Naui sesangeul nege julge
Neoui nuneul bichun
Bitdeureun jigeumui nanikka
You're my boy, my boy,
my boy, my boy, my boy
- Inner Child by V (BTS)
"Why are you still here?" Jeno groaned as he looked at the figure sitting peacefully in his chair.
He had hoped that yesterday was all just a dream, but clearly not.
He got up just as his dad came into his room. "Jeno, time to get ready for school." He said brightly as he walked into the room.
The boy jumped up immediately and gripped onto his father's arm as he pointed to the pink-haired boy.
His dad looked at him with a confused look in his eyes. He stared at the empty and chair and cocked his head to the side.
"What's wrong Jeno? There's nothing there." He said as he looked back at his son.
The child furrowed his brows. "Yes there is! There's a boy right there!" He insisted as he continued to point at the chair.
The man walked over to the chair and sat down in it, looking around the chair and back at his son. He shrugged and stood up again.
"Nothing." He said simply. The child huffed.
When his father had sat down, the pink-haired boy had simply disappeared and reappeared at his desk.
"Dad, he keeps leaving and coming back in a different spot!" Jeno complained as he glared at the figure, who was silently watching them.
His father only sighed and patted his head. "Alright Jeno. If I say there's a boy there will you get ready for school?" He asked.
However the boy only pouted. "You clearly don't believe me dad." He said.
The man smiled. "Of course I do! But does that mean you'll go get ready then?" He asked hopefully.
Jeno huffed. "Fine." He grumbled as he walked towards his bathroom.
His dad clapped happily. "Great! I'll be downstairs with breakfast! Come when you're ready!" He yelled as he walked out of the room.
The boy got ready for school like his father asked, the mystery boy not even batting an eyelash as he sat on the desk chair and looked around the room.
What's he looking for? Jeno thought to himself as he perked at the boy from inside the bathroom.
He's weird.
When Jeno had finally finished getting ready, he walked downstairs with his backpack slung over his back. As he walked, he saw the boy following behind him, walking a few steps behind as he looked around the house.
His parents greeted him brightly as he sat down and ate breakfast at the kitchen table.
"Is the boy still there Jeno?" His mother asked as she cleaned the dishes in the sink.
The boy nodded as he pointed to the couch. His mom sighed as she looked at her husband. They shrugged at each other as they looked at their son.
After the child had finished his breakfast, he put on his shoes and headed out the door as he started to walk to his school.
His school was only ten minutes away by foot, so Jeno chose to walk to school. As he started his walk, the mystery boy continued to walk next to him.
"Hey." The boy said after a few minutes. The pink-haired boy looked over at him in question.
"Who are you?" He asked again, hoping that he would get a better answer than he did last night.
However, his plan failed as the stranger only shrugged and continued to look around the street.
Jeno huffed. "Let's try this again." He said as the boy turned his head back to him.
"Can you talk?" He asked.
The boy shook his head, and Jeno frowned. "So that's why you don't answer my questions." He mused to himself more than the other boy.
He stopped asking anymore questions after that and the two just walked together on the sidewalk.
The entire time, he watched as nobody else on the street seems to notice the pink-haired child walking next to him.
I guess they really can't see him. Also weird.
Everything about the stranger's appearance had been off-putting to Jeno.
How he appeared at his exact birth time, how whenever people touched him he would disappear, how he couldn't talk, and one last, very important piece of his appearance.
On the boy's chest, in bright, glowing red numbers, was a timer.
Somehow he hadn't really noticed it yesterday, as he was too busy freaking about the appearance of a possible murderer in his room. It wasn't until this morning that the timer had actually caught his eye.
It was slowly ticking down, with five different columns. Jeno didn't know what the five columns meant, or what the timer did.
The only thing he knew was that it was slowly becoming smaller. Although, it would probably take an eternity before all the numbers reached zero.
14:11:29:04:37
Jeno frowned as he looked at the boy's chest. The timer didn't seem like a very positive symbol to him.
Whenever he looked at it, he felt like the numbers were taunting him. Teasing him for the end of it to come.
Like somehow this timer would mean the end of the world or the death of everyone he loved. Something very extreme.
All his theories and ideas were very far-fetched but it was still the mind of a six year old so not much was expected to make sense anyway.
As he got closer to his school, he watched as the other boy would disappear and reappear constantly, weaving through the different students.
Apparently people really didn't notice him at all.
He went to his class with a small frown on his face. As he stopped in the bathroom, he turned to the pink-haired stranger. "They really can't see you huh?" He asked.
The stranger shook his head and Jeno pouted. "Just great. Well I hope when I wake up tomorrow, you'll actually be gone unlike today."
"Mom, dad, I'm home!" Jeno shouted as he took off his shoes and slammed the front door behind him.
His mom peeked her head out of the kitchen with a bright smile on her face. "Happy birthday Jeno!" She greeted as she hugged the boy.
Jeno smiled. "Thanks mom. Where's dad?" He asked as he took a banana from the kitchen counter.
"He's out getting the cake for tonight." His mom said as she went back to preparing dinner for the student's birthday.
"Alright, I'm going upstairs." He said as he turned to the stairs.
"Sure honey, dinner will be ready in a little while." The woman replied as Jeno headed upstairs.
When he got to his room, he shrugged his backpack off his shoulders onto the floor and waved lazily at the boy in his chair, reading one of his books.
