"bike with me." - nomin [ON HOLD]

first son.

jeno quickly tucked his phone under his pillow as he heard a knock on the door of his bedroom. he had entered the house just a few minutes ago, passing by his mother and father in silence and rushing to his room before they could say anything. jeno believes its one of his parents behind his door.

"you can come in if you want," jeno said, and as soon as the door opened wide, his mother entered with a smile and a plate in her hands. the smile was forced, jeno could notice that in an instant, but he didn't think his mother is angry. probably disappointed.

"sweetheart," his mother cooed, walking up to his bed and seating herself beside jeno. she handed him the plate with a slice of pie on it. jeno's mother is a baker; one of her stress-relieving tactics is making pies until she's worn out.

he took the plate and stabbed the fork into the pie. he took a small bite of the pastry and suddenly warmed up. lemon pie, his favorite.

"i just wanted to have a small chat with you, dear, about... well, what happened this morning," mrs. lee began. "you seem to have snuck out today, have you been doing things you aren't supposed to?"

"not that i know of," jeno responded, giving his mother an almost innocent look. he could notice her skeptic look.

"well, jeno, while you were out i happened to go through your room-"

"you what?!"

jeno jumped off of his bed, the plate of half-eaten pie still in his hands. "why would you do that?"

mrs. lee also stood and stuck a hand in her back pocket, then pulling out a small sandwich bag filled with the weed he bought the other night. jeno groaned and wanted to punch himself in the face.

"what is this, jeno?"

"mom, i think you know exactly what it is."

his mother's patience must have been thin, because suddenly she had snapped, "yeah, you know damn well i know what this is! who ever told you weed was okay to use?"

"first off, no one has to tell me anything," jeno shouted back, "and second, stop acting like what i'm doing is illegal! i'm at legal age to use it."

"i don't care, jeno. as long as you're under our roof you will not be able to use any substances like this!" and with that his mother stuffed the bag in her pocket and crossed her arms. she shook her head and said, "you're father isn't happy at all with this. he doesn't even want to talk to you at the moment."

jeno stayed silent. his mother sighed but continued, "i'm not happy with this and i'm even more disappointed that you had to hide this from your own parents."

at this point, jeno felt a bit of guilt for keeping everything to himself, but that guilt emotion disappeared in an instant when he heard the next sentence his mother had said.

"you also know jaehyun wouldn't like to know his little brother is not doing what he's suppo-"

"get out."

jeno didn't realize those words had escaped his lips until he saw the mixture of surprise and anger on mrs. lee's face. she slowly responded in a quiet but infuriating tone.

"what did you just say to me?"

jeno knew not to repeat what he had said. however the look on his face was clear enough that he wanted his mother to get out of his sight.

she took the sign that her son's rage had suddenly risen and without warning, grabbed the plate of pie jeno was still grasping and jeno received a glare from his mother, a glare enough to take down 100 men.

"i don't know what is going on with you, jeno. you were just a good boy a month ago and now you're sneaking around and using substances like this? this attitude you have, this whole persona... i don't know why you're doing it. is it to impress a girl, or your friends? and how can we trust you to make smart decisions in the future when you can't make some now? you of all people should know being a stupid brat never got anyone to good places!" mrs. lee shook her head in disappoinment.

silenced followed.

"jeno, just answer me."

jeno clenched his hands into fists, and bit back his words, knowing yelling back at his mom would do nothing. he just stared at the bedroom floor, attemtping to escape the upset stare he was receiving. so when she finally was ready to exit his room:

"hey mom."

mrs. lee spun around, and made eye contact with her son. her heart slightly dropped when she noticed jeno's eyes slightly glistening, and although jeno tried to conceal it, his eyes were glossing with tears ready to flow any second.

"can i be honest with you?" jeno asked, although his voice couldn't help but crack at the moment.

his mother slowly nodded. she was quite skeptical at the question, but answered, "of course sweetie, you can tell me anything."

jeno rubbed his eyes, and pushed the upcoming sobs away. he didn't want mrs. lee to see him break down like this, so he took a deep breath and calmed himself. he continued:

"just because you messed up on your first son doesn't mean you have to put it on me. don't worry about me, like how you did all those other years."

11:59 pm. jeno was wide awake. his mind was scattered, and the comfort of his bed wasn't helping at all. he was going through what his mother said, that he of all peiple should know being a stupid brat doesn't take anyone to good places...

of course she's not wrong. i've already seen it to someone i cared about so much.

but jeno wasn't wrong when he told his mother that they messed up, that they abandoned the one person jeno looked up to.

and now he's gone.

he decided to open his phome and scroll for a bit. he paused at one notification, a message from two hours ago.

from na jaemin.

his mind went straight to the pink haired, spunky boy he met. the one who seemed more than happy when jeno told him he wanted to be friends. the one he had been talking to all day, cracking up at the hilarious texts jaemin would send.

he saw the last text sent to him and felt a bit of thrill.

jaemin: cya tmrw

jeno was glad they're able to talk more, despite the fact they're only meeting because of jaemin's clumsy mistake of leaving the ugly trench coat with him. even if it means having to wait until his break to approach jaemin at his work, it's better than having to stay at home, knowing his father was working at his home office all day. jeno doesn't want to deal with his family at the moment.

jeno sends a small smiley face to jaemin.

jeno: :))