"jaemin?"

   the brunette snapped his head up, eyes meeting brown orbs that he hadn't seen in ages. seeing them here, he didn't even know how to react.

"jeno?"

---

   thirty minutes later, the two found themselves in a warm cafe near the park. "thanks doyoung hyung," jeno smiled, eyes turning to crescents as he finished placing their orders and folded up the menus. jeno has a cute smile. maybe that's why renjun chose him over me, he thought to himself.

   "jaemin?" jeno called, bringing him out of his depressing thoughts and back to reality. "sorry," jaemin mumbled. a slightly awkward silence fell over them as jaemin turned to the window to avoid it. the view from the window looked bleary and sad, reflecting jaemin's inner emotions. there were so many things he wanted to say and so many things he wanted to know — he needed to know. most of those things (if not all of them), included a certain chinese male named renjun.

   footsteps coming toward the table drew his eyes away from the window as the waiter from before held a tray to their table. he placed down one hot chocolate and one espresso. when he set down a plate of warm croissants jaemin frowned. neither of them ordered it.

   the waitor whom jaemin remembered jeno calling doyoung, must've noticed the expression on his face because he chuckled lightly. "it's on the house. a friend of jeno's is a friend of ours," he showed a gummy smile. "thanks," jaemin bowed his head slightly before doyoung walked back to the service counter and disappeared into the staff room.

   "you're friends," jaemin said out loud but it was more to himself than to jeno. "he's my step brother," jeno corrected. "oh," the other said in a quiet voice, taking a sip of his espresso as an excuse to not talk. now it had been about an hour since he first ran into jeno, and he still didn't know how he felt about talking with the boyfriend of the boy he wanted to be his boyfriend. "i think...," jeno started uneasily. "i think we may have started off wrong."

   jaemin looked up, nodding in agreement but still refusing to contribute to the conversation. "look," jeno said seriously, "i'm sorry if i interfered with your relationship with renjun and if i led it to a negative outcome." jaemin wanted to scoff. to say ot led to a negative outcome would be an understatement, but he held that thought back and continued sipping his espresso.

   "and i'm sure there are a thousand things you could say to me roght now, but before that i want to thank you." jaemin finally put his cup down as the last words caught his attention. "thank me?" he repeated. jeno nodded and jaemin knew that he wasn't messing with him. "you made renjun happy. happier than i could ever make him. that much i'll admit," his eyes bored into jaemin's which sent chills up the younger's spine.

   "and as for what i did in the past... i apologize. that was immature, insensitive, and over all just a dick move. but i was selfish and jealous, and young, and stupid... and i know i can't turn back time or make it up, but you," jeno's eyes changed to a certainty, "you still have a chance."

   "what do you mean?" jaemin's heart pounded in his ribcage at an animalistic pace. he didn't want to give himself any false hope as he didn't know how much more trauma he could take, but jeno's words sounded so inviting. they sounded so sure.

   "renjun and i," jeno smiled, looking down as if thinking about the male that jaemin longed for so badly. the nostalgic look in his eyes turned bittersweet as he met jaemin's gaze once more. the brunette held his breath, awaiting what was to come next.

"we broke up."

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word count: 646

update for the first time since forever lmao

✎ ---- dreaminghyuck⤾