the rest of your lives.”

“Jaemin.”

“I’m sure the guys will be there to help you with whatever you need so you don’t have to worry —”

“STOP!” You raise your voice but not too loud as to wake the baby. “Just… stop, okay? You don’t… you don’t have to say anything…”

“A deal is a deal.”

“This is your son! Even if I’m not ecstatic about it, he deserves to have his father in his life and not through a plate glass window. And before you get some twisted idea that I’ve suddenly forgiven you, I just don’t want to know that you’re in some jail cell counting down the days before you can see us again. I think that would make you crazier than you already are.”

“But I thought…”

“I will never forgive you. This is just me showing you some compassion and leniency which you DO NOT deserve. I’m doing this for my child, but you WILL seek the help you need. The moment you stop going to therapy is the moment I change my mind and go to the police.”

“Absolutely! I swear I won’t…” he chokes out a cry. “I won’t let you or our son down. I know you said you would never forgive me but I will do everything in my power to show you I can be a man you can rely on. I’ll become a man that will be there for you and our child.”

“There will also be a few rule changes!”

“Rule…changes?” His head tilts.

“You will no longer accompany me when I leave the home.”

“BUT –” he starts.

Holding up your hand you stop him. “I am not going to leave you. Not now with our son. I will also not speak a word of what happened in regards to the two of us. I will not speak a word to your friends either of the events that occurred between us and I will keep up my role as the happy dutiful wife. All I ask in return is that you trust me. I need to leave the estate at some point, Jaemin. I need to be free to visit my parents on my own. I need to be able to go to the store without having you tag along. Let me have the life of a stay at home mom, deal?”

Closing his eyes tightly, he nods his head reluctantly. “Okay. Deal.”

ⓗ  ⓤ  ⓝ  ⓣ  ⓔ  ⓡ

The car ride to Jeno’s house is dead quiet. Your son has since fallen asleep with his head resting on your lap. The two of you are sitting in the back of Jeno’s car so your son can stretch out a little more. Across from you in the driver’s seat, Jeno’s hands grip the steering wheel tightly. It’s weird… this morning you had a home, a life, belongings, dogs, and a husband — now you’re homeless with a child, no job, and your parents… well, you can always live with them but after everything… 

“What did Haechan want to talk to you about?” Jeno whispers.

“He wanted to know about my relationship with Jaemin.”

“What? Why?”

“I’m the only suspect so far,” you sigh while stroking your son's hair. “He needed to get background information on my life with Jaemin.”

“What the fu —”

“Jeno!” You quickly interject.

Staring him dead straight in the eyes you look down towards your son. Instantly realizing his faux pas he gives a curt nod. “Sorry, I guess I’ll have to watch my language from now on. The two of you can stay with me for as long as you need to.”

“I’m sorry that this happened, Jeno. This must be such an inconvenience.”

“You’re not an inconvenience, you’re family!” He reaffirms.

“Thank you.”

The car goes quiet again. A thickness in the air of questions yet to be asked and answers that you honestly don’t want to give and can’t give. You’re still trying to wrap your head around what happened. How did the house become engulfed in such a short period of time? 

“So, what exactly did Haechan ask you in regards to Jaemin?”

“He wanted to know when we started dating, how our marriage life was like. I guess just your typical background information on the prime suspect. Jeno, if anything happens to me I need you to promise me one thing. I need you to —”

“Nothing is going to happen to you!” He grips the wheel tighter. “Do you hear me? Nothing! Haechan, the guys and I will never let anything happen to you. Plus, we promised Jaemin that a long time ago.”

“Wh-What?”

“When your son was born and after the plethora of baby pictures, I mean geez did the guy have to send every single one he ever took?” He chuckles, making you smile gently. “Anyway, after all that he called us out to have a round of drinks and said that he was the luckiest man in the world. 

“That he can’t believe that he had you in his life. He was just so happy. He asked us to promise him that if anything were to happen to him, anything at all, that we would take care of the two of you and we all promised without any hesitation.”

“He said that?”

“Mmmhmm. But now…” Jeno’s voice grows quiet. “Now that I’m thinking about it he was talking as if something would happen to him soon. It was strange. He was happy but at the same time he was scared.”

“He was scared?”

“Maybe scared isn’t the right word…worried, perhaps?”

“Worried…?” your gaze drifts off into the dark night. 

“Yeah it was almost as if his whole world would be swept away in an instant. It was strange we’ve never seen him like that before.”

“Did he ever say what was going on?”

“Ahhh!! We’re here,” Jeno states as he pulls into his driveway. “Haechan said he’ll be over in about two hours to talk to us about what will happen next. In the meantime I’ll make you guys something to eat and you can get cleaned up.”

“W-We don’t have anything to…” you whisper.

“Haechan said he’ll bring over some clothes for the two of you. His sister left some of her stuff at his place before she moved out. Tomorrow if the two of you are up for it we can go shopping for some essentials.”

“I promise Jeno I’ll pay you back! I swear!” 

Turning back around he cracks a wide smile. “Don’t worry about it. And I’ll say it here and now so listen up. There will be no saying ‘I’m sorry about this,’ or ‘No, you can’t. This is too much,’ or anything like that, okay?”

“You’re an amazing person, Jeno. Thank you for everything. Truly. We'll forever be in your debt.”

“Nonsense,” he gets out of the car. “Now let’s get you two inside and some food in your stomachs.”

ⓗ  ⓤ  ⓝ  ⓣ  ⓔ  ⓡ

Sitting on the front porch on the swing Jaemin and Jeno put together for you a year ago during the early spring – you watch your son gleefully play with all of the dogs on the massive front lawn. It’s bizarre to imagine that three years ago you were holding your son for the first time. That he was this tiny precious baby and now, he’s running, laughing, and playing with all the dogs. He’s learning new words each and every day. How many clothes he’s grown out of, but one thing hasn’t changed – his love for you grows stronger and stronger each day.

“Mama!” He waves.

“Hi baby!” You wave back.

Nana barks, grabbing your son’s attention and he laughs while climbing on top of her. The smile you were proudly wearing starts to fade as the little shit of a creature wags her tail enthusiastically towards your son. Well, if there was one plus side with having Nana around, it was her loyalty. She would probably rush into a burning building to save your son before you took your first steps to do the same. She might be a bitch to you, but she loves your son dearly and for that, you’ll cover your disdain for her with a clench of annoyance with your jaw.

“I made some lemonade,” Jaemin says, coming out onto the front porch. “It’s extra sweet, just how you like it.”

“Ah, thanks,” taking your glass you mix the liquid around with the straw before taking a huge gulp. “It’s good.”

“It’s not too sweet?” He asks taking a seat next to you.

“No, it’s perfect.”

A smile tugs at the corner of his mouth. “I’m glad. I put in a little more sugar than last time. I’ll have to remember to make it this way from now on. So, what is on today’s agenda?”

“I need to go into town and do a little more shopping for his birthday party. Did you call the caterer?”

“Yep, they’ll be here an hour and a half before the party starts. The only problem we might have is the weather. It might rain in the afternoon, so I pulled a few strings and we’ll have a big tent set up the night before in the backyard as a precautionary measure.”

“It’s supposed to rain?” You ask worried. “Should we reschedule?”

“It would be too much of a hassle to reschedule. Plus, it’s just a smaller party this time around. Everything will be fine.”

“I just want his third birthday to be one to remember…” you pout looking out at your son who is still playing with the dogs.

“He’s not going to remember this birthday party at all so why worry? I mean do you remember your third birthday party?” Jaemin chuckles. “Once he hits seven that’s when we’ll have to up the ante.”

“Great, I'll have three years to plan the best party of all time.”

Jaemin starts to swing the porch swing gently, a huge smile on his face. “I know I’ve said this a million times already but I need to thank you for everything. If it wasn’t for you I wouldn’t be here for moments like these. I wouldn’t be able to see him grow up at all, to see him laughing and playing with the dogs, or see his first steps. It’s all thanks to you that I’m able to experience all of this.”

“It’s not a big deal,” you mumble. “Plus, who else would take care of Nana? She hates me and only likes the two of you.”

Chuckling, Jaemin reaches over and puts his hand on top of yours. “She doesn’t hate you.” Glaring at him he starts laughing more. “Okay, maybe she highly dislikes you, but I mean, you did try to kill me, remember?” He tilts his head.

“It’s not like I wanted to!” You snatch your hand from under his. “You left me with no other choice!”

“I know I didn’t leave you any other choice. It was a joke, I’m sorry.”

Glancing over you see the smile that Jaemin was boasting to the world has since disappeared. These past three years have been turbulent to say the least. You’ve sporadically burst out in pure rage towards him which could be a combination of many things. Blaming most of these outbursts on fatigue, which you felt was true considering your son would not sleep right until a few months ago – deep down both of you know it’s because you’re still harboring the hatred you felt for being trapped by him. Though admittingly, the feelings have become less and less as the years go by.

Jaemin has been an excellent father. He’s gone above and beyond anything you could have thought of. Even when he was barely getting two hours of sleep a night he would wake up and take care of his precious baby allowing you to sleep. The only time he ever woke you, was when there was no milk in the fridge that you pumped. Jaemin wanted to be present for everything in his child’s life, all of the little moments and all of the big moments. He’s been amazing…

“No, I’m sorry.” You rub between your brows. “I shouldn’t have shouted. Plus, I knew what I was doing back then. I wanted to do it…”

“You wanted to kill me?” He asks quietly.

“I wanted to be free.”

ⓗ  ⓤ  ⓝ  ⓣ  ⓔ  ⓡ

“Okay, what are we looking at?” Jeno asks Haechan.

“Geez, can’t a guy get himself comfortable before you jump down my throat? Plus, where’s your hospitality? No drink? No offering of food? Tsk, tsk, not a very good host at all.”

“Haechan cut the crap!” Jeno growls. “This is serious! We need to know what’s going to happen!”

“Okay, okay, I know,” Haechan turns to you. “I sent in the transcript of what we talked about to my boss. He glanced over a few things but he’s still not satisfied. Now, I shouldn’t be telling you this, but he wants to look into the specifics of your relationship. I’m supposed to talk to your parents and try to get a feeling of how Jaemin and yourself were like during your relationship. He said something doesn’t feel right and he wants me to look into it.”

“Something doesn’t feel right?” You ask.

“For him, the timeline doesn’t make any sense. Honestly, I can’t blame him.”

Jeno runs an aggravated hand through his hair. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means while I was doing some research I found myself asking the same questions as him. How does someone who was so close to being a major player at her company just up and leave one day, out of the blue? How does she never go back to her job EVER and how does she not go back to her home? I talked with your landlord; he says he hasn’t seen you in over eight years. What’s up with that?” Haechan asks you.

“Why the hell are you looking into her like she’s some kind of suspect? Do you think she had anything to do with this? Whose side are you on?”

“That’s because as of right now she’s the prime suspect! It’s always the spouse who we dig into first with a fine-toothed comb, you should know this already. Look I’m on her side, but I’m going to do my job whether you or,” he looks you in the eyes and you knew what he was about to say, “you like it. This is my job! My livelihood. I can’t just sweep things under the rug. I promised that I would protect you and I will, but you’ve got to throw me a bone, some things just aren’t adding up.”

“So she quit her job and moved in with Jaemin. What does that have to do with anything? Plenty of couples move in with each other. If this is the kind of talk you wanted to have you can just leave!”

“Why are you getting so pissed? I’m keeping the two of you in the loop of EVERYTHING that’s going to happen. I’m not hiding anything.”

Jeno rises from the couch. “Because you’re making it seem like she’s guilty!”

“And who’s to say she isn’t?!” Haechan shouts while standing up as well. “Just because she’s family doesn’t mean she’s innocent!”

“Can we just keep our voices down, or take this conversation outside?” You ask.

“We made a promise to Jaemin! WE, as in all of us, promised to keep her safe as well as her son if ANYTHING were to happen to him.”

“And why did he make us promise something like that? Hmmm?! Maybe he expected that something would happen to him!”

“Are you fucking serious? Why would he think his life is in danger?”

“I don’t know, why don’t we ask his corpse that is in the fucking morgue!” Haechan screams as tears fall down onto his cheeks.

“H-Haechan…” you grab ahold of his hand. “Please, stop, both of you.”

“No! He’s being an asshole!” Jeno shouts.

“I’m trying to put together a picture so I can prove she had nothing to do with this!”

“And looking into her work history is how you do this?”

Sighing, you stand up between them. “Jaemin and I,” you start to speak but stop. “Jaemin and I had a fraudulent marriage!” You shout.

Silence fills the room as you finally speak some of your truth. Frankly, it felt nice to speak about things. Having kept this secret, this charade up for the past seven years has been tough. With Jaemin gone, perhaps…you can finally be free…

“What did you just say?” Haechan grabs your shoulders.

“I mean it wasn’t fraudulent in the literal sense. I lied to you when I said that Jaemin and I had been dating. We, well, the thing is –”

Scoffing Jeno rolls his eyes flopping down on the couch.  “So Haechan is right,” he shakes his head. “You’re going to sit down and tell us everything. No more secrets.”

“E-Everything?”

“Everything,” Haechan sits down as well. “This is only going to help you in the long run. If everything checks out then you won’t have anything to worry about.”

“What if I do have something to worry about? What if I say what happened between Jaemin and I and I lose everything?” Tears start to trickle down your cheeks. “Look, all you need to know is that towards the end, we were working on things. We even started to sleep in the same bed again! I swear!”

“You weren’t sleeping in the same bed?” Jeno questions.

Shaking your head anxiously, “I shouldn’t have said anything. I should’ve kept my mouth shut.”

“Tell us what happened!” Haechan states firmly and while you shake your head, your eyes close tightly, repeating ‘I can’t, I can’t’ over and over again until Haechan grabs your hand and soon you hear it click.

“H-Haechan!” Jeno gasps. “What the fuck are you doing?”

“Haechan!” You squeak.

“Tell us everything or I’m going to take you down to the precinct and interrogate you the proper way. I’ll put you in our holding cell until you decide to talk. So, which do you prefer?” He holds up the other end of the handcuffs making your arm raise slightly.

Your eyes bounce back and forth between your hand and Haechan’s intense gaze. He wasn’t joking at all. He’s being dead serious. Gently turning to Jeno he motions for you to just talk, clearly exhausted from this situation and most likely today’s fiasco. Nodding, Haechan lowers your arm. Reaching into his pocket he pulls out his phone and goes straight to the audio recording app. Clicking the button he asks you the question, ‘what exactly happened between you and Jaemin?’

“Jaemin and I were married legally but we weren’t in love,” you start your sorted tale. “Well, at least I wasn’t in love. Jaemin, he was the one who was in love with me. I guess the real truth was he was madly, enthusiastically, crazily, in love with me. When we were married, I hated him. I was numb from the inside out. I only went through with the wedding because of my son.”

“Why would you marry someone you hate just because of your son? You were making quite enough money for yourself and any children you would have, so why go through everything to marry someone you hate?”

Shrugging you coil in on yourself. “That’s something I can’t explain. Like I stated I was numb. I had shut down all thoughts and feelings for the most part. It was as if I was looking at my life from outside of my body. I liked Jaemin when we first met. I even thought I found the person I would spend the rest of my life with, but he went crazy when I told him I had to go. He started acting erratic and, well, there’s really no other way to say it, but he kidnapped me.”

Haechan stops the recording quickly after you finish speaking. “What the fuck do you mean he kidnapped you?!”

“Jaemin slipped something into my drink the night before I was going to leave. I fell asleep in his arms in his bed and when I woke up I was in a different room chained to a bed. The chain was long enough for me to move around the room and to use the bathroom, but I couldn’t leave. He had Nana, for the most part, watch the door I was in. That little bitch hated me.” You roll your eyes. “The tears I was shedding in the hospital when you told me she was gone, were tears of joy. I couldn’t stand that dog. She would always try to trip me, she would bark at me, snap at me. She was acting like a jealous ex-girlfriend. She was like that the moment I stepped into Jaemin’s life.”

Shaking his head, Haechan stands up. “No. This… This didn’t happen.” He grabs his phone.

“It did happen, Haechan! I was locked in a fucking room for months and was made to play some stupid game where he was hunting me!”

“Shut up!” Haechan growls.

“No! You wanted to know what happened between us, so I’m going to tell you what happened between us. Every week I had to attempt to escape the estate. That was the game. Try to get through the fucking maze below the house to the main floors and escape past the three gates that were locked – the kicker, he had put the key to the locks to the gates on my collar that he had me wear around my neck. I was given breaks only at dinner time and at night where I had to enter a designated room.

“Once I was inside there was a light that turned green indicating that the game was officially on hold until the next morning. He would use Nana to sniff me out which made escaping damn near impossible. When he found me, he’d hook a chain to my collar and drag me back to the room I was staying in like a fucking dog! But when I got hurt, the games stopped and I was put on bedrest –”

“I’m not hearing any of this,” he puts his hands over his ears.

Standing up you grab hold of his wrists tugging at his hands. “So I did what I needed to do to survive! I pretended that I wanted him. I gave into every touch,” you hiss venomously remembering those moments. “That’s when the numbness started,” a dark cynical smile spreads across your lips. “I shut down completely and surrendered to him.

“I let him fuck me how many times a day he wanted to. I begged and pleaded for more like a wanton whore!” You shriek tears pouring down your face. “But that only gave me a chance to think about my escape. I waited until he felt comfortable around me. Until he could trust me, until he would free me of my chains that held me back from doing the one thing I couldn’t do before…”

“What did you do?” You hear Jeno’s shaky voice behind you.

Turning back your eyes darken over with a chilliness that has him shrinking back. “I tried to kill him. I thought I did honestly. I used a pillow to suffocate him in his sleep. I made my escape only to be stopped by Nana at the top of the steps. I pointed to where Jaemin was, and just like the dutiful dog she is, or was, she went to go and check on him.

“I sprinted through the halls that I mapped out many times in my head to get to the main floor as quickly as possible. I was afraid that at any second he would materialize before me. I made it out of the house and through the first two gates. I could barely breathe. My body was so tired, I don’t know how long I was locked down in that labyrinth of hell, but the brightness of the sun almost blinded me. When I got to the final gate and opened it, I was about to take my first steps to freedom when the gates closed automatically. And that’s when I realized I made a huge mistake, and the rest, well you guys know the rest of this fucked up tale.”

Out of nowhere Haechan lunges at you, his hands wrapping around your neck. “You fucking bitch! You killed him! You did this!”

“WHAT THE HELL!!!!! HAECHAN!!!! LET GO OF HER!” Jeno shouts as he rushes to stop Haechan.

“You wanted him dead! You made sure to end him this time didn’t you? Didn’t you?!” His grip on your neck tightens.

You claw for Haechan to let go of your neck when you start gasping for air, your vision beginning to gloss over from your tears. Maybe this was for the best. Haechan’s anger, though delayed, is justified. You did try to end his friends’ life, but it failed, and you were still trapped with that monstrous beast.

“Haechan! Stop! She’s turning purple!!!” Jeno screams. “She didn’t kill him! He lived you jackass!”

“She waited seven years to finish the job! I know she did!”

Your hands that were gripping Haechan’s wrists go limp at your sides. Jeno will take care of your son, you know he will. Plus, now your baby will never know what happened between you and his father. The secret of his conception will forever be hidden from him. No questions like ‘mommy how did you and daddy meet?’ ‘Mom what did dad say that won you over?’ ‘Mom, how long did it take for you to plan your wedding?’ Tears sprinkle down into your ears. The only sad thing is, you won’t see your baby boy grow up.

“Fuck man! Stop!!!!!” Jeno uses all his strength to punch Haechan square in his jaw and only then are you freed from his grasp. Not bothering to gasp for air, Jeno catches you in his arms. “Breathe!” He screams as the two of you fall to the floor, your body resting in his lap.

Why? You ask yourself. Why breathe? No matter what happens, no matter what truth comes out you’ll be thought of as guilty, so why bother?

“FUCK BREATHE!!!!!!!” Jeno’s tears fall onto your face. “PLEASE!!! BREATHE!!!!! FUCK!!!! HAECHAN CALL FOR AN AMBULANCE!”

“Let the bitch die, it’s what she deserves,” he hisses.

“What the hell are you talking about? Shit! D-Don’t worry, just stay with me, okay? Stay with me…” Jeno scrambles for his phone in his pocket.

“She deserves to die after what she did. How can you sit there and defend her?! She tried to kill Jaemin once, what makes you think that she didn’t try to kill him again?”

“For fucks sake man! I knew all of this shit already! I knew everything!”

Your heart pounds loudly in your ears. Your body is now screaming for air to fill your lungs. What did he mean he knew everything? He…He couldn’t have. Jaemin would never tell anyone his secret…he wouldn’t…

“…When you came into my life and we started talking, it was like I was seen,” he sniffles. “Someone was finally looking at me for me.”

“And you’re telling me your friends don’t see you for you?”

“They see me as the kid who’s from a rich family. Plus, it’s not like they aren’t from well off families either.”

“You’ve doubted their loyalty?”

“Never.”

“Then you trust them and accept that they see you for you.”

“Only one person.”

“Jeno?” You inquire.

Nodding he nuzzles his face in the crook of your neck…

“Mom…my…” You hear your son’s voice enter the room.

GO AWAY! BABY!!! PLEASE!!!! You scream in your head.

“Little man,” Jeno’s body trembles under you. “U-Ummm… your mom is just sleeping, go back to bed, okay?”

“Mommy…” you hear your son’s voice again. “Mama!!!!!” His voice comes closer to you. “Mommy!!!!!” He cries out your name.

AHHHHHH FUCK IT!!!!! 

And finally, you gasp for air. 

“Finally!!!” Jeno holds you in his arms. “Are you okay?”

“Mommy?” Your son sniffs. “What’s wrong with mommy?” He starts to cry.

“Uhh, she was just sleeping deeply,” Jeno lies. “Hae-Haechan, why don’t you tuck him back into bed, okay?” Haechan doesn’t move, his face blank and unreadable. “Haechan!” Jeno cries out. “Please, take him back to bed. It’s past his bedtime.”

“We’re not done here,” he replies, his voice cold as ice.

“Yes, yes, now go…”  Haechan reaches out for your sons’ hand and you watch your little boy disappear into the darkness of the shadowy hallway. “Shit woman,” Jeno exhales, his head resting on top of yours. “What the fuck were you thinking? You have a kid!”

You try to answer him, but your voice doesn’t come out. Again, you try to speak, but nothing.

“Don’t you ever do something like that again, got it?! Shit… I thought I’d have to bury two friends and I can’t do that. I can’t!”

“He’s back in bed,” Haechan returns into the living room entryway, leaning against the wall. “Now, would someone care to explain to me what the actual fuck is going on here?”

Suddenly tears well up in your eyes as you stare at Haechan. The numbing feeling that coursed through your body when he was beyond pissed at you vanished, now the only thing in its wake is fear. Fear that you’ve ruined your chances of freedom. Fear that you won’t be able to clear your name when you did absolutely nothing this time around. Fear that you were actually going to let yourself chase the white light and leave everyone including your son behind.

Holding out your hands you lower your head in shame and let everything out. Your body quakes as tears fall onto the floor beneath you uncontrollably. You deserve to be behind bars. You deserve to face your fate for so many things. Lying, manipulating, gas lighting, attempting to… you can’t even think of the word, for even contemplating ending your life, you deserve all the hell you’re about to face. Every bit of it…

Footsteps ring out into the quiet room, getting closer and closer to you until they stop right in front of you. You feel Jeno’s arm wrap around your waist protectively. A burning sensation pierces the skin of your hands, they are hit away. Peering up you see Haechan’s cold gaze staring you down as if you’re a piece of shit. His hand goes up again and Jeno’s grasp on you tightens even more, his body starting to turn you away from Haechan.

Clenching his hand, Haechan sighs. “Pull yourself together; you’ve got a kid to take care of.” He gets up, shoves his phone in his pocket and grabs his jacket. “We’re not done talking about what just happened.” He states before heading out the door.

ⓗ  ⓤ  ⓝ  ⓣ  ⓔ  ⓡ

Leafing through the papers on his desk, Haechan rolls his eyes annoyed. How could things have gone unnoticed for so long? How were you able to keep up the charade of a fake relationship with Jaemin the whole time the two of you were together? Staring at the home you and Jaemin shared he starts to bite his nails. The answer to everything felt so close and yet so far. Were you being honest about the happenings between the two of you early on? Were you hiding something?

The chatter and phones fill the precinct, but he’s since blocked out all of the noise. Three weeks have passed since he last saw you. Three weeks since he lost his temper and tried to…

“Shit!” He groans. “What the fuck is wrong with me?” He whispers to himself.

“Everything alright there?”

Haechan raises his head to see his co-worker, Mikayla. “Yeah, everything’s fine.”

“Mmmhmm, is that the reason why you look like hell because everything is fine?”

“Don’t you have a job to do? A case to solve or someone else to bother?”

Sliding her chair into her desk she looks across from her, smirking at Haechan. “Nope. But, if someone doesn’t mind handing over one of their cases I wouldn’t refuse.”

“You want the murder suicide case that badly huh?”

