Silence ○ Lee Haechan

○ 20

The sound of the whistle blaring through the room erupted cheers among cheers from the crowd. Mari and her friends all stood up in exclamation as they all cheered as loud as they could.

Daeun turned to the girl and grabbed her hands to jump up and down out of excitement.

The Neo Dinos won 2-5 and the crowd was going wild as the team down below were all hitting their sticks together and slapping each other on their helmets in accomplishment.

"Let go see them!" Jisung exclaimed in excitement as the group watched as the team started to make their way off of the rink.

Happy smiles plastered on all their faces as the group drew near.

An array of "good job" and "congratulations" filled the air as they made their way to the team.

"Good job Jen!" Mari exclaimed as she hugged the boy whose smile pulled up to join his eyes.
"I'm so proud of you."

Jeno let out a laugh as he wrapped his arms around the girl, squeezing her tight, "thanks Ma, it was a tight game."

"Well you did excellent," Winter spoke and the others all agreed, taking over Mari's position and hugging the boy in congratulatory.

Mari stepped back from the group, watching their happy smiles as they all talk about the game they just watched and how Jeno performed the best.

A warmth filled her body as she watched her friends, adrenaline from being on edge the entire game coursed through her veins as an elated buzz filled her body, tingling her fingertips and toes.

"Hey," a voice called out and Mari looked to her side in shock from being pulled from her jovial state of manner.

Lips pulling up automatically as she came face to face with her new friend, "hey- you did amazing out there, good job," she said through her smile and reached up to wrap her arms around the boy in a hug.

His hands snaked around her waist, "thank you. It was a tough one but we did it," he was jovial, a beaming smile on her face as his body was filled with adrenaline from the game he had just finished.

"Well how could we lose when we have the best two players on our team, go Neo Dinos," Mari cheered lightly with a raised fist in cheer and Jinyoung laughed with a shake of his head.

Mari looked down bashfully, "are you feeling any better from the other night?" His voice brought her head up, a slight tilt to her head with furrowed eye brows as she tried to understand his question soon turned into a face of realisation.

"Oh yes, I didn't have another nightmare after that. I guess it just took me really off guard," she said with a shy chuckle and he couldn't help but smile at the girl.

"Well hey," he nudged her side to get her attention, "if you ever need a little distraction if you get those nightmares again, I practically get no sleep anyway so I will probably be up."

A wave of warmth flooded through her body as her heart began to pick up in pace as she watched the man with the kind smile.
"Thank Jinyoung, that means a lot," she said sincerely and she couldn't help the fuzzy feeling that tingled her chest.

"Hey man, good game," Jaemin said as the rest of the group joined them.

"Thanks, it was pretty much all Jeno though. He killed it out there," Jinyoung smiled as the other boy through his arm around his shoulders.

"Nonsense, you we're definitely the best player this game," Jeno encouraged and the boy gave him a shy smile.
"To those who don't know this is Bae Jinyoung, he's pretty much the star player- I wouldn't be surprised if he gets recruited to some big fancy nationals team."

Jinyoung pushed at the boys side in embarrassment and Jeno could only smile back, happy that his words of encouragement were getting through to the boy who often put himself down.

The rest of the group started to introduce themselves to the boy and Mari couldn't help but feel elated. Her new found friend was bonding with her best friends and she couldn't help the fluttering feeling that swarmed her body.

"You're coming to the party right, Jinyoung? Donghyuck?" Renjun asked the two boys and they both nodded.

"Of course they're both coming, we gotta introduced them both to the squad somehow," Jeno beamed at the group started to fake gag.

"Squad?"
"Don't ever call us that again, you sound 12."
"I think that was the most preteen thing I've heard all day and my sister is literally 14."

Jeno rolled his eyes, "you guys can suck my dick. Jinyoung let's go get changed, we have a party to get too."