ridin | na jaemin

chapter nine

"But Hyung, I'm hungry," Chenle whined like a three-year-old kid.

"Chenle, leave me alone. I have uni in the morning, and you have too." Jaemin sighed.

"Fine." Chenle sighed.

Jaemin left the kitchen, only to be met with the girl, who somehow managed to hide the fact that she was listening to the two boys. He scoffed at her, as per usual, but didn't say anything.

What do you want to eat?" Minjeong asked as she entered the kitchen, making Chenle jump in surprise, "I didn't know you were here," Chenle exclaimed, clearly startled by her sudden appearance.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. Do you want something to eat? Because Mark wants ramyeon and Haechan wants tteokbokki." Minjeong explained as she roamed through the fridge.

"I want tteokbokki, please," Chenle exclaimed.

"Okay. Are the others up as well?" she asked.

"I don't know." Chenle shrugged his shoulders.

"Could you go check if anyone else is up and ask them if they want anything?" Minjeong asked.

"Of course." Chenle smiled at her and went out of the kitchen.

"That kid is my age, weird," Minjeong mumbled under her breath as she placed her Airpods in her ears.

Chenle came back not long after, telling her what everyone wanted to eat.

"Chenle, we're the same age, aren't we?" Minjeong smiled as she placed some of the ingredients in the frying pan.

"We are?" Chenle asked.

"You are an '01 liner, right?" Minjeong questioned.

"Yeah," the boy replied.

"Then we are the same age," Minjeong concluded, high-fiving the male in front of herself.

"I never thought I'd have a gangmate my age." Chenle laughed.

"Well, you have me now." Minjeong smiled at him.

They chatted for a little while before Minjeong told him to call everyone to the table because she was done preparing the food.

"Thank you for the food." Everyone who was at the table said in sync.

Minjeong looked around the table and saw two people missing.  She knew Jisung was asleep, but Jaemin was missing as well. Deciding to not pay much attention to it, she started eating.

"What's that, Minjeong?" Haechan asked looking over at her plate.

"Carbonara. Do you want to try some?" Minjeong asked.

"Wait, you know how to cook Italian food?" Mark asked amazed.

"Yeah. My grandma taught me. Her husband was from Italy, that's why she was so good at it." Minjeong explained.

"Can I try some?" Mark questioned shyly.

"Of course." the girl smiled and passed her plate to him.

To say that he was in love with her cooking was an understatement. Everyone tried her food, and their reactions were nonetheless the same as Mark's.

"Next time you cook food, I want that," Chenle exclaimed, everyone, following suit.

"Okay. I can come by during the week, but I'm probably going to be pretty busy with uni since the physics finals are coming up, so how about next weekend?" Minjeong suggested.

"I think we're all free then," Jeno stated.

"Then it's a deal," Haechan concluded excitedly.

Since it was already two in the morning, Minjeong asked if she could crash at their place for the night, being too lazy to go up a few stories and sleep in AESPA's apartment. Renjun offered her his bed, but the girl declined, saying that the couch would do her wonders. In reality, she wasn't going to sleep, but she still needed some place comfortable.

"Good night guys," Minjeong said as she opened her laptop.

"You're not going to sleep?" Chenle asked as he plopped down on the couch next to her.

"I have to finish an assignment, so no sleep today. Aren't you going to bed?" she asked.

"I'll keep you company, but I'll probably fall asleep." Chenle smiled at her.

"You should sleep, you know." Minjeong scolded the boy.

"You should two, but here we are." Chenle shrugged, making her laugh lightly.

"Fair enough," Minjeong replied.

"Why are you second year anyway?" Chenle asked after a few minutes of silence.

"Let's just say my parents were ambitious, thinking it would be better for me to skip a grade of middle school and go to high school earlier than I was supposed to," she stated.

"Must be hard then," Chenle mumbled.

"What?" Minjeong questioned.

"Keeping up with your parents' standards and expectations," Chenle explained.

"Doyoung was the one to set those expectations as high as they are, but my parents don't care anymore. Hell, I haven't heard from them in months." she laughed bitterly.

"Mine are the same. Ever since I moved to Neo, they cut all ties with me, deeming I'm not worth their time. It was like that back in Beijing the last two years I was living there." Chenle sighed.

"Why? You lived with them, right? How could they cut you off?" Minjeong asked.

"Before I joined the Dragons back in Beijing, I was in a trio. People called us Deadly Fire or DF for short. It was me and two other girls, Quan Xiaoting and Zhan Daiju. We were feared by every gang known in Beijing, even the Dragons, to a certain extent. But one mission went sideways, so I joined the Dragons and got sent here." Chenle explained briefly.

"Where are those girls now?" Minjeong asked.

"I... I don't know." the boy bit his lip.

"You'll find them, someday." the girl tried reassuring the boy, but she could tell that those two girls meant more to him than his gangmates.

"They probably don't want to see me again." he sighed.

"Do you want to see them again?", Minjeong asked and Chenle nodded his head,

"Then that's your reason to keep going."

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