⊗ 26 ⊗

                                    

                                          



jaemin huffed, letting himself fall on his back on the sofa of mark's and donghyuck's living room, by the cat hybrid's side who seemed to be as tired as jaemin was. not that mark was as tired as jaemin who had been emotionally exhausted these past days, but the older hybrid always seemed to be needing a nap – surely one of his cat attributes. 


"hey, minnie?" the cat hybrid called as he sniffed the air for a while. 
"yeah?" jaemin answered, turning his head to look at his friend. 
"is it me or... there's an unfamiliar smell lingering in the air."


the rabbit hybrid didn't answer immediately, not daring to take a sniff of air and realise that in fact, there was another smell that donghyuck's, mark's and his lingering in the air. 
to be fully honest, he had come to the realisation that there was an unfamiliar scent in the air the day before, after donghyuck had brought mark and him back from taeyong and doyoung's. 


"d-do... do you think donghyuck could be... c-cheating on me?" mark asked, his voice trembling and low. 
"what?" jaemin exclaimed. "no, certainly not." he shook his head. "donghyuck would never cheat on you. and you know it."
"but this scent..." mark sighed, sniffing the air again and clearly smelling an odour that was not familiar. and he didn't recall donghyuck claiming that someone had been over while they were away. 
"it's not someone with whom donghyuck would cheat on you." jaemin assured in a low voice. 


how could he be so sure about it? because jaemin did have a better smell that humans and he had clearly identified who it belonged to; he hadn't needed long to recognise jeno's scent when he had entered the house the night before, lingering everywhere around the living room. he would recognise it among millions; and it was the same for renjun's. those scents that drove jaemin mad and made his heartbeat become uncontrollable. those same scents which now hurt so bad...


at first, jaemin hadn't wanted to ask donghyuck about it – if jeno's scent was there, it was necessarily that jeno had come to donghyuck and mark's house. but the hybrid knew that asking this question would lead to an answer that could hurt him bad. what if jeno had come? what if he had told donghyuck that he never wanted to see jaemin again? or worse, what if he hadn't even come here, and that this scent lingering in the air was jaemin's fucked up brain who couldn't seem to lose feelings for two boys who would never return them? 
all of these possible answers to an oh-so-tempting question were what had made jaemin decide to keep his thoughts to himself. but that was until mark voiced out his own concerns about this mysterious scent. if he had smelt it too, then it had to be real, then it had to mean that jeno was there. 
but did he really want to know why?  


"w-what if... what if i'm not enough for him? what if he gets bored of me? t-this can happen..." mark spoke, his voice getting shakier the longer he was talking. 
"mark, stop spitting nonsense, donghyuck loves you." jaemin patted the boy's shoulder. "even a blind mole could realise that."
"b-but what if- "
"stop with your what ifs, mark." jaemin stated, placing his hand over mark's mouth. "donghyuck. loves. you. and he'll never break up with you." he continued, making sure he articulated every word so that mark couldn't pretend he hadn't understood one part. "you are his everything, he always repeats it. that and the fact he would be so lost without you. there is no way you guys are going to break up or anything. you are meant for each other and make the perfect couple, never doubt it."