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"What do you think?" She snapped, dusting herself off, glaring angrily at Donghyuck.
He scratched the back of his neck, crouching next to her helping her gather the books that spilled out of her open bag.
She blew her curls out of her face, stuffing the books into her backpack, shooting him one last glare before walking off.
Jaemin appears behind him, grinning. "Looks like she still doesn't want anything to do with us, she was only okay with hanging yesterday cause of Jinae."
Hyuck shrugs, straightening up, tongue poking the side of his cheek. He brushes his coal black hoodie, stuffing one of his hands into his pocket.
"Why would she? We're friends with Chenle." Renjun adds under his breath, "Not that I even want anything to do with her."
At the mention of his name, Chenle looks up, confused. "Hm?"
They all collectively roll their eyes, Hyuck shooting his phone a look of disdain, muttering, "Nothing."
Chenle brushes it off, a whine leaving his mouth when his avatar gets slain by another player. He stuffs his phone into his back pocket, giving up on the game for now, looking over at Jisung.
"You gonna come to basketball practice?"
The taller nods, ducking behind Chenle when his math teacher walked past them. He stood upright, answering the questioning look on his friends face, mumbling something about falling asleep in class.
-------
The sound of a ball hitting the ground filled the gymnasium, absolute stillness and silence hanging over the team. The spectators sat in equal quietude, watching intently as the basketball was deftly passed from Hyunjin to Chenle.
Thud.
Thud.
Thud.
He had the ball, dribbling it halfway across the court, eyes narrowing, searching for a gap in the defense.
Chenle's shoes squeaked as he shifted his weight from one foot to the other, all of his concentration directed at shooting the ball. Everything seemed to fade away, his surroundings nonexistent. As far as he knew, there weren't any people blocking his opportunity to score.
Jaemin gritted his teeth. He was right beside the hoop, behind the defense, no one could block him, he was more likely to score.
If only Chenle worked better with the team instead of thinking he could do it all by himself. Sure, he was a great player, but last years losses proved that he didn't 'get it right' every time.
He waved his hand, trying to get the younger boys attention. Yet Chenle was hellbent of doing it himself.
He jumped, the ball flew through the air, members of the defense trying and failing to stop the it. It hit the backboard, circled the hoop before falling back down to the ground, bouncing twice.
It came to a halt at Jaemin's feet.
Everyone glanced between the two, a few backing away.
He glared up at Chenle who didn't seem surprised.
At this point, no one was surprised.
"Look Chenle, if you can't play with the team, I'm gonna put you on the bench." He was clearly trying - and failing - to keep his temper leveled, knuckles white, not wanting to create a scene in front of everyone else.
"I'm gonna go change," Chenle muttered, pushing back his hair which stuck to his forehead, ignoring his Captain, pulling his jersey over his head, revealing the white t-shirt under it sticking to him, a faint outline of his toned abdomen making a few girls in the stands giggle.
Chenle ignored them, grabbing his bag, running into the room.
Jaemin gaped after him, huffing, tossing his blue locks, lips pursed.
He followed Chenle, telling the rest of the team to clean up. He grabbed two water bottles from the cooler, pushing open the doors of the changing room, sitting down on the bench. He waited for Chenle to finish his shower, tossing him a bottle when he left the bathroom.
Chenle caught it, staring down at the clear container, his black hair still damp, water dripping down onto his grey hoodie.
Jaemin nodded at him to drink, unsealing his own with a pop, gulping down the liquid.
Chenle set it down on a bench, unfastening his locker, turning away from Jaemin, "Aren't you mad at me?"
Jaemin let out an airy chuckle, opening his locker as well, shooting Chenle a look. "It's as if you want me to be mad at you."
Chenle shrugged offhandedly, zipping close his backpack, slinging it over his shoulder. "I dunno. I acted like an ass, usually you'd be yelling."
Jaemin says nothing to this, fiddling around with something in his locker. Finally, he speaks.
"Something happened. You disappeared for a couple minutes before practice. What's wrong?"
He watched as Chenle bent down to tie his laces, wearing an almost monotonous expression.
He fumbled around with the laces for a while, looking up at Jaemin expectantly. He obliges, crouching beside him, taking the laces and tying them into perfect bows.
"He wants me to quit basketball."
A chill runs around the room. Jaemin gulps, adam's apple bobbing up and down. He whips his head up to see Chenle's bitter expression, eyes hard and cold.
It scared Jaemin, seeing his friend so unlike himself. It scared him every time.
Chenle stood up, adjusting the strap of his bag again, avoiding Jaemin's eyes.
"See ya' tomorrow ," he mutters, walking out of the room, leaving Jaemin alone to process what he had just told him.
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"I'm not coming downstairs!" Eunji hissed, attempting to elbow her brother in the gut. He dodged but with great difficulty, "Tell Mom I'm not coming!"
Jungmin rolled his eyes, grabbing her arm, dragging her towards the smooth brown staircase.
"Yes you are," he snapped, trying to pry her arms off the pole, "she told me to call you to say hello to Chenle's mom."
"Chenle's here too?" She whined, still gripping onto the pillar.
Suddenly she caught sight of a spider and let go, tripping then falling down the stairs with a series of loud thuds, Jungmin letting go of her just in time so he stood unharmed by what had happened.
He peeked over the railing, a half apologetic, half amused look on his face.
She glared at him, rubbing her backside, running back up the stairs. His grin drops when she launches herself at him, both of them toppling over with a loud bang.
Downstairs, Mrs. Zhong looks up concernedly at the ceiling, eyes flickering up to it then back at her friend. She sets down her teacup, glancing at the ceiling once more, staring at Eunchae.
"Eun, don't you think you should check up on them...?" She winces as a loud crash is heard and a few yells.
