jaemin hasn’t seen hina for a week, and it’s killing him.

although hina has lived in seoul as a trainee for the last four years, her entire family lives in japan which is why she gratefully flies home the few times a year the company allows her to. going home, visiting family and buying souvenirs for her friends in korea are some of her favorite things to do, but it was painfully obvious that every time she left for japan, jaemin became a hot mess.

whenever hina goes to japan, it’s like the world jaemin knows is only made up of her.

the isolation in his room is his favorite. he can sit there for hours thinking about the perfection that is hina. however, despite spending hours on end by himself, he can’t sleep at night because each time he closes his eyes, he thinks about how he’s not with hina. even his appetite suffers when she’s gone. the thought of eating makes him queasy, and if he does, he could only eat hina’s favorite foods. the others find his behavior worrisome but know that it’ll never last longer than a week, so they don’t intervene.

honestly, jaemin doesn’t even know when his little crush on hina started, but it was becoming more than just a crush. he didn’t want to admit it, but he was whipped. all it took was the bat of her eyelashes and the adorable sound of her voice calling his name to have him practically on his knees swooning.

but, perhaps the worst part was that she had him wrapped around her pretty little finger, and she didn’t even know it. sweet hina was so oblivious to his feelings that even jisung started to feel bad for him. in fact, everyone started to feel bad for him because it seemed like he would never grow the balls to actually ask her out.

“you know if you and hina were going out, i would try to consider whatever this is,” donghyuck pauses to wave his fingers at jaemin’s general area, “somewhat endearing, but you guys aren’t. which means you just look like a creep.”

it’s the fourth day of hina’s most recent trip. the two of them are sitting on the couch watching tv, but donghyuck can’t focus on the screen. for the last hour, all jaemin has done is giggle every time his phone lights up and then begin to sigh when it doesn’t light up immediately after.

“it also doesn't help your case that she's just sending messages to the group chat. god knows how you’d react if she started texting you personally.”   

hina texting him and only him, what a magical thought.   

donghyuck knocks his knuckles against jaemin’s forehead. “snap out of it! i just said that so you would snap out of your delusions, not so you could have some more.”

“don’t you have anything better to do than harass jaemin? i walk away for three minutes. three minutes! you’re unbelievable,” mark says as he sits next to donghyuck. with the return of mark, donghyuck shifts all of his attention.

“but hyung, i’m just trying to help jaemin’s love life.”

mark gives donghyuck an incredulous look, and the two begin to go back and forth on who is more qualified in providing life advice.

“hi. it’s me, jaemin, if you forgot. i don’t really care for your old-married-couple bickering. can you guys just leave me alone?” jaemin asks exasperatedly after what seems like a solid five minutes.

donghyuck whips his head to jaemin and smirks. “why? so you can sit here staring at pictures of hina?”

it was meant as a joke, but still, jaemin flushes, the red reaching the top of his ears.

“yah, were you already planning on doing that?” donghyuck asks as he narrows his eyes with absolute judgment.

“...”   

jaemin was embarrassing.

donghyuck didn’t need a best friend who became a blubbering mess every time his crush walked by, nor did he need a best friend that became a wreck when his crush wasn’t nearby. jaemin was beginning to reflect poorly on the rest of the two-thousand line, much to jeno, donghyuck and renjun’s dismay.

either jaemin was going to man up and ask hina out, or donghyuck would have to do something about it himself.

hidden under his blanket, jaemin was scrolling through his phone. he squints his eyes as his blanket is ripped off him, releasing an intrusion of light. standing in front of him is donghyuck. he rolls his eyes as if telling donghyuck to speak.

“so my birthday is in a couple weeks,” donghyuck begins with a sly smile.

“dude, you bothered me just to tell me that? i know your birthday is coming up. you’ve been talking about it for the last three months.”

“right. you see, i wanted to tell you what i wanted as my gift.”

“donghyuck, i’m not buying you-”

“i don’t need you to buy me anything,” he interrupts jaemin. “all i want for my birthday is for you to confess your feelings to hina.”

the room is silent for a moment before jaemin says, “you know i can’t do that.”

“but you can, and you will. because if you don’t, i’ll tell her myself.”

“you wouldn’t dare.”

“do you want to find out?” donghyuck challenges with a playful glint in his eyes although his voice is completely serious. “well?”

“okay. let’s say you did tell her, what if she doesn’t like me? hm? our friendship would be totally ruined. just think about how awkward it would be.”

“if she doesn’t like you back, nothing will change in your friendship with her. honestly, you’re not giving her enough credit. she’s the sweetest girl we know and wouldn’t stop being your friend just because you like her. ”

“you positive?  i’m not so sure about this,”  jaemin needed reassurance. his friendship with hina was the most important thing in his life. if he were to lose it, he wouldn't know what to do.

“completely positive. so you better confess to her before my birthday comes up, or i’ll tell her how every night you like to rewatch mickey mouse clubhouse just for her parts.” 

in the past, when the time came, the other female trainees had gone to the airport to bring hina home, but late last night jaemin received an unusual phone call from koeun asking if he would do it instead. he didn’t know whether donghyuck’s words inspired or scared him, but regardless, they brought up some kind of internal conviction. he answered with a yes, and now here he was waiting for hina to arrive.

now, words don’t change a person over night, so jaemin wasn’t going to confess here in front of thousands of people. however, he’s gathered more courage in the span of a night than he has ever before in his entire life just to come here by himself.

he shook off his thoughts once he watched the board change colors indicating her flight had landed. after waiting a few moments, he could see her head of brown hair bob up and down as she walked closer. pulling her suitcase in one hand and scrolling through her phone with the other, hina wore a backpack, which looked like the one jaemin bought her for her birthday. as always, she had her earbuds in.

