The manager was fired. The other members were curious as to why such a drastic occurrence took place, but JR didn't tell them. He knew they would worry about him, feel guilty for not realizing earlier, and frankly he didn’t want to go through the process of reassuring them. He just wouldn’t tell them what happened.

“Hyung,” he told Jason that day, “could I request that you not tell my members about what happened between the manager and me?”

Jason nodded and they never spoke of it again. The members pressed for details at first, but gave up when they go nothing out of JR or Jason.

Until Pledis hires a replacement, Jason’s manager was the one that had to manage them.

One of the decisions this manager made in order to conserve some of the budget NU’EST had in China was to rent one less room in the hotel. Now that they had one less person to lodge, it would only make sense to stop renting an entire room, especially since Jason had the extra bed.

JR was delighted, thinking he would be the one that would occupy that bed…

Unfortunately, this manager did not know about MinRon or BaekRen, and so he reorganized the sleeping arrangements. Jason was to room with Ren.

JR tried to explain to the new manager that the members had “preferences,” but the manager did not seem to understand. The logic was that Jason and Ren had to deliver “fanservice” and so he wanted them to grow closer by rooming together so that their fanservice is a lot more believable.

There was nothing he could really do about the decision.

Jason and Ren did seem to grow closer though over the few days they roomed together, and it made JR a little bit jealous. Jason seemed to enjoy Ren’s company a lot. Many times JR would catch Jason smiling brightly at Ren. Hugging and skinship became a lot more common between them as well. Suddenly, JR no longer felt so special to Jason.

“Hey JR,” Jason whispered to JR one day.

“Hmm?”

“Ren is hopeless at video games,” Jason said as he laughed, “and I still haven’t shown you the video game I wanted you to see ages ago. Would you like to switch places with him for tonight? I’m sure that if we both try to convince our manager, he’d let us. Are you up for it?”

When Jason said this to him, some of the hope that he was special to the older boy was restored. He smiled happily and nodded. Of course he was up for it. He’d been dying for some time alone with Jason for a very long time.

He and Jason approached the manager for permission, and that permission was granted almost instantly. As soon as it was granted though, Jason turned to find Ren. When he told Ren the news, Ren’s eyes lightened. He jumped up and down in joy, putting his arms around JR’s waist hugging him, thanking him.

So Jason did it for Ren, so that Ren gets time alone with Baekho. Jason didn’t do it because he wanted to spend time with JR, rather because he wanted to make Ren happy. It bothered JR a lot.

“Jason-hyung I love you,” Ren said, still hugging him.

“I love you too Rennie,” Jason said, “now stop hugging me before Baekho gets jealous. And make sure you take advantage of tonight. I’m not letting you go again,” Jason winked at Ren. Ren smiled and nodded, before dashing out to tell Baekho the news.

JR felt so useless and unimportant. He was just a means to make Ren happy to Jason. Not someone Jason actually wanted to spend time with.

“Ren is so cute when he’s happy,” Jason said with a smile.

JR could do nothing but nod in agreement.

“Anyways, we’re going to have so much fun tonight little brother!” Jason said as he slung his arms around JR’s shoulders.

And they did have fun. Playing video games with Jason that night made him forget about his jealousy soon enough.

At one point, Jason suggested that they attach a penalty to losing: the winner slaps the loser. JR agreed to it. Jason almost immediately won the next round.

JR turned to face Jason, closing his eyes, preparing himself for the slap. JR felt a hand on his cheek, but it wasn’t a slap. It felt more like a caress. JR assumed Jason was just warming up for it, and so his eyes remained closed as he waited for Jason to do it.

Only when JR felt Jason’s lips on his did he open his eyes in bewilderment, instinctively pulling his head back.

Jason laughed at JR’s startled expression, “sorry about that,” he said. “But I found that kissing you would be a far greater penalty than slapping you.”

JR blinked, “huh?”