“Who wouldn’t? It was at the Governors’ Ball! Plus, it’ll look good with the higher ups.”

For the second time in five minutes Haechan rolls his eyes before opening one of the drawers at his desk. “Here, be my guest.” He grabs a file and tosses it over onto Mikayla’s desk. “I’ve got too much to deal with on this case anyway.”

“Are you talking about the house that burnt down?” She pouts. “What’s there to solve with that one? Didn’t the fire chief say that it wasn’t an act of arson?”

“Yes, but something isn’t sitting well with me. He stated that a gas pipe had a crack in it, but even then his words were ‘things happen sometimes. The house was old and didn’t have any updates to make sure that things were up to code. If it wasn’t a cracked pipe it would have been something else.’”

Nodding she looks through the case she’s just been handed. “And you don’t think the fire chief of all people knows what he’s talking about?”

“It’s not that…”

“Don’t tell me you’ve fallen for the lady of the house already,” she chuckles. “Or,” she gasps. “Do you think she’s the one who caused this?”

“I don’t know what to think anymore,” he runs a tired hand through his hair. “I think I need to take a break for a second and clear my mind.” Pushing his chair out he takes out his keys and unlocks the front drawer, grabbing a pack of cigarettes. “Care to lend a friend a shoulder for a bit?” He asks her.

Heading outside Haechan and Mikayla bow their heads and chit chat lightheartedly with a few of their fellow detectives and cops before heading around the corner to an alley next to the precinct. Leaning against the wall of the precinct, Haechan pops up a cigarette and offers one to Mikayla.

“You know I don’t smoke.” She waves a dismissive hand.

“Not now you don’t,” he puts the cigarette between his lips. “Wait a couple years, it’ll either be these or drinking – pick a poison now so you won’t be blindsided later.”

“What’s gotten into you these past couple weeks? Obviously you’re not sleeping well. Your eyes look like a panda’s. It was a house fire, it’s terrible but what more could there be?”

“There was a victim of the house fire, a body, but I don’t know how it all connects together.” He lights the cigarette and takes an extra-long inhale. Blowing out the smoke he turns to Mikayla defeated. “Would you ever stay in an abusive relationship?”

“What kind of question is that? No!”

“Even if the person started out kind in the beginning, you still wouldn’t?”

“It doesn’t matter if they were a saint in the beginning, no one man or woman should deal with an abusive partner. Why are you asking me this?”

Taking a smaller drag of his cigarette Haechan puffs out another round of smoke. “The woman whose house burned down, I know her. I’ve known her for the past seven years. She’s practically family at this point.”

“And you’re working on her case? Haechan you know you shouldn’t be near this case!” Mikayla pushes herself off the wall to stand in front of him. “What were you thinking?! If the captain finds out about this you’ll be dead meat!”

“I’m the only one who can work this case. Plus, I promised her husband that no matter what happened to him I’d be there to protect her and her son. I’m not breaking that promise, no matter what.”

“Even if it comes back that she was somehow involved in the death of her husband? Haechan you’re not thinking clearly, pass this case on to someone else, let them look into things with an unbiased mind.”

Flicking off the butt of his cigarette Haechan chuckles, “you know I watched them get married. I was there the day her son was born. I've smiled and laughed at all the dinner parties, birthday parties, every Christmas holiday, but it was all a lie.” He takes another long inhale of his cigarette letting the smoke fill his lungs before blowing it out once again. “He kidnapped her,” he mumbles.

“Wh-What…?”

“My friend, the man I thought I knew was a monster this whole time. According to her, he kidnapped her, kept her locked in that house for God knows how long before she tried to fight back and get free.”

“What did she do?”

“She tried to kill him,” Haechan’s jaw tightens. “With a pillow apparently. That was over seven years ago.” He blows out another puff of smoke.

Shaking her head, Mikayla takes her spot next to Haechan once more. “An attempt of murder?” She whispers.

“At that point it would be self-defense, would it not? Worst case scenario most she’d get is a couple months or a year if the news of this was brought out.”

“If? You’re not going to put that in the report?”

“Is it necessary?”

“It would show that she had a motive in the past to hurt your friend, why wouldn’t you clarify this?!”

“Because she said they were making things work, that’s why…” with one last inhale he finishes his cigarette, puts it out on the wall next to him and flicks it off to the side. “If you were in my shoes would you let this go, or would you put it into the report?”

“How long was she married to your friend?”

“About seven years.”

Lowering her head, her arms fold across her chest. “Get the full story and then come back and ask me.”

“Or, you could listen in on an interrogation. I called her in to be here after lunch, so you down to do this?”

“Yes.”

“Right this way,” Haechan opens the door to the interrogation room and you walk in. “Do you need anything to eat or drink?”

Pulling out the chair on one side of the table, you sit down placing your purse on the floor. “No.” You answer curtly.

“You’re mad at me, aren’t you?” He asks taking a seat in the chair across from you.

Clenching your jaw, you unwrap the scarf that was around your neck, folding it neatly off to the side. “Why would I be mad?”

Haechan’s expression falls quickly. Traces of his outburst are still visible on your neck, red bruising that anyone with decent eyesight could tell that someone had tried to hurt her. Scooting his chair uncomfortably, he leans forward. “I’m so sorry. I don’t know what happened… I –”

Interjecting you ask, “what exactly did you want to discuss?”

The three weeks Haechan stayed away from both you and Jeno gave you a lot of time to think. It wasn’t that you were mad at him for what he did, hell if the roles were reversed you might have tried beating the shit out of someone who dared tried to kill your best friend – that being said, he would never be able to empathize with you. He’ll never know what kind of pain you were in psychologically, physically, emotionally, and mentally.

Talking to Jeno before he dropped you off here before heading out for some light shopping, he mentioned one thing that stuck out to you. Jaemin and Haechan had a very interesting relationship, though they were friends, they had their fair share of bad blood in the past. Arguments that resulted in small misunderstandings, fist fights that broke out because one said something they shouldn’t have. Their relationship was always swaying back and forth like a pendulum from good to bad. There were only a handful of moments where their relationship was neutral, but even then – even in the bad moments, Haechan respected Jaemin.

“Please, I’m sorry… I was just so angry and I wasn’t thinking…” Haechan tries to explain.

“I’m not mad but I’m also aware that your loyalty is with Jaemin more than it is with me, it always has been and always will be. No matter what, you are his brother and I am his wife. Now, what did you want to discuss?”

Glancing behind him, he sighs and pulls out his phone. Going through the motions of setting up the recording for the interview, he starts with the basics, your name, age, and association with the deceased. Information that you’re sure is well known by all.

“When we last talked you mentioned that your husband hurt you, is that correct?”

“Yes I did.”

“In what ways did he hurt you?”

“Like I stated I’m not 100% sure but I believe Jaemin slipped something into my drink the night before I was set to leave to go back to my apartment in the next city, approximately three hours from here. I woke up on what I assume is the following morning and I was no longer in his bedroom, but in another room deep below the main house. The rooms were white and at first it hurt to open my eyes.

“My clothes were different from what I went to sleep in. I was only given a white shirt and white leggings, white undergarments, and white shoes. I then noticed that I had something wrapped around my neck, it was a leather collar and attached to it was a long heavy chain. As stated it was long enough for me to move around the room, to use the restroom that was inside of this bedroom, but to get out and leave, there was no way I could. I tried tugging and using anything I could to break free, but it was no use.

“In the beginning he just came in and provided food and drinks for me. Brought in some books for me to read, but no matter how much I begged and pleaded he wouldn’t let me go. After a while, during this time I had no concept of time or how many hours passed, how many days. There were no windows, but after a while he came in and said that he wanted to play a game with me. The concept of the game was for me to get out of this long maze of corridors underneath the house and make it out of the house and past all of the gates on the property.

“He put a key onto my collar, removed the chain, stepped aside and told me to go ahead. I bolted out the door and from down the hall, where I was staying in — he said if I don’t make it out we’ll keep playing until I do. He knew very well it was going to be impossible for me to leave.”

“Why did he keep you in this room and chained up?”

“He stated that when I told him I was going to leave and go back home he started freaking out. He was right, he did start acting really weird. I mentioned this as the second week of the New Year was rolling in. He started to become extra clingy, and begged me not to go back. He said things like ‘I can provide for you,’ ‘please don’t leave me, please!’ ‘What do I need to do to get you to stay.’ I was slowly starting to think this might not work out because of how he was acting, and then suddenly, he stopped acting like this. He simply asked, ‘are you serious about this relationship?’ To which I said, ‘yes.’”

Haechan’s brow quirks up in confusion. “You mean to tell me this is all because you were going to go back to your home and to your job?”

“Yes.”

“I’m sorry but that doesn’t make sense.”

“When someone has a psychotic break a lot of things don’t make sense. He confessed that he was scared that he would never see me again. He was scared that after all these years someone who saw him for him and not as some rich guy was going to leave his life forever. That wasn’t true. I liked him a lot. I wanted to be with him. I fell for him, fast and hard, as he did with me. The only problem is that I wasn’t alone locked up in a house in the middle of nowhere, like he was.

I didn’t have a job that for the most part kept me away from people until absolutely necessary. I didn’t have a family that seemed to not care if I spent the holidays alone. Actually, speaking of the holidays, why didn’t any of you spend time with him?”

Pressing the pause button on his phone Haechan lets out a deep sigh. “Let’s keep this about you, shall we?”

“What? I can’t ask questions when you know the victim as well?” Tilting your head you smile. “Or does everyone still think you’re not involved in any way?”

“Only one person knows and I’d prefer to keep it that way until we solve this case. As for your question, off the record, Jaemin never told us anything. If we’re talking about the time period of seven years ago, he secluded himself from the rest of us. We didn’t even know he was at his grandmother’s house. So there was no way we could have talked to him about getting together.”

“I see.”

“Shall we get back to the real line of questions?”

“Proceed.”

Pressing the pause button again the recording starts up. “You said he had a psychotic break, how are you so sure?”

“I don’t know, I would assume chaining someone in a room for months would be defined as a psychotic break, wouldn’t you agree Detective Lee?”

Rolling his eyes, Haechan smirks. “Okay, let’s say that I believe you and he kept you in this so-called room, where is it exactly? There was nothing about an underground room in the blueprint of the house.”

“Why would there be something on the blueprint when it’s supposed to be used for something you’re not supposed to be doing. It’s like having a hidden passageway, not really hidden if it’s in the blueprint. Or, having your safe room listed in the blueprints. If an intruder had the blueprints to the house, for whatever reason, it would be really stupid to have that room listed, now wouldn’t it?

“But to answer your question, the room itself was the last room in a long corridor of many corridors. I can’t tell you how deep below it is, but there was an opening behind a large painting on the main floor. It was right before you would head up to the second floor. You pull the painting away, unlock the door – Jaemin always had the key on hand, and go down a long narrow staircase. Once you reach the bottom it’s like a secret bunker.

“The hallway is this bright light gray tone that almost blinds you. You keep walking down that hallway and you reach a door. Now this door was always unlocked, unless Jaemin wasn’t down there with me. If I somehow managed to free myself he would need something else to keep me down there until he could subdue me once more.”

Shaking his head, Haechan clicks his tongue while leaning back in his chair. His arms cross over his chest as he sports the cockiest grin you’ve ever seen. “You expect me to believe all of this was underneath his grandmother’s house? Are you serious?”

“I’m telling you the truth. You just refuse to believe it because it sounds outrageous.” Leaning forward you lean your elbows on the table, propping your head up with your hands at your cheeks. “There are a lot of things in this world that are beyond imagination Haechan. There are people in this world who do terrible and evil things all the time. Perhaps think back on one of your cases that shocked you beyond imagination. How did you feel before you knew the truth versus after?”

Readjusting in his chair he turns away from you. “Continue.”

“There were cameras everywhere. It wouldn’t surprise me if Jaemin didn’t have a room that was for watching me during our downtime. No matter where I was in the house, I was being watched. The only place where there were no cameras was the hidden passageways. They’re not exactly escape friendly. There are a lot of rusted nails sticking up from the floorboards, broken glass, not to mention the dust and bugs.

“I favored those routes, but Jaemin learned this after a few failed attempts. As soon as he figured out my plan he had Nana sniff something of mine and she always led him directly to me…” you pause, closing your eyes slowly. “Sometimes he would taunt me. He would pretend as if he had no idea where I was, but I knew that was a lie. I knew that with the sound of her footprints walking next to him, her nails clicking against the white tiled floor. I tried to keep moving, to keep a good distance so I could at least make it to the first floor, but I was always caught. Always.”

“The last time we talked you had mentioned off the record that you had gotten hurt, is that correct?”

“Yes.”

“How did you get hurt?”

Sighing, you give an I-don’t-know shrug. It wasn’t that you didn’t know, it was that there were plenty of times you ‘got hurt,’ but the incident he wants you to talk about is what you told him in front of Jeno, when you confessed shortly after that you tried to kill Jaemin. To say anything on record is certain doom.

“I’ll repeat the question,” he says sternly. “How did you get hurt?”

“Which time?”

“Pardon?” He looks confused.

“Which time are you referring too? There were a few cases that I needed bed rest before his twisted game started up again.” Snickering, “I guess I have to give him some credit. He didn’t want his little rabbit to be hurt while he hunted.”

“The last time you were hurt.” Haechan specifies.

“I got startled by how close he had gotten to me and tumbled down the stairs. I sprained my ankle and when he got me –” you pause.

It wasn’t as if these past two years of working things out with Jaemin have wiped everything he did off the face of the earth. It wasn’t as if you forgave him for keeping you away from your loved ones, but spending time with him, seeing him in almost the same light that you saw him when you first met… It almost was like a scar showing the first signs of healing, but talking to Haechan is like picking at the scar and opening it up.

The pain, the hurt, and psychological damage that you both faced resurfacing once more. What’s worse, he doesn’t believe you. He doesn’t believe anything that you’re saying and even if you could prove that it’s true… there’s no evidence…

Clearing his throat Haechan gestures for you to finish. “When he found me he linked the one end of the chain into my collar, and started to lead me away as if I was some animal on a leash. I told him I was hurt and he got mad. He brought up the rules and –”

Haechan interjects. “Rules?”

“There are seven rules to this game. Seven rules that you need to follow or else,” you stop again shocked. “Or else something bad would happen. It took me months to learn all the rules, but once I did I didn’t dare break them. I mean I was already being held prisoner, the logical thing that would happen if I break all the rules would be…”

“Death?” Haechan asks.

Shrugging you fidget in your seat. “I don’t think he would have ever killed me, but I wouldn’t have, during this time mind you, put it past him to destroy everything I loved so there was nothing else in the world I could have and hope for.”

The room falls silent. It was true you never tried to break every single rule in one round of the game. Yes, getting hurt is bad and it would hinder your escapes so you always tried to at least notify him of your injuries. Denying him once he caught you fair and square – with the help of his most loyal companion, was like whining after losing rock, paper, scissors. Jaemin never mentioned what he would do but the eeriness in his voice that first time he read you the rules still chills you to the bone.

 ⓗ  ⓤ  ⓝ  ⓣ  ⓔ  ⓡ

Everything around you is dark. A few minutes ago, Jaemin had placed a blindfold over your eyes and stated that he wanted to play a game with you. A strange aura started to radiate from him and immediately you crawled away from him. Something about this game didn’t feel right, though it hasn’t even started. Pulling you back to him by your ankles, your body pulls the freshly made covers down on your bed.

“Don’t make this harder on yourself, princess,” he whispers close to your ear. “This is going to be a fun game, you’ll see. Plus, you’ll be able to leave this room. Don’t you want this?”

“I want to go home,” you whisper.

Grabbing your arm from under you, he manages to flip you over to your back, climbing on top of you. Your blindfold exposes one of your eyes, but he simply pulls it back down. “What have I told you a million times?” He asks, taking both of your hands into his grasp. Something cold touches your skin and before you can put two and two together, Jaemin has your hands bound by a zip tie. “You are home.”

Tugging on your neck you try to escape Jaemin’s grasp, but it’s no use. He has a firm hold on the chain that is attached to a leather collar around your neck. The sounds of his loyal companions' nails click on your right hand side, while Jaemin is on your left a few feet ahead of you.

“Please Jaemin! Please, just let me go! I promise I won’t tell anyone what you’re doing, okay? I just want to go back home!” You beg.

“Princess, I’m not in the mood to argue with you over this matter. You are home, this is your home. Your home is with me.”

“Jaemin, please, you have to stop this! Why are you doing this? I thought you liked me! Is this what you do to someone that you like?”

“Oh, I don’t like you,” he stops walking and you bump into him. Feeling his hands run up your arms, you scrunch your shoulders close to your ears, visibly uncomfortable with the gesture. “I love you,” he kisses the top of your head. “I want us to be together forever. I want us to start a family, to get married, to grow old together.”

“Then why are you doing this?! Huh?!” You scream only to notice your voice echoes around you. Startled you look around like an imbecile. There is no way you can see anything with this blindfold, but it was a natural reaction to the sound of your voice.

“I’ve waited for people to return before,” his voice grows soft. “I’ve waited and waited for the people I love to return to me but you know what princess,” his voice leaves your side and ends up behind you. “They never came back. I waited and waited and waited like an idiot for someone who I loved to come back into my life. For that person who I cherished more than anything to save me and I was left alone!” He shouts causing you to shrink down in front of him. “But,” he clears his throat. “I’m a reasonable man. I want you to stay with me because you desire to, but until you see this, how about a little game?”

The black fabric that was tied around your head slowly unravels before you. Squinting at the brightly lit room your hands come up to cover your eyes. “Wh-Where am I?” Your voice comes out barely a whisper.

“Take a look around,” Jaemin moves back in front of you. “Now for these,” he digs into his pocket bringing out a Swiss Army knife and removes the zip ties from your wrists. “There we go.”

Rubbing your wrists, Jaemin steps to your left side allowing you to get a view of where you’re at, but what you see doesn’t make any sense. In front of you are four different hallways. All of which are the same light gray color, all of which appear to be the same length. The area you find yourself in is like the end of a road. A small enough area for someone to choose what path to go, but that’s about it.

“Wh-Where am I?” You start to shake.

“You’re at the starting line. Every time we play this game you will start here. But, before you begin, I think it’s best if we go over the premise of this game as well as the rules. So listen up, okay?” Nodding in shock you stare down each of the long hallways, your heart starting to beat faster and faster. “The premise of the game is for you to leave this underground maze and reach the main floor of the house. After you reach the main floor, you’re to leave the house and go through each of the three gates on the property.”

“We-We’re still at your grandmother’s house?”

“Yes. We haven’t left. This is an underground maze of hallways that my great-great-great grandfather had made during a time of war. This was to insure that the family would be able to escape unharmed if the home were to be invaded for any given reason.”

“B-But why am I down here?”

“To play a game, silly.” He chuckles. “Think of this as a HUGE escape room. There are plenty of secret passageways, doors that you can enter, and plenty of hallways that you can travel down,” he starts walking around the room, his eyes closing shut with a little smile on his face. “Grandmother and I liked to play hide and seek down here. She knew this labyrinth like the back of her hand. From generation after generation, all of the kids came down here to play, so that’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to play!” 

Your body starts to tremble uncontrollably. “I-I don’t want to play! Wh-What if I get lost? What if I can’t make it to the main floor?”

“The game will last for four hours. You have exactly four hours to get from down here, to upstairs and out of the house and off the property. After four hours, if you are down here, whichever door you’re near will have a green light above it. That is to signify the end of the game for that day, and for a meal and sleep break. You’ll hear an alarm and that is when you wake up, get dressed, have another meal, and get ready for another four hours to try to escape. This will continue until you get to the main floor, or if you get hurt. Simple, right?”

Shaking your head you back away from him and the strange hallways. “I don’t want to play this. I…I want to go back to that room.”

Tilting his head, his lips pucker out in a pout. “It’s either we play this game, or you’re trapped down here until you submit to me, forever.” He smiles brightly when he says forever, a cold chill raking across your body. “So, what’s it going to be? A shot at freedom, or a lifetime with me?”

He can’t be serious… This is just some joke that he’s trying to play. An ‘I got’cha’ moment where he says it’s all a joke and that he was just messing with you this whole time and you can pretend this nightmare never happened. No… no… this HAS TO BE a dream, no! A fucked up nightmare! There’s no way the man you were cuddled up against, after a beautiful romantic dinner, and a night of making love is the same sick sadistic monster in front of you. This has to be a nightmare…it has to be!

“Tik tok, princess, we don’t have all day.” He leans down so he can look into your eyes. “Should I explain the rules so you can understand better?”

“YES!” You squeak.

“Okay,” he moves away from you and starts walking back and forth, waving his arm as if he’s giving some grand speech. “Rule 1, 'the one being hunted may try to escape the property by any means necessary unless they are in a safe room, or have been injured. Rule 2, if the party being hunted finds themselves hurt they are to call out the safe word 'red' or push the red button that is located on the wall outside of all of the designated safe rooms signifying that the game is over.

“Rule 3, the hunter will give their prey a specified amount of time as a means for a head start before starting the hunt. They may extend or cut back on the amount of time given per round. Rule 4, it would be wise for the prey to keep themselves well-hidden and keep quiet to ensure the game does not end too soon. Rule 5, if the hunter catches their prey, the prey needs to come quietly as the round has ended. Rule 6, the hunter will then inspect the prey for any injuries once they have been captured. This is by no means a rule that can be skipped or looked past. Rule 7, if the prey tries to resist – the hunter will have to make their prey submit by any means necessary.”

Stopping right in front of you, a gentle smile on his face that makes him look like a sweet angel in disguise he asks, “do you understand the rules, princess?”

ⓗ  ⓤ  ⓝ  ⓣ  ⓔ  ⓡ

Plopping back in his chair Haechan stares at you in disbelief. He opens his mouth as if to say something, but instantly closes his mouth and looks away from you.

“I’m not making anything up. I played that sick game for months. I tried and tried and tried again to escape. Every time I thought I was so close to reaching the main floor he would randomly appear, with Nana by his side. It was only then I discovered that he was using her to help sniff me out. Then, I found the secret passageways and started to learn how to navigate them. The games were prolonged for more than just a day. He enjoyed it. But there was one thing I wasn’t going to do and that was to submit to him.”

“So then why did you submit to him and let him have his way with you?”

“I was at my wits end and I thought if I gave him the idea that I was his and his alone, he would just take me up to the main floor. But he saw right through me. After I made it to the last gate he said –”

“You mean after you tried to kill him with the pillow?”

Your jaw tightens. How could he just utter this out as if it’s okay? He promised to protect you. He promised to keep you safe and to make sure that nothing was going to happen and now it feels like he’s trying to throw you under the bus. Was he this mad and upset? Could he not see how terrible Jaemin was?!

Letting out a shaky breath your head lowers, “yes.”

“You may continue what you were saying prior.”

A tired pathetic laugh passes your lips. Running a hand through your hair, you peek up at the man sitting across from you. A man that was supposed to be your friend, but is now a complete stranger to you. “Does it even matter? You got what you wanted. It’s done, it’s over with. No matter what I say from here on out it won’t be taken seriously. I can scream it to the heavens that I had nothing to do with Jaemin’s death but no one is going to believe me because of what you just made me say. Which if I’m remembering correctly, was supposed to be kept private after I talked to you, at Jeno’s house, off the record that is.” You decide to throw in this tidbit of information into the recording. If he wanted to take you down, you were going to be sure he was going to get accosted in some shape or form too. “So,” you look up, eyes clouded with anger. You place your hands as far out in front of you as you possibly can. “Slap the cuffs on me. I know you want to. I know you want me to be in jail. You made that clear the other night.”

Haechan reaches forward and stops the recording on his phone. “You’re fucking ridiculous,” he hisses. “Do you think I want you behind bars? Do you think I want to take a mother away from her child? That’s not what’s going on here.”

“Then what is going on? You made me confess that I tried to end someone’s life! You think I don’t feel guilt over that? You think I didn’t look at him every day and realize what I tried to do? I never wanted to do that in the first place. I didn’t want to be put into a position where I would contemplate ending someone’s life. But I was forced into that position. My rights, my freedom, my life was taken from me. I tried fighting for it by getting out of that damn maze, but I couldn’t escape. No matter how many months I was down there I never won once. I never got close to getting to the front door until I thought he was gone.

“When I finally made it to the front door and past the first two gates and attempted to step across the line to freedom the last gate closed and he materialized out of nowhere. He said he knew what was going on because I changed my behavior. He knew everything so he pretended to die. It was just another sick game of his and I fell right into his trap.”

“Why didn’t you say anything? Why did you get married to him? Why were you with him all these years?” He shouts, tears running down his cheeks. “This is the part that I don’t understand. If he was so fucking terrible why did you stay?”

Seeing Haechan unravel before you has you pulling back your wrists. Sitting back into the chair more comfortably you let out a long exhausted breath. “I lost the will to fight, Haechan. I was tired. I was scared, I was disgusted with myself most of all. I ended up pregnant because I thought I could win. Like the stupid idiot I am, I thought by showing him what he believed was love I could be let out of my cage, but I was wrong and ended up pregnant all while simultaneously trapping myself in a whole new cage.”

