Silence ○ Lee Haechan

○ 23

"You should really join us at the gym, gotta get those gains you feel," Jeno spoke as he placed a piece of apple into his mouth.

"I would, truly. But I have an appointment with my bed, so maybe another time," Renjun spoke with fake interest making the boy roll his eyes.

The group were currently situated under the window in the cafeteria, eating their lunch as they allowