5.9.20
❧
It was around 8:50 AM when Jaemin found the strength to wake up. His body was hot and tired, forehead wet with perspiration, head aching sallowly and cold chills still managed to run down his spine. He was really sick; just slightly less dead.
He opened his eyes slowly, fingers twitching. He blearily scanned the white cracked ceiling above him, moisture in the corner of his eyes indicating feverish tears. Jaemin's thought process took a while to come back to him, but when it did, some sort of confusion immediately decorated his face.
'Didn't I...pass out on the floor?'
He was surprisingly mistaken. His body was elevated, the mattress soft underneath his body. No, he couldn't have woken up sometime in the morning to put himself back to bed properly. He was sure he was out dead cold the whole time, splayed out ugly on the uncomfortable hard wooden floorboards right outside his room of gran's house. But why...
Getting up faster than he should've for his heavy conscience, Jaemin gasped as a slight panic arose in his chest to a sudden realisation, feet quickly hitting the floor, arms frantically gathering new clothes.
"Goddammit I'm late for class."
The alarm clock next to him didn't convince him otherwise.
He didn't give much thought about where he passed out because it's probably his mind messing with him again. And decidedly so, he brushed it aside. The white blanket was on his bed when he woke up, though, and he forgot it fell to the floor last night. Whatever. Being late for the first time in his life as student rep was even more deteriorating.
❧
"P-Professor!" Jaemin bursted through the class unceremoniously, hair unkempt from running to college.
Mr Moon, in the middle of a lecture, startled on his spot when the door opened with a BANG! Doorknob hitting the back of the wall with an unpleasant sound.
All the students were equally surprised, perplexed beyond their own understanding. Realising what he just did, Jaemin stood there awkwardly, embarrassment filling his cheeks pink soon after.
"Na Jaemin. Care to explain why you're late?" Professor Moon crossed his arms over his chest, giving his top pupil a stern look. "Not to mention your inappropriate entrance. Actually, I'll speak to you after class."
"Wait, I–" Jaemin stepped forward, but halted and bit his lips hard to stop himself from being more impulsive.
"Huh? What? Just take your seat, Jaemin. We're gonna wrap up soon so lend notes from your peers. Okay class, focus back up here!"
The teacher disregarded Jaemin's very unusual behaviour, already internally forgiving the boy but he can't show that outside because he didn't treat his other students like that so it would seem unfair if he did.
Jaemin couldn't look up. He was sweating and panting trying to catch his breath, the adrenaline and nervousness numbing the headache he had hours ago. He knew it'll come back raw, he didn't take his pills and forgot to pack them before he rushed out of his house. What topped his nervousness was disappointment, followed after humiliation as he quickly sat down, too shaken up and embarrassed to focus on the class straight away like he always did.
"Hey." A whisper from his right made him break out of his small brooding, reminding him he had friends in this class.
'Oh shit I ruined my reputation in front of my friends what the hell Jaemin.'
Jeongin was already looking at him by the time he drew his gaze away from the tiled floor, meeting eyes with a stern but caring face that hadn't morphed into whispering about him or laughing amongst themselves. Actually, that applied to some other students in the class too. His friends were looking at him, as if wanting to see if he was okay when everyone else dropped the subject and looked ahead to the board. No, they'll definitely bring it up again, how Na Jaemin Ace of Neo College fucked up attending one of his classes and got called to be talked to by the professor. There goes his pristine image.
"Are you okay?" Jeongin asked in a low whisper.
"Yeah.." Jaemin said briefly, flashing a faint smile at the boy before completely ignoring everyone else allocated around the room. "Yeah. I'm fine."
❧
Haechan, Nancy, Renjun, Seungmin, Felix and Shuhua decided to stop by the café down the street after class. Sei and Yuqi had other things to do, so the majority of the friends went ahead. Jeongin said he'd join them soon, and he'd show up with Jaemin. They wanted a break, and time to talk, so here they were, back where they frequent for discounts and freebies, waiting for the two.
"I should've known it was because of his headaches," Haechan started, hitting his head on the table.
The dessert teaspoons and plates rattled along with the table from the impact– trust me, it was a huge one– making some adults surrounding them give the college students a concerned look. Haechan rubbed his forehead soon after, angrily grumbling curse words at the table under his breath.
"Hyuckie it's not your fault. Or the table's." Shuhua laughed lightheartedly, bringing a hand down to Haechan's bowing head to lift it back up from devouring the poor café's table with his glaring eyes.