although she was only one hundred feet away it felt like an eternity for her to walk to through the gates. with each step she came closer, jaemin felt his heart racing. her steps quickened, and like that, she walked past jaemin.

his stomach dropped. he turned around to call her name, but she still didn’t notice him as she couldn’t hear him. he put his arm out and pulled on her shoulder. she turned around and looked at him with wide eyes. pulling out her earbuds, she broke into a smile.

he tried to keep his heart from bursting out of his chest, but it was hard. hina was always prettier up close.

before he could say anything, she pulled him into a hug. hugs weren’t uncommon between them. he hoped she didn’t notice how fast his heart was beating just like how he didn’t notice how her hair smelt of strawberries or how he didn’t notice how her head fit perfectly in his chest.

“jaemin, you’re here,” she said, elated, as she pulled away. “i didn't know you were coming. where’s everyone else?”

“the others were busy, so it’s me today.”

“i’m glad you came. which reminds me,” she said as she pulled her backpack off her shoulder to it. after some digging through her bag, she found a bag covered in bright colors and large japanese letters. “i know you love jellies, so i bought you some when i was in japan. if i remembered correctly, you said your favorite flavor is peach.”

he was surprised she had remembered him saying something so minuscule. that was one of the things jaemin loved about hina. she was thoughtful. she put care into everything she did. she possessed the power to make those around her feel special.

“is there something wrong?” hina asked after jaemin didn’t respond to her.

“everything’s fine. thank you for the jellies. i really love japanese candy.”

“great, ah but don’t tell donghyuck i got you them, okay? i may have gotten everyone else a moomin key chain, and he’ll throw a fit if he found out only you got jellies.”

correction: she knew how to make him feel very, very special.

he grabs the handle of hina’s suitcase. “shall we go?”

“lead the way.”

one thing was for sure; hina was loved by everyone.

those older than her adored her, while those younger looked up to her as a motherly figure. and, jaemin was, well, jaemin.  so it was only natural for nct and the girls to go out for dinner to celebrate hina’s return. this time would be different. donghyuck must have gone around the dorm saying something because the older members kept asking jaemin if he was excited about dinner. each of them hinted that he could come to any of them for advice, which only made him glare menacingly at donghyuck.

by the time they arrived, the girls were already there. koeun, who was telling a story, locked eyes with donghyuck when he opened the door. she waved, calling them toward their tables. a total of ten boys filed into the tiny restaurant after him. luckily, nct-u was busy with a prior arrangement, or it would have been even more cramped.

the girls stood up and exchanged their greetings with the boys. hina was pulled to the center where everyone spoke at once, asking her questions about her trip. sensing they were causing a scene, johnny ordered everyone to sit down, slyly putting jaemin next to hina. when jaemin realized he was next to her, he looked up at johnny, who sent him a wink.

not knowing what to do, he gave her a weak smile and greeted her. she flashed her teeth and turned to lami, who called her name. jaemin tried staring at the wall, but ultimately, his eyes found their way to hina’s profile. he told himself he wasn’t going to be obvious.

he failed.

their food arrived not too long after they settled down. as the youngest, jisung, lami and herin passed out the bowls and chopsticks.

“it seems like we are short a bowl and pair of chopsticks though,” herin said. “sorry jaemin.”

“hina and jaemin can share a bowl though right?” donghyuck suggests.

lami and herin look at each other with panic in their eyes. there was no way their precious hina-unnie was going to share with jaemin. scanning the restaurant, lami found a woman sitting at the counter wearing an apron, seemingly asleep. raising her hand, she called to her. “madam, over here. we need a bowl and pair of chopsticks.”

the woman looked at her and smiled before walking to the other side of the restaurant, the side lami knew there were no chopsticks or bowls.

“that’s a great idea. they should also sit closer together, so it’s easier to eat.” yuta said grinning.

“madam.”

“lami, don’t worry about it. i’m fine sharing with jaemin.”

hina might be fine sharing with jaemin, but lami wasn’t. first, they’ll be sharing plates and chopsticks. who knows what they’ll be sharing next?

“oh, madam,” lami raised her voice. the woman was still nowhere to be found.

“hina, honestly, you should just feed jaemin. i mean you know what his favorite pieces of meat are,” donghyuck spoke once again.

“oh and you know his favorite side dishes too,” jeno added. donghyuck gave him a high five.

“madam!” lami basically screamed with all the urgency she could produce.

the woman wobbled over to their table and asked lami, “hello young lady. how may i help you?”

“hi. can we get two pairs of chopsticks and two bowls?” lami smiled innocently and the woman found her adorable.

donghyuck raised his eyebrow as the woman handed lami the bowls and chopsticks. “why’d you ask for two sets of everything?”

“you know, just in case something just-so-happens to jaemin’s new bowl or chopsticks, we’ll have extra,” she said through clenched teeth. after making sure hina was talking to yuta, lami reached over the table and pinched jaemin. hina finished her conversation and turned around. lami told her to eat before the food got cold, and hina pet her head, cooing over the fact that her lami “is the sweetest”.

welp, i guess this plan didn’t work, donghyuck thought to himself.

when he was sure no one was looking his direction, he placed the bowl and chopsticks in his hands on the ground. glancing over to jaemin, he sighed. being a wingman for jaemin was going to be hard, and koeun, herin, and lami weren’t going to be making anything easier.

throughout the rest of dinner, jaemin turned red whenever hina accidentally brushed her leg against his. his stomach warmed whenever she laughed. it almost made the glares the other girls threw his direction worth sitting through.