“Why did the wedding even happen then? Why didn’t you give us a sign?”

“I was a zombie for the longest time. I didn’t feel anything. I was only alive and breathing because of the child I was carrying. Everything else didn’t matter to me. So, I put on a mask and played a role. Even if I wanted to say something, he would have stopped me or tried to switch the subject. I hesitated for the tiniest second while I was standing before the judge with him, his hands holding mine – for a millisecond I was going to tell the judge as quickly as possible I was being held against my will, but with a strong squeeze of his hand in mine, I knew he would stop me the moment I tried.”

Suddenly a knock is placed on the door. Haechan quickly wipes his tears away before standing up. “Give me a second. Do you need anything at all? A drink? Something to eat from the vending machine?”

“No, I’m fine.”

Walking out of the interrogation room, Haechan closes the door behind him seeing Mikayla is the culprit who interrupted him. “Why did you call me out here?” He rolls his eyes in annoyance. “We were finally getting somewhere.”

Mikayla tilts her head, “that’s not what I saw. By the way, she’s innocent. Her entire body language is screaming it so you can cut her some slack. Also, if someone was willing to work out the relationship after that shit show, they are in love. Whether or not it’s a strange form of Stockholm Syndrome is a topic for another day. But, that’s only a part of why I pulled you out here,” she hands Haechan a vanilla colored folder. “It seems you’re going to be working on this case for a little bit longer.”

“What do you,” he opens the folder, his eyes scanning over the documents. “Mean…?” He looks up shocked.

“I know,” she sighs. “Good luck, you’re going to need it.”

Slapping him on the back she takes her leave. “What the fuck did you do, Jaemin?” Haechan whispers.

Haechan returns to the room with a somber look on his face. He heads straight to the table, and presses the pause button again, starting the recording once more. “You mentioned things were getting better?” He asks tirelessly.

“U-Ummm, y-yes…” You eye him suspiciously. “When our son was born he actually was ready to turn himself in. Two months prior we had a discussion and he asked me how he could make everything up to me. I knew he was sorry. I could tell with just a glance into his eyes he regretted everything, but he did what he did. I wasn’t going to forgive and forget all the pain he caused just because he spoke the words ‘I’m sorry.’ I told him the only way that he could make up for even the smallest bit of what he did was to turn himself in. He said he would, but asked for one thing and that was to see the birth of his son.

“However, just after he saw his son for the first time he was talking about making arrangements for the two of us to be well taken care of in his absence. I knew what he was talking about. I knew why he was saying everything. He asked for one thing, I obliged and he was prepared to face the consequences, but I don’t know what came over me. I didn't want him to leave. I didn’t want him to be in prison miserable, and long for the life he could have had if he didn’t fuck it up in the first place. I told him I thought it would have made him crazier if I kept him away from his kid. So, I asked instead that he seek professional help and if he did I would keep his secret.

“If I’m being honest I wouldn’t have told anyone of his wrong doings. So, the next day he sought help and went every week to a therapist. In the beginning we both went and talked about what our issues were but afterwards it was Jaemin who needed the help. He never broke that promise to me. Then, on my birthday things started to change. I don’t know if you remember the birthday party he threw for me but that’s the moment I decided to give him a second chance.”

ⓗ  ⓤ  ⓝ  ⓣ  ⓔ  ⓡ

“Happy! Birthday! To! You!!!!” Everyone sings out.

Eyes brimming with tears you glance around at all of the smiling faces. Everyone showed up for your big day. Your mom, dad, all of Jaemin’s friends, and of course your sweet little guy all day has made it his mission to make you the happiest mom on the planet. Blowing out your candles your only wish is to have more days like this.

“Thanks everyone,” you wipe your eyes before any tears fall onto your cheeks. “But you really didn’t need to do this.”

“Are you kidding?” Chenle chuckles. “How else are we going to get free food?” He jokes.

“Plus, we technically didn’t do anything,” Renjun wraps his arm around Jaemin’s shoulders. “This guy right here planned everything. He just told all of us when and where and we showed up.”

“Y-You did this?” You ask Jaemin.

Scratching the back of his head he nods bashfully. “We haven’t really celebrated your birthday. I thought I would give you a birthday to remember.”

Without realizing you spring up from your chair and wrap him in a tight embrace. “Thank you, Jaemin, truly.”

His face falls into the crook of your neck, his arms wrapping around you tightly. “Anything for you…” He whispers. And just like that the moment was gone. “So, who wants cake?” He asks stepping away from you.

One by one your friends and parents come up for a slice of cake, laughing and smiling together as if these people were always meant to be in your life. As if this very moment was supposed to happen all along. Placing a hand on your shoulder, Jeno leans down, handing you a piece of cake.

“Happy Birthday,” he gives you a kiss on the cheek.

“Ehhh?!!” Haechan starts pointing. “What do we have here?! I didn’t know we could kiss the birthday girl!” He puts down his cake and charges towards you.

“N-No!! Haechan!” You start backing away.

“Don’t you dare run from me, woman!” He starts laughing while approaching you. “Now give your favorite person in the world a kiss,” he puckers his lips.

“YAH!!!!” You scream but a giggle comes from you when he starts chasing you around the backyard.

“Mama!!!” Your son giggles. “Run, mama!!! Run!!!”

“I’m trying, baby!!!”

“Al…Most!!!! THERE!!!!!”

Haechan sprints for you, reaching out his hand when you collide into a body knocking the person down. A low grunt comes from beneath you. Quickly scrambling off of the victim you see Jaemin was the person who you crashed into.

“Jaemin!” You squeak. “A-Are you okay? Did I hurt you?”

Snickering, he sits up smiling at you. “I’m fine, but I couldn’t let anyone else kiss you before I kissed you.”

Suddenly your heart skips a beat. His smile softens, his hand reaching out for yours as he pulls you down to him. Gulping your eyes scan his for some sign that he’s joking, that he wasn’t really going to kiss you especially not in front of everyone. Behind you you hear Haechan complaining that Jaemin stole you away, but his complaints are soon muffled by the pounding in your ears, your heart picking up speed the closer Jaemin’s lips get closer to you.

“Happy Birthday,” he whispers and just as your eyes flutter, and the tips of your noses touch, he slides his hand around your neck pulling you down to him. “I love you,” his warm minty breath cascades down onto your face and just when it feels like he’s going to kiss your lips he pulls you down further to give you a kiss on your forehead.

He chuckles, sliding away from you. “Go ahead, Haechan,” he winks at his friend. “Okay so who hasn’t gotten a piece of cake yet?” He asks everyone.

“Me daddy! Me!”

“What?!!! Well come here!” Jaemin scoops up your son into his arms and walks off with him.

“Well, now you’re all mine,” Haechan’s voice brings you back to the reality you’re about to face. Before you can even object, he plants a wet kiss on your cheek. “Finally!” He laughs. “Now I can get back to my cake!”

Sauntering off, head held high you’re left on the ground still in shock. Your mind races with thoughts you’ve kept quiet for the past five years. Feelings you thought were completely gone, but now have resurfaced. 

How? When?

“Need any help?”

Looking up, Jeno has his hand stretched out. “Uh, yeah, thanks.” You take hold of his hand and he helps you up.

“Don’t mind Haechan, he's just being…well, himself.” He laughs. “I guess I should say sorry for starting all of this.”

“Oh no, it’s fine. Really.”

“Now, I know that you haven’t opened any of your gifts yet, but I wanted to give you mine personally.” He holds out a cutely wrapped box with a sparkly pink bow wrapped around it. “It’s nothing much but I saw it and thought you’d like it.”

“Je-Jeno…” you feel tears starting to well up in your eyes again. “You didn’t need to get me anything. You’ve done so much already,” you unwrap the gift to find what looks like a jewelry box inside. “Wh-What is this?” You ask opening it.

Inside is a beautiful silver heart-shaped locket. Pulling it out, he instructs you to open it and when you do one half has a picture of your son, the other, a picture of yourself, but only you. A little surprised he takes the locket from your hands.

“I had asked Jaemin what I could get for you. He said he had no idea and to get you something that would make you happy. So I said what about a locket with all three of you inside, but he said to make it extra special for you and have it of you and your favorite person in the world.”

Jeno claps the latch for you, and the new piece of jewelry dangles around your neck. “He’s a dumbass,” you mumble.

“He is, but I didn’t want to overstep my boundaries.” Jeno laughs.

Reaching in, you hug Jeno tightly. “In any case, I love this. Thank you, Jeno.”

“No problem,” he hugs you back just as tight. “And just between the two of us, inside the box there are alternate pictures for you to put into the locket, but don’t tell the dumbass I told you.”

“I won’t!” You start giggling.

The rest of the party went by without a hitch. You couldn’t have spent your birthday any better than how you spent it today. Being around those who you’re close to and sharing such a beautiful memory will go down as one of your favorite birthday’s to date, and the best part, having your little guy part of this big day as well.

“Rest well, sweetie.” You kiss your son on the cheek.

“Night night mommy,” he yawns.

Quietly you exit his room, but not before turning on his nightlight. Closing the door halfway, you peek at him one more time before heading back downstairs. In search of your husband, you head straight for the kitchen where he was last seen hunched over doing the dishes. His back turned to you, you watch him quietly. Leaning your back against the wall, your hands grow clammy as you attempt to speak to him. For the past five years you’ve barely uttered a word to him that didn’t have a purpose behind it. Not knowing how to talk to him anymore you clear your throat before walking up to the kitchen table.

Turning around at the sound of you clearing your throat, his sleeves rolled up to the bend of his arm, an apron wrapped around his waist, Jaemin stares shocked to see you… alone, in the kitchen… with him. 

“Ummm, I… I thought I would tell you juniors in his room sleeping, so if you wanted to say goodnight you might have to do so at the door.” You mumble.

Nodding, Jaemin turns back to the dishes and continues. “I’ll do that. Thanks for letting me know.”

Your fingers run down your face, exasperatedly – pulling at your bottom lids, as they stop at your cheekbones. Was talking to him always so hard? You ask yourself. “I, uh, I wanted to say thanks for today. I really appreciate it. You didn’t have to go through all the trouble, but I’m truly grateful.”

Shaking his head he turns to place a dish on the drying rack where you see the faintest hint of a smile. “It was no trouble at all. You’re a terrific mom and I wanted to do something to celebrate you. There’s no need to thank me.”

“No,” you move from the kitchen table, and head straight for him. “I really do need to thank you and for more than just the party. I’ve given you a hard time these past couple of years and while I want to apologize, I still feel like because of what happened I shouldn’t.”

Placing down the dish cloth in his hands he turns to you. “You shouldn’t apologize. What I did… I should be on my knees everyday thanking you for allowing me to be in our son’s life.”

Holding up your hands you shake your head in protest. “I want to make things better between the two of us. I want our son to grow up in a healthy household. So, I believe in order to do this I should change the picture on the one side of the locket.”

Jaemin snickers and returns to washing the dishes. “Jeno told you what I said?”

“He did. While I don’t know how to feel exactly you deserve to be in the locket as well. I wouldn’t have been able to raise our son by myself. Those first few months when he wasn’t sleeping you stayed up with him every night so I could rest. You fed him, bathed him, and played with him more than I did and it was all because you saw how exhausted I was. You’ve sacrificed so much of yourself for him as well as me.”

“It’s the least I could do after everything. I’ve royally fucked up my life, your life, and our sons’ life.”

“Jaemin…” You whisper while your heart pounds in your ears.

Turning to face you his eyes widen when your lips press against his. You hear the dish cloth plop into the water and immediately after, Jaemin grabs hold of your upper arms and pushes you away from him.

“Pl-Please…” he keeps you at arms length, his head bowing down before you. “You don’t want… You can’t do this.”

“Why can’t I do this?”

“You’re not in the right headspace. What I’ve done to you, you shouldn’t even have to look at me unless absolutely needed. Please, just get some rest. You’ve had a long day.”

“No,” you place your hand on top of his. “I kissed you because I wanted to. And if you wouldn’t mind lowering your arms, I would like to kiss you again. That is, if you’re okay with it.”

Jaemin’s arms start to lower, but he keeps a firm hold of you. “I don’t deserve your kindness… I don’t deserve your… your…” his voice gets softer and softer as you draw closer to him.

“What I give you from here on out will be what you deserve for your actions going forward. I want us to have a clean slate,” your hand slides up his chest, causing him to shrink inward. “I want what could have been, what should be, and what may be a life with you.”

Your hand travels up from his neck, skates over his collar bone, to his neck as you pull him closer to you. His eyes flutter wildly as if he’s unsure if he should accept this or flee. Then again, your eyes were doing the same weird dance as his. His pulse pounds crazily against the palm of your hand, mirroring your own. A strange desire to feel his lips on yours, and possibly (at least you hope) yours on his. Mere inches apart, Jaemin’s hand slides onto your hip making you gasp, and before you know it, his lips land on yours. 

Not wasting a single second, you wrap your arms around his shoulders trapping him in your grasp. He complies, by wrapping you in a tight embrace as well. Your lips sliding across each other’s in a feverish kiss. It felt like after years of fighting, years of distance, years of hatred, pain and hidden lust — everything was pouring out from the two of you in one single moment.

Jaemin’s tongue skates across your bottom lip asking for entrance and as if you’ve been kissing him this whole time your lips part. The once sweet gentle kiss turns to hot then wet in a matter of seconds. Your tongues sliding across each other’s a battle for dominance ensues and has both of you breathing heavy. Jaemin’s lips wrap around your tongue and immediately you become putty in his hands. Your knees give way, and quickly he pushes you against the counter for support. Holding your face in his hands he switches between sucking the shit out of your tongue, and shoving his down your throat.

Eyes watering, you grip onto him for dear life while you try to keep your wits about you. Pulling back for air both of you breathe heavily. His skin kissed with redness as he stares into your eyes like he did that night when he stole your heart. The memory smacks you in the face and before you can think about anything else, you grab the hem of your shirt and rip it over your head – tossing it onto the floor next to the two of you.

Scrambling, Jaemin unties his apron from his waist, and with shaky fingers you unbutton his button down shirt until he swiftly throws it down with yours. Your bottom lip snags between your teeth as you stare at the still sexy man in front of you. His muscles, though smaller still have your legs clenching together tightly. Jaemin grabs the back of your neck and pulls you in for another kiss, this time softer, this time sweeter.

“Where to?” He mumbles against your lips.

“Your room?” You ask. “I don’t want to risk the chance of you know who seeing.”

“A little risk adds to the excitement of it all,” his lips travel from yours and down to your neck.

“And last time was my father, I don’t want this time to be our son.” Jaemin clamps down on your neck roughly causing you to moan. “J-Jaemin… please…” You beg.

Turning from you, he grabs hold of your hand and both of you rush out of the kitchen a lightness in your steps and a massive amount of giggles coming from you.

Maybe this can actually work out, just maybe…

The moment you enter Jaemin’s room, he closes the door behind you and locks it. Pressing you against it, his lips capture yours. The moment your lips touch, everything becomes blurry as you sink into the lust you’ve kept at bay. Jaemin’s hand grabs hold of your waist, pulling you closer to him. He nips your bottom lip before his lips travel to your cheeks and back down to your neck. Your eyes flutter, a smile rests on your face – lord knows how badly you’ve needed this moment, to feel someone touch you, kiss you, and caress you.

Suddenly you feel a sense of freedom. Looking down, you find your bra straps inching down past your shoulders. Giggling, you quirk a brow at Jaemin who smirks before stealing another kiss from you.

“I need to see your body again,” he confesses.

Wiggling out of your bra, he throws it across his room. His eyes go from yours down to your face, to your décolletage, and down to your breasts. Feeling a little shy, you cover yourself, but he grabs hold of your wrists pulling your arms apart.

“Never cover yourself. You’re still as beautiful as the first day I saw you,” he reassures.

“R-Really?” You ask, your face warming up by the second.

“Actually,” he takes a step back, his hand resting under his chin as he glances you over, a dark hunger in his gaze. “Now that I’m looking at you, I have to say no.”

Your head shoots up in shock, eyes instantly becoming watery. “Wh-What?”

“You’re even more beautiful than the last time I saw you.” He smiles sweetly. “It must be the glow of a strong, beautiful woman and mother,” he wraps an arm around you. “Honestly, you’re a lot hotter than before too.”

“Jae-Jaemin!!!!” You slap his bare chest lightly.

“If things go well,” he dips his head down placing a kiss at the center of your décolletage, “maybe we should try again – this time however, with both of us on board.” He glances up at you.

“You mean another little one?”

His lips slide to one of your breasts. Jaemin keeps a firm hold of you, your back arching up as he wraps his lips around your nipple. Nodding he sucks on the erect bud before giving it a playful nibble causing you to squeak. With one final suckle he pulls back smiling from ear to ear.

“That is, if you’re okay with the idea.”

Whether it was the crazy storm of emotions roaring through your body, the lust of wanting Jaemin to take you here and now, or deep down you would love to see your little boy have a brother or sister to play with – you eagerly wrap your arms around him, jumping up and down where you stand.

“Let’s do it!”

Jaemin chuckles as he watches you turn into the cutest person in the world before him. “Are you sure? I mean we could talk to Dr. Kwon and see if she –”

“Na Jaemin!” You state firmly. “If you do not drag me over to your bed and plow into me in the next two seconds I will never forgive you for ruining the moment!”

Before you even realize it, you’re dragged from the door and flung onto the bed with Jaemin crawling on top of you. “I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I ruined this moment. Your wish is my command, my love.”

ⓗ  ⓤ  ⓝ  ⓣ  ⓔ  ⓡ

Haechan covers his mouth as he turns from you. “So essentially you two –” he becomes quiet.

“Had sex and started to restore our relationship? Yes, we did.”

“But that was a long time ago. There is no saying things didn’t turn south once more.”

“It was not even three years ago, Haechan. How can you think that I would not only lie to you about what happened but actually hurt my husband? Yes, in the past I was in a different head space but that doesn’t mean that I was or am even remotely in the same headspace. We were once a family. I know what I was about to do was wrong. I know, I understand and I myself regret telling you. It was something that Jaemin and I promised we would never bring up again.”

Glancing your way, his face looking exhausted he asks, “did he really do those terrible things to you?”

Standing up you grab your purse. “If you want to know the specifics of Jaemin’s state of mind and what happened to not only myself but to him, I suggest talking to Dr. Kwon. I stopped seeing her personally after the first year. I got what I could from her, but Jaemin –  he kept his promise to me, he promised he would keep going so nothing like what he put me through would happen again, and he kept it! And I kept my promise as well by keeping my mouth shut of all the shitty things he did to me.

“The only people we ever told were Dr. Kwon, apparently Jeno (which I didn’t know Jaemin told him), and now you – or should I say and now anyone and everyone who will hear that stunt you pulled. You can be mad all you want, you can hate me, you can try to end my life yourself because what I did was terrible! But unless you were there, unless you went through what I did you have no fucking idea how badly I wanted to escape, how badly I wanted to get back to my life, to my parents!”

Opening your purse you take out one of Dr. Kwon’s business cards you took from her office. Slamming the card down onto the interrogation table in front of Haechan you turn to the door. “Call her before coming back to talk to me. I’m not running and I’m not hiding anymore. But I swear to you Haechan, I didn’t hurt him. I could never hurt him!”

You head to the door and just as you are stepping out Haechan calls your name, halting you before you take one more step. “The body,” he utters. “It’s not…it wasn’t,” he twitches with irritation. “The body wasn’t Jaemin and there are absolutely no traces of a dog there at all.”

Slowly you turn back to him, eyes widened and mouth hung open in shock. “What did you just say?”

“When I was called out I was handed that vanilla folder.” He looks down at the table before him, your eyes following as you both stare at the folder sitting haphazardly at the table's edge. “Inside is the report from not only the coroner, but also the officers on site and pictures of the scene. It’s of a person’s body, badly burnt, but they are not Jaemin’s remains. According to the coroner they seem to belong to someone by the name of, Michael Krest. Do you know who this person is?” He asks.

In that moment your body gives out and you crash to the floor, hard. “Shit!” Haechan rushes over. “Help! Please!” Within seconds multiple officers plow through the door, some almost running both you and Haechan over in their haste. “Please someone get me a water and damp towel. She just fell.” He orders the others.

“On it!” You hear one of them speak.

“You know who the man is don’t you?” Haechan asks you while you’re lifted off the floor and placed back in the chair. “Who is he?”

How can this be? You haven’t seen him in years. What was he doing at your house? Why was he at your house? And why is he dead?!

“Here’s the water!” The officer who left rushes over to you handing you the bottle but instead of taking it from him, he starts to freak out. “Ma’am, ma’am,” he gets down on his haunches trying to get you to respond. “Ma’am, please say something…”

“H…H…” you huff out the sound of the letter h.

“H?” He looks at Haechan who shrugs.

“He’s…He’s…” your body starts to tremble. “H-How?” You look at Haechan. “HOW?!” You scream as if you’re seconds from being killed – scaring Haechan, everyone in the room and those outside of it. “Why in the hell was he at our home? Why is he dead? How did he die?!!! What the fuck is going on?” You grab at the roots of your hair. “I dumped him!!!! I haven’t seen him since I left him?! Why the hell was he at my home?”

“He’s an ex?” Haechan glances down at the folder shocked.

“He never tried to contact me before. I never heard from him after I left him. Why was he at my house?” You ask Haechan, tears pouring from your eyes.

Scratching the back of his neck his eyes dart from the folder to you. “I believe I’m supposed to ask you that question.”

“Well how the fuck do I know?!” You scream once again – this time those not involved in the interrogation slowly start exiting the room, leaving Haechan alone to face your wrath. “Honestly,” your bottom lip quivers. “I haven’t seen him since I broke up with his cheating ass. There’s absolutely no reason for him to have been at my house. Hell, how did he even find me?!”

“There is a reason for him to have been at your house, and that reason is you. As to how he got there, I don’t know, did your parents meet him or something?”

“Yeah they met him once or twice in the later stages of our relationship. I thought he was going to be the one before I found him balls deep in some slut backstage.”

“Backstage?” Haechan raises a curious brow.

“He’s in a band, or was… I guess… When I saw him cheating on me I dumped him right then and there. I even cleared out his belongings from my apartment and left them at the front desk for him so I wouldn’t have to deal with him personally.”

“So you had an issue with him as well?”

Your head whips around towards Haechan, a furious glare in your eyes. Not again, not this time. He will NOT try to blame you for Michael’s death.

“Did I have an issue with him, yes I did. I was cheated on. I caught him in the act of cheating. I was pissed the fuck off – hence throwing his stuff into boxes and taking them down to the front desk. I didn’t hear from him after a simple apology note after a week of me catching him, with a simple ‘I’m sorry ~ Michael’ on it. I never once looked for him, or cared to look for him. But despite the dislike I have for him I would never wish any harm such as this to come to him. I swear, Haechan. I do not know why he was at our home.”

“I believe you,” he rubs the bridge of his nose. “But now we have a whole new set of problems. Why was he at your home in the first place? What happened to him prior to the fire before his death which appears to be smoke inhalation due to the fire. And where the fuck is Jaemin?”

ⓗ  ⓤ  ⓝ  ⓣ  ⓔ  ⓡ

Wiggling about in ecstasy on the couch, your hands at the bend of your knees while your legs are spread wide open for Jaemin – you let out whimper after whimper as he runs his fingers up and down your glistening folds. His eyes staring daggers into yours, he watches as you come undone before him.

“J-Jaemin,” you cry out. “Please!!!”

Snickering he brings his fingers up to his lips and one by one he slides his fingers into his mouth coating them in his saliva. When he’s finished he brings his fingers back down to your pulsating core and slides them over your sensitive nub.

“Does my baby need a little attention?” He asks you sweetly.

“Mmmm…” you respond, lips clenched tightly together.

With the flick of his middle finger he starts to toy with your clit. Closing your eyes tightly you do your best not to make a single sound that would wake your sleeping child. At night and his nap time are the only times the two of you manage to have time for yourselves. And while you were expecting a little quickie when your baby is asleep – the sensational feeling of Jaemin teasing and edging you has you thinking otherwise.

“Wow, look at this,” he grabs your attention. Holding up his hand he shows you how his fingers are now coated in your juices. “You’re so wet baby,” he smiles before popping each finger into his mouth. “So good,” he hums delightfully. “But I think you can do better, don’t you?”

“B-Better?” Your body starts to grow warm all over. The goosebumps you felt in the beginning have multiplied, your breathing starts to get faster turning into small pants. Your toes wiggle and curl the more he rubs his fingers over your bundle of nerves.

“Yes, a lot better, or should I say wetter?” He gives you the darkest smirk you’ve ever seen before plunging two of his fingers into you.

Your head and eyes roll back as your grip on your legs tighten. “Jae-Jaemin!!!” You squeak. Chucking with glee, he lowers his head down to your pulsing clit and slurps up all of your juices he’s caused to spill from you. “Shit!!!” You say a little too loudly.

“Shhh, baby, don’t wake him.” Jaemin warns. “I have another round planned for us during this break.” He smiles against you.

