fireflies || haechan

chapter 16

"meili!" the girl hears a loud voice yell to her as she enters the cafeteria.

turning her head, her eyes meet with chenle's. the boy excitedly waving his arms above his head as jisung hid his face in his palms, unable to watch.

confused, she lifted her hand to partly wave, heading over to the group seated in their regular spots in the cafeteria.

"hey," she slides into an empty seat between jisung and chenle, the latter acting quite strange.

"hey meili~," he sang, leaning on his elbows towards her. the group just stared at the boy, fearful about what was up with him.

renjun muttered a single "ew," as he continued to eat his lunch.

meili just decided to ignore the boy, planning on eating her lunch but then sighing as she realized she forgot to buy some.

she went to stand up but was lightly placed back down by chenle before he sped away towards the lunch line.

"is he okay?" donghyuck asked, taking the words out of the girl's mouth.

nobody answered, unsure themselves, except for jisung who quickly shook his head, clearly suffering from second hand embarrassment.

"you'll see," he cringed, pulling his hat down more over his eyes as he attempted to take a sip of his drink.

chenle then appeared, quickly placing a strawberry milk in front of meili. she raised her eyebrows, surprised that the boy remembered her favourite drink and then smiled.

"thanks lele," she beamed, lightly ruffling his hair.

a beet red chenle quietly sat down before making a muffled, ear-peircing squeeling sound, earning looks from classmates around.

"chenle," meili gained the boy's attention, him perking up in curiosity. "are you doing okay?"

he smiled widely, showing his teeth as he leaned his head onto the table.

"i'm just a little sick," he confessed, jisung covering his ears, trying to block out chenle.

meili frowned and placed her hand on his forehead, causing the boy's breath to hitch in his throat.

"you do seem warm," she caressed his forehead with her thumb.

renjun observed as his friend looked like he was about to explode from the hands of his sister. quietly scoffing, he pulled out his earbuds and put them in, attempting to ignore his friends.

"meili i don't think thats a good idea," jeno spoke up, pointing out how red chenle was getting.

"oh," she pulled her hand away. "sorry."

"no it's okay," chenle lifted his head, muttering dreamily.

the group moved on as jeno and jaemin started talking about their classes, trying to ignore the lovestruck expression on the youngest's face.

meili took a sip of the milk the boy had gotten for her as he watched her carefully.

"why are you staring at me?" she asked with no hesitation as she felt the gaze of eyes on her.

"kiss me," he absentmindedly muttered, donghyuck and renjun facepalming as jisung stood up and left their table out of embarrassment.

meili gave him a look, not sure if she heard him correctly.

"sorry?"

he widened his eyes, realizing what he had said.

"oh, uh... i said-," he glanced around the table in panick, looking for answers from his friends as he was unable to think of anything to say.

the boy's all avoided his gaze, pretending to be occupied with something else.

he sighed, facing the girl.

"i said, did you miss me."

"when?" she looked at him in question.

"i'm not sure, it kind of just slipped out," he sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. "i have a question though."

"shoot."

"are you free on saturday?"

"dude," donghyuck laughed out from across the table, confused why chenle was even trying.

meili looked between the two in hesitation before answering.

"yeah, why?"

chenle beamed. "great! you should come over then."

"okay," she agreed. "are the others coming too or..."

chenle sighed in frustration, realizing he had to be upfront about it.

"no it's a date."

"ohhhhh..." meili nodded in realization. "then no, sorry."

chenle slumped down onto the table in dejection. meili bit her lip, unsure on what to say.

"you don't even have a chance bro," donghyuck reminded the boy. "stop trying."

meili glared at donghyuck, ready to scold him but chenle responded faster.

"you can't stop me though. you're not her boyfriend."

"why you-"

meili sighed, staring down at her drink as the two bickered beside her. jaemin looked at her with sympathy as jeno tried to break up the two, renjun getting up and walking away like jisung had.

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chenle slumped back in his seat, pouting at something donghyuck had said. they seemed to have stopped bickering as their lunch period was coming close to an end, so meili took out her earbuds and stood up, ready to walk out.

but before she did she turned to chenle and rubbed the sad boy's shoulder.

"i'll come over on saturday," she told him, causing him to shoot up in alarm.

"really?"

"yes," she crossed her arms. "but the others are coming too."

he nodded in agreement, trying to contain his excitement as donghyuck shot daggers at him from across the table.