The next morning, Jeno was having the climax of his fantasy dream. It was right at the moment, it almost felt like killing Voldemort, Sherlock realizing the hint and solving the case, or even being the great and perfect man like Captain America or -
He was just seconds away when his phone buzzed loudly. Well, it was not loud for his preference but he can't be blamed, even dropping a nail sounds like a nuclear explosion in waking hours. Jeno woke up with a whine and picked up the phone.
“Hello?”
“If you don't wake up in the next millisecond, our math professor is going to differentiate you and serve you for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.” he heard Jaemin speaking very casually.
“Oh SHIT!” Jeno's eyes widened as he jumped out of his bed rushing to the bathroom.
“Yep. It's the next thing you're going to eat. SHIT.” Jaemin ridiculed.
“Shut up,” Jeno screamed, brushing his teeth while he was packing his bag, and stuffed all the necessary things he needed for the day.
Damn, he needs to clean. It feels like he was living in a landfill. Isn't that ironic for someone who works at a bookstore and loves organizing?
“Jaemin-ah, are you already outside?” he asked as he washed his face.
“Yes, Sir. Waiting for you for the past 15mins at your service.”
He hurriedly lounged into his clothes and lastly looked into the mirror and rushed out of the house. Jaemin was already on his bike looking into his phone and was looking back at him.
“Let's go,” Jeno said, locking his house and plugging his earphones in. Jaemin seemed way ahead of him and Jeno had no intention of being the first.
It was the early morning air that was bothering him. “Sleep-breaking spell” he loved to call it. He internally just asked for that extra 5mins sleep, is that too much to ask for?
“Catch up, Zeno lee,” Jaemin screamed as they turned into the University grounds and parked their bikes.
Jeno's lectures went as monotonous as they do every day. It was like any other day for Jeno but he was missing his comfort zone. He sipped coffee in the canteen and yawned and placed his head on Jaemin's shoulder who was talking about a recent drama he and Haechan were watching.
“Gotta stay up,” Renjun said looking at Jeno's tired face. “We are doing this tomorrow again and it's just Tuesday.”
“Don't remind me.” Jeno cried as he buried his face deeper into Jaemin's hoodie.
“Organic chemistry?” Jaemin began looking into his lecture notes. “Serve me for breakfast, lunch, and dinner,” he said, satisfied. Before Jeno can glare at him, Haechan interrupted.
“Kimchi jjigae?” he paused, licking his lips. “Hit me up for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Every day, any day.” He paused munching into his lunch receiving a blank stare from Jaemin. “Cheers!” he added, raising his cola smartly. Immediately the table was filled with laughter and Jeno got up waving and rushed to his English class, his usual.
The day for some reason felt so weird. He hoped at least going biking with Jaemin might lift his mood.
In the evening, he was done with his shift but when he was going home, he met Jiya.
“Can we please study today?” she begged. “I need your help...”
Would it be okay if he said he had plans?
He couldn't say anything for a few minutes. “I mean, it's okay if you have plans…”
Jeno breathed out in relief.
“Yeah, I -”
Before he could he was interrupted. “I honestly don't know how to face my Uncle… I wish it was as easy as to fly away from him, the pain, the pressure, it's almost like someone is choking me…”
They spoke about this yesterday too. Jeno honestly didn't know what to say or what to do. She even told him that it was both emotional and physical trauma for her. She didn't mention or he could bring himself to ask about her parents or probably it wasn't the right time or his business to ask, he thought.
After all this situation, he had to tell Jaemin that he couldn't hang out with him even today. He was sick because of this. He practically felt like he was forced to sit at home and do his homework.
He was used to studying with her but today felt different. He was starting to like her. Her way of talking about things. The smallest details she noticed were not just about the entertainment shows she was obsessed with but also about him.
Was he too innocent to ignore some of the things that should be a warning for him to stay away from her?
“I know you hate chemistry…” she said.
Jeno chuckled. “How? Did I mention it before?”
“No, man, it's pretty obvious.”
Or even the way he prefers his food to be, how much spice he can tolerate or sweetness. His favorite color, the way he preferred his clothes, his fashion, the movies he liked, and books he chose and which he disliked.
Jeno almost choked on his spit.
“What? You mentioned this!” she said.
“I did?”
“A little bit of it. The rest of it was pretty easy to understand.”
It's just been a few weeks since she met, but the relationship they had seemed to grow into him. He felt (too) personal, important, and loved.
-----
A
Month passed and Jeno was already tired of the rains. He was meeting Jiya often and he was forcing himself to like it. If he made an excuse to not meet her, her tendency of emotional manipulation would come back. Jeno would sigh and torture himself.
Jeno was trying to make things neutral in between those awkward silences which lasted too long. He would include stories of Haechan being a brat or Renjun being done with him. Or just tell her about all the stories of them being a problem in general.