“Th-Then go easy on me, please…” you beg.

“I can’t do that, not when you’re this irresistible.”

And with that he dives down again smothering his face into your folds. His tongue and fingers working together at lightning speed to push you closer and closer to the edge. Your chest rises and falls quickly, your mouth hangs open as saliva trails down onto your chest. Small whimpers and moans keep coming from you the more Jaemin lapse over you and rams his fingers inside of you.

“Jae-Jae-Jae…” you can’t get out his whole name as your body starts to loosen up from your grip. Your hands unclenching from your knees has them lowering down to Jaemin, but with a quick reaction he catches one of your legs which causes you to stop.

Popping his head up for a second, his lips swollen and coated in your slick he gives your clit a little lick which has you clenching around his fingers. “Keep your legs up and open for me baby. As much as I wouldn’t mind being smothered by your thighs, I want to see your beautiful face when you cum, okay?”

“Shit!” You clench around his fingers once more.

“Tell me when I’ve found the spot, alright baby?”

“Mmmmmm…” you slide down further into the couch.

Curling his fingers inside of you, Jaemin feels around trying to find your most sensitive spot. Only having found it a few other times (purely by accident as he pounded his cock inside of you until you came around him) the exact location is still trying to be blueprinted. While one hand is coaxing you into bliss, his other hand hovers over your clit, his middle finger occasionally brushing against you.

“Jaemin!” You whine.

“Not until you tell me when I’ve gotten the right spot,” he pulls his fingers out of you, but not completely.

“WAIT!” You gasp, alarming him. “Slowly push them back in,” you instruct.

Doing as instructed, Jaemin pushes his fingers back inside of you until he feels your body shake below him. Not needing a word of confirmation he curls his fingers, and goes to town pushing you beyond your wildest dreams. In a matter of seconds you go from feeling wonderful, sweetly nestled into the couch – to scrambling to sit up a little, almost as if to get away while Jaemin’s fingers work you over from both inside and out.   

“Jae-Jae-Jae!!!” You start chanting. “Faster, faster!!!!!” Foregoing your clit, Jaemin holds onto his wrist and uses both his arms to shove his fingers inside of you. “Yes! Yes! Yes!!!” You scream behind your hand to keep your voice to a minimum.

Suddenly a burst from you has your eyes rolling to the back of your head, your body quivering and shaking. Your hands grip onto the couch while wet noises come from you and fill the room along with your panting.

“That’s my girl!!!!” Jaemin smiles proudly when he sees your pussy squirting, coating his forearm, fingers, shirt and lap. “I knew you could do it.”

As you come down from your high, Jaemin drinks up the remaining juices that drip from you before standing up. “Ready for round two?” He asks while unzipping his pants. Not saying a word you open your arms wide for him – inviting him into your space to do whatever he pleases. Sliding out of his jeans and briefs he runs his soaked fingers up and down his shaft while his bottom lip is trapped between his teeth. “Shit, baby…” he runs his other hand through his newly dyed blonde locks. “I could get off just staring at you like this.”

“No…” you pout and whine sitting up onto the couch. “I want you inside of me,” you pull him towards you, his hand moving away from his cock. “Deep,” you take hold of his length. “Deep,” you give the tip a little smooch. “Deep inside of me,” you state before wrapping your lips around him, sliding your mouth and tongue up and down his shaft coating it with your saliva.

“Fuck,” he curses. “Keep it up and I’ll need to eat you out again before I’m ready to go once more,” he chuckles.

Pulling back a sinister look on your face and a speck of mischief in your eyes you wiggle your tongue across the slit of his cock. “I wouldn’t be opposed to that.”

“Neither would I,” he pulls back from you, dipping down for a kiss. “But like you said so sexily, I want to be buried deep,” he starts moving down to you, your body moving away allowing him more space on the couch. “Deep,” he hikes up one of your legs while he settles in between them. “Deep inside of you,” he mumbles against your lips as he slides his cock inside of you.

Hissing at the feeling of entering you, he resituates himself until he’s comfortable. “We’ll need a third, fourth, and fifth round tonight.” He chuckles and starts to move in and out of you. “Fuck baby,” he smiles while ramming his hip into yours, your hands instinctively go to his wrists as you hold on tight. “You feel so good…” he grunts and starts moving faster driving you deeper and deeper into the couch.

Your hips meet every single thrust of his pushing both of you further into sensuous bliss…

ⓗ  ⓤ  ⓝ  ⓣ  ⓔ  ⓡ

Sitting in the car next to Jeno your mind races while your fingers are snagged between your teeth. What the hell is really going on? Your leg shakes nervously as the conversation with Haechan replays before your eyes again and again. Jaemin…He’s… but if he was why hasn’t he shown himself yet? If he was alive he wouldn’t just leave you and his son alone, right?

As you draw closer to your old neighborhood the memories of that fateful day start to replay before your eyes…

‘Babe,’ you call out to Jaemin who was upstairs in his office. ‘Can you come down here please?’

‘Mama, where are we going?’ Tiny little hands tug on your shirt.

‘Well, we’re going to have a little picnic so I can tell daddy some good news!’ You boop your son's nose.

‘What news?’

Playfully putting your hands on your hips, you puff out your cheeks. ‘Not so fast you little trickster. You’ll know when daddy knows.’

Mocking your pose he pouts. ‘But I wanna know now!’ He whines.

‘What do you want to know, little man?’ Jaemin swoops down picking him up and causing both of you to giggle.

‘Mama has a secret to tell us!’ He squeals with laughter as Jaemin throws him over his shoulder.

‘A secret? What is this secret?’ His brows wiggle.

Sighing you shake your head and turn to the picnic basket you have in your hands. ‘Like father like son,’ you wave both of them off. ‘I was hoping you could spare the afternoon for a nice picnic at the park. We can bring Nana and the boys with us too!’

Huffing behind you, you leap forward at the familiar growl of discontent from Nana. ‘Speak of the devil (literally…)’ You whisper under your breath.

‘I…’ Jaemin puts your son down, sighing. ‘Why don’t you go outside and play with Nana and the boys, okay buddy?’

‘Okay!’ He squeaks and pats his tiny lap. ‘Come on Nana, let’s go play!’

Rushing out of the kitchen you watch your son and the happiest demon dog to ever walk the face of the earth, gleefully leave out the front door to the front yard.

‘Babe, I can’t go out this afternoon. I’m expecting a call from a client. Is there any way we can reschedule?’

‘I thought that call wasn’t going to be until tonight,’ your shoulders start to slump forward. ‘Can’t you just bring your cell phone and step away when the call comes through?’

‘It’s a business call, you know I don’t take them on my personal phone. Plus, it’s an important call. I can’t exactly bring on a new client while our son is screaming –” as if knowing his cue both of you jump at the sound of your son's laughter coming through the opened door. ‘See,’ he points to the door. ‘I can’t have that going on.’

‘But I mean… not even for two hours? You can’t spare us two hours?’

Running an exasperated hand through his hair, he looks from you to the basket, to your son. ‘Really babe, I’d love to but I can’t… Not this time…’

‘I see…’ you turn from him and grab the picnic basket. ‘I guess we’ll just go and give you the evening to have your business call. We’ll be back after dark.’ You head out of the kitchen and into the living room.

‘Babe! Please!’ Jaemin shouts behind you. ‘I’m sorry.’

‘I understand, Jaemin.’ You wave him off. ‘Sweetie, head over to the car and I’ll meet you there.’ You shout to your son.

‘Why does daddy look sad?’ He stops immediately when he sees Jaemin’s solemn expression.

‘Daddy can’t join us, he has a very important phone call to make.’ You bend down to him and stroke the top of his head. ‘He said he’ll join us another day.’

‘B-But the sandwiches, the secret…’ he looks back at Jaemin. ‘Daddy we need to hear mama’s secret…’

Glancing at you, you quickly turn from Jaemin. ‘We’ll find out another time buddy. Don’t worry I’ll make sure mommy doesn’t forget.’

‘Promise?’ He walks up to Jaemin holding out his tiny pink finger.

‘I promise…’ Jaemin bends down to him and wraps his finger around his baby boy's finger. ‘Now, as the man I’m going to need you to protect your mom for me while we’re apart, okay?’ He asks. ‘If any strange person tries to approach her, what do you do?’

‘GET BACK YOU CREEPY MAN!!!!!!!’ Your son shouts loud enough to scare both you and Jaemin. ‘Right, daddy?!’ He asks proudly.

Holding back a laugh, you roll your eyes. ‘That’s right,’ he gives him a kiss on the cheek before standing up. ‘Really, I’m sorry. We’ll do this again soon, okay?’ His eyes quiver with uncertainty.

Nodding, you take hold of your little boy's hand. ‘Of course, I still have a secret to tell.’

‘I’ll see you when you get back sweetie,’ he wraps his arm around your waist bringing you in for a sweet kiss.

‘Maybe we’ll be back a little earlier than expected,’ you wink. ‘Okay, let’s get to the park before all the good swings are taken!’

‘YEAH!!!!!!!!’

‘Be safe!’ Jaemin shouts as you leave through the front door.

‘We will. We’ll be back in about two hours.’

‘I’ll be here!’ He waves before closing the door.

Just as you were heading for the garage you realize you left the bag that has a blanket and a few treats and toys for the dogs inside.

‘Sweetie, come back here for a second. Mommy forgot something inside.’ You call back to your son. He runs back up to you with the two boy dogs, Nana having walked into the home after you parted with Jaemin. ‘Do you remember where you left mommy’s bag with the blanket inside?’

‘I left it by the door.’ He points to the front door.

‘Okay we just need to –’

Shaking your head you stop the rest of that memory from resurfacing. In the matter of seconds a loud, powerful, gust of wind blasted through the door sending both you and your son back and the dogs running away. Covering him up with your body you kept him safe from what felt like a raging ball of fire spewing from inside of your home.

When you felt it was safe enough to move you told your little boy to run and to not look back, but you yourself looked back to see your beautiful home engulfed in a beastly fire. Tears poured down onto your face, your legs froze where you stood – your heart reaching out to where you knew Jaemin was still inside. Almost dragging you back to the fiery beast if not for your son’s small hand clenching your own – no one could have survived that… not even…

Pulling into his driveway Jeno parks his car, turns it off and immediately you hear a tired breath come from him. “What happened?” He turns to you. “What happened with Haechan? You’ve been eerily quiet since I picked you up. Did he say something? Or,” he pauses and gulps loudly. “Did he try to hurt you again?”

“Jeno,” you whisper quietly. “What are the odds of someone surviving that fire?”

Taken aback he takes off his seatbelt so he can turn to you. “What are you talking about? You were there… and I drove back a few days after. Your house is completely leveled. No one, not even Superman himself could have survived that fire.”

“The police found a body…”

“Yeah but we both knew that, remember? That’s why you were down there to talk about the body. Did they prove you didn’t do anything?” He takes hold of your hand worriedly. “Is this mess going to end?”

“Not even close,” slowly your head turns to Jeno, a wild look in your eyes. “The body they found wasn’t Jaemin’s. It was of Michael Krest…”

“Michael Krest, who the hell is that?”

“My ex-boyfriend.”

Jeno drops your hand from his ever so slowly as he leans back, his back now resting against his car door. “What the…”

“Jeno, I think Jaemin is alive… and I think… he had someone else trapped in that maze after me…”

Speechless, both you and Jeno sit in his car in an eerie silence. Both of your heads spinning out of control with the news that you’ve just found out and uttered. Jeno was right, no one could have possibly lived through that fire, hence Michael’s body. The real questions still remain: why was Michael at your home in the first place? Did Jaemin do something terrible to him? Did he lock him down in the maze as he did to you? What caused that explosion? Is Jaemin still alive and if so, how did he escape? Is Nana with him? If he did escape and is out there why hasn’t he come to get you and your son?

“We-We should get inside and you can tell me everything that happened at the precinct. Alright?” Jeno asks in a shaky voice. “None of this makes sense…”

“You’re telling me,” you sigh, undoing your seatbelt. “Haechan did say that he was going to stop by at the end of the week so maybe he’ll have found more information by then. I just… none of this makes any sense, Jeno. None of it…”

“I’m sorry,” he reaches out and places his hand on top of yours once more. “I’m sorry for everything he’s caused and is still causing. I should have said something years ago when I found out, but I…”

Shaking your head you pat the top of his hand. “It’s okay, I did this to myself. I chose him once, then hated him, chose him again, and now I just have question after question for him. Maybe when this is all said and done I’ll finally have all the answers to them, hopefully that is.”

“Yeah, hopefully...”

Jeno gets out of the car and quickly comes over to your side and opens the door for you, and helps you get out. Giving you a secure arm to lean against the two of you walk up to his house to find a piece of paper taped to his front door, with your name on it.

“Were you expecting someone?” Jeno asks, taking the paper and handing it to you while he opens the door.

“No,” you open it up. “I…”

Immediately all the blood drains from your face, and for the second time your knees give out and you fall to the ground.

“Yah!!!!” Jeno quickly grabs hold of you and pulls you back to your feet. “What happened? Are you okay? Here, let’s get you inside…”

“Jeno…” you start crying. “Jeno….”

“What happened? What hurts?” He leads you to the couch in his living room. Crouching down in front of you, he holds the side of your face in his hands as he looks at you terrified. “What is it?” Holding out the paper to him, it shakes and jiggles frantically in your grasp. “The note?” He asks. Taking it from you he opens it and just like you, the blood drains from his face and he falls back onto his butt on the floor. “What the fuck is going on?”

Rule 8, if the hunter finds himself incapable of being the hunter then the title of hunter goes to his former prey. When this change happens it is now the new hunters job to seek out the prey.

Come find me, hunter.

~ Jaemin

[strawberriesandcigarettes77]

NA JAEMIN

Boyfriend!Jaemin

Genre: fluff

Warning: triggers delusions

I've been thinking of bf jaemin so much it kinda really hurts

----------------------------------------------

Boyfriend!jaemin who takes you to escape rooms and just sits there while he watches you crack the case with a big proud smile on his face

Boyfriend!jaemin who doesn't sleep until he makes sure you ate all your meals and that you are taking good care of yourself

Boyfriend!jaemin who waits for hours just for you to get ready and won't let the day pass without him showering you with compliments

Boyfriend!jaemin who can't get a goodnight sleep unless he lays his head on your stomach and showers it with kisses

Boyfriend!jaemin who is willing to cancel all his plans just to spend some time with you

Boyfriend!jaemin who whispers sweet nothings for you to fall asleep and doesn't sleep until he's sure you are

[sooniessoulmate]

🌹🌹𝖒𝖆𝖐𝖓𝖆𝖊 𝖑𝖎𝖓𝖊 𝖒𝖆𝖐𝖊𝖘 𝖆 𝖒𝖔𝖛𝖊🌹🌹

[laninha-1]

jaemin (nct dream) lockscreens.

like or reblog if u save and use please <3

[wicoois]

𝖼𝗁𝖺𝗉𝗍𝖾𝗋 𝟢𝟤. 𝗂'𝗆 𝗍𝖺𝗄𝗂𝗇' 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗇𝗂𝗀𝗁𝗍 𝗈𝖿𝖿ꓹ 𝗃𝗎𝗌𝗍 𝗍𝗈 𝗆𝖺𝗄𝖾 𝗒𝗈𝗎𝗋 𝖽𝖺𝗒. 🪐 ☆

[aewinse]

── ۪ ♡ ۫ Jᴀᴇᴍɪɴ Mᴏᴏᴅʙᴏᴀʀᴅ

[1zgrl]

just saw the price of his sweat, my head iS SPINNING.

[nanazluvs]

forget about fan calls they should sell headlocks from him

[minhy3k]

사랑    ✿. @miniepsds

@swolix 𝓽𝓱𝓮.ㅤㅤㅤ𝗯𝗲𝗮𝘂   ㅤ  𝖺𝗋𝗍. 🌐

𝗉𝗈𝗋𝖼𝖾𝗅𝖺𝗂𝗇  .    .  ୨ ✿  ୧ ( 𝒏. ) 𝖺𝗇 𝗂𝗇𝗍𝖾𝗇𝗌𝖾

𝖿𝖾𝖾𝗅𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗈𝖿 𝖽𝖾𝖾𝗉 𝖺𝖿𝖿𝖾𝖼𝗍𝗂𝗈𝗇.

[luvmoonx]

⊹ 𝗃𝖺𝖾𝗆𝗂𝗇 : 𝗂𝖼𝗈𝗇𝗌⊹

➜ don't repost my work or call it yours

[neobubz]

Prey (M)

Word Count: approx. 23k Pairing: fem reader x jaemin Warning(s): mature audiences only, explicit language, horror, sex, smut, kidnapping, abusive relationship, dubcon, slow-burn, story telling Preview: Sighing in bed your heart still hums with the smallest tickle of desire. The feeling of Jaemin’s arousal still prevalent against your core. Biting your bottom lip you hold back the urge to relieve yourself of this yearning. It’s strange. You’ve only known him completely for two days and yet you feel like you’ve known him a lot longer. His caring nature the complete opposite of your ex. The way his lips tug up slowly into such a bright smile has little butterflies soaring through you.

▽ ⓟ ⓡ ⓔ ⓨ △

Stumbling around a corner you grasp onto the sharp concrete edge. Not even out from the underground labyrinth you’re exhausted, hurt, and wanting this game to end. Glancing down at your ankle it’s already showing signs of bruising. Having tripped down the last four steps when you heard the familiar sound of chains being dropped to the floor behind you, you landed hard on your ankle.

“Princess!” A sweet voice calls out to you from far away. “Come out; come out, wherever you are!”

“Shit!”

Limping forward you do your best not to put too much weight on your ankle. You needed to get as far away from that jackass as possible. Spending a week on the run you’ve managed to stay away from him. The only time coming into any form of contact was when you headed to a safe room that was provided on every floor.

Each floor has a special padded room where there’s a bed, bathroom, and table for you to eat and rest. Every morning you’re woken by an alarm. Giving you time to eat a meal that is dropped off to you by a dumbwaiter and time to shower and change into a fresh pair of clothes — white leggings, white socks, white shoes, and a white sweatshirt — before being let loose to try to make it to your designated exit, the front gates.

Each time you’re given a month to try to escape. The first attempts you failed ending up getting caught quickly. Not knowing the layout of the house, not aware of the rules you kept failing every time. Now, more aware of your surroundings and more aware of the rules you’ve made it a whole week without being caught once!

Feeling victorious you slip into a small room that leads you to the next floor through a secret passageway. This house has many hidden rooms and secret tunnels that have both helped you escape your captor but also led you straight to him. This particular tunnel will lead you to the massive library, one that always reminded you of the Beast’s library in Beauty and the Beast. Huge bookshelves that you need one of those tall ladders to reach the top shelf. Three individual floors stocked with books from multiple generations that grew up here.

Crawling up the staircase trying to be as quiet as possible you hear the thud and clang of chains through the wall. Holding your breath and keeping still you try not to make a sound — terrified that somehow the man after you will have the ability to pull you through the wall. To claim what little hope of freedom remained.

“Where could she have run off to?” His sweet voice sounded as if he was right next to you. “What do you think, Nana?”

Internally groaning you remain still. Nana, the female Doberman who hates your fucking guts is helping him.

Of course she is! He never plays fair!

There are exactly three Doberman’s on the grounds. Nana is the only one you know by name since she’s the only one allowed inside. The other two, guard the outside, only knowing them as ‘The Boys.’

When you first arrived you were chased to the front door and almost mauled by the two guard dogs. The truth is, it was Christmas time and you were finally going home after three years of working through every holiday — climbing the corporate ladder. Your father understood your determination to reach your goal of Vice President, while your mother — she wanted her baby home, saying that she’s missed you time and time again.

On your way to your parents’ house your car decided to break down on the side of an old back road. The highways congested by a terrible accident had you hitting your GPS for an alternate route. Well, that is until your GPS gave out and you were driving blind. From your memory you were just five hours shy of your old town. Having traveled all day you planned to camp out at a hotel before setting off for the rest of your journey.

When your car broke down, you tried to find a signal to call for a tow truck. You tried to call home and perhaps get a ride from your dad who would be more than willing to make the journey. No signal. Trekking for miles you ended up deep into a wooded section trying to find a tall hill to try again. No signal.

Hours passed, your feet blistered from the stupid heels you decided to keep on from work —taking them off you start walking on the forest floor bare footed.

Your phone reading 2AM had you slumping over a huge boulder when lights sparked on in the distance. Lights meant people! People meant help! Help meant getting the fuck out of here and back home!

Making a dash towards the lights you pray they don’t go out. Stomping on twigs, branches, rocks, you pay no mind to the stinging pain in your feet. The only thing you wanted was to get some help and possibly some food. Making it to the source of the lights you find yourself in front of a huge gate. Well, several gates to be exact. All with beautiful ornate designs and what look like chains looking them up tight.

“Fuck!” You curse. “Come on, don’t do this to me!” You look around frantically for a call box, a way to contact the owners. “Shit!” You stomp when there’s nothing in sight.

Walking around the side of the house in search for a side or rear entrance. With the size of the estate there has to be a place where a groundskeeper lived, or someone patrolling that will be able to help you. And that’s when you see it! The golden opportunity! A door through a stone wall is sitting wide open.

“Jackpot!” You rush over. Peeking inside you call out before entering. “Hello? Hello?!” You take a step onto the property. “Excuse me! Hello?! Is anyone there?”

Not a single sound. No owls hooting. No wolves howling far off in the distance. No crickets or other woodland creatures making noise to signal their presence. Nothing.

Fog covers most of the ground blocking your view completely after 20 yards. Keeping close to the wall as a guide back to the door, you take your first real steps through the property. Finally, hearing a noise, you recognize the whinny of a horse.

Walking towards the sound you see a stable with a beautiful black horse sticking its head out. “Hey there,” you giggle, walking up to it. “What’s your name?”

Sticking out your hand, you allow the horse to give you a little sniff. Amazed at its reaction when it nuzzles against your hand you spot what you believe is its name on the front of the stall door. ‘Minnie.’

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Minnie.” Sighing you try to peer through the fog. “If you’re here that means someone’s here to take care of you.” Giving the horse one final pat you depart.

“Hello?! Please! I need some help! Is anyone here?” You call into the night.

Just then a bark sounds off through the fog. Minnie behind you starts to whinny loudly almost as if shouting out to you. Flittering between the barking that is now getting closer and sounding to be more than one dog and Minnie you start to head back in the direction you came from. Rushing towards the wall you keep one hand on it while you head for the door.

“Eh?!” You scream when you find the door has since been closed. “No! This…This is the door I came through!” You yank on the doorknob. “Hello?!” You bang on the wooden door. “Hello?!”

The barking grows louder sending you straight into a mad dash away from it. “Shit! Shit! Shit!” You try to find your way through the fog. “Please! Call off your dogs!” You cry into the night. “Please!”

Finding yourself in front of the tallest wall you’ve seen in terms of a residence you head for what you believe is the front door. “Sir! Madam! Anyone! Please!” You beg at each window. “Please! I’m not here to hurt you! I’m in need of help! Please!”

Low growling halts you in your steps. In front of you coming out of the fog are two large Doberman’s. Thanks to a childhood friend growing up you know the breed of dog — sadly, it’s a breed you want nothing to do with. Lowering their body, they start to growl. Teeth baring, saliva dripping — looking a lot like Cerberus, minus one head.

“D-Down…” you gulp. “I’m a friend…” you try to reason with the snarling beasts. “H-H-Help!” You screech. “Please!”

The dogs slowly start to approach you, backing you further away from the front of the house. Keeping your movements slow you keep a safe distance from them. Well, safe enough to make an attempt at escaping.

“Good dogs,” you try to placate them. “Very good at guarding the house… Such good…boys?” You question the genders.

One of the dogs lunges towards you which sends you off running towards the back of the house screaming like a banshee. Tripping over things that are sprawled out on the lawn you’re almost eaten alive but you manage to get to your feet fast enough. Rounding the corner heading to the front of the house you see a silhouette in the window.

“Please! Call off your dogs!” You shout banging on the window as you pass by it.

Rounding the next corner you leap up to the front porch ringing and banging on the door for dear life as the two dogs approach you slowly. Their fangs ready to tear into you. Your heart pounds in your ears as each step they take draws you closer to the end. Flashes of your childhood and of all the times you called your mom where she pleaded for you to come home plays before you.

Tears streaming down your face you call out for help once again. One of the dogs snaps at you, their face mere inches from your own. Using their body they force you to lie down on the ground, the other hovering close by.

“Please! I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I just want to go home!” You cry.

And that’s when it happened. A loud whistle breaks through their snarling and both dogs back off of you sitting down near your feet – whimpers coming from both of them, their ears, and heads lowering almost as if in shame.

“Wh-What?” Your head arches back to see someone barefooted with another Doberman at their side.

“You’re the reason for all the noise?” A young man asks looking down at you with hooded eyes like he just woke up.

“Please! Please!” You scramble to your feet and reach out to him only to have the dog at his side block him. It too baring its fangs. This one however strikes more fear in you then the two behind you combined.

