•••••
"Park Siyeon!"
Two girls came running to Jeno and Siyeon who was currently on his back. Jeno quickly put her back down and they pulled her into a body-crushing hug.
"Where have you been?" Sungyeon asked, letting go of Siyeon.
Siyeon kept quiet and avoided their eye contact. Jeno felt that she was uncomfortable with him there, so he excused himself to be with his team.
"I...I thought that if I went back in there, I'll find something. A clue about Kyla." Siyeon answered, looking down on the ground.
Jeno didn't mean to eavesdrop but he managed to hear with the distance.
"Siyeon, you don't have to do this. Don't blame it on you," Yewon held Siyeon's hands in hers.
"I can't, it's because of me Kyla's missing. If only I didn't ask her to go away. She would never go missing. I'm so stupid. Why did I even talk like that to her?" Siyeon sobbed, covering her face.
Yewon pulled her into another hug and Sungyeon pat her back comfortingly.
"Don't worry, I know Kyla's strong. She's the strongest person I've known. She'll be okay. She'll come back. Kyla will." Sungyeon smiled assuringly at the upset Siyeon.
Jeno who was watching from the side can't help but feel bad for Siyeon. He wasn't particularly close to her but he felt the pain they were having.
Jeno was going through it too.
Herin's disappearance affected him. He didn't want to look troubled in front of his friends, so he keeps on acting fine.
Jeno knew the girls in his team had it tougher. They were a close bunch. Now, Koeun would sigh and Mark would worry over her. Hina blanks out a few times and suddenly scowl at others–except for Jaemin. Lami would turn quiet once she laughed and tears welled up in her eyes.
Yeri also acts ignorant all the time but Jeno knew best she was trying to act strong and not break down in front of them because she didn't want to make them worry more.
This doesn't even include the boys who had been trying to boost up the mood of their group. Mark chose his words wisely and carefully not to hurt anyone. Jaemin rather stayed quiet and stared at each person to make sure they're fine. Jisung acted nonchalant but he was upset about the whole thing. Donghyuck on the other hand, had been pushing himself to be happy and convince them all that they will find Herin no matter what.
The boy had a thing for Herin anyways.
"Jeno?" he turned around and saw the three girls.
"Yes?"
"Thank you for helping Siyeon. She doesn't want to admit that she appreciates it." Sungyeon said which made Siyeon nudged the elder.
Jeno glanced at the blushing Siyeon and grinned over her shyness.
She's cute.
Oh shit. You didn't hear that from me.
Siyeon would kill me if she knew I called her cute. The last time she threw sand in my face and the taste was terrible.
"It's okay. It wasn't a problem." Jeno said, smiling brightly.
"Aren't you two friends?" Yewon asked, looking at Siyeon then to Jeno.
Siyeon glared at Yewon for bringing up that topic while Jeno doesn't even mind at all. He let out a shaky chuckle. "We're not exactly close. We only know each other."
"Oh really?" Sungyeon turned to Siyeon. "I swear she mentioned about a Lee Jeno a few times." Siyeon pinched Sungyeon's arm which made the elder winced.
"She...did?" Jeno looked at Siyeon questioningly. He thought Siyeon hated him and his guts. So why was she talking about him?
"Y-you're wrong. It's not like that." Siyeon defended herself, waving her hands frantically.
"Don't worry. It's probably nothing. She hates me after all." Jeno shrugged and excused himself from the three to return to his team.
If he stayed longer, he was worried whether Siyeon would hate him more and never even talk to him. He clearly tried to avoid going into that direction. He didn't hate her so he wanted her to be friends again.
"I don't even hate you, idiot."
•••••
"So what happened?"
Jaemin pulled Jeno away from the others when he arrived. Jeno looked totally confused with the question. "What happened?" Jeno asked Jaemin back, his eyebrows narrowed.
"Ugh, Jeno. What happened with you and that girl?" Jaemin pointed out.
"Siyeon?" Jeno asked, raising an eyebrow at the latter. Why was Jaemin interested in Siyeon? Why did he want to know anyways?
"Yeah, you didn't tell me you knew such a pretty girl." Jaemin whispered, making Jeno roll his eyes at him.
"Bro, if Hina heard you, she would hit you." Donghyuck who squished in between the two interrupted, giving a look at Jaemin.
"Don't bother us, Hyuck. Leave us alone." Jaemin pushed him away from them both.
"Hey, I wanna hear the tea too!" Donghyuck exclaimed, clinging onto Jeno's arm. "We need to know exactly what happened. I didn't knew you were friends with the rude girl."
"She's not rude," Jeno said, shaking off Donghyuck and trying to push Jaemin away.
Usually Jeno was stronger and he could chase them away but Donghyuck was being an extra clingy koala while Jaemin had his workout so he didn't really budge.