“... So yeah, Renjun didn't know the directions to the restaurant and was walking around the whole area for a while and Haechan was giving him directions just at random imitating the GPS audio thingy. But, when Haechan got caught, he got his lesson. Renjun was too scary sometimes. Nevertheless, cute.”
And she would enjoy his imitations. But he was thankful the silence just passed while they talked, or he talked. But when he would mention Jaemin, things weren't as smooth as they went with Renjun or Haechan.
He would take his name and there was a switch in the conversation. He wanted to talk about him more.
------
J
aemin sighed as he looked at Jeno's locked door. “At least he could've mentioned that he was leaving early,” he thought.
Jeno was almost invisible for a month now, the only time he saw him was in the morning and now, he wouldn't even pick up his calls. Maybe he was planning to be invisible in the mornings too. He doesn't even remember the last time he talked to him properly, definitely not in the mornings. They go to University together and for the rest of the day, Jeno is no longer seen.
He seemed too busy with Jiya. He eats, sits, and probably hangs out with her later. He had seen him with her almost everywhere they used to hang out. Restaurants, parks, library, Han river when he passed by while he went out for biking alone.
Their texts are dead or small conversations, it almost feels like he isn't interested anymore. He was pretty used to reading him. They had been together for 9 years now...he can figure things out, at least that's what he thought.
He reached the University late and in a very sore mood. Added to this, he had a computer science test and thought everyone was in a bad mood today.
Except one.
Jeno laughing and having fun like he didn't ruin his mood boiled his blood. Time changes, people change and evolve, Jeno was probably having that time, he reckoned.
Being late, ruined mood, and bad sleep schedules don't go well with classes. Yangyang helped pass the day as he had been doing for a few weeks now. He couldn't thank him enough.
It was lunch hour and Jaemin just wanted to sleep this day off.
-------
Jeno was used to having lunch with Jiya for almost weeks now. She was fun but sometimes Jeno felt like he was held captive. There were awkward silences that killed him or it was her never-ending things to talk about.
He liked her a lot, but sometimes, he needed time and space for himself. Some conversations felt so heavy that he had no choice but to listen to and give her complete attention. He didn't know how she did that, but it was crazy how much attention she forces him to give her.
Jeno was now used to her “predicting tendencies or superpowers” of guessing Jeno's mood, plans, and life updates. He wasn't even that active on social media, but she never failed to surprise him.
“How do you do that all the time?” Jeno would question.
“It's my superpower…” she would say, proudly having her hands on her waist.
Even Jaemin had the "superpower" of knowing him but he never acted like he was invading his personal space.
He was so used to her being everywhere now. A few weeks before, she was present. Now, she was with him. Mostly every day and every minute.
Her omnipresence and her tendency to surprise him or almost give him a heart attack by appearing out of nowhere. She was the uninvited guest who couldn't take a no and who he can't say no to. And Jeno felt like his high school terrors made their way back.
They wouldn't even look at me anymore. Why? Jeno thought while he was staring at Renjun, Haechan, and Jaemin. They won't even text nowadays.
Don't blame them, they had been the ones that were texting but Jeno was going through a very "attentive/tired/busy" period to even respond to them. He did not respond or the conversations had little to nothing to talk about.
Renjun and Haechan were laughing at something that Jaemin said. Even one of his Math classmates, Yangyang, was with them, he knew Yangyang was close to Jaemin because he also had computer science with him.
He wanted to laugh at what Jaemin said too. He missed him. Jeno was certain that Jaemin lied the last time he talked to him, he did want to tell him something. Something he was longing to hear from him.
Maybe he waited too long. He shouldn't have…he should've taken the initiative to tell him instead. Doesn't matter if he didn't feel the same way, although, he was also certain that the emotions and sparks he felt when he was with him were the same things Jaemin felt.
He loved when they spent time together, He loved him
Hypothetically, things would've been so different if they went on biking that day. He would've been happier than he was today. Just some eliminations and situation addition...he would have avoided the current situation of Jiya trying to flirt with him.
“You look good today,” she said, gaining Jeno's attention.
Jeno smiled. “Thanks?” he said.
“You look so cute right now that I can sew us together so that I can hug you forever.”
Compliments can make you uncomfortable too. But this was just the way she spoke every day. He doesn't know if that's how she does with everybody (he rarely saw her with people though) he was trying to get used to this.
“That's weird,” Jeno commented with unease. “Why would you say that?”
She laughed it off. “Everybody has their ways to communicate, some are like me while others prefer skin, some prefer blood -”
“Alright… enough. But you are the weirdest one.”
God. That was the only emotion going through his head right now. Are there anyways to be invisible? He thought again.
“Jeno-ya...we talked about this.”
------
“
Is Jeno dating Jiya?” Yangyang asked out of the blue. “I heard one of the girls say,” he added.
Just when Jaemin thought the day couldn't be any worse.
To be continued...