Ft. NCT's Na Jaemin
There were two rules:
1. Never wander the dark streets alone at night.
2. If you see a person wearing a black leather jacket with a golden phoenix on the back, you better turn around and run, and don't even think about looking b...
Jaemin shook his head. "I don't. Renjun mentioned that there was a reason but he never told me what it was."
Of course.
"It was because of my ex." Zhilan confessed.
"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to." Jaemin told her but Zhilan shook her head.
"No, I want to, Jaemin. I want you to know this, I don't want to keep it away from you anymore." Zhilan insisted.
She closed her eyes, inhaling the night air to calm herself down before talking, telling Jaemin something she had kept away for too long.
"His name was Xiaojun. He was a year older, a Phoenix too. I met him after Renjun left for Neo City and ended up falling for him. Hard. We dated for while and it was all good, at least I thought it was until he ended up cheating on me."
Zhilan looked at Jaemin to see if his face had changed but he was still looking at her, listening attentively. This encouraged her to continue.
"He broke my heart, Jaemin. He broke it badly. I honestly didn't know what to do with myself and I was lucky that Renjun was visiting when it happened because otherwise I would have cried alone. I was so miserable afterwards and the worse part was that he was still always around since he was a Phoenix too so I had to get away. I had to get far away."
"So you came to Neo City." Jaemin said in his awfully soothing voice. Zhilan nodded her head.
"I did."
Jaemin let her words sink in for a moment before Zhilan felt him squeeze her a little tighter.
"I'm glad you did. You don't deserve someone like that. You deserve a lot better, and I take back anything that I said before that would have implied otherwise."
Zhilan couldn't help but giggle, giving Jaemin's nose a poke. "I already forgave you for that. You were just saying stupid words because you were mad at me."
"Okay but you did eat Jisung's food." Jaemin argued.
"Did you really need to get that angry?" Zhilan countered.
"No." Jaemin said, a smile creeping up on his face. "But you were really annoying back then."
"I was, wasn't I?" Zhilan said, staring into Jaemin's eyes.
"I have something to confess too actually." Jaemin said, reaching out and tucking Zhilan's hair behind her ear with his free hand. Zhilan felt her heart rate increase as Jaemin's fingers lingered at the bottom of her chin for a bit too long before retracting his hand.
"I'm guessing you heard about Seolhee by now." Zhilan nodded. "Well what happened with her and Jeno scared me. I was scared, scared of falling in love."
"Really?" Zhilan said quietly, their faces close enough that it reached Jaemin's ears. Jaemin nodded.
"I saw Jeno lose his first love and both him and Haechan lose their parents because he was a part of the gang and it just made me realize that we're not really like the other people of Neo City. Danger follows us wherever we go and that includes our loved ones as well." Jaemin told her. "And the worse part was that I couldn't do anything to save them."
"It's not your fault though." Zhilan said, lifted her hand and running her fingers along Jaemin's face. She used her thumb to wipe the tear falling down his cheek. This may not be a big concern to Jaemin's friends but it was for Jaemin. And Zhilan thought that it was perfectly okay.
"I know but I was still scared." Jaemin confessed, closing his eyes. "I couldn't afford to put someone I love in danger so I always followed the rules, even the unwritten ones. I mean rules are put in place for a reason, right? They there to keep people safe, which is so hard to do these days."
Zhilan had never seen Jaemin cry before and knew that the male was holding so much inside him. Jaemin cared about the people he loved so much, always wanting to protect them all but Zhilan knew no matter how hard he tried, it was almost an impossible feat. Jaemin was right, they were the Phoenixes, they were a gang. And danger always followed a gang.
Jaemin sniffled, slowly opening his eyes again as Zhilan did her best to dry his tears with her sleeves. A small smile formed on his face from the effort, Jaemin taking her hand and holding it in his.
"You know, I'm kind of glad you came to Neo City." Jaemin told her "I mean, you were kind of a lot at the beginning but now, it's really nice to know that there's someone that thinks the same way that I do."
"That is pretty nice, isn't it?" Zhilan said, mirroring his smile.
"It is." Jaemin said, reaffirming her words. "And the best part is that you're a Phoenix."
Zhilan held her breath as Jaemin cupped her face with a hand, eyes on her as he pulled her face closer to his so their noses were almost touching.
"Because of that, I don't have to be afraid of the fact that I've fallen for you."
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