“Nana!” He shouts and the dog backs down. “Who are you? Why are you on my property?”

“Please…” your head starts to spin. “I need…” the world before you starts to darken. “Help…”

Everything turns black.

Slowly your eyes start to open. Blinking away the sleepiness your head feels thick and foggy. As if you’ve been sleeping for far too long. Your body aches as you start to come alive.

“What in the hell happened?” You ask yourself trying to sit up. Quickly holding onto your head the room starts to spin and your legs and feet ache. “Why am I so sore…?”

“Ah! You’re awake!” Startled you turn to the person who just spoke and see a young man holding a silver tray in his hands. “I thought I saw you moving more and figured you’d eventually wake up,” he smiles coming closer to you. “I just finished making some of my grandma’s homemade chicken noodle soup. I hope you’re hungry, there’s a lot of it!”

“Wh-Who are you?” You croak out sounding like a toad.

“You must be thirsty,” placing the tray down on a small stand near the bed you currently realize you’re in, he grabs a glass of clear liquid. “Drink up.”

Looking at the glass and the young man you shake your head in protest. ‘Rule number one, never accept drinks or food from strangers’ — your moms voice rings in your ear.

“It’s just water,” the young man laughs taking a good swig of the liquid. “See,” he holds out the glass.

“Who are you? Where am I?” You continue to croak.

“Sorry how rude of me. My name is Jaemin Na,” he chuckles. “And you’re currently in my downstairs guest room.”

“Why am I here?”

“You don’t remember?” You stare at him confused your head pounding. “You fainted last night — this morning, actually.” He quickly corrects.

You whisper, “I fainted…?”

Just then a large dog saunters into the room, a Doberman by the looks of it. In the split second it took you to identify the breed flashes of earlier spring forward. You running and screaming while two large dogs chase after you. Monstrous beasts hovering over you snapping at you, keeping you pressed against a wooden porch. The dog standing next to Jaemin notices the change in your demeanor and starts growling.

“N-No!” You crawl away from it in the large bed.

“It’s okay! Nana, go and play,” he urges the dog away. It doesn’t move but starts to whimper. “Nana!” He says in a stern voice. The dog takes one more look at you and you’d swear on your life it looked like it rolled its eyes before leaving the room. “Sorry, she’s a sweet girl but she doesn’t like anyone but me. She’s been like that since she was a puppy.”

“Three dogs?” You ask.

“Yes. There are three Doberman’s on the property. Nana is a guard dog for inside, and the boys, they guard outside. Now please, have some water. You need to hydrate.”

Eyeing the man in front of you every nerve in your body is on edge. The whole ordeal a little too strange but at the same time you were trespassing on what is most likely private property. You should consider yourself lucky your brains aren’t currently splattered on the ground, or that the dogs didn’t just tear you apart and eaten you for a midnight snack.

“My car broke down,” you whisper taking the glass. “I need to call for a tow truck. May I please use your phone?”

“Yes, of course. If you don’t mind me asking, what were you doing back here? No one is ever on these backroads.”

“There was an accident on the highway. I tried to bypass it and then my car broke down,” you take a sip of the water to find that it was indeed just water. Nothing strange smelling or tasting in it, you hope.

“I heard about that on the news last night. A huge 20 car pileup, consider yourself lucky you weren’t a part of it,” he sighs. “These roads including the highway gets pretty dangerous this time of year,” he gets up going to the tray. “Especially with the oncoming snow.”

You choke on your water. “Snow?!”

Nodding, Jaemin puts down the lid and heads over to long heavy curtains with tassels. They look like they’ve come straight out of gothic movie. Pulling the curtains open you see snow currently falling onto the ground.

“N-No!” You scramble to your feet but hiss when your feet make contact to the floor.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Jaemin sighs holding out a supporting hand. “I don’t know what you were doing but your feet are pretty messed up. Why didn’t you have shoes?”

“My heels,” you look around the room.

Scratching the back of his head Jaemin reaches underneath the bed. “These?” He holds up a pair that looks like it’s been through the shredder.

“M-My shoe…”

“Nana got a hold of them last night. I guess when you were being chased you dropped them. I tried to get them away from her but…yeah…I’m sorry. I hope they weren’t expensive. I can reimburse you!”

Sighing you crawl back into the bed provided for you. “No, they were just an old pair of shoes. It’s fine.”

“I don’t know how quickly a tow truck will be here. Do you have any belongings in your car that I can get for you?”

“I have a suitcase and my purse,” you tell the young man. “My cell…” you whisper. “My phone!!!”

“It’s right here! I managed to grab it before Nana did any damage to that don’t worry.”

“Thank goodness. I need to call my parents too.”

Nodding, Jaemin brings over the tray smiling proudly. “Why don’t you eat something first, I’ll get the first aid kit and get you all bandaged up and then you can go and make those phone calls while I head out and get your things?”

“Jaemin, please, you’ve already done so much as is. And I want to apologize for trespassing. I saw lights and I —”

Shaking his head he gives you a beautiful white-toothed smile. “It’s alright, really. I’m actually happy. I don’t get a lot of guests out here. It’s nice to have someone to talk to aside from the dogs.” Leaning into you he holds his hand up like he’s about to tell you a secret. “Between you and me they’re terrible communicators.”

Laughing for the first time since you left for your parents you smile at the lame joke. “Sadly, most animals are.”

“Well, I’ll let you eat. If you need anything I’ll be right outside in the other room.”

Jaemin turns to leave and just as he walks out of the room you call out to him. “Thank you! Jaemin…” your voice becomes small. “I really do appreciate this.”

“My pleasure,” he bows his head in your direction.

Glancing down at the warm bowl of soup that is really starting to make your mouth water you glance to the door. Hearing the TV turn on and the weather being put on you suspect that he isn’t trying to see if you take a bite or not. ‘Rule number one, never accept drinks or food from strangers.’

“Sorry mom…” you whisper before digging into the soup.

The first bite has your eyes rolling into the back of your head. A shiver rushing over your body at the scrumptious taste. Bite after bite you let the warmness of the soup coax your soul into tranquility.

Feeling like your life isn’t in danger by some creepy person you take a look around the room. The bed your in is quite large, most likely a queen with pretty plain covers — soft pink almost white, with matching curtains and pillows. The room overall feeling quite feminine. A chair sits off to the corner next to the window, a potted plant most likely fake behind the chair and a cute little reading corner to escape into the worlds of literature.

Across from the bed is a dresser and on top a mirror with scarce items around it. Tissues, small plants, and a few books for what you guess is aesthetic purposes mostly. To your left a nightstand and lamp rest with an old magazine from a few years ago. The room is quant but nothing to special. Just as one would expect of a guest room.

As you’re finishing up your soup Jaemin knocks on the door. “If you think you can make it, the phone is in the living room.”

“Oh, yes!”

“And I’ll take this,” he comes forward taking the soup bowl. “How was it?”

“The best chicken noodle soup I’ve ever tasted hands down!”

Giving a shy smile Jaemin nods. “Granny was known for her cooking. This was something I always wanted when we’d get snow here. Just makes everything cozier.”

“Are you here alone, Jaemin?”

“Yeah,” he lets out a deep sigh. “My parents are in the city a couple hours away. They never liked it here but me, I loved it. Everything is just slower when you’re out here. No one’s running into you on the streets. The air is cleaner. It’s quiet and of course the best part, no annoying neighbors.”

He walks out of the room with the tray continuing to talk. “I came out here a few years ago on a whim. I had to leave the city or else I was going to go crazy. I was only planning to stay for a couple of weeks but those weeks turned into years.” He walks back into the room. “And I haven’t regretted it since,” he holds out his hand for you.

“Not having annoying neighbors would be a dream,” you take hold of his hand. “I have this one neighbor who insists on singing terribly every night at around 8PM,” you groan. “I wouldn’t mind if he was half way decent but when he tries to hit those high notes it’s like a cat getting run over.”

Helping you out of bed, Jaemin wraps a secure arm around your waist. “If I’m being honest I wouldn’t mind a neighbor or two. Being out here is nice but it can get lonely. Would be nice every blue moon to talk to someone. Even if the only thing we talk about is the weather or sports.”

Assisting you across the floor you’re now aware of how badly you tore up your feet last night. The adrenaline from running away masking any pain that you should have felt.

“I want to apologize for my dogs. I did get them to be guard dogs but I didn’t think they’d have you running around and hurting yourself.” He peers down at you.

“It’s my fault. I’m the idiot who walked onto your property in the dark. They probably thought I meant to hurt you,” you laugh. “I am pretty tough when I need to be.”

Laughing at your joke Jaemin’s hand tightens around your waist. “I’d better be careful. I haven’t found a wife yet and I’d rather not have my face messed up before then.”

He sets you down on the couch then grabs the throw blanket that was on the back of what you assume is his chair. “Hard to find someone out here?”

“Talk about impossible,” he places the blanket over your lap. “That is unless I want to be a sugar baby with a granny as my sugar momma.”

Trying not to laugh you turn from him. “That’s unfortunate,” you let out a small giggle.

“Yah!!” He chuckles. “I’m not kidding! It’s granny city out here! You would think when someone gets old they’d want to be near hospitals and everything else that will help keep them preserved. No, these grannies are rough and tough.”

“Poor Jaemin,” you pout as he brings the phone over to you.

“Tell me about it,” he pretends to cry.

“A landline,” you smile gently. “Haven’t seen one of these in a long time.”

“Well the cell service out here is spotty. This baby is great if you ever have an emergency.”

Taking a seat in his chair Jaemin quiets down as you dial your childhood home number. This isn’t what you wanted. You wanted to surprise your parents with coming home for the holidays. To just pop up on their doorstep and practically give your mom a heart attack because she was so happy to see you. Now…Sighing you wait for someone to answer. You’ll have to ruin everything.

“Hello?” Your father answers.

“Dad?”

“Baby! How are you? What are you doing calling in the middle of the day? Shouldn’t you be working?”

“I, umm…” you start to twist the coiled cord around your finger just like you did back when you were a kid and had to talk to family you really didn’t want to. “Dad…you see…”

The couch dips down beside you. Glancing over Jaemin urges you to tell him what happened.

“Dad, hold on for just a second.”

“O-Okay?” He asks worried.

Covering the mouthpiece you let out a staggered breath. “What are you doing?” Jaemin whispers.

“I was planning on surprising my parents this year. They didn’t know I was coming up. They thought I was working through the holidays.”

“Wow that is a surprise,” he pauses to think. “Mind if I talk?”

“Y-You?”

Nodding Jaemin takes the phone away from you. “Sir? Yes, hello. My name is Jaemin Na and I’m sitting with your beautiful daughter right now. The reason she called you,” he glances down at you his lips turning up into a smile. “Is because she wanted to ask if you’d join us for Christmas.”

“WAIT?!” You whisper shout at him.

“You see sir,” he chuckles. “Well, your daughter and I have been getting rather close,” he winks dramatically. “I thought it was only customary to meet her parents and we can all get to know each other before, well…” he stills his body becoming stiff.

“What did he say?” You nudge Jaemin.

Gulping Jaemin nods, “y-yes sir.” His voice cracks. “Th-Thank you, sir.”

“Jaemin!!!” You whine.

“Yes, I’ll put her back on.”

Handing the phone back to you, you watch Jaemin lean back onto the couch looking like he’s seen a ghost. “Dad what did you do to him?!” You shout.

“I’m so happy, baby,” he sniffs. “Your mom is already packing her things as we speak.”

“Really?! You’re coming?!” You grab hold of Jaemin’s knee out of excitement.

Looking down at your hand Jaemin really looks at you for the first time. Seeing your beautiful hair shining in the ray of light permeating through the window. The pure joy on your face as you talk to your father. It’s been years since he’s seen someone genuinely happy. Ever since his granny passed the world seemed dull — with you here beside him, he cracks a smile, it feels like his grey world is starting to find some color again.

“Yes, okay, yeah I’ll put Jaemin on. I love you too daddy! See you soon!” Holding out the phone you whisper address to Jaemin.

“Oh, yes, sir, the address is…”

Waiting until Jaemin hangs up the phone you hit him hard on his leg. “Ahhhhh!!!” He shrieks. “What was that for?!”

“What did you do Jaemin?! Why are my parents coming here for Christmas?!”

Rubbing his leg he pouts. “I was thinking on my toes. Plus, you can’t possibly think you’ll be able to trudge through the snow all the way to your car with your feet as bad as they are!”

“They’re not that bad. See!” You stand up and take one single step on your right foot. A wave of pain rumbles through you. “Shit…” you whisper stuck in place.

“Told you,” Jaemin grabs your hand pulling you down to the couch. “I’m sorry if I overstepped. I didn’t mean to. The house is big enough for your parents and then some.”

“But what about you? Won’t this ruin your Christmas plans?”

“What Christmas plans?” He scratches the back of his neck chuckling. “My parents are too busy rubbing elbows with every other rich person in the city. The parties are always the same and always boring. I’ve been skipping out on them since I was 14. I normally spent my Christmas’ here with my granny.”

“When did she pass?”

“A year before I came to stay here. I would have come sooner but it felt wrong to just show up here with her gone.”

“D-Did she pass here?” You look around spooked at the thought someone died here.

“Nope. Dad shoved her in a nursing home. Don’t get me wrong it was a ritzy place but it wasn’t home for her.”

Your shoulders falling as you relax; you reach over giving Jaemin’s knee a little squeeze. “I’m sorry about her passing and I’m sorry your parents didn’t see a long time ago that Christmas should be spent with your family not with snobs.”

“Thanks…” he places his hand over yours. “Seriously with your parents and you here it’s going to make this a pretty awesome Christmas.”

“A part of me wonders if you didn’t set this up so you wouldn’t be alone,” you squint.

Avoiding your gaze Jaemin starts to smile coyly. “Alone? Who’s alone? I have Nana…”

“Yeah…you’d have spent it alone,” you shake your head. “I guess in a weird way I’m glad things happened the way they did last night. I don’t want to think for a second someone as sweet as you is spending Christmas alone…”

▽ ⓟ ⓡ ⓔ ⓨ △

“Hmmm…maybe she went into another room. Let’s go, Nana.”

Hearing the dragging of a chain as well as Nana’s bark farther off into the distance you slowly let out a breath you were holding. Doing your best to remain quiet you head up the staircase that will lead you to a painting in the library. Little by little you tread carefully.

Determined to make it out of this hell hole you move like a cat up the stairs. When you reach the top of the stairs, you take a huge breath in. This is the furthest you’ve made it in a while. Looking straight ahead at the wall, you carefully unhook two clamps. There was a secret about the painting in the library. Behind it there were holes in the wall that allowed you to see out through the eyes of the painting.

Standing on your tippy toes, your ankle throbbing as you do, you peer into the library. Only able to see a few feet in front of you and a little to the right and left, you can’t see anyone.

Excited you grab the doorknob ready to rush out of this tunnel and make your way to the front of the house. Because for once…

You made it! You actually did it!

“Gotcha!” A voice behind you snickers as strong arms wrap around your waist.

“No!!! No!!!!!” You scream thrashing in your captors arms. “Get off of me! Get off!!!!”

“Now, now, princess.” He laughs doing his best to attach the chain to your collar. “You know the rules. Rule 5, ‘If I catch you, you need to come quietly.’”

“Get off!!” You start to cry reaching for the door to run away from him. “Please!!!”

“Maybe you’ll be a little smarter next time.”

Turning your body away from the door you come face to face with the man that’s kept you locked in this home for lord knows how long. His once black hair now dyed silver, dark brown eyes, a beautiful smile that once made your stomach soar with butterflies, now it only makes you churn with revulsion. He leans into you placing his forehead onto yours.

“I’ve missed you this past week,” he nuzzles his nose with yours.

“Please…just let me go…” you beg.

Wrapping his arms around you tighter he holds you flush against his chest. “You know I can’t do that. Now, come on. It’s time for dinner.”

Letting go of you, you try to make a beeline straight for the door but are yanked back when he pulls hard on the chain. Immediately the air is taken from you. Your head thrashing forward as you’re pulled back — straining against the already tight collar. Choking, your gasps echo in the staircase. Falling forward he keeps a tight grip on the chain — ensuring you don’t hurt yourself and you can’t get away from him.

“Princess!” He snarls. “What have I told you about doing that?! I don’t want to hurt you!” Rubbing his forehead he thrashes his arm down yanking you forward. “Rule 7! ‘If you try to resist I will have to make you submit!’” He roars. “I don’t want to hurt you! I love you! But you keep breaking the rules! They’re there for you so you don’t get hurt!”

Taking a few collective breaths he attempts to calm himself down. It’s understandable that you try to resist. If the roles were reversed — he pauses, thinking. The corner of his lip tugs up into a smirk before his tongue glides across to the same corner. If the roles were reversed he’d be happy that you’ve kept him the whole time. Doing his best to please you.

The idea of him kneeling on the ground in front of you. Collar on tight and your hand having a firm grip on the leash — smiling proudly at him. Running a hand through his hair and filling his head with compliment after compliment has him ensnaring an arm around your waist, his lips dangerously close to your own.

“I need you,” he whispers his breath hot on your face. The faintest hint of his favorite brand of coffee wafting around the two of you.

“N-No…” you cry out trying to tug on the collar. “Please…I’m hurt…”

He becomes rigid. “Hurt? When?”

“On the stairs earlier.”

Turning his head away another round of fury courses through him. The thought of plowing into you long gone in the blink of an eye. Rule 2, ‘if the party being hunted finds themselves hurt they are to call out the safe word: red, or push the red button at one of the safe rooms. Signifying that the game is over.’

“Do you hate me that much,” he mutters.

“Wh-What?”

His head lowers until the front fringe of his hair covers his eyes. “You’re hurt…you should have let me know…”

“I didn’t want it to end.”

Honesty is your greatest ally right now. It’s true. Rule 2 clearly states that the game will end until you’re fully healed. You’ll be locked back in your room with nothing but your thoughts and a few books to keep you occupied. Then as customary the game will start over. You being placed at the starting point again! This has happened two times before.

The first time you were on bed rest for what you figured was a month. Still able to see the rise and fall of the sun it was easy to keep track of the days. After you were better you were blindfolded and taken to another part of the house for the game to start all over.

The second time was a much bigger injury. You had gotten cut deeply by a broken shard of glass. Bleeding profusely you thought that you were going to die. Nana was the one who found you on the floor in a pool of your own blood. She sounded the alarm and that is when Rule 2 was issued.

“Why didn’t you want to end the game? Do you hate me that much? Do you want to leave me that badly?” The man in front of you tugs on your chain tilting your neck up so he can peer into your eyes. “Don’t you get it?” His hands start trembling. “I’m in love with you. I’ve never felt this way about someone in my life! And all you can think of is leaving me! After everything I’ve done for you.” He turns around yanking you back down the steps.

“Pl-Please!!” You cry. “I just want to go home!”

“You are home!”

“I want my parents!” You start to wail clutching onto anything that you can to stop him from taking you back into that room. “I want my own bed. I want to go to my job! I want to see my friends! If you love me why can’t you let me go?”

Stopping at the bottom of the staircase you see the chain go slack in his arms. “You were going to leave me…” he whispers. “After I helped you… After I took care of you…”

“Did I ever say I would leave permanently?!” You attempt to march up to him. “Did I ever say I wouldn’t call or stop by?” You growl. “You are the one who put that in your head! Not me!”

“Would you have called?”

No. You think to yourself. Yes. Your mind quickly changes. Maybe? You sigh. There is no clear answer.

“I couldn’t lose another person.” He pulls you flush against his chest, arms wrapping around you, his face burying into the crook of your neck. “I finally found the light with you.”

“Please…” you try to pull away from him but he just wraps his arms around you tighter.

“Why can’t you love me like I love you?”

Because you’re a psychopath! Your brain screams. A twisted son of a bitch who’s dead set on never letting you out of his clutches!

But your heart…He leaves a few kisses on your neck heading up to your jawline. Your heart is fickle. Your heart is unfaithful. His hand leaves your waist and wraps around your neck, holding your head in place. Your heart…He peers down at you. Tears threatening to fall as his lips meet yours. Your heart is in love with him…

▽ ⓟ ⓡ ⓔ ⓨ △

Sighing on the couch you snuggle in Jaemin’s blanket. Taking in his scent you smile. The smell of laundry detergent, soup, and face lotion — in other words…fresh. Glancing up at his silhouette walking past the huge bay window he gives you a quick wave before heading over to shovel the walkway from the main entrances of the gates. And he needed to shovel a path to the garage where his truck is. Since your parents are coming over in just two days the house needs a little sprucing up. A little Christmas cheer. Not to mention, a shit ton of food to ring in the celebration.

Sadly, your feet are still messed up so you can’t help Jaemin with shoveling. The moment you mentioned it he put his foot down hard saying he would never allow it in the first place. So, here you are inside by a nice fire in front the TV. According to Jaemin, this house is primarily or was primarily a summer home. So that also means there are no Christmas decorations.

After the phone call with your dad the two of you planned out everything. You would get the bare minimum of decorations, a small tree that you quickly decorate, a few lights and candles for outside and inside; as well as some holiday plates.

Giving you ample time to rest up, you’re itching to get up and try to get to work to help in any way possible. Jaemin being the sweetest man you’ve ever encountered when he offered his home to you and your family. You just needed to find a way to pay him back for his kindness.

The front door opens and a rush of cold air wafts inside the cozy house. Bringing the blanket up to keep warm you glance in his direction. “How thick is the snow?”

“Not bad at all. Already did the first gate, the path and now I’m about to head out to the second and third gates. I forgot the key. Granny was extra precautions when it came to security.” He sighs. “But she also made it harder for herself and everyone else.”

“Are you sure there isn’t anything I can do? Maybe start the car and warm it up?”

Coming from the kitchen back to the living room, Jaemin leans over the back of the couch peering down at you. Craning your neck back you giggle at the goofy face he makes.

“Just rest, okay?” He places a chilly hand against your cheek. “We have plenty of time to get this place ready.”

“I just feel useless right now. If only I wasn’t stupid and changed into my sneakers I would be able to help.”

Doing something unexpected Jaemin places a chaste kiss on your forehead. “You’re not useless. You’re doing so much right now.”

“I am?”

Nodding he walks away from you heading for the door where Nana waits for him. “You’re bringing color back into my life. And I can’t thank you enough for it.” With that Jaemin walks back out into the chilly air.

Color?

Sitting up on the couch you work up the nerve to stand. Wanting to sit closer to the window to keep a close eye on Jaemin — in case of an emergency, you make it to your feet. After the phone call with your father Jaemin brought out the first aid kit and wrapped up your soles in gauze.

Gently you decide sliding your feet across the wood flooring would be easier on you than stepping for the time being. Sitting at the window seat you wrap yourself up in a cocoon and watch the man that has opened his home to you. Far off at the second gate he pushes the snow around easily. It really does look like the light fluffy kind. The complete opposite to when it was falling on the ground a few hours ago.

Nana and the other two dogs roll around and play in the snow. Nana close to Jaemin, the other two further away from her. He was right when he said she doesn’t like the male dogs. Chuckling, your eyes rest on Jaemin.

What did he mean when he said you’re adding color to his life? Was his life that grey before?

Looking around the living room there aren’t many pictures. There’s one of a family but it looks to be way older than Jaemin’s parents. There is however, a small boy with his arms tightly around a woman in one picture, next to Jaemin’s chair. The boy an exact resemblance to Jaemin. If he’s here all alone and his parents in the city, it’s clear that they’re not close.

“I’m sorry, Jaemin…” you whisper.

You needed to make this holiday special for him. No longer being about your parents coming out to see you, you trudge over to the phone. Quickly dialing your parent’s number you keep a close eye on the door.

“Hello?” This time your mom answering.

“Momma, hi,” you smile brightly.

“Baby!!!” She screams on the other end making you move the phone away from your ear. “Okay, what all do we need to bring? I’ve packed and repacked and I can’t decide what we need!”

“Maybe enough stuff to stay through the New Year?”

“The New Year?” She mumbles. “Is that okay with Jaemin?”

“I haven’t asked him yet but I’m sure he won’t mind. He’s been here all alone for a couple of years.”

“Alone? You never visited?”

“Visit? I just met him, why would I visit?”

She pauses on the other side before belting out the loudest yell you’ve ever heard. “Honey!!!! Get your butt in here now!!!” She calls for your dad. “Sweetie I’m going to put you on speaker phone, okay?”

“Yeah, okay.”

You hear whispering and shuffling going on in the background before your dads voice rings through the phone. “Baby,” he whispers.

“Hey dad…”

“Now… tell your father what you just told me about you and Jaemin.”

“I told mom that Jaemin and I just met.”

“Just met?” Your father sounds surprised. “Wait, he never said…”

“Darling I think your father jumped to conclusions. He thought this whole thing is because Jaemin is going to pop the question.”

“What was I supposed to think?” Your father grumbles. “A man invites a woman’s family over to his place for the holidays and it’s a little out of the blue and not to mention our baby girl was talking about getting back into the dating world after that last jackass.” He spats.

