Love Me | MarkNoHyuckMin

chapter eleven

My Love #1
I'm not gonna force it out of you
Want me to come over?

                                                        Haechan
                                                  I don't know

My Love #1
So I'm coming
Want me to bring Jaemin?

                                                        Haechan
                                                                 Sure
                                                    I want hugs

My Love #1
Okay

➳

Chenle knows it's bad when Jeno shows up and doesn't even speak when he enters the apartment, choosing to sit down at the table and drink out of a soda bottle like it's alcohol.

He stares at his friend for a minute, trying to figure out what to do and what to ask. But eventually he gives up and goes over to Jeno, startling him when he places his soda down onto the table.

"What are you doing?" He asks, getting no response as Chenle just drags him to the couch and pushed him onto it.

Jeno gets even more confused when Chenle comes back with a notebook, a few pens, and coloring supplies.

"Put how you feel onto paper."

"Uh, why?"

"It's a thing someone taught me, just do it."

"Who?"

"That guy my parents tried to set me up with."

"He was into art."

"Yeah. He's really good at it too. He told me that he has a short temper sometimes and art is an outlet for him. I tried it once and it actually helped me a little bit so do it."

"Okay...", Jeno trails off, picking up a red marker and running it right across the paper.

Then he picks up dark blue and then black, repeating the process of creating streaks. Jeno thinks of what he's feeling and what color he feels fits it. But then he thinks of something else and begins to actually draw. He makes a yellow sun first and then surrounds it with gray clouds. And then he draws a black line around it.

He's done everything so confidently so far but he almost can't bring himself to run the red marker over the sun he just made, even though that was originally intent making it. He focuses on a blank spot and draws tear drops of light blue and grey.

In a different space, Jeno adds dark green and purple, mixing the colors up until it's an ugly blob on the paper.

Fitting

He continues until he can't think of anything anymore and the paper is ruined with colors and images that blur together like a child handling markers for the first time. Except child might not create something that looks so dark.

Chenle doesn't comment when Jeno places the cap back onto the marker and then slumps backwards, staring down at his lap so he can only guess what he's feeling. But it doesn't take a genius to figure out he's feeling sadness.

He just flips to a new page in the notebook and hands Jeno a pen.

"Write."

Jeno doesn't verbally respond, just nodding as he racks his brain for the words to put to his emotions. He writes and writes, sometimes even repeating words 'cause the urge to express it somehow is too strong. But then it changes from short phrases to sentences, varying lengths. Jeno writes until he can't anymore and when he's done, he looks up at Chenle like a kid waiting for instructions.