Jason ruffled JR’s hair. “I’m sorry. It’s just that you are so much like Leo. You play the games like him, your personality is like his and you even look like him. I just felt this overwhelming urge to do it. So my kiss is your penalty and my reward. Sorry if it made you uncomfortable or anything.”

Now is the time, JR thought. Now was the right time to confess. Jason just kissed you, you will find no better time, his thought, suddenly confident that Jason did like him back.

Just as JR was about to open his mouth to confess, Jason began to talk. “It’s about time I tell you the truth about Leo, right?” Jason asked, “I’m always mentioning him and making creepy allusions to him, and I always leave you hanging to wonder, don’t I? I’ll tell you now if you like.”

JR nodded and decided to postpone his confession until after Jason comes clean about Leo.

“Leo is very conservative,” Jason began, “he comes from Ningxia Hui, the conservative, Islamic and Christian parts of China. When I met him, I knew this, and so I never talked about ual orientation or anything, or the boyfriend I had when I was in high school. But, even though I hid such a big part of me from him, I grew extremely close to him. And… I fell for him. You can kind of guess what happened since then. I hid it of course, but one day I stupidly decided to confess. That was a mistake. It was a huge mistake. Although he was never hostile with me when I confessed, he stopped seeing me. He moved out of our dorm. He stopped talking to me. Later I learned that he quit being an idol. That’s why JL disbanded, not because of NU’EST-M. It’s because Leo wanted nothing to do with me anymore.” At this point, Jason stopped talking. He had a solemn yet sad look in his eyes.

“I’m sorry, hyung,” JR said, not knowing what else to say.

“It really hurt me, JR,” Jason said, trying his best to smile. It looked like he was about to cry for a moment, but he gulped it in, “I haven’t seen or talked to him since the day I confessed. I really loved him. So much. And I think I still might. He is such a great person. He was the light of my life, what I woke up everyday for. He cared for me so much, and he loved me like a brother. When he cut contact with me, I felt like I had nothing to live for so long. I was depressed. I drank a lot. I considered killing myself at least four times. I was such a mess. I’m going to be wounded forever because of what Leo did, but now I’m a lot better. Joining NU’EST-M helped the wound heal.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” JR said, his eyes fixated on Jason’s.

“Seriously, though,” Jason said, “I love the five of you so much. I don’t think you know just how much I love you all, and how working with you has helped me overcome the pain that Leo’s rejection put me through. Not only did you guys accept me but I also am slightly over my love for Leo because I’ve started to like… someone else.” Jason broke the eye contact with JR for a second, and then he looked at JR again. He took JR’s hand there and then, and JR felt his heart beat out of control.

JR gulped, “who is it?” he managed to stutter.

He expected it to be him. Jason had kissed him, had told him that he reminded him of Leo many times and now he was holding his hands. It had to be him. Jason had to be preparing to confess to him…

“Little brother, I trust you and so I’ll tell you. But please don’t tell him. Or anyone else for that matter. Please?”

JR’s heart fell. So he wasn’t “him.” He wasn’t the person that Jason liked.

“I like Ren,” Jason admitted, and the light in JR’s eyes died in an instant.

---

A few of things.

1) I’m sorry for the kind of late update. I was hopelessly stuck, hence the sudden plot twist.

2) I know I have some readers who are passionately against JaRen. Sorry about this plot twist then! It’s drama though and I like drama. XD

3) The stuff about Leo coming from the conservative part of China isn’t true. I tried looking up facts about the dude, but it was all in Chinese and I can only read so much Mandarin (ie I can’t read Mandarin at all)

4) You guys have to admit that Leo and JR do look alike though! No seriously look:

What a nice coincidence for this story. :D

5) Thank you to everyone who has been reading/commenting/subscribing/upvoting. Really, thank you so much you guys are my heart <3

6) MERRY CHRISTMAS GUYS.

7) I promise I’ll update earlier next time!