Clenching the phone tightly the image of your ex resurfaces. Your father wasn’t wrong when he called him a jackass. Cheated on you left and right to the point you were terrified that you might have gotten an STD/STI when you started to feel unwell. Thankfully, your tests were negative and it was merely the flu, but you were terrified for a good while.

“How did you just meet him?” Your mom probes.

“Last night my car broke down around 2 miles from his home. I was trying to find a few bars so I can call for a tow but then I saw lights in the distance and well here I am.”

“He hasn’t…” your father whispers. “You know…”

“He’s been a perfect gentleman. I’m the one who did something wrong,” you snicker looking at your bandages feet. “Which is why he thought about you guys coming down here instead of me driving up there.”

“What happened?”

“I got chased by his guard dogs. Two Doberman’s had a good workout because of me. Sadly, the kitten heels I was wearing didn’t make it through the wooded area and I was just walking on my bare feet and of course tore my feet up.”

“Baby!” Your mom gasps. “Please go to the hospital!”

“I’m fine.”

“What if you get an infection?!”

“I’m fine, mom, really. They’re just bruised and scratched up. Jaemin has already cleaned and bandaged my feet. I’m in incredibly good hands here,” you twirl the cord around your finger as a gentle smile creeps across your face.

“Ahhhhh…” your mom giggles. “Is he cute?”

“Cute?!” Your dad shouts.

“I’ll let you be the judge of that,” you giggle like a schoolgirl. “But the reason I called was —”

Hanging up the phone you jolt around as the front door opens up and you hear Jaemin calling for Nana. Kicking off the excess snow off his shoes he steps inside face bright red.

“We’re good to head out!”

“Why don’t you sit down and rest for a little. I have something I need to talk to you about.”

“Am I…” he walks over to the couch a terrified look on his face. “In trouble?” He asks.

“That depends. When you talked to my father did he seem extra happy about something?”

Stilling, Jaemin’s head slowly turns away from you. “I-I don’t know what you mean?”

“Well, I made another call home to tell my parents to bring a little extra something and when I did my mom revealed that my dad had the impression that you and I were a couple.”

Jaemin jolts up holding out his hands. “I swear!” He starts speaking quickly. “I didn’t intend to give him the wrong impression. I was going to tell him about what happened and then all of a sudden he’s calling me son, and saying I can’t wait to meet you. And then he warns me that if I hurt you I’m as good as dead and I’m sorry!”

Finally letting yourself laugh you shake your head. “I’m not mad, Jaemin. It was funny to hear what happened. Don’t worry my parents aren’t mad at all either and knowing them they’ll apologize again and again for the misunderstanding.”

Falling down onto the couch Jaemin lets out a huge exhale. “So, I’m not going to die?”

Smirking you nudge his arm. “At least not yet you aren’t. Oh, and if it’s alright with you I told them to bring extra clothes to last them up till the New Year.”

“New Year?” Jaemin asks.

“When you were talking about being out here all alone for Christmas I had an idea. I took time off of work until the second week in the New Year and well,” you reach over placing a hand on top of his. “I thought we can spend time with you for Christmas and the New Year so you’re not alone.”

Staring dumbfounded Jaemin’s eyes tremble. Gulping deeply you watch his adams apple bob up and down before he reaches out to you pulling you towards him. Smashing his lips onto yours. His hand wraps around your neck as he slowly moves his lips across yours. Not knowing fully what to do you sit there stunned.

What shocks you even more is when you find your own lips moving along with his. Feeling you returning the kiss Jaemin starts to use his body to push you back onto the couch. A small squeak from you has him smiling against your lips.

What is going on?! You freak out.

Not being the crazy party girl type you don’t even give your number out to strangers when you’re at bars with your co-workers. Yet here you are, kissing a complete stranger. Staying at his house. Inviting your parents over for the holidays! Who the fuck are you?!

But the better question is…why does it feel so good to kiss, Jaemin?

Trying to get a better angle a chuckle leaves you when you hear Jaemin’s coat rustling around. His smile starts to spread across his lips and with one final peck and a growl he sits up.

“Stupid coat,” he unzips and rips it off of him.

“Well that was unexpected,” you tease.

“I’m sorry about that. I mean I am and I’m not. I hope I didn’t make you uncomfortable.”

“I did kiss you back so I wouldn’t say I was uncomfortable,” you sit up staring at the young man before you.

His chest rises and falls as his tongue skates over his lips. His eyes going from yours down to your lips and back up to meet your own. His cheeks flushed from the cold and perhaps from your small make out.

Jaemin is truly a very attractive man. Dark black hair that isn’t too short or too long. A nice medium length that you can run your hands through. The sweetest smile you’ve ever seen. Even now as his lips start tugging up into a grin you can’t help but to smile as well. He’s just that type of person that can make others happy and smile just by smiling himself.

Leaning into him you grab him by his neck yanking him towards you. “You haven’t answered my proposition at all,” you say against his lips.

“What was it again? I think I forgot,” he drags his lips across yours tempting you.

“Is it okay for my parents and me to stay here and celebrate the holidays with you?”

“Hell with the way I feel right now you can all move in!”

“Then I guess we have some major shopping to do,” you let go of him and stand up.

Grabbing your waist his eyes widen. “Be careful!”

“Don’t worry. I’ve got a system now!”

Sliding your feet across the floor as if you’re a figure skater you make it to the guest room without feeling any pain. Doing a little twirl you end with a ‘ta-dah pose’ to which Jaemin gives you a round of applause. Even in the corner of the room where Nana has decided to stand — as far from you as possible, you swear you see the slightest wag of her tail. Perhaps it really was a great thing ending up at Jaemin’s.

▽ ⓟ ⓡ ⓔ ⓨ △

Lying in bed you stare up at the white ceiling. The game ended a while ago. The triumphant feeling you had of almost escaping has turned you into a hollow shell. No longer eating or drinking, you’ve put yourself on the ‘self-harm’ list in your captors’ eyes.

Sitting in a chair in the corner he turns another page in the novel he’s been reading for the last day and a half. He hasn’t left your side at all — well, except when he makes your meals, but even then…you tug on the collar around your neck jingling the chain that he holds loosely in his hand, alarming him. You’re still kept within saving distance.

“Have you decided to eat yet?” He asks going back to his book.

“No.”

Exhaling, he slams his book shut. “Why are you doing this? You need to eat. You need to drink.”

“Let me go and I will.”

“If I let you go you’ll run away and call the cops.”

“Of course I will!” You scream. “You’ve kept me locked in this fucking house for God knows how long! I want to go home! I want to be with my family! Why can’t you understand this?!” You start thrashing your body around on the bed.

“Stop! Stop!” You completely lose control of yourself. Throwing your hands around wildly you end up scratching your face, blood trickling down your cheek. Upon seeing you he springs up from his chair rushing over to you and grabs your arms. “For fucks sake stop!!” He climbs on the bed straddling your lap. “You’re going to hurt yourself.”

For a brief second you pause to stare him dead in the eyes. “Good!” You spit venomously.

“What?!” He whispers.

“I’d rather die than spend another minute here with you!”

As fast as lightning your wrists are gripped tightly and thrown over your head. Putting all his weight on you, causing you to not only moan but gasp from the lack of air — you’re unable to move. Yanking, you try to get him to loosen his grip. Twisting and turning your body in any direction you can you try to throw him off. When nothing works you release the most guttural scream.

“I never wanted to do this to you!” He screams down at you. “When you…when you said yes,” his voice becomes a whisper. “I was so happy. I thought finally someone who sees me has come into my life. Someone I can call mine forever…”

“Yet you locked me up! That isn’t love!”

“You were going to leave me! Don’t lie to me!” He pushes against your arms, his grip tightening.

“I said I needed to go back home. I needed to get back to my life and my job. That never meant goodbye forever!”

“Yes it does…” he whispers.

“When I said yes, I meant it! At that moment I meant it with every fiber of my being! When I said I needed to go I didn’t mean forever. We would have talked as much as you wanted. You could have come out and visited me and vice versa, but you took all of those possibilities and threw them out the fucking window!”

“Your home, what does it look like again?”

“What?!”

“Your home in the city…”

“Who the fuck cares now?! They probably threw all my shit away!” A tear trickles down your face.

There’s no doubt in your mind that all your things have been emptied out of your apartment. There’s no way in hell your landlord would just allow you to skip out on months of rent. Hell, you don’t even have a job anymore most likely. All that hard work — years of staying away during holidays to grind out another win for the company wasted because of the man currently top of you.

“You still have your apartment.”

“What?”

“I’ve been paying the rent this whole time.”

“WHAT?!” You scream.

“I’ve also invested in your company and have talked to your boss and he thinks you’re working exclusively on a deal with me at my home office. You’ve been given a pay raise since then.”

“Get off! Get the fuck off of me!”

This time listening to you, he slides off of you sitting defeated at your side.

“What in the hell are you talking about? How did you invest and why hasn’t my boss wanted to see me? What about my family?!”

Sighing he glances your way before looking away again. “My family owns half of the city where you work. In other words were filthy stinking rich. I was supposed to take over my father’s company but I chose to venture off on my own – small business dealings with tech companies here and there. It paid the bills and brought in the connections I needed to stay in my father’s good graces.

“Your wallet,” he fiddles with his fingers. “I looked you up. Found you on the company website and looked into the company as a hole. The two days I was gone after our fight,” he finally looks up again. “That’s when I went and took care of things on your end…

“As for your family,” he looks at you with the darkest gaze you’ve seen him wear since your huge fight that started this mess. “You’re the one who told me you’re a workaholic who doesn’t visit much. When they called me to see how everything was I said that you’ve been busy and I haven’t heard from you for a while. This mess,” he points to you. “You did yourself.”

▽ ⓟ ⓡ ⓔ ⓨ △

“Can you hand me the last bit of tinsel?” You ask Jaemin.

“Are you sure we need more? The trees starting to look like it belongs in a flapper movie.”

“Yes, this area here is boring. It needs a little sparkle!”

Handing you the last chunk of tinsel you do your job of decorating the crap out of the tree. This is your favorite thing about Christmas. Decorating the entire house and tree until everything looks like you’ve stepped into a tiny Christmas village. Sadly, due to time constraints and the fact this isn’t your home — only sticking with the utmost crucial of decorations. One, being mistletoe that is now hanging at the entryway from the kitchen to the living room – two, a Christmas playlist setup to fill the house with cheer.

Garland was placed around the front door, the entryway above the mistletoe, and on the staircase upstairs where your parents would be staying — and you even found cute mini already decorated Christmas trees to put in their rooms for some added cheer.

There were stockings hung over the mantle of the fireplace, but the best part of all…

“When do you want to start wrapping the presents?” Jaemin holds your hand as you step down from the small step ladder.

“Uhh, I guess we should get it done now. I’ll be cooking for most of the evening to help get as much food done as possible.”

“Is Christmas normally this extravagant at your house?”

“Which house?” You smirk. “My place in the city or my childhood home?”

“Both.”

Grabbing the bag of presents you got for your parents and even Jaemin, you go to your corner of the living room – already telling him that their backs will be facing away from each other the whole time so they won’t see anything that will ruin the surprise.

While shopping for your parents Jaemin asked what you wanted. You tried to tell him nothing that this holiday is about him but he kept looking at you like ‘if you don’t tell me what you want you’re going to get something you REALLY don’t need.’ Settling on a book you wanted to get eventually, Jaemin went off on his own to find you something special.

Having asked him what he wanted he said anything that catches your eye he’ll gladly accept. Talk about vague.

“My house in the city for the last couple years I’ve barely had time to decorate during the holidays. I make a goal every year to start as soon as December hits but I always end up putting up a fake tree and that’s it.”

“This coming from a woman I had to pull away from the decorations or else this house would end up like Santa’s workshop?!”

Laughing you start cutting some paper for the gift you had already purchased for your mom.

“I’ve been trying to earn this huge promotion at work. It will allow me to work from home a lot more and have more flexible hours. It gets really lonely being so far from home so I was thinking of getting a pet. A dog or a cat maybe. I’m not sure. But, I don’t want to think about leaving it at home all the time. I want to enjoy having a pet.

“Then there is finally going out on dates, meeting Mr. Right, marriage, kids, the whole nine yards. I want to have a good job that allows me to have these luxuries. Sadly that means I’m always working overtime even around the holidays.”

“What kind of job do you have?”

“I’m the chief of my department for marketing. I started out as just a regular floor employee but I worked my ass off for the past seven years and slowly worked up to being chief. What I want is to be up on the main floor with the big wigs.”

“Big wigs? President and Vice President?”

“Shareholders too.”

“Ambitious, I like that in a woman.” He states with a slight smirk in his tone.

“And what about you Mr. Na? What type of job do you have?”

“I’m an investor. My dad owns his own company and I go out looking for things we can invest in to expand our outreach. It’s not a demanding job and I do most of my research at home.”

“Seems nice,” you sigh. “But then again, getting the companies to listen to you is pretty grueling work.”

“Tell me about it. I tried to get this one company to sit down for five minutes with me, took me over a year. My father really wanted to do business with them. It was get this meeting or start looking for work elsewhere.”

“Damn, if he wanted the company why didn’t he contact the person himself?”

“‘You need to learn how to handle tough situations, son. One day you’ll be taking over the company. You need to be firm, strong, and know the business inside and out.’” He speaks in a gruff voice. “What he truly meant was, get your ass up and start contributing or I’m going to kick you out of the will.”

“Anything in particular you wanted to do more?”

“I wanted to be a doctor. My uncle used to let me shadow him whenever I wanted. It was awesome! The rush of people coming in. The split second decisions you have to make. Having someone’s life in your hands. Just thinking about it makes my heart beat faster. But the best part is helping people in need. That isn’t what my father wanted to hear so bye bye medical school.”

“I’m so sorry, Jaemin.”

“It’s in the past. I make a decent living and technically, I did help you.” He peeks over his shoulder the same moment you look over yours.

“You sure did,” you give a reassuring smile. “Now let’s focus on the task at hand. Because next up is cooking!”

For the next two hours you and Jaemin work nonstop to wrap every gift. Trying to keep small talk to a minimum you sit in a comfortable silence between the two of you. Being here with Jaemin feels like a breath of fresh air. Maybe it’s the fact that you’re away from the hustle and bustle of city life. Maybe it’s because for once you’re not focusing on the grind and appreciating the time you’re having to just slow down, but it’s nice. And Jaemin is amazing company and a generous man and host.

When the holidays end and you have to go back to your life, you peek over to see him sliding another gift off to the side. You’re really going to miss him.

The rest of the evening you spend bossing Jaemin around in the kitchen. He learned all about the foods your parents like. Hearing story after story of how you almost burnt down the kitchen, also how you almost electrocuted yourself, and the failures and triumphs of your cooking ventures. When everything that was cold is cooked and put away in the fridge you stretch your back hearing it crack loudly.

“Come over here,” Jaemin pats a spot on the couch. “You’ve been standing for hours. It’s time to rest.”

“I think you’re right.” Skidding your feet across the floor you plop down next to him. “It’s been a while since I’ve cooked that much. It felt nice.”

Grabbing your legs he hoists them up to his lap making you squeak in surprise. “If you could have one meal for the rest of your life, what would it be?” He asks starting to rub your tired aching legs.

“Hmmm…” you lay back and enjoy the soothing massage. “I suppose I’d want lemon pepper chicken. Well, anything with chicken.” You laugh. “My dad used to make fun of me and say with all the chicken I ate growing up he’s surprised I haven’t sprouted feathers and started laying eggs.” Chuckling along with you, Jaemin heads down to your ankles which feel especially sore. “And you?”

“What I made you yesterday,” he smiles. “It’s simple, easy, never goes out of fashion and it’s just too damn good.”

“Ahh yes, granny’s famous chicken noodle soup! What was she like?”

Pausing he leans back for a second his arms resting on your legs. “She was the sweetest person on this earth. She loved animals and sometimes I felt she loved them more than people. She used to say animals are easier to read then people. They don’t hide their motives from you. If they don’t like you they show it. If they want to eat you, you’ll know. If they love you,” he glances your way and for some reason the smile that spreads across his face has your heart skipping a beat. “They’ll never leave you.”

“That’s really beautiful…”

“Yeah, but don’t let all that fool you. She was a hard worker. Went out and worked at the polls when it was voting time. Helped some lawmakers get into office. Even worked with a former president on an ecologically friendly venture. She was a real badass. Her true passion lies in helping people. Believe it or not she wanted to be a doctor too, but her father forbad it.”

“What?! Why?!”

“‘Women can’t be doctors. They’re job is to take care of their families.’” He starts to massage your ankles again. “My great grandpa was a bit of a misogynist,” he chuckles. “So, when my granny had my dad and uncle she told them repeatedly, whatever you want to do in life I’ll support you. I think she thought at least one of them would go into the more eco-friendly territory as she did but both of them had other plans. My dad…” he grimaces.

“He likes money. ‘Money can provide for the family, for you, and for others.’ He loved his mom and respected her but he also thought she was making poor decisions and leading too much with her heart. He is a born businessman. My uncle, at least he got my granny’s love for helping people, however,” he laughs. “He likes helping the rich clients try to keep their youth if you know what I mean.”

“Cosmetic and plastic surgeries?”

“Oh yeah,” he shakes his head. “When he started off he was in the ER but when I was around 16, he switched out and went where the money is. I think it’s because my aunt spends it all on designer brands. She’s a shop-a-holic.”

“If I met your family what do you think they’d think of me?”

Pausing Jaemin looks to you slowly. “Exactly what capacity are you meeting them in?”

Shrugging you smile. “Any type I guess.”

“As a friend they wouldn’t really care. The only thing I believe they’d say is to not be seen too much in public with you as it would give the wrong impression of my relationship status.”

“Damn…”

“If it were, uhh, as a girlfriend,” he unconsciously slides his hands around your calves gripping the other side — making you inhale from the sudden movement, goosebumps decorating your skin. “They would like that you’re ambitious, that’s for sure,” his grip tightens around your calves. “But I do have to ask, what do your parents do?”

“My mom is a retired school teacher and my dad is a truck driver.”

Immediately looking away from you his grip becomes even tighter alarming you. “It wouldn’t matter if you were the love of my life. They wouldn’t accept you because you’re not from a well to do family.”

“So because I’m not from some rich family they wouldn’t give their blessings on this hypothetical relationship?” Nodding Jaemin side glances your way. Lips drown into a pout he looks like a small child whose toy was just taken from him. “I’m sorry your parents are like that. Monetary reasons shouldn’t dictate over a person’s true feelings for someone. Has there been someone in the past they didn’t approve of?”

Shaking his head no, Jaemin unravels his grip on you. “I’ve turned down every person they’ve brought forward. My father got so angry he asked me point blank if I was an ass chaser.”

“Ass chaser?!” You stifle a giggle.

“Just because I despised every woman they threw at me doesn’t mean I’m gay! Which I’m not! I love women and I’m not interested in men!” He grumbles.

Placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder you draw his attention back to you. “From that kiss you gave me I can 100% tell you’re no ass chaser.”

Letting out a huge exhale his hands run through his hair a look of dread on his face. “I need to apologize for that. I was just really excited. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable or to imply anything. I mean we don’t even know each other and —”

Sliding your legs off his lap, you lean forward and put a finger over his lips. “It’s fine. There is no need to apologize. Besides, it’s been a couple months since my last relationship. It was nice to be kissed again.”

“Your last boyfriend…what was he like?”

“Total punk rocker type. You know the chains on his pants, tight black distressed skinny jeans. Studded leather jacket. The emo hairstyle with gauges and piercings.” You roll your eyes. “Believe it or not I fell for the boy in the band. How lame is that?”

“I didn’t know men were still in their teenage angst phases.”

“I mean he loved everything about the clothing and music. I didn’t judge because I mean you like what you like. I fell hard for him. He pulled me up on stage, was holding me, touching me, and then kissed me in front of everyone. I was so stunned when they took me backstage — I didn’t even realize I was put in his dressing room.

“He told me that he saw me out in the audience and thought I was beautiful and wanted to talk. It was weird. I mean here I am in a strangers —” pausing you start to laugh. “Fuck! I’m in the same situation!”

“What do you mean?”

“I didn’t even know the guy, he kissed me, and then we talked for hours.” Leaning into him you smirk. “Sound familiar?”

Forcing back a smile Jaemin exhales deeply. “Yes, yes it does. How long did that relationship last?”

“Eight months. He found himself another pretty girl at a show and fucked her. I walked in on them when I went to surprise him.” Scoffing you cross your arms over your chest the memory filling you with rage. “That was the only time I left work early. Hell, the only time I put anything over my job. I was crazy for this guy.

“He was exciting! Made me see a different side of myself I never knew I had. I grew so much in my own confidence and started speaking up and speaking back to people. His ‘stick it to the man’ attitude was contagious. Believe it or not, it made me a beast at work and how I earned the respect of the big wigs in my company.

“For once things felt like they were going in the right direction. So, when the last stop on their tour was at a club near my work, I decided to surprise him. It had been a month since we had last seen each other face to face. We talked on the phone and stuff but we were really busy.

“So, I show up and head to the dressing room to find him balls deep in some whore! Like are you kidding me?! I left work early! I didn’t pull an all-nighter like I normally do. I dressed up for him. Had on my sexiest heels that he liked and what do I get instead…him shoving his dick in some random ass woman.”

“What did he say?”

“‘Babe! It’s not what you think!’ It’s not what I think?! Can you believe that! I threw the gift I bought for him at him. Called the woman a whore, and stormed out of the building. Threw all his shit into a box, left it at the lobby of the building I’m at and told the front desk by no means is he allowed to go up to see me.”

He shakes his head sighing. “I’m sorry…men like that…they’re pigs. I would never do that to the person I’m in a relationship with.” His voice becomes soft, “especially when the person is as beautiful as you.”

“Thanks,” you slump down into the couch. “But let’s not fool ourselves. At the end of the day we’re all made of the same cloth. All we need is to have the right person come into our lives at the right time and it’ll fuck everything up.”

“NO!” He shouts startling you.

Before you realize what’s going on you’re pushed onto your back — Jaemin hovering over you, his body settling between your legs. Staring up at him in both confusion and something else you’re eyes search his face for answers.

“I would never look at another person! Never!” He growls. “As long as you’re mine and I’m yours there’d be no one else. No one!”

Wrapping your hand around his neck you yank him down to you into a lip lock. A deep groan rumbles in his throat as the two of you fight over dominance. Teeth clanking against each other’s, the kiss growing wet and hot as it continues. Laying more of his weight on you, you feel something hard rub against your womanhood. Gasping against his lips, he uses the opportunity to slide his tongue into your mouth.

Succumbing to the feeling, he roams your mouth leaving no corner untraced. His lips moving across yours seamlessly as your tongues dart in and out of each other’s mouths. Lifting your head up, you manage to catch his tongue between your lips and start to suck on the taut muscle. Giving just enough of a taste to inform him of what else you could do with your mouth.

Growling, he pulls back and you gasp for air. With one arm propping himself up, he uses his other hand to wrap around your neck — gripping tightly. Thanks to your ex, you’ve learned that choking is a huge turn on for you. The feeling of being at someone’s mercy, begging and pleading under them.

Looking up through cloudy eyes, Jaemin’s jaw tightens as his chest rises and falls his brown eyes now dark with lust. Trying to speak his grip tightens more making your hips involuntarily bucking up to his. Eyes rolling back into his head from the friction your clothed core felt against his growing bulge sends shivers throughout you.

Leaning down to you, his hand still around your neck he plants a hard kiss against your lips. “You deserved better. The bastard!” He growls nipping your bottom lip so hard it bleeds. “He should have worshipped the ground you walked on.” He slides his tongue over your bleeding lip.

“Jaemin~” you moan his name loudly.

“You’re so beautiful…So fucking beautiful…” he forces your head back giving him access to your neck.

Wrapping your legs around him you lose yourself in the feeling of his kisses. Sliding his tongue across your jugular he opens his mouth biting down on your throat. Again, your hips buck up to meet his — this time the grind against his groin grabbing his attention.

“We should stop,” he runs his teeth across your neck nipping and sucking on your skin.

Lifting your hips once more you protest the notion. “Don’t want to,” your legs wrap around him tighter.

Sucking on the side of your neck his hips roll into yours. A cry comes from you as you cling to him. He wasn’t even inside of you and yet you’re falling apart by the seams.

“Your parents are coming tomorrow morning. We need to get some rest.” His hips move against yours again clearly stating that though his mouth says one thing his body is on the same side as yours.

“I’m not tired.”

With one final grind of his hip into yours, he pulls away from you despite your desperate attempts at keeping him locked in your arms.

“It’s not that I don’t want to,” he reaches behind him grabbing one of your legs and prying it off of him. “I just…” he smiles down at you. “I respect you too much to do this.”

“To fuck me?” You pout.

“I would never fuck you,” his hand goes to your cheek, his thumb rubbing across your bottom lip where you give it a little bite. “I would make love to you. We just got caught up in our emotions. Trust me, tonight is not the night for this.”

Your legs go limp as the burning passion inside of you starts to simmer down to something subtle. A warm cozy feeling like snuggling up on the couch with a cup of coco – snow falling, a sweet romance movie playing on the TV. He respects you. He doesn’t want this to be a onetime fling. A deep thud in your chest has your stomach doing summersaults.

