Genuine | Park Jisung

5

After talking to his friends at the bakery, Jisung decided to avoid them. He didn't like how they talked and didn't seem to notice how rude they sounded.

He still felt a bit shy with Imina so they just stayed friendly and not any closer to each other. That meant they both spent their time alone.

One day, the next month, the lunch bell had rung and Jisung was walking through the halls with the slowly dispersing crowd when a boy appeared next to him.

"Hey. You're Jisung, right?" A boy with blue hair asked.

The peach-haired boy nodded.

"I'm Jaemin. I've noticed you around school but you were hanging out with that group and I didn't want to interfere. My friend group and I have all seen you and wanted to be friends so now that I have the opportunity, I wanna invite you to have lunch with us. You don't have to, of course. We understand."

"Oh, uh, thank you, actually. I'd like to join."

"Awesome!" Jaemin exclaimed. "I'll introduce you. You've probably seen Chenle, he has a class with you."

Jaemin led him outside to a table where four other boys were already sitting.

"Look who I found!"

At their friends voice, they all looked up and then smiled at the younger boy.

"Um, hi."

"Oh my gosh, you're so cute!"

Right as Jaemin was about to pinch the Jisung's cheek, he was pulled away by Chenle.

"No, Jaeminie. We don't pinch random people's cheeks. You shouldn't even pinch ours."

"But you guys are so cute!"

"Yes, he's always like this", Chenle told Jisung, as if reading his mind.

The boy nodded. "Good to know", he said in a low tone that was barely heard.

"Is your voice always that deep?" A boy with half blond and half black hair asked.

"Sometimes."

"How old are you?"

"I recently turned seventeen."

"Oh? When?"

"Before I came here. I wasn't in school since we were packing to move here."

"Oh. Are you in Chenle's grade?"

"That's me, I'm Chenle", the boy who had pulled Jaemin away raised his hand.

It was then Jisung realized he did recognize him. "Oh. Yeah."

"He's in my history class. He's always trying not to fall asleep."

The peach-haired boy blushed. "Hey!"

"It's funny. He always looks asleep but then you see him scrambling to take notes. It was kinda surprising since at least five other people do sleep."

"I don't wanna fail. Even in my other classes, when people try to talk to me, I'd sometimes ignore them so I could get down notes or do the assignments."

"Did they stop talking to you?" A boy with long black hair asked.

"Not really. I just don't talk to them anymore so I don't have to worry about it."

The boys nodded in understanding, now knowing why they'd seen the boy alone recently.

"Don't worry, you have us!" Jaemin said sweetly, putting an arm around Jisung, pulling him into a side hug.