"Shut it, the two of you." Jeno snapped which made the two let go of him. "Nothing really happened, guys. I dropped Siyeon off with her team. She's hurt." Jeno explained.
"We know that already," Jaemin beamed. "What we need to know is your history with her, it seemed like you don't really have a good relationship,"
"We don't," Jeno replied.
"Why? 'Cause she's rude even though she's pretty?" Donghyuck asked.
"No," Jeno denied. "I don't remember her starting to hate me, but she stopped hanging out with me one day so I thought that she disliked playing with me and only wanted to befriend girls. Her whole squad are girls and I'm sure she avoids boys all the time."
"Whoa, you've got a lot of info." Jaemin looked impressed by his knowledge.
"It's nothing like that. We're just not on good terms right now. We used to be really good friends," Jeno said.
"Yeah, we can tell with the glares and constant sighs on the trip way back." Donghyuck said sarcastically.
"Look, our parents are friends. We ended up seeing each other frequently. We're the same age and somehow got along with each other. We're neighbors, I see her every day on my way to and back from school. I can tell when somebody hates seeing even my shadow," Jeno explained.
"So you're neighbors?" Jaemin asked.
"I doubt she even hates your ass," Donghyuck mumbled which made the two look at him. Jeno raised his eyebrows and looked surprised.
"I'm pretty sure she does. She throws insults at me even when I breathe. We can't even be in the same place without her exploding." Jeno told.
"Yeah, keep telling yourself that." Donghyuck shook his head, feeling sorry for Jeno's idiocy. "Jaemin, please tell me you're keeping up with me,"
Jaemin broke into a bright grin. "A hundred per cent, Hyuck. I get what you're saying," he put both his thumbs up.
Jeno looked at Jaemin then to Donghyuck then to Jaemin again. "Wha-what am I not getting that you two...do?"
"Nothing, Jeno. Now's probably not the right time to tell you. We'll tell you when we get back to school. Far, far away from Siyeon." Donghyuck smiled knowingly while Jaemin laughed at Jeno's lost face.
"How came Jaemin gets it while I don't? He's Na Jaemin and I'm Lee Jeno. What does Jaemin have that I don't?" Jeno asked, a bit offended.
"A girlfriend, a cute one." Jaemin replied, winking at Jeno with a smirk on his face.
•••••
"Unpleasant to meet you,"
"Same goes to me,"
Donghyuck and Chenle were having a staring contest in the middle of their dinner. Apparently, the supervisors had made all of them regroup by adding more members to each team. Fortunately, Renjun and Chenle both were placed with Mark's group.
The elder was more than welcoming to the two. He was elated that both of them showed up and luckily were in his team. It made the whole situation easier because they know about the seventh cabin which Mark intentionally wanted to keep the matters within their team.
Mark glanced at Donghyuck and gestured him to eat and not fight. The boy was too focused on bickering for the past fifteen minutes which Mark thought that Donghyuck could use to actually enjoy the food. He noticed how Donghyuck was slowly started to eat less and it worried him a lot.
Koeun noticed Mark's worry and personally stopped the fight from happening by sitting in the middle of the two. "Come on, boys. We don't wanna waste too much time eating. If we do, they're gonna pass the cleaning duties to us."
Instantly, the two continued to eat in silence. Mark thanked Koeun for being more forward with them. While he was scanning his new team with the addition of Chenle and Renjun, he noticed that their numbers weren't making up.
"Is someone not here?" Mark asked Jisung while the younger stared at him with his mouth full of apple slices.
"Uh...no, I don't know." Jisung turned back to his food in a hurry.
"I think we're supposed to have twelve people here, and we only got eleven." Mark said, counting each head.
"Twelve?" Yeri asked, surprised by the number. "My OT12." She mumbled sadly while pouting.
"Ah, sorry, Mark hyung. There's another person from another group. I guess he hasn't found us yet." Renjun mentioned which Mark acknowledged.
"We have another one?" Lami asked. "Even with these two, the group's gotten loud. I wonder how loud the other one will be."
"He could be quiet, Lami. Who knows?" Hina shrugged and Yeri clicked her tongue at the two.
"Trust me, our school has no normal people. I checked." Yeri said with a look saying she's been living through a lot of things.
"Well, whoever he is, I hope he comes here fast. I can't wait to meet him," Jaemin beamed excitedly.
"You're only happy because you'll try to flirt with him," Jeno said.
"Aw, you jealous, Jeno?" Jaemin nudged him while Jeno ignored him.
"Dude, your girlfriend is literally here," Donghyuck pointed out to Hina who was quietly eating and showing no reaction to them at all.
"I don't care," Hina uttered which made Jaemin pout his lips in disappointment.
"Hina..." Jaemin looked at her puppy eyed. "Don't be so cold to me,"
"No, Jaemin." Hina replied.