“I don’t know what’s going on between us, but I like it.” You confess.

“All the better reason not to jump into bed with each other.” He gets off of you and holds out his hand. “Now let’s get some sleep.”

Sighing in bed your heart still hums with the smallest tickle of desire. The feeling of Jaemin’s arousal still prevalent against your core. Biting your bottom lip you hold back the urge to relieve yourself of this yearning.

It’s strange. You’ve only known him completely for two days and yet you feel like you’ve known him a lot longer. His caring nature the complete opposite of your ex. The way his lips tug up slowly into such a bright smile has little butterflies soaring through you.

His strong grip that he had on your neck, you reach up wrapping your hand around your neck — activating the lust within you. Unconsciously your hips buck into the air, a whimper passing your lips. For fucks sake the man isn’t even in the room!

Growling you roll over onto your side, shove the thick quilt between your legs and force yourself to get some sleep, if it’s even possible with salacious thoughts of a naked Jaemin on top of you filling your head.

Turning on the shower Jaemin steps inside feeling the cool water wash over his burning skin. His mind reeling with the image of you underneath him. Clinging to him, pulling him closer to you. In that moment he wanted you. To hear what your cries of pleasure would be like. Knowing that it was him who made you feel so good.

“Why didn’t I just let her?” He grumbles placing his head against the wall of the shower.

Reaching down, his hand wraps around his length. Sliding his hand up his shaft, Jaemin grits his teeth. He’s still hard even after a few minutes of calming himself down after your steamy make out. This is ridiculous! The mere thought of you has him hardening on the spot.

“She wanted you! Stupid!” He growls pumping himself in his hand. “She was begging for you!” His grip tightens. “You could already be deep inside her!” His hips buck forward a groan echoing in the shower.

Closing his eyes an image of you on his bed starts to appear before him. Your beautiful body laid out waiting for him to tend to your every desire. How you’d open your arms for him, begging to feel him on you — to kiss every inch of your body, and treat you like the queen you are.

His hand moves faster up and down his cock. He pictures you squirming underneath him as he kisses his way down your body. Fondling, kissing, licking, sucking, and biting on your breasts, and nipples.

“Shit!” He groans slamming his free hand against the wall.

Seeing how your chest would rise and fall as he worked you over with his mouth. Tasting you, savoring you, falling deeper for you. When you finally come undone for him, how he’d slurp up every last drop of your juices — his face wet from your arousal.

“Fuck! Fuck!” His hand moves like lightning as he builds himself up to come.

But what he would love the most, what he’d crave the most is to be inside of you. How you’d need to adjust to his size. The tightness of your juicy pussy choking his cock from the intrusion. Seeing your face when he slides into you, how your lips would part and the slightest ‘ahhh~’ being released.

All building up to him making love to you slow and deep. Keeping his eyes locked onto you, his gaze penetrating deep into your soul as you both become one. Then, as he feels himself ready to come you whisper the one thing he wants to hear the most.

‘Come inside me…’

“Ahhh!!! Fuck!!!”

White strands splatter onto the shower wall and floor. A mixture of sweat and water drip down Jaemin’s body. His skin reddened from exertion. Breathing heavily he strokes his length until the last drop of come drips to the floor.

“Shit…” he whispers a ghost of a smile decorating his face.

▽ ⓟ ⓡ ⓔ ⓨ △

Staring at the empty bowl of soup you exhale deeply. Shoulders slumping over, tired lifeless eyes staring at the bottom of the bowl. Another fight lost. Your stomach and body not strong enough to withstand the hunger strike you put yourself in.

Placing the bowl on the cart you avoid the obvious satisfied gleam coming from your captors eyes. Of course he’s happy. His princess finally gave into what he wanted…AGAIN!

Frustrated you fall back onto the bed. “You don’t have to be so dramatic,” he chuckles next to you. “I’m not smiling because I won. I’m smiling because you’re eating again.”

Giving him a huge eye roll you turn to face the blank boring overly sterile white-tiled wall.

“Come now,” he sits next to you, hand on your hip. “Was it at least good?”

“You know it’s good.” You reply sharply.

It was a stupid question. Of course it was good. His granny’s homemade chicken noodle soup. Every time he made it you could never resist. The only problem is that it takes you back to when he wasn’t this monster. When he actually cared, or so you thought.

“Princess?”

“I’m not your princess.”

His hand on your hip tightens. Pressing his buttons has been both a fun game of yours lately. Seeing how far you can push him to the edge without causing yourself any damage. If he was going to make you play his game you were going to have him play yours.

“You are my princess,” he tugs on your hip urging you to turn onto your back. “And you know what, I’ve been a neglectful boyfriend.”

Giving in just a smidge you turn onto your back, but you don’t make eye contact. “Not my boyfriend. You fucked that up.”

“I know. Let me make it up to you.”

Scoffing you turn your head away from him. “Not a chance. I don’t believe in second chances. Once someone shows their true colors there's no going back.”

“But there is one way I know I can make it up to you.”

There’s something in his tone that makes your head turn in his direction. A secret promise that only he knew of. Side eyeing him, you find his eyes slowly going dark. A light smirk coming to his face as he peers down at you. Quickly turning away from him, you go to turn your whole body when he climbs on top of you, straddling your hips.

“Not so fast,” he chuckles. “Don’t you want to know what it is?”

“Fuck you!”

Throwing his head back the most sinister laugh comes from him. One you’ve never heard before that sends shivers down your spine.

“No princess,” he bends his body down, lips pressed against your neck. “I’m going to fuck you.”

Shrieking, your face turns to his. Eyes wide your body starts to burn with both fear and what you hate to admit…desire.

“What?!”

“It’s been over three months,” he pecks your lips. “I think we’re long overdue. Don’t you think?”

“No!”

���Mmmm, are you sure?” He presses soft kisses from your cheek down to your neck.

Biting back a moan you try to roll him off of you. “Yes! I’m sure!”

“Funny,” he falls off to the side but wraps his arms around you so you roll over with him, half your body dangling off of him. “I was thinking we’d switch things up a bit. You’ve never been on top before.”

And he fucking does it! The seed has been planted in your brain. The last shred of dignity gone with two simple words on top.

“You’re lying.” You challenge.

Motioning for you to crawl on top of him you eye him skeptically. This had to be a trick. Another one of his sick twisted games. He’s never let you be on top, not even when he was somewhat sane. There had to be a catch, a hidden motive.

“I’m not. Do you know why I’ve preferred to be on top?”

“You’re a man with a fragile ego,” you deadpan.

Sucking his teeth he stares up at you unamused. “No, my sweet princess.” Reaching out he grabs the chain hooked to your collar. “It’s because I love seeing the look on your face as we make love. That’s why. I don’t want to miss a single moment of how beautiful you look while I’m inside you.” Tugging on the chain you find your body unconsciously moving you on top of him.

“I’m pretty sure you’d still be able to see me even if I were on top.” You try to keep up your act but your mask starts to slip.

“No, it wouldn’t be the same,” he pulls you more until you’ve completely climbed on top of him. “Depends on how good it feels your face could be buried in my neck. I don’t want that. I want to see my princess. How she takes me inside of her,” he pulls your face to him giving your lips a small kiss. Not lingering but more of a soft press that always without fail has you leaning in for more.

“Should have just said that you know.”

Smiling he wraps his arms around you, keeping you locked in place. “I’m a man with a fragile ego,” he teases. “Don’t you remember how it all began?” He lifts his hips to meet yours. “How badly we wanted each other?”

You quirk a brow. Desperately fumbling with the mask you’ve chosen to wear so you don’t have the urge to grind down onto his lap. “Before you turned into a psychopathic kidnapper?”

“Mmm kidnapper perhaps, psychopath no.”

“You make me play that stupid game!”

“We don’t have to play it you know,” he grinds against you once more carefully waiting for a reaction.

“Bullshit.”

“I’m serious. If you don’t want to play it, we don’t have to. However, we can always play another game instead,” his hands go from your waist down to your ass giving it a good squeeze as another roll of his hips sends shivers down your spine.

“A-And what game is that?”

▽ ⓟ ⓡ ⓔ ⓨ △

Sitting across the table from Jaemin you can’t help the smile plastered on your face. Seeing how well your parents are getting along with him. How he’s not shying away from your father’s prodding questions about his private affairs. Little by little he’s proving to be the real deal — a gentleman through and through.

“I just can’t thank you enough for what you did for our daughter,” your mom reaches out, touching his hand. “If anything ever happened to her we wouldn’t be able to live with ourselves.”

Placing his hand on top of hers he smiles gently. “I’m just glad I could help her. Plus, she’s brought more joy into this house. I should be thanking you guys for raising such a wonderful person.”

“Jaemin!” Your mom squeals. “Stop you’re too much!”

Laughing, you all enjoy the Christmas Eve meal you’ve prepared with Jaemin’s help of course. But, it was your father’s special gravy that you were dying to consume for the past couple of years that topped the meal off. Ever since you were little you’ve wanted to know what his secret ingredient is, but he has yet to share it with you — likely for the fact if you knew you’d stop showing up for holiday meals altogether in his eyes.

“So, Jaemin, where are your folks? I find it odd they aren’t here.” Your dad eyes Jaemin up and down, sizing him up.

“Dad, really?” You glare.

“It’s fine,” Jaemin smiles your way. “My parents are a couple hours away. Honestly, I’ve never spent the holidays with them. Even when I was with them I was never with them. They’re socialites and I hated everything to do with that so I just ended up staying here with my granny.”

“You’re parents are socialites?” Your mom gasps.

“Must be rich to afford this place,” your dad adds gruffly.

“My father owns several companies and my mother is a former model.” This time it was your turn to gasp. Chuckling he shrugs sighing. “I don’t bring them up since people will automatically judge me and think I’m stuck up, or that they aren’t good enough to be around me. It’s been like that my whole life. So, I keep them a secret until I get to know people — still, I end up losing 90% of who I tell.”

“I’m so sorry,” you whisper.

“People can be like that. Best not to waste any time worrying about the shoulda coulda woulda’s and focus on what is in front of you.” Your dad pushes his plate from him. “Speaking of right in front of us, how about dessert?”

“I’ll get it!” You spring up eagerly.

“Let me help you sweetie,” your mom follows you into the kitchen.

When your parents arrived you saw from the carrying container that your mom made her famous pumpkin pie! At least it’s famous in your home. Grabbing a knife you all but carve half of the pie just for yourself when your mom smacks your hand.

“No way,” she nudges you away and takes your place. “You do that every time. When will you learn?”

“Old habits die hard I suppose. Plus, it’s been years. I think I deserve a bigger piece.”

“Well, it wouldn’t be years if someone came home more often.”

“I know, and I promise I’ll try to visit more it’s just with this promo —”

“Promotion, we know.” She sighs slicing up the final piece of pie. “But sweetheart we’re not getting any younger and we want to see our daughter.”

“I’m sorry.”

“So, Jaemin, huh?”

“Leave it to you to go from scolding me to talking about boys in less than five seconds.”

“It’s a gift,” she licks the knife. “So, what’s the deal between the two of you?”

“There’s no deal.”

“He’s obviously smitten with you. Have you guys kissed yet?”

Quickly you grab two of the pumpkin pies and head straight for the dining room. “Mom! Gosh! Stop!”

“What did I say?” She shouts behind you.

The rest of the evening was spent sitting by the fire and your parents filling Jaemin in on your whole entire life — a few objections and clarifications coming from you to make sure that what was stated was in fact the truth. Your mom always one to sensationalize some of your more interesting childhood moments.

When the clock strikes 11PM, your parents decide to call it a night while you and Jaemin finish up Miracle on 34th Street. Snuggled up on the couch closest to Jaemin’s chair you find your gaze bouncing between the TV and him. His eyes fixated on the movie rather blankly.

“I’m sorry about them,” you gain his attention. “I hope they didn’t bore you with all the baby stories.”

Smirking, Jaemin leans so he’s facing you instead of the TV. “Quite the contrary, I loved hearing about you as a kid. Especially the frog story. Seems you’ve wanted to be a princess for a long time,” he teases.

Pouting you turn away from him in a huff. “So I kissed a frog when I was 4! It’s not my fault I thought the story was real…”

You wait for a reply from Jaemin, something smart or another teasing joke but when you hear nothing you look over to see he has since disappeared from his chair.

“What the…” you whisper.

“If you kissed him,” a voice says in your ear making you jump. “Like you kissed me I’d be surprised he was still living.” He sits down next to you.

Your whole body comes alive the moment he looks into your eyes. There’s something about the way he looks at you that makes you feel like you should run away and save yourself, and another part that makes you want to succumb to whatever he demands of you.

“This might sound weird and I don’t want to make you uncomfortable, but I’ve wanted to kiss you all day.”

“Y-You have?”

Nodding Jaemin tucks some of your hair behind your ear, his eyes locked on yours. “All… day.”

“Wh-Why haven’t you?”

“I wanted to make sure I had permission to kiss you first. I’ve been doing it impulsively these past two times that I at least want to make sure I ask at least once.”

“You may ask,” you say in a trance.

“May I kiss you?”

Leaning into him your lips hover over his. “Yes you may.”

Going into his million-watt stunningly smile, Jaemin reaches out to you. Hand wrapping around to the back of your neck while his lips gently land on yours. Just like last night your body tingles with excitement and desire, but the kiss already feels different.

Slowly, Jaemin moves his lips across yours almost lethargically. His grip on your neck keeps you in place as he takes his time kissing you. Savoring every movement of your lips modeling together, no matter how small.

Pulling back for just a second he gazes into your eyes with such a look of fondness you melt on the spot. This is what it feels like to have a genuine partner. And with the way he’s looking at you like you are the heavens and earth to him, this is what it feels like to truly like someone soul deep.

“I could kiss you forever,” he tilts his head before diving back down for another kiss. “You have the softest lips.”

Giggling you cave in to the moment. Enjoying every ounce of admiration Jaemin is showing you. From the sweet nothings he whispers in between longer moments when he has to take a breath. To the sparkle in his eyes when he looks down at you. Though you’ve only just met him there is something so amazingly fantastic about him.

“Oh, and by the way,” he kisses you slowly once more. “Merry Christmas,” he smiles against your lips.

“Christmas?” Turning your head you find that it’s 12:01AM Christmas Day. “Merry Christmas, Jaemin.”

“This is the best Christmas by far.”

“Same here,” you reach into him wrapping your arms around him. “I hope you have many more amazing Christmas’ to come.”

“I hope so too,” he wraps his arms around you pulling you with him.

Landing on top of him you both end up in a fit of laughter. Not bothering to look back at the movie you snuggle into his warm inviting embrace until sleep takes hold of you.

Christmas came and went in the blink of an eye. Christmas morning your mom pulled out the works and made everyone cinnamon rolls, a tradition in your household before you opened up gifts which you were super happy to find out that your parents bought some gifts for Jaemin.

Nothing too fancy just some candles and things everyone needs around the household and when you had mentioned he had three dogs, well that meant dog toys — which surprisingly, Nana loved A LOT!

You however went and got Jaemin a matching set of pajamas with yourself and your parents, another tradition you had growing up. All day on Christmas you wear the new set of pajamas and then there is the family photo that is taken, this time with Jaemin’s arm wrapped around your waist.

What you didn’t expect was to get extremely personalized gifts from Jaemin. Every conversation you had with him was heard. Gifting you your favorite snacks, the book you mentioned, a CD you wanted to get but hadn’t gotten around to getting it. But the real amazing gift is when you opened up a box that had an expensive brand of perfume inside.

You tried to tell him you couldn’t except it but he said he thought it would be perfect for you and that he wouldn’t take no for an answer.

The following days after Christmas your father and Jaemin started to get really close to each other. Your dad giving him advice about tending to the land and the horse — having grown up on a farm for most of his life his advice was apparently welcomed with open arms. While they were getting acquainted your mother was tending to you and helping you make a speedy recovery.

It was nice to be taken care of again something you missed while being on your own. Whenever you were sick or unwell mentally, emotionally, even spiritually — you missed your moms loving arms, her words of wisdom, and caring touches. She even seemed to enjoy doting on you again as well. The best thing, was just talking to her again, face to face instead of over the phone.

“I didn’t want to bring this up,” your mom blows across the fresh coat of paint on your fingers. “Have you thought of Jaemin being your next boyfriend?”

“Mom!”

“Don’t mom me! I’ve seen the way the two of you look at each other. I haven’t seen you look at a boy like this since Chris. Maybe it’s time to forget what’s his name and find the happiness you deserve.”

“I don’t think about Erik at all. Why would I? He cheated, I was hurt but I moved on months ago.”

“Have you moved on? Burying yourself in your work doesn’t equal moving on. It’s okay to have liked him sweetie. We’ve all fallen for the boy in the band at some point.” She exhales deeply placing your hand down on your lap. “Have I ever told you about Dominic?”

“No~” you lean into her intrigued. “Who is Dominic?”

“My middle school and high school crush. He was gorgeous!” Her eyes flutter by the mere memory of him.

You’ve heard all about your moms ex’s before your dad. Your mom being such a beautiful woman it didn’t surprise you she had a lot of boyfriends and short flings, but this man, she’s kept him a secret from you. No doubt someone she wanted to keep to herself for as long as possible.

“He has gorgeous green eyes with the smallest fractals of yellow in them that sparkled in the light. Dirty blonde hair that reached past his shoulders — granted he was tall and skinny, but when he stood next to me I couldn’t think of anyone or anything but him. It was like tunnel vision in the best possible way. The only sound I heard was his voice. The only person I saw was him. It was amazing and terrifying all at the same time,” she laughs.

“Did you guys date?”

“No. We didn’t.”

Well that explains why she never brought him up in terms of her exes.

“You see,” she continues. “There was this one time on our middle school field trip to the capital where he asked to speak to me alone. I could have sworn right then and there he was going to say something in the lines of a confession. The strangest thing is that at that particular time I didn’t know what my feelings were. I knew I liked being around him. I looked forward to the class we had together but I guess my brain didn’t formulate that I was head over heels with this guy.

“Anyway, he brings me off to the side away from everyone and he’s twitching and fiddling with his fingers. He was so cute,” she giggles making you giggle. “It’s not often you see men nervous like that so remember those moments because they’re super funny and warm to look back on.

“So, he opens his mouth and says ‘I have something to ask you…’ and just when I moved closer to him because he was speaking so softly I could barely hear him my friend shows up saying she wanted to show me something. Right then and there he went from being super nervous to almost relieved and waved me off. To this day I want to know what he wanted to ask me, but I never found out.”

“So when did you realize you liked him?”

“Our second year of high school when he was constantly throwing remarks to a mutual friend of ours. It wasn’t jealousy, more like annoyance. She was dating this guy off in the military — spraying love letters with her perfume so when he read it, it would smell like her, she was so cute. Well, everyday he’d come in and it was starting to irritate her and me as well. She’s my friend, I had to stand up for her. So I did.

“He got embarrassed told me he was going to kill me and how, and that was how our friendship ended. But my feelings weren’t so easily broken. For the next two years I couldn’t stop myself from looking at him with heartbroken eyes. I liked him so much. I even wonder sometimes if he was technically a first love, but it wasn’t meant to be.

“It took me years to get over him but once I let him go I met your father and have been happy ever since,” she cups your cheek in her hand. “Sometimes letting go of someone you really liked is the hardest thing in the world, but it also opens yourself up for something new and wonderful.”

Just then a knock is placed on your door, Jaemin standing in the frame. “Your dad wanted me to ask if the two of you would like to go out for dinner tonight.”

“On New Year’s Eve?” Your mom growls already standing to storm off and find your dad. “Does this man have no sense of tradition?! I’ll be right back sweetie I need to have a word with your father!”

“May I come in?” Jaemin shuffles back and forth on his feet.

Squinting you enjoy his sudden nervous behavior. “It is your home you know.”

“It is,” he runs a hand through his hair. “But you are staying here for the time being and this is your room.”

“Get in here,” you wave him in.

Just as Jaemin sits down on the edge of the bed you hear your parents going back and forth arguing about dinner.

“Is it always like this?” Jaemin inquires.

“Nope,” you start painting your other hand. “I guess my dad thinks the pizza and Chinese food drivers will get confused trying to find your place. Probably wants us to pick a buffet style place where we can get a little of everything.”

“Pizza and Chinese?”

“Yeah I only ate pizza as a kid, well that and chicken nuggets, macaroni and cheese, the usual kid stuff. My parents wanted something more elevated but I refused. So from the time I was 8 till now they have Chinese and I have pizza on New Year’s Eve.”

“You guys have so many traditions,” he resituates himself so he’s looking at you. “I’m a little jealous.”

“Play your cards right and you won’t have to be jealous,” you wink.

His eyes light up with shock and hope. His body leaning forward, face mere inches from yours as he smiles brightly. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

“I don’t know. What do you think I’m saying?”

Closing the gap between the two of you his lips land on yours. Again, your body bursts to life. Your heart races as your body warms up instantaneously. Wanting to wrap your arms around him you keep your still drying nails away from him.

Jaemin’s lips move across yours slowly. Taking his time to savior the kiss you’ve been itching to have. The past few days you’ve found yourselves only able to steal pecks and glances — your parents having an uncanny ability to pop in at the drop of a hat, limiting anything from progressing.

“I think you’re saying you like me,” he cups your cheek in his hand.

“What if I am?”

“I’d be the happiest man on earth,” his lips find yours again.

“We’re staying here —” your moms voice causes both Jaemin and yourself to break apart quickly, but not quick enough. Folding her arms across her chest your mom eyes the two of you. “Well what do we have here,” she teases.

“Ma’am, I’m sorry I just…” Jaemin stands up frazzled. “It won’t happen again I —”

Holding up her hand he stops talking. “I think my daughter would be upset if you stopped kissing her,” she giggles. “It’s fine, Jaemin.” She walks up to him. “You’re just the kind of man I think my daughter needs in her life. So, what to do about dinner?” Her eyes bounce between Jaemin and yourself. “Your father and I will head out and pick up the food. That should give the two of you some time, alone…” she winks.

“Mom! Stop!”

Shrugging she leans in giving Jaemin a kiss on the cheek. “Have fun,” she whispers to him. “Darling!” She calls out to your dad. “Get the car started we’re picking up the food!”

The rest of the night the four of you spent together watching the New Year’s Eve celebrations on TV. Nothing serious happened after your mom left a few more kisses before Nana made her presence known to both of you. So Jaemin took her outside for a little playtime while you finished getting ready for tonight. Another tradition you had growing up was to get dressed nicely to ring in the new year.

Now, as the clock ticks down to midnight you can’t help but look around at everyone smiling and laughing. You didn’t expect this at all when you started your trek to your parents home. To end up in another home with such a kind and accommodating man.

Perhaps your mom is right. It’s best to let go of your past to open yourself up to something new and wonderful.

“5! 4! 3! 2!” Your parents and Jaemin start to shout.

Maybe it’s time to move onto him…

“1!”

Everyone starts to cheer. Your mom popping her little confetti before your father wraps his arm around her giving her a big kiss. Squinting in both disgust and admiration for the love they still have after all these years you look to Jaemin who is just smiling fondly.

“Go on!” Your mom pulls away from your dad. “You both need to have a new years kiss.”

“Sweetie,” your father warns.

“Oh hush,” she waves him off coming over to you. “Bring in the new year in hopes of finding new love,” she lifts you off the couch, pulls you to Jaemin and plants you down next to him.

“Mom, really,” you shake your head.

“Not like the two of you haven’t kissed before.”

“WHAT? Whe—” Your father shouts but is cut off by a kiss from your mom.

“I’m sorry about her,” you turn to Jaemin.

“It’s okay. If she didn’t bring you over here I was going to come to you,” he takes hold of your hand. “I’d really like to kiss you right now.”

“She’d really like that too.”

“Mom!!!!” Chuckling Jaemin stares at you lovingly. Waiting for you to give him the green light. “For goodness sake, Jaemin.”

Pulling him into you by the neck you smash your lips together. A huge smile playing across his face as his arms wrap around you, holding you close to him.

“Happy New Year,” he whispers against your lips.

“Happy New Year, Jaemin.”

An hour later your parents called it a night both too exhausted to keep their eyes open any longer. Heading upstairs to their designated room, you wonder if you should head to bed as well. But when you feel Jaemin’s gaze on you something within you or the air changes completely.

Hearing your parents' voices fade off into the distance the couch dips down next to you, Jaemin’s form extremely close to you.

“Finally,” he chuckles. “I was wondering when they’d call it a night.”

“You were?”

“Mmhmm,” he leans into you with the cutest grin plastered on his face. “I have an important question to ask you.”

“And what is this important question?” You lean into him your lips a few inches apart.

“I know we haven’t known each other for a long time but I was wondering,” his eyes drop down to your lips before bouncing back to your eyes. “Will you do me the honor of becoming my girlfriend?”

“For real?” You ask a little shocked by the question.