"Hey bunny." He said as he peeled open his banana and flopped on his bed comfortably.
It was his fourteenth birthday today, also marking eight years since the mysterious boy had showed up in his room.
Over the years, the two had gotten pretty comfortable with each other. Jeno had found out a lot about the other and they had developed a nice, non-verbal way of communicating when necessary.
He still didn't talk, so Jeno had started addressing him as "bunny" because he thought the male resembled one.
As always, the timer on the boy's chest was still ticking down. The black-haired male looked over at him and glanced at his chest.
6:11:28:20:05
Jeno clicked his tongue as he felt the familiar looming feeling wash over him.
"Hey." He said to get the boy's attention. The male looked up to see the student looking at him. He raised an eyebrow in question.
"It's been eight years huh?" Jeno said. The other nodded.
"Damn, it's been a while." He continued as he looked up at the ceiling and taking another bite of his banana.
The other male just flipped the page of his book as he continued to read.
Jeno couldn't see what he was reading, as he had found out that whenever the boy touched something, it would turn into two copies so that he could take one without anyone noticing anything was missing.
It was pretty cool in the human's eyes, but he still couldn't really process how it worked.
He sighed with a bored look, turning over onto his side as he decided to sleep until dinner time.
"Jeno! Come down for dinner!"
The said male was woken up from his nap as his mom called him from downstairs. He got up with a yawn and looked at the glowing boy. "Bunny." He said to get his attention.
"You coming?" He asked.
The boy shook his head and Jeno nodded before closing his bedroom door.
The dinner with his family went smoothly, his mother had cooked some of his favorite foods and his father had picked up a very fancy cake from a nearby bakery.
After he had finished eating and helped wash the dishes, Jeno headed back upstairs to his room.
He nodded at the strange boy and sat at his desk, deciding to do his homework for a while so that he wouldn't have to deal with it on the weekend.
He played a few songs on his speaker as he completed all the homework that his teachers had given him that week.
After he was done, he looked over at the clock to find that it was already past nine. And just like every year, he decided to stay up until his birth time, just for fun.
It had basically become a tradition for him to do this. He had also found since his seventh birthday that at his birth time, the numbers on the strange pink boy's chest would glow brightly.
He went into his bathroom to take a shower as he waited for the clock to strike the moment.
After he had finished getting ready for bed, it was only about half an hour until the exact minute would come.
He lied down on his bed, scrolling through his phone. Out of the corner of his eye he could see the strange boy reading his book. He looked a little more restless and happier than usual, but Jeno brushed it off.
He saw a small flash and lowered his phone to see that the boy had disappeared.
That was another thing that Jeno had discovered over the years.
The boy would disappear at random times before appearing in a different spot or time. Sometimes he would be gone longer than usual but he always came back before a full hour would pass.
He sighed and put down his phone after a while, looking over at the clock on his bedside table.
There was less than a minute until his birth time, and he frowned as he looked around his room.
It was pretty late at night already, and the strange boy still wasn't back.
"Where could that guy have gone?" He said to himself as he looked back at the clock.
Oh well. Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one... happy birthday to m—
Jeno's thoughts were cut short as the pink-haired boy who's whereabouts he had been curious about, appeared right in front of him on his bed.
He almost screamed loudly but the boy quickly covered his mouth with his hands, shushing him.
"Don't wake your family up again, it's late!" He scolded lightly before moving back.
Along with Jeno's heart racing because of the sudden appearance, his eyes widened after hearing the boy talk.
As the glowing male moved his hands off of Jeno's mouth, he pointed at him with his mouth open in shock.
The boy stared at him in a judging way. He lowered the boy's finger with a brow raised. "What's with the shock? Not like I haven't scared you before." He said casually.
"You can talk!" Jeno said incredulously as he stood up.
The boy nodded. "Yes. And I believe the two of us have a whole lot to talk about, so let's start with introductions." He said as he held out his hand.
"Nice to meet you Jeno, my name is Na Jaemin." The boy said with a smile.
Jeno, still trying to process the situation, took the hand and shook it slowly.
"You, have a name." He breathed out.
Jaemin raised a brow with a judging face. "Did you think I didn't have one?"
"Yes!" Jeno replied quickly as the other boy covered his ears at the loud shout.
"I'm so confused right now!" He said as he looked at Jaemin with wide eyes.
The glowing boy smiled. "Don't be. Like I said we have a lot to talk about, and I'm sure by the end of it you won't be confused anymore." He said.
Jeno furrowed his brows. "Okay..." he said slowly. "But can I ask you something first?"
Jaemin nodded.
"Who the fuck are you?" He asked.
The pink-haired boy clicked his tongue. "I would've gotten to that within the first ten seconds of me talking but oh well." He said with a shrug.
He leaned closer as Jeno's eyes widened again, backing away.
"Lee Jeno, I am your Angel of Death."
~
Hey guys :) here's a new chapter lol, hopefully you're enjoying the book so far. Since I don't have an exact idea of his often I can update, here's a list of my other books that you can read in the meantime!
On Display | Norenmin (completed)
Tease & Kill | Yuwin (completed) (1 of 3 series)
Lust & Sorrow & Comfort | Jaedotae (completed) (2 of 3 series)
Hate & Desire | Markhyuck (completed) (3 of 3 series)
I'm Here | Dotae (completed)
K-pop Oneshots (ongoing)