spin the bottle | norenmin

s i x

C H A P T E R S I X

"so, did you sleep well?" he awkwardly asked as he rubbed the nape of his neck.
the oncoming wind grazed my cheekbones as i nodded my head softly in response to his words.
he hummed in approval, adjusting the bag strap on his shoulder.
not liking the awkward, uncomfortable silence, i decided to step out of my comfort zone and start a conversation with the korean boy.
"how come jaemin couldn't stay over at your house last night?"

the left corner of his lips turned upwards at my conversation starter before he shrugged.
"something happened with his parents, they wanted him home"
i nodded, wondering about the situation of the pink haired boy.
not that i was worried or anything.
"is he okay?"
jeno shrugged and looked at his feet as he sighed.
"i don't know, he was avoiding the question yesterday"
i nodded as we walked down the cobble path.

it was only early morning, so all the shops had just begun opening.
because of this, there were no stops on the journey to school since the places we would've gone to were still closed.
"what's first period?" jeno asked as another ice breaker.
i reached into my pocket and pulled out the damaged piece of paper that showed my timetable before using my figure to point my eyes in the direction of the lesson we needed.
"world history" i informed the black haired male.
he nodded again as the awkward silence gradually subsided and we enjoyed our short small talk before we reached the gates of school.

"do you know if jaemin is coming in?"
"he should be"

our voices came to a halt as a familiar pink head of hair came into view and we were faced with a straight faced jaemin.
"jaemin!" jeno called out as he hugged the latter, who let a small smile take form on his face.
"hey jaemin" i greeted to which he returned the same sort of hello.

"what's wrong" jeno asked the dull looking boy who sighed with a sad smile before rubbing his dark circles.
"just stress" jeno furrowed his eyebrows "my parents were just going on about my chemistry grades again"
i knew jaemin had been struggling, it was obvious from the sight of his test scores that he was a few marks away from failing.
i of course, was passing the subject with flying colours.
hence why i made the decision to help the younger boy out.

"i can tutor you, if you want jaemin" i suggested.
his eyes lit up at the offer as he nodded frantically and thanked me which resulted in a soft smile appearing on my lips.
"it's ok, really" i assured him.
"you're an actual angel" he said, jumping about with a wide smile before he was cut off by the ringing of the bell that indicated first period was about to begin.
"world history?" he asked as jeno nodded in confirmation and pecked jaemin's nose before we all began walking to our class.

the class was lit up brightly with the beaming sunlight that peaked through the open blinds and spread throughout the otherwise miserable room.
renjun's seat was in the front row, quite some distance away from jeno and jaemin who sat on the left side of the fourth row from the front.
he placed his bag on the desk and discretely looking over his shoulder to view the two boys as they smiled at each other fondly while they engaged in a conversation.
a conversation that just happened to be about the small chinese boy himself, but renjun would never know that.

'what is this' i thought to myself as a weird feeling bubbled in the pit of my stomach.
it wasn't jealousy, it wasn't anger, it was more of a longing feeling.
i couldn't pin point why i was feeling this way, it wasn't that i didn't enjoy seeing the two happy, infant i enjoyed it, but it hurt my heart knowing i wasn't a part of the soft joyfulness they were sharing.