December 2015

"Sorry I'm late," Yeri said hurriedly while running into the practice room "Irene unnie didn't want to let me come."

"How did you manage to convince her then?" Jaehyun inquired.

"I didn't. She thinks I'm out with Saeron." She replied with a shrug.

"You really are something, Kim Yerim." He said in amusement.

"I'm the coolest friend you have." She told him matter of factly "Just admit it, Oppa."

"You are by far the most conceited." He retorted "I'll give you that one."

"Whatever." Yeri said rolling her eyes "Anyways, what was so urgent for you to summon me today?"

Jaehyun smiled hesitantly "I'm going to debut, Yerim-ah..."

"Oh. My. God." She said slowly registering the information "Oh my God, Oppa! This is amazing!" She cheered while jumping up and down.

Suddenly noticing that Jaehyun did not seem to share her excitement, Yeri stopped and observed him.

"You don't look happy." She stated suspiciously “Why don't you look happy? You still want this, right?"

"Of course I do,” He asserted before letting out a frustrated sigh "It's just that... You know how NCT has this whole rotating members thing going on? Well, this time it will be only me, Taeyong, Ten, Doyoung, Taeil and Mark."

"What about Johnny?" Yeri inquired and Jaehyun simply shook his head. She bit her lip as she finally understood "How did he take it?"

"Not well. He and Yuta hyung are being pretty passive aggressive about the whole thing." Jaehyun stated sadly "Can't really blame them, though."

"I should try talking to him." Yerim pondered before punching Jaehyun's arm lightly "But oppa, you should be feeling happy and proud. You earned this!"

"I know, but..." Jaehyun trailed off looking conflicted "I haven't trained for as long as some of the others and I can't help but feel like I'm taking someone else's spot."

"This is your spot." Yeri said resolutely "Their time will come, but right now it's your turn. You deserve to enjoy it."

"I know..." Jaehyun agreed half heartedly and closed his eyes in distress "It just feels wrong to be happy over something that is causing my friends so much pain."

"Johnny oppa just needs some space for now. He usually needs time to absorb that type of thing.” Yeri tried to comfort him "When the day of the debut comes, you know he'll be there, front row, cheering louder than any of the fangirls you're definitely going to have."

Jaehyun thought about it before looking at her with a small smile "When did you become so optimistic?"

"I surrounded myself with the right people." She said with a wink and proceeded to rummage through her bag "Oh, and I got you something! It was supposed to be an early Christmas present, but I guess we are also celebrating so,"

"Here you go." She said handing him a beautifully wrapped box "Merry Christmas, Jaehyun oppa. And congratulations!"

Jaehyun looked at her stunned "Yerim-ah..."

He took the gift from her and carefully removed the wrapping paper. Opening the box, he found a navy blue wool scarf.

"I knitted this during our car rides from one schedule to another." She explained proudly "From Busan to Seoul, you can knit one third of a scarf. Daegu to Seoul is another third. And Seoul to Gyeonggi-do is almost a quarter..." she started to count.

"Y-you made this yourself?" He asked in surprise.

"Homemade presents are always the most meaningful." She stated simply "I don't want to get sappy or anything but this past year has been difficult and our friendship has kept me sane through it all."

"Thank you, Yerim-ah." Jaehyun said fondly "Now I feel bad for not getting you anything."

"My birthday is in three months." She replied cheekily "You better get to work."

~~~~~~

April 2016

"I'm so ready for this!" Mark exclaimed excitedly as he tried to get his hyung's attention "Jaehyunsss, you look paler than usual... are you alright?"

Today was NCT's debut stage and Jaehyun was conflicted between being excited and wanting to throw up.

"Everything's fine." He tried to cover up his aprehension "Just nerves, I guess."

"Well, you better get that sorted out, cause we'll be on in a few minutes." Ten reminded all of them.

Jaehyun walked around the room and took a few deep breaths until he heard the familiar message alert from his phone. He could not help but smile as he recognized the sender.

From: yerimie
"Hi Oppa! I'm sorry I was not able to see you before your debut, our schedule is a mess... but I finally listened to the songs and wahhhh, they are daebak^^! Without U is my absolute favorite! Don't be nervous today, you will do great! Let's try meeting up next week, hm? I'm really really happy for you, oppa. Don't pay attention to anything else and just focus on doing your best, ok? Ps - a very precious friend of mine once told me to never read the hate comments, so keep that in mind ;)"

Jaehyun chuckled and shook his head as he reread the message, the distress from a few minutes ago now completely forgotten.

"Jaehyun-ah, we have to go!" Taeyong called out, snapping him out of his trance.

"Coming, hyung!" He said while handing his phone to their manager and running to catch up with the others "Now I'm ready."

~~~~~~

August 2016

"Do you think this shirt looks hawaiian enough?" Mark asked for the nth time.

The boys were at the dorm preparing for their company's annual workshop which was to be held in Hawaii this year. Mark was currently going through every single item of his closet and driving his hyungs nuts in the process.

"It's a beach, Mark." Yuta stated obviously "Just pack summer clothes and be done with it, kid."

"Well, aren't you loads of fun." Mark said in annoyance.

"Save the fun for when we actually get there." Taeyong suggested while patting his head.

"I'm just glad we'll get a few days of vacation." Doyoung said in relief "I mean, it is a workshop so it's kind of a work thing but better do it in Hawaii than here."

Jaehyun nodded in agreement "I know. I'm literally counting down the minutes."

"Are you excited about the vacation or is this about finally getting to see Yerimie noona again?" Haechan inquired and everyone's attention was instantly on Jaehyun.

"Oh boy, he went there." Johnny said a little impressed by their maknae's boldness.

Taeyong sighed and made his way to the kitchen "Better get the popcorn ready..."

It turned out that meeting up was much easier when Jaehyun was still a trainee. Back then, they always managed to work around Yeri's schedule. Now that they were both busy, it was almost impossible for them to be at the same place at the same time. And just like that, they hadn't seen each other for the last 3 months. They still called and texted, but Jaehyun greatly missed being in her presence. Not that he would ever say that out loud. His bandmates were his brothers, but they were also nosy as hell. Not to mention the fact that they seemed to be particularly invested in his friendship with Yerim.

"This is our first real vacation after our debut. Of course I'm excited." Jaehyun explained rationally.

"Way to avoid the subject." Johnny said in a mocking tone "Smooth move, Jeffrey."

Jaehyun glared at him "How many times do I have to tell you guys Yerim and I are just good friends?"

"Wrong, Yeri is our good friend." Mark emphasized "I don't know what the hell you two are."

"Come on, Jaehyun-ah." Taeil said gently "You must've thought about it at some point."

"Nope, never." Jaehyun responded firmly.

"Seriously, dude?" Yuta questioned "She's obviously special to you."

"Of course she is. But it doesn't mean I like her in that way." Jaehyun said stubbornly "Can we please drop this now? My God, not even my fansite manager is that obsessed with me." He complained before leaving the room.

"Wow," Doyoung said in amusement "To be in that level of denial."

"The realization will hit him like a truck one day." Johnny stated to everyone's agreement.

~~~~~~

"Oppa?" Yeri whispered into the phone as she closed the bathroom door behind her.

"Hi, did I wake you?" Jaehyun asked in concern.

"No, not at all." she assured him "Can't really sleep."

"Me neither" Jaehyun said and paused for a moment before talking again “Do you want to go for a walk?"

It was Yerim's turn to pause "N-Now?"

"Yeah. I know it's late but..." He said hesitantly "I