Eunchae laughs lightheartedly, waving away her friends concerns, "They'll be fine. They fight all the time," she looks over at Chenle who was gazing down at his feet, a blank expression plastered on his face, "Honey, would you mind going up and telling them if they don't stop I'll put them in the Get-Along-Shirt? It's been a while since I've done that but they'd probably still fit."
Chenle grins, standing up, "I'll be honoured. It's been a really long time since we visited. I've missed beating Eunji and Mins asses in Asphalt."
His mother tutted at his language, lightly hitting his back when before he left, hopping up the stairs two at a time.
He smirked when he caught sight of Eunji grabbing her brothers hair, yanking his head backwards, hissing, "Apologise you piece of shit."
He tried twisting out of her grip, "Ow! Ow! Let — let go of my hair you disrespectful, failed abortion."
She scoffed, flicking his forehead. He took it as a chance to grab her hair, pulling a yell from her mouth.
Chenle leaned against the wall in an extremely amused manner, folding his arms over his chest, he drawled, "As much as I'd hate to interrupt this heartwarming sibling exchange, your mother said if you don't stop fighting, she's gonna put you in the 'Get-Along-Shirt'," he paused, studying their reactions, "And as far as I know, you haven't worn that thing since you were twelve, and you were fourteen, so good luck."
The effect was immediate, both siblings letting go of the other, each shooting the other a look of disgust.
Jungmin flattened his hair, before grinning at Chenle.
"Long time no see, eh?"
Chenle grinned back, "Yup. So," he changed his grin to a taunting smirk, looking at Eunji, "you up for Asphalt?"
Jungmin agreed instantly, while Eunji simply shrugged, muttering, "Nah," before descending down the stairs, with a stoic expression.
The faint sound of her greeting Mrs. Zhong was heard, followed by the muffled noise of the three women talking.
Chenle looked at Jungmin, confused.
He stared after his sister, knowing how much she had loved the game. But a lot of stuff changed in the past few years, and her irrational hatred for the game wasn't unexpected.
He shook his head dismissively, motioning Chenle to follow him to their 'playroom', as they called it, inserting the disc into the PS4.
A disclaimer appeared, along with the intro music.
Jungmin handed Chenle a white controller, grabbing one for himself, sitting beside Chenle on the neighbouring beanbag.
"Loser buys ice cream," Jungmin declares, choosing his car, shooting Chenle a competitive look.
Chenle laughs, "Guess you're buying me ice cream."
-------
"Ji, can you check if Jungmin gave Bibble his food?"
Eunji nodded, rising from her seat and into the black tiled kitchen, calling for the parrot, flinching when it flew down from on top of the fridge, it's claws digging into her shoulder.
"Ahoy there," it squawked, "Ahoy there, motherfucker. Ahoy there."
She grinned, petting its feathers, "Hey there Bibble, did Jungmin give you food?"
It squawked, "Jungmin's a bitch. Jungmin's a bitch."
She laughed, walking over to a cabinet, pulling open, taking out a pack of bird seeds, emptying some into a bowl. She opened the bird cage, watching as the parrot flew from its seat on her shoulder and perched itself in the cage, pecking at the seeds.
She closed the cage, resting her cheeks in her palms.
She sighed, poking a finger in the cage. "You know Bibble, it's really weird seeing Mrs. Zhong again. And going to school. And having to deal with Chenle."
Bibble looked up and stared beadily at her, tilting its head. "Chenle's an ass. Chenle's super mean."
She let out a breathy laugh, stroking to the living room, stopping at the doorframe when she heard her name.
"Eunji...she hasn't been well." Her mother whispered, "She has hemophilia, it got diagnosed last year. Along with that, we found out she had developed asthma. It's been a tough year. There were times she didn't talk to anyone. She's changed a lot too."
"Poor girl," came Mrs. Zhongs voice, "I noticed, she didn't seem as...happy."
There was some shuffling, and the muffled clatter of a spoon on the ground and a moments silence.
"Of course, you can't tell Chenle about this," her mother says.
"Don't worry Eunchae, I think you know better than anyone I can keep secrets. Remember all those times in our early years? That one time both our mothers got so mad at us for breaking a desk at school? We kept that a secret for a really long time, longer than I thought we could've." They both laugh, reminiscing their school years.
Eunji felt sick. How could her mother go around talking about her personal business like that? Sure, it was her best friend but without her permission?
And the fact that she was Chenle's mom was even worse.
What if she lets it slip?
Then Eunji would have to endure ten times more teasing than she already did, and she didn't think she'd be able to take it.
A scowl formed on her face as she walked into the room, bidding Mrs. Zhong goodbye. She ran up the stairs and into her room, slamming the door, throwing herself onto her bed, letting out a high-pitched, frustrated scream.
Chenle looked up momentarily from his game — he was currently winning, six games out of seven — raising his eyebrow questionably at the door of her room.
Jungmin caught his eye.
"Ignore her. She's throwing a tantrum. Mom probably mentioned her ex or something."
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Okay so a lot happened in a span of 1.95k words.
Gotta admit, I'm not proud of the speed.
Can't tell if I'm going too fast or slow with the plot.
It's only the -what?- fourth or fifth chapter?
But hey, whatever.
What happens, happens.
Also, rlly sorry for not updating any of my books.
SMH
thanks a lot exams
ALSO
Bcs of some complications, I can't put banners anymore
So if we're gonna have to do without them :(((
Anyhoesssss
What're the thots on the second lead?
And the parrot 🦜 I love the parrot
And I hope ya'll don't still hate Jungmin :(
He's actually a reolli nice bro and rude, sarcastic comments r normal in healthy sibling relationships
NO BUT hyuck as the second lead
SHDNSKJCKSKSOWJDKWOSOS
Thanks for reading!
Don't forget to vote and comment!