alters » nct dream

25

"jeno," eunha called after spending over two hours at the cafe with him.

"hm?"

"thank you." she replied, "you've always been kind to me from the moment we first met. i've always wanted an older brother and i think i found someone who can be one."

"thank you, eunha. i'll keep being an older brother to you, even though we're the same age." jeno said with a laugh, joined by eunha.

the two flashed the sincerest smile to each other before jeno spoke again.

"eunha," he called, "can you promise me something?"

"what is it, jeno?"

"promise me that you'll stay away from haerin and her group, and that includes sungjae too. no matter what situation you're in, you must stay away from her, especially when you're alone. can you?" jeno asked.

"i'm sure there will be cases where i'll have to deal with her. but i'll try, i guess?" she replied.

"please, trust me. you can't underestimate her. she did nasty things before and she won't hesitate to do more. especially to you." he said.

"what do you mean by that, jeno?" asked eunha.

"haerin's family is powerful." said jeno, she seemed confused of his statement and so he continued, "her dad is the principal of nct, he's actually a very kind person so there's a big contrast between the two of them. no one knows what her mom does for a living but i know she's the backbone of haerin. i'm ashamed to tell this side of nct high school, but there's been a lot of bullying cases in nct, even in my first year. most - if not all of them, involved haerin."

"how did the school survive as a school with great reputation if bullying cases are common?" asked eunha.

"her mom. every single case of haerin bullying another person has been covered up by her mom. i've never experienced it myself though but i know she bribes the student with money. that's the only way haerin got away with everything she's done. none of her cases have reached the principal. his assistant is paid by his wife, he keeps the cases away from the principal as long as he's paid by haerin's mom. horrible, isn't she? but that's the ugly truth." explained jeno.

with a confused look, eunha asked, "how do you know all of this? i'm sure not every victim of haerin will stay quiet and at some point, they'll eventually consult the principal about his daughter, won't they?"

"mark-hyung told me about it. he was close with the principal. actually, haerin liked hyung so much, a little way too much, if i may add. they were supposed to marry each other. mark-hyung never agreed to it though. he fell in love with jinhye-noona and that's when haerin turned her back on him, but she didn't let him go. it makes sense now that haerin hates it when people, or girls especially gets close with hyung, right?," replied jeno before continuing his talk, "but i know weiyun won't stay silent about it. she asked you too, right? whether you've been harmed by haerin in any way. weiyun and miss kim are planning to disclose all of haerin's victims to the principal directly."

"she did asked me about it. what about miss kim? won't she be fired as a result of all this?" she asked in return.

"i doubt miss kim cares much about that. she always prioritizes the students before anything else, so i don't think it would affect her in any way." he said.

eunha nodded as a response and the two stayed silent as they noticed more customers entering the cafe.

"ah right, i wanted to talk to you about something. it's about the upcoming competition." said jeno.