"Well then, I always have you, don't I, Jeno?" Jaemin suddenly linked arms with Jeno which startled the latter.
Jeno choked on air then resulted to hit his own chest. "Can you not involve me in your love life?"
"Why not? I love you," Jaemin said which made the others groan in disgust.
"Come on, Jaemin. We're eating right now," Yeri said.
"Right in front of my salad!" Donghyuck exclaimed, lifting a forkf of salad to his face.
"Ugh, Jaemin oppa's at it again." Lami sighed.
"No PDA here, please." Mark reminded while rubbing his temples.
"You guys are just jealous you don't have a friendship like ours." Jaemin said, sticking out his tongue.
Renjun turned to look at Koeun who seemed unbothered by the situation. "Is this normal?" he whispered while she shrugged.
"You haven't seem them at school yet. They get worse with the affection." Koeun replied, slightly shaking her head.
"Is Jaemin with Jeno?" Chenle asked.
"No, Lele. Jaemin's with Hina. He's besties with Jeno." Renjun explained.
"So, they're having a...three person relationship?" Chenle asked.
Koeun snorted at Chenle's question while he looked utterly confused. Renjun exaggerated his sigh.
"Now you know what I'm dealing with all day," Renjun told Koeun and she only smiled.
"What? He's innocent, I like him." Koeun pinched Chenle's cheek— "He's cute."—and that made Chenle got red from the compliment.
"What just happened?" Mark looked at the three then back to the rest who were still bickering with Jaemin's PDA for everyone and involving Donghyuck too.
•••••
"Jeno, where are you going?" Jaemin asked Jeno who was about to leave their cabin.
Jeno hesitated to answer while the rest of the boys in the cabin waited for his answer. "I'm going to go to the toilet."
Donghyuck raised an eyebrow suspiciously. "With that getup? You could've just leave your jacket."
"No, no. I'm cold. I have to...poop." Jeno replied, smiling sheepishly as he closed the door in a hurry.
Jisung and Mark stared at each other before shrugging and continuing their nap. Jaemin and Donghyuck were suspicious of Jeno's actions. They were giving knowing looks on what to do.
The two excused themselves to go meet Renjun and Chenle—which was a lie. They were going to snatch Hina and follow Jeno.
Hina's immediate answer was no, as usual. However, with Jaemin and his persuasive, flirty, clingy, puppy eyes, he managed to make Hina come with them.
"What the hell are you guys even plotting? The boy said he was taking a dump." Hina said while they were searching for a Lee Jeno.
"He lied. He's not pooping. He's probably not going to the toilet at all." Donghyuck replied, looking around carefully for Jeno.
"How do you know he lied?" Hina asked curiously.
"Easy. When his eyes aren't crescents when he smiles. He was definitely lying!" Jaemin exclaimed.
"And guilty too. He kept on holding onto his ear." Donghyuck re-enacted the scene where Jeno left their cabin.
"Is that how you know he's lying?" Hina asked, intrigued by their knowledge of Jeno's way on lying.
"Pretty much. It's not like he's a great liar. I do better," Donghyuck said, shrugging.
"Guys! Guys!" Jaemin whisper-yelled. "I see him, I see him. Get down," he pulled Hina and Donghyuck to squat down behind a large bush.
The three tried to peek on Jeno. "What's he doing here? This ain't the toilet unless he wants to poop here." Hina uttered.
"He's meeting someone there. Look at him fidgeting anxiously." Jaemin mumbled.
"Bets on that rude girl." Donghyuck said, smirking triumphantly. "If I win, I want food."
"That's all you want, Hyuck." Hina said.
"Oh! Oh! There he goes," Jaemin exclaimed. "But I can't see the other one."
"Trust me, it's her." Donghyuck insisted.
Hina felt someone approaching and turned her head. She saw three boys which she immediately recognized.
"Guys," she called for them both.
"Not now, Hina." Donghyuck shushed her.
"Wait, we just need to confirm who it is," Jaemin said, eyeing the girl beside Jeno.
"But—oh whatever." Hina gave up on peeking and sat down comfortably. She shrugged her shoulders at the three boys who were curious of the situation.
"What are you doing?" Donghyuck heard someone ask.
"Can't you see we're spying on Jeno and his future girlfriend?" Donghyuck replied, frustrated.
"Jeno has a girlfriend?" Another one asked, crouching down beside them.
Donghyuck mentally rolled his eyes. "I thought we went through the plan earlier." He turned around and was taken aback when he saw who it was.
"Who are you and what are you doing here?"
•••••
I apologize for the lack of updates
I take too much time tbh
BUT
I really want to get to know my readers.
Q : What's your favorite NCT song?
A: I have so much.
•Back 2 U
•Walk You Home
•Baby Don't Like It
•Sun & Moon
•My First and Last
•Another World
•Go (especially Jaemin's part)