It wasn’t that you didn’t see this coming — you 100% saw it coming it’s just the timing and the new year, and you’ll leave in just two more days…when will you see him again? How long will it be before you feel his lips on you when you leave him? A sharp pain stabs at your heart with just the thought of being separated from him.

“Yes for real,” he chuckles holding your hand in his. “I really like you. I don’t think I’ve ever liked someone this fast or as much in my whole life.”

“What about your family? I thought you said they wouldn’t approve of me?”

“I could care less what they have to say about you. I like you and that should be good enough for them.”

“So we’re really doing this?” You giggle.

“Only if you say yes,” his hand goes from yours to your neck.

“Yes! Of course!”

Pulling you to him, Jaemin crashes his lips onto yours. Long gone are the gentle kisses from earlier where it felt like he was trying to savor every last second the two of you could share. In its place is a different beast altogether. A thirsty hungry creature that is devouring your soul little by little.

“Lean back for me,” he whispers on your lips, voice husky.

Doing as instructed you lay back until your head touches the pillow behind you. Parting your legs, Jaemin slides between them, his body pressing against yours. Instantly you feel something hard press against your clothed core. Heat consumes your body into wanton flames of desire.

“I’m going to need you to keep your voice down, okay?” He asks you a smirk laced in his voice. “I don’t want your parents to hear at all.”

“J-Jaemin!” You squeak when he grinds his hips into yours. “Th-The bedroom!”

Shaking his head he lowers himself to you. Lips brushing across yours. “I want to finish what I stopped the last time, right here on this couch.”

“B-But the bedro —” He cuts you off with a gentle kiss to your lips.

“Let’s play a game,” he kisses you again before moving down to your jaw.

“A game?” You sigh into the feeling of his lips on you.

“Mhm,” you arch your neck when his lips kiss a line around your décolletage. “I want to see how quiet you can be while we make love.”

Grabbing your leg he yanks you closer to him a loud squeak spilling from your lips. Covering your mouth with your hands you stare wide eyed. Fear racing through your veins you chant in your mind for your parents to have their door closed and to already be settling down for the night.

“Shhh,” Jaemim chides. “If you’re too loud they’ll hear.”

Legs spread wide for Jaemin to comfortably nestle between them, he starts to grind his hip into yours. Tightening your grip on your mouth you do everything in your power not to moan. Moving his hips into yours gently your hands slowly fall from your mouth. Light gasps leaving your lips.

“You have a choice,” Jaemin whispers. “We can skip the foreplay and get straight to business or I can eat you out until you see stars.”

Snickering your eyes squint with intrigue. “Think you can actually make me see stars?”

“Oh my little princess, I know I can.”

“Then how can I say no?”

Having stripped you of your shirt, bra, and pants your now left in just your panties. Clothing tossed off to the side, Jaemin rips his shirt over his head — broad chest throwing you into a world of lust. Not thinking that this type of body would be underneath the clothes Jaemin was wearing you reach out — sliding your hands down his chest.

“This is unexpected,” you purr.

“Come here,” he gestures with his finger.

Sitting up you lean forward and are wrapped in Jaemin’s insanely thick strong arms. Chills rush over you as he showers you in kisses. Lips moving across yours hungrily. His tongue slipping in and out of your mouth making you weak in the knees. Consumed by his lips on yours you don’t even notice that he’s resituated you so your back is against the cushion — his body sliding down onto the floor between your legs.

Holding his face in your hands he growls against your lips, nipping your bottom lip.

“Get comfortable, okay?” He asks against your lips. “And remember try to be quiet.”

Sliding your hips down to the edge of the cushion, you rest your back against the back of the couch. Legs hiked up at your sides, Jaemin leans in giving your lips a small kiss before working his way down your body. Stopping at your breasts, he wraps his lips around your erect buds giving each side a little suckle before heading south.

Body already burning from his touch, his lips, his intense gaze on you while he heads for your pulsating bundle of nerves — you start panting when he slides his fingers across the front of your panties. Gripping the fabric of the couch you jolt away from his fingers, already far too sensitive.

“What’s wrong?” He chuckles. “Why did you move from me?” Wrapping his arms around your hips he pulls you back down to him. “There we go,” he mumbles face smack dap between your thighs. “Much better.”

“Jaemin….” You whine.

Body twitching in anticipation you use your finger to bite on when Jaemin starts to rub over your panties. Trying your best not to moan out into the night.

“You’re so wet,” Jaemin pulls back his hand marveling at the string of wetness that soaked through your panties and onto his fingers. “My beautiful princess is so wet for me,” he smiles brightly. “Such a good girl.”

Eyes rolling into the back of your head at the strangest compliment you’ve ever heard — Jaemin pulls your panties to the side before giving your soaking folds a good sniff.

“Mmmm,” he grunts. “You smell so good…”

His eyes fixed on yours Jaemin opens his mouth ever so slightly and gives your sensitive bud an open mouthed kiss.

“Ahhhh!!!”

Again, Jaemin kisses your bundle of nerves. Clamping your hands over your mouth, your hips start to move up to his lips in dire need to feel him on you again.

Slipping out his tongue, Jaemin licks over your clit gently. Your body jerking away at the initial lick, but his arm that rests on the side of your hip keeps you steady. Once more he licks over you tasting your juices. Pulling back his lips glisten against the light from the fireplace.

“You taste so good, princess.” He kisses your clit. “Now be good for me and keep your voice down, okay? I don’t want to have to try and explain this to your parents.” He winks.

“Jaemin…” you breathe out unsteadily. “Please, the bedroom. I can’t…it feels…”

Shaking his head he swipes his tongue up your folds again making you jerk. “Wouldn’t matter,” he chuckles. “You’d still be a moaning mess when I’m done with you. Out here,” he gives you a dark look. “You need to be quiet. It’s part of the game.”

Eyes closed tightly your hands grip onto Jaemin’s hair. His mouth like a suction cup is glued to your pussy. Licking and sucking over every inch of your soaking folds. The slurping sounds echoing through the silent house. Soft whimpers that you wish were loud screams of pleasure bounces off the walls in the living room.

Jaemin wasn’t kidding when he said he’d make you see stars. With how hard he’s sucking against you, to the way his tongue skates across your clit — his fingers ramming inside of you, your all but in another galaxy completely.

Pressure builds up in your lower stomach. Body covered in goosebumps, you shiver when a particular swipe of his mouth sends a jolt of pleasure through your body.

“Fuck! Jaemin!” You cry out.

Sucking as hard as he can Jaemin rises from your pussy with a pop. “I could live between your legs,” he growls nipping your inner thigh. “You taste so good. I can’t get enough of you.”

“Jaemin, please…the bedroom…” you try to crawl away hoping if you could at least get away from him for a second you could lead him to the room you’re staying in and lock the door.

Grabbing the sides of your panties, Jaemin starts yanking them down your body. Lifting yourself up he removes the last bit of clothing off of you and sends it flying to somewhere in the room. Now exposed to him, he wraps both arms around you.

“Brace yourself, princess.”

“Wh-Wha?!!!!!”

You scream out. Actually scream! Jaemin’s mouth moves across your pussy like a hungry beast. Nipping at your puffy folds your quiet whimpers and whines grow louder the rougher he is with you. Sliding his fingers inside you, Jaemin curls them until your pulling away from him, back arched and a moan wanting to be let free.

“Come for me, princess.” He mumbles against you.

“Jae…Jae…Jae…” you start to chant.

Toes curling the pressure in your stomach charges forward like a bull. Eyes crossing and fluttering you start pressing down on his fingers as if trying to push him out of you — this very action sending you over the edge.

With Jaemin’s mouth suckling your clit and his fingers coaxing the most powerful orgasm of your life, you start lifting yourself up from the couch. His arms wrapping around you securely, but his mouth never leaving you.

“I’m…I’m…” you breathe out quickly. “I’m…FUCK!!!!” You scream. “I’m coming!!!”

No longer worried about how loud you are, you ride out the best toe curling, pussy throbbing, slick dripping orgasm of your life!

“Sweetie?!” You hear your fathers voice from the top of the staircase. “Is that you?”

Pulling away from you quickly, Jaemin lifts you up, gathering you in his arms. Legs like Jell-O he has to practically carry you out of the room. Using the walls and chairs to help keep you up, you’re taken into your room.

Just as your door closes you hear your fathers footsteps coming down the stairs. Pushing you against the wall, the familiar sounds of a belt and zipper being undone, Jaemin pulls your hips back until you're hunched over. That’s when it hits you. The feeling of Jaemin’s dick sliding between your legs. Slicking his cock up with the juices still dripping from you.

When he’s nice and slicked up, with as much tenderness as he can muster, he slides into you.

A low guttural groan quakes in your throat at the feeling of his cock pushing past your entrance. Hissing as you adjust to his size, Jaemin kisses down your back.

“Sweetheart, are you okay?” Your father calls from outside your door.

Jaemin takes this opportunity to slide his cock out of your pussy before slamming back inside of you. Squeaking you scramble to get away from him.

“Baby, what’s wrong?” Your dad goes to open the door.

“Better make it sound convincing or your dads going to see me buried in this sweet pussy of yours.” Jaemin whispers behind you.

Again, he slides almost the whole way out of you before ramming into you. Doing this on purpose you try to compose yourself. This isn’t something your parents need to hear let alone see. Bracing your arms on the wall you try to predict Jaemin’s next deep thrust.

“I’m…” you breathe in feeling him slide out. “Fine!” You quickly answer before Jaemin has a chance to ram into you. “I stubbed my TOE!” You fucked up your timing and end up moaning.

“What’s going on? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine! Real-ly!!!”

Sensing you try to get used to his movements Jaemin picks up the pace but keeps the thrusts nice and deep, making sure to go as deep as your pussy will allow him.

“You don’t sound okay.” Your fathers voice quivers with fear.

“Real-ly…I’m…fine…” you say with each thrust. “Go back…” your body curls when Jaemin’s cock rubs over your g-spot. “To bed…” you whimper.

“Do you need me to get Jaemin?”

“NO! Seriously, I’m fine. Go back to bed! Good night dad!”

Silence comes from the other side of the door. Jaemin keeps fucking you from behind, the back of your hand making your whines softer so your dad can’t hear you.

“Okay…” he finally says. “Good night…”

Knowing full well he doesn’t believe a damn word you just said, it doesn’t bother you at all. You’ll deal with his questions later. All you want is for him to leave so Jaemin can fuck you properly.

“Love you, dad!” You throw out for good measure.

“Love you too sweetie…”

Slowing down his thrusts, Jaemin pulls you back flush against his chest. His hands grabbing hold of your breasts. Fingers pinching your nipples, making your hips buck forward.

“Good job princess…” he whispers against your ear.

“Jaemin…” you moan his name.

“You’re mine now,” he growls against your neck. “All mine!”

Chomping down on your neck, Jaemin waits until your fathers footsteps sound farther away before he pushes you forward, grabs hold of your hips, and rams himself in and out of you.

Choking on your moans your cunt is used to get him off. Holding onto the wall, anything you can reach, you keep yourself steady. Jaemin grunts behind you while spewing the sweetest and filthiest explicitives from his lips.

“That’s right princess,” he growls. “Clench your sweet pussy around my cock.”

“Jaemin!!!” You cry.

“Fuck!” He slams into you one last time before pulling out completely.

Falling forward your pussy clenches around nothing. Missing the way his cock feels inside of you, you turn around to see him staring you down. The only source of light in your room is the bright full moon shining through your window.

“Come here,” he holds out his hand.

Leading you to the bed, Jaemin kisses you gently as your back rests against the covers. Crawling on top of you he settles between your legs. Pumping his dick between his hand a few times, he slides back into you.

Curling at the feeling of being filled again, you open your arms for him. Putting more of his weight on you, Jaemin leans forward connecting your lips together. Going back to his deep thrusts, he takes his time finding his own release. Your lips move across each other’s with haste but also tenderness.

Sliding your fingers up and down his back, you start to feel goosebumps appear on his skin. Smiling against his lips, Jaemin pulls back just enough to peer into your eyes.

“You feel so good,” he pecks your lips.

“Jaemin,” you pull him back down to you.

“Yes, princess.”

Leaning up you whisper in his ear. “Fuck me.”

Without being told twice, Jaemin’s hips slam into yours. Chasing his release he no longer hesitates to give you the best fuck of your life. His cock hitting places you’ve never had hit, you cling to him — nails digging into his back leaving behind marks, and your legs wrap around him keeping him in your grasp.

Jaemin’s deep thrusts start to become erratic. His hips slamming into yours vehemently you keep your moaning to a minimum by burying your face into the crook of his neck.

“Shit!! I’m going to…” he grunts.

“Inside me! Inside me!” You chant.

“Fuck!!!”

“Fill me up,” you bite on his shoulder.

Thrusting into your soaking cunt one last time, Jaemin growls lowly in his throat. Filling you up completely with his come.

“Shit…” he hisses.

With a few more thrusts of his cock, he makes sure every last drop of his seed has coated your insides. Breathing heavily, your bodies covered in sweat, he peers down at you.

“That was amazing,” he chuckles.

Giggling you exhale deeply, your walls clenching around Jaemin’s dick. “You’re telling me!”

“I still can’t believe you said yes,” he lowers his forehead to yours. “I truly am the luckiest man in the world.”

“I’m all yours from now on, Jaemin...”

▽ ⓟ ⓡ ⓔ ⓨ △

Pulling away slowly from your captor you do your best not to make a sound. Your body sore from the multiple rounds of fucking you just endured. Wobbling across the room,

heading for the bathroom to relieve yourself you grab your clothing on the way back to the bed that was sprawled all over the floor. Sliding into your shirt and underwear you go to put on your pants when strong arms wrap around you from behind.

“No, don’t.” He whispers against your neck.

“I’m cold.”

“Then let me warm you up.”

“Haven’t you had enough fun to last you a lifetime?” You taunt.

“Princess, I haven’t even begun to have fun yet.”

Pulling you up against him his bulge pokes against your lower back. Truly an insatiable man, your legs start to quiver. A perfect match the two of you. Solely based on your carnal sexual desire for the other, you take a deep breath to calm your beating heart.

“What? Want another round before you leave?”

“As many as I can get.” He slips his hands under your shirt going straight to your breasts. Grabbing them harshly you moan into his touch. “I’ll never stop loving the sound of your voice.”

“Only one more time, okay? It’s already hard for me to walk.”

Snickering he pulls away, spinning you around until your flush against his chest — bulging muscular arms wrapping you in a warm bear hug.

“My apologies. I just can’t seem to control myself when I’m inside of you.”

Going to your tippy toes, you slither your arms out from his embrace and wrap them around his neck. “I want you to make love to me. Nice,” you peck him on the lips. “And slow…” you move to his cheek. “And deep…” you nip his chin.

“Fuck!!”

Sprawled and completely passed out beside you, covers only concealing his lower body you stare at the man who has kept you away from your family and life. Doing your part for the past two weeks of being his little princess, his doll, who taunted him but also yearned for him — you’ve managed to secure part of your freedom.

Laying on the ground of your bed rests the chain that is normally hooked to the collar around your neck. Smirking you watch as this sick twisted creature breathes peacefully in his sleep. Hair mussed and over his face. Your nail marks painting his skin, he has no worry in the world.

Reaching behind you, you grab your pillow. Thoughts of your family rush past your eyes. Your mom and dad who you haven’t seen in so long. Who you’re only allowed to talk to with him in the room — parents totally clueless that they’re baby girl has suffered without their knowledge. Your job, your life, your apartment that you apparently have waiting for you out of arms reach.

Gripping the edges of the pillow you start to shake. Blood boiling inside of you as rage takes over you. Eyes watering with tears you’ve wanted to shed for so long clouding your vision just as darkness consumes you…

Your feet smack against the cement flooring of the downstairs labyrinth. Turning corner after corner you head as far away from that monster as you can. Their lifeless body making you stagger every time you find yourself going higher and higher to salvation.

Bursting through the first set of doors, Nana, perks up. Her eyes squinting at you. It’s been a few months since you’ve seen her. The last time when your captor caught you trying to escape into the library. Taking him up on the offer of not participating in his game anymore, you were kept in your room for what you assumed was a couple of months. The psycho himself spending most of his free time down there with you.

Gulping, you try your best not to alarm her. The last time you saw her she actually didn’t try to maul you. Your presence in her home apparently starting to grow on her.

“Nana,” you call her. “He’s down there. Go to him.” You point.

Standing she eyes you like she’s peering into your very soul. She wasn’t like the two idiots who guarded the house. Nana is the smartest dog you’ve ever come into contact with.

“Go on girl, he wants you,” you say as happily as you can while your body is seconds from breaking down.

Walking up to you slowly, she passes by before heading down the stairs. Waiting until she turns the corner you slam the door shut keeping her down there and out of your way. The moment she realizes her master is dead she’ll come for you. You know it!

Making a bee line through the hallways you’ve grown to know through all of the games, you take the quickest and easiest path to the main floor. In the hallway hangs a painting of a boy and girl playing outside. The boy pushing the girl on a swing. It’s a beautiful painting that initially had you marveling at it quite a few times. But what lies behind the painting is a staircase that takes you up to the ground floor.

This path you tried to take multiple times in the past but you were always caught. The reason being, it’s the easiest and most obvious choice. This time however, you don’t have to fear. No one is coming after you. You’ve made sure of it.

Coming through another painting on the ground floor, one that is of your captors’ beloved grandmother, you walk through the hallway that leads to the library on the far end of the house. Dashing though the vast room, you say goodbye to all of the books you’ll never read. You sprint through the hall until you’re passing the room your mother and father slept in when they were here — when you were safe and not held captive by someone you thought cared for you.

Rushing down the stairs you almost fall when you land onto the main hallway. Your heart pounds in your ears and head as you burst through the front doors and into the bright sunlight. Shielding your eyes, you hear the familiar barks of the two guard dogs. However, unlike last time they don’t charge at you. They just stare you down, eyeing you the same way that Nana did.

“N-Ni-Nice boys,” your voice trembles. “It’s m-m-me…don’t you remem-ber?”

Slowly you walk past them but they follow closely behind you. Clenching your eyes tightly you round the right hand side of the house heading straight for the barn. Memories of how you got onto the property come flooding back to you.

Finding your trek to see the horse as boring, both of the dogs halt their movements and go back to the front of the house.

A shaky breath passes from you and like a bat out of hell you run to the door that leads out into the huge forest hillside. Yanking on the doorknob, tears start to pour from your eyes. Of course it’s locked! Of course!!!!

Turning back to the front of the property you know that there are several gates that you’ll need to get through in order to leave. And that’s when it hits you! Reaching around to the back of your neck, you unbuckle your collar. Hanging nicely through the hook where your chain goes, is a key.

‘Now, to be sure that you’re given proper incentive to participate, I’ll add this to your collar.’ Your captor loops his index finger under the fresh new leather collar around your neck, pulling you to him. ‘This is a key that will get you past the gates. You’re free to go if you make it out of all three and step over the property line. Do you understand?’

Gripping the key in your palm you make a mad dash to the first gate. The guard dogs now on full alert start barking behind you. Not paying them any mind you rush to the first gate. Shoving the key into the lock you struggle to open it. The dogs barking growing louder, has you turning back to see them approaching you quickly.

“Shit! Shit!”

Trembling against the lock you manage to open the first gate. Quickly going through you close the gate behind you just as the dogs rush it — bodies slamming against the gate like rabid animals.

“I’m sorry!” You cry. “I’ll make sure you guys are all found. I promise!”

Noticing there’s a lock on the other side of the gate, you struggle to keep the gate closed long enough to secure it. But once you do…you slowly back away from it. Seeing as the coast is clear and you no longer have to worry about the two ferocious Doberman’s snarling at you, you run to the second gate and repeat the same thing.

The third gate however, you breathe out unsteadily. Is what seems like half a football field away.

“For fucks sake!!!” You scream. “Come on! You’re almost there!” You pump yourself up.

Slowly you run to the final gate. Lungs burning, your throat dry as a desert and muscles aching with fatigue you trudge through what you believe is the early summer sun. Your skin prickling under the heat, you find a slight comfort in the feeling. Being trapped inside for so long you almost forgot what the sun felt like against your skin.

Finally, nearing the last gate your body starts to break down. The adrenaline that was pumping through your veins starting to dissipate. Staggering up to the gate you grip it as you try to keep your body upright. Your stomach convulses as if you want to throw up.

Honestly, for what you assumed is a couple of days, you’ve felt a weird queasy feeling. Not wanting to eat any eggs for breakfast, made you have to tell your captor that it made you nauseous. On one occasion having you running to the bathroom to relieve your stomach.

Shaking your head you rid yourself of the memories. Sliding the key into the lock, the beautiful sound of the gate opening sends chills throughout your body.

“I did it…” you whisper. “I really did it…”

Tears pour from your eyes like a waterfall. Your body finally gives out and you collapse to the ground. Finally you’re free! You did it! You beat that sick psychopath at his own game! You won!!!

Clambering to your feet you take your first step towards freedom when the gates close with a loud slam that has you springing back.

“Wh-What?!” You rush to the gate trying to push it open. It doesn’t budge. “No! No! No!!!” You yank against it.

“Did you really think you’d get away that easily?” Darkness blacks out your vision completely at the familiar voice coming from behind you. Paralyzed with fear the only sense still functioning, your hearing.

“The pillow, now that was an interesting choice.” He chuckles. “I must commend you for that one. However, I think my supberb acting skills should really get a round of applause.” His footsteps draw closer to you.

“You should have checked to see if I still had a pulse, my naughty princess. Always, and I do mean always…check for a pulse. You thought you got me there for a second.” He let’s out the most maniacal laugh you’ve ever heard. One that breaks you out of the darkness and back into reality.

“Here’s what you did wrong,” he spins you around. “You switched up your game. That’s what tipped me off first. You’ve been pushing me away from the moment I locked the doors and gates to you. Barely even letting me touch you,” he slides his arms around your waist, yanking you to him harshly. “Then, all of a sudden you want me to fuck you. You want me to fill you up with my come,” again he laughs in the most disturbingly unhinged way possible.

“Come now, you should have eased into this new act of yours. Granted it would have meant you’d be under my control for much longer, but at least I wouldn’t have suspected anything.” Pressing his forehead against yours he kisses your nose.

“Even if it meant fighting against death itself I would never leave you.” He whispers. “Want to know why?”

Shaking your head no, your body starts to give out. Hope leaving you. There’s nothing left for you to live for. Nothing left for you to fight for, to keep you here. He isn’t going to let you go. You’re going to die here. You know he’ll just make up some lame ass excuse. Hell, he’ll probably make your death one for the books. An elaborate plan that has no flaws whatsoever. Fool proof.

“Come on, guess…” he pouts.

“I don’t know, Jaemin…”

After all this time you finally utter his name. Attempting to keep the two personalities separate for as long as you possibly could you finally face reality that Jaemin is the monster and the monster is Jaemin. And you… like the prey you are, you fell right into his trap.

“You’ve been sick lately haven’t you?” He asks.

“And…”

“My dear princess use that smart brain of yours.”

“I’m tired…” you snap.

“Now, now… just because you’re pregnant doesn’t mean you have to be so snippy with me. After all, this is a joyous occasion!” He hugs you warmly. “We’re going to be a family!!!”

Through your self pity daze you hear the words: pregnant, joyous, and family.

Pregnant… your brain clings to this word. Pregnant…Pregnant…Pregnant…

PREGNANT!!!

“Wh-What?!!” You scream.

“Isn’t it wonderful news?! At first I thought it was just a stomach bug. But when you kept turning away from the eggs, and saying that you felt queasy, and even throwing up a few times. That’s when I decided to call my mom. Boy is she beyond pissed, but screw the old bat! Of course we’ll do a pregnancy test to be sure, but baby!!!! We’re going to be a family!!!”

Jaemin holds the sides of your face while he smothers you in kisses. Your brain malfunctioning. No! This can’t be true! You can’t be pregnant! You just can’t be! He’s lying! You’re just sick! That’s it! No! No! No!!!!

“Oh princess!” He pulls back looking down at you lovingly. “I promise we’ll never be separated, okay? We’ll be together forever! Ahhh!!! We should quickly plan a wedding! We need to do things properly! Can’t bring our precious baby into this world unwed!”

Turning behind him you see all three dogs wagging their tails happily. “Do you hear that guys?! I’m going to be a dad!!!”

As if clearly understanding him all three dogs bark with glee.

“Now, come on…” he giggles happily. “Mama,” he uses a new nickname. “Let’s get you out of this sun and cleaned up.”

Pulling you away from the gate you look behind you as the last bit of solace leaves your body completely. You’re never going to get out. No matter how strong you think you are. No matter how smart you think you are… You look up at Jaemin who’s babbling about everything they need to do to for the baby and the wedding. You’re never going to beat him…

NEVER….

S E Q U E L-C L I C K.H E R E

[daidai]

☆ nahyuck ?!!!

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[sooniessoulmate]

💜✨ 𝓂𝒶𝓀𝓃𝒶𝑒 𝓁𝒾𝓃𝑒 𝒶𝓈𝓀𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝑜𝓃 𝒶 𝒹𝒶𝓉𝑒✨💜