"Okay but I know about his migraines better than anyone else here so who is there to blame for not checking up on him properly? Lix for not knowing Jaemin until I mentioned him last week at the Neo Festival?"
Felix, quietly drinking his americano and chatting to Seungmin one-on-one, perked up at the sound of his nickname coming from an aggravated Haechan's mouth across the round table.
He opened his mouth to reply but closed it after some thought, shaking his head and resuming his small conversation with his best friend instead in his low voice that was still unfamiliar to the ear. They only ever heard Yongbok speak Korean– or speak at all– when he's answering the professors in their classes, but never really spoke within his group. Quiet but confident, he's rather reserved but lets it go when he's with Seungmin, which Sei has mentioned she was jealous of because she wanted to hear Felix open up more to all of them.
"See? Even Lixie agrees it's stupid."
"No, you're stupid." Nancy corrected, slicing a quarter of chocolate cake with her fork. "Haechan you're an idiot if you think bashing yourself up over your boyfriend would help with anything."
"He's not my–"
"Really?" Renjun finally spoke up after toying with the paper straw in his milkshake, voice laced with boredom and a seriousness no-one dared to joke about this time. "Assuming people's sexuality?"
He was usually like this, but he never meant no harm. They usually found it funny, whatever he said or did, and he'd yell at them with his endearing laugh. This time though, as the chattering died down amongst the one-month-old circle of friends when they heard him, he didn't look up from his cold drink nor did he smile.
Everyone looked at each other, feeling an awkwardness fall upon them for the first time. They met a month ago in November, some people casually left their group and some recently joined, like Felix for example when he transferred to Korea from Sydney. But they never talked about serious stuff such as this, and having Renjun's mature and sharp tongue in the unfixed group, it kinda creates tension for the first time when he actually confronts what they say.
"Innie, we didn't mean to assume anyone's sexuality. What Nancy meant was that Hyuck and Nana are really close so they seem more than just friends at times! It's cute." Shuhua tried soothing the tense atmosphere by drumming the table with her acrylic nails in a happy beat, scanning the faces of the others around her.
"Come on, cheer up Innie. Jaemin and Jeongin should be joining us soon so let's not make it weird for them."
Renjun cleared his throat after realising what he just did, sitting up straighter and abandoning the straw in his milkshake, hands fidgeting.
"Hey guys!" Jeongin's voice excitedly chased out the unwanted atmosphere around the college students, approaching the round table with another person on tow.
"Jeongie~ and Jaem!" Nancy singsonged, standing up to go bug them. "You're finally here."
"Sorry for the wait, you guys weren't held up right?" His question was answered when he saw the multiple desserts and drinks on the table, most eaten and some wrapped up in pretty takeaway boxes.
"Of course not, what makes you so special that we have to wait for you?" Shuhua laughed.
"Jaemin favours me so I feel special, therefore I am special."
Renjun crossed his arms in a seemingly grumpy manner, finally looking up to lock eyes with the belated. "Feeling smart doesn't make you smart, Jeongin, does it now?"
"Nah," he said passively, taking a seat reserved next to Seungmin. "But at least that doesn't make me feel stupid when I am, right? I think you can relate with me on this one Renjun."
"You–"
Shuhua and Nancy's laughter pierced the room at this, forcing Renjun to stop from spitting another remark of his own.
"Hey, Nana!" Nancy chirped, noticing the only person still standing there and looking unsure. It was very unlike him.
"Hey, Nancy." He said softly, timidly gravitating towards Jeongin, sitting down on the other vacant seat next to the boy he arrived with.
Haechan was on his other side. The honey boy didn't greet him when he sat down, weirdly enough.
"What happened? I heard you got a really bad headache, and not to mention Mr Moon having to talk you."
Jaemin smiled nervously, watching everybody watch him when Seungmin asked the question.
'Dammit, why'd you have to ask so early?'
"Nothing much. I just...kinda slept in and Mr Moon wanted to see if I was okay, so we talked a bit and he dismissed me after that." Jaemin curled his hands into his lap until they shook, not going unnoticed by Haechan who was sitting next to him.
It wasn't a lie, but it kinda was. He didn't just sleep in. And Jaemin knows that Haechan knew that.
"Jeongin also waited back for me."
"Ah, I see. So, are you up to raiding hawker stalls with the rest of us later tonight then?" Seungmin asked, easily convinced that Jaemin was fine.
And with everyone else most likely convinced, Jaemin didn't think much of the side effects when he just agreed, hoping Haechan won't pull him over for some sort of lecture later on.
"Yeah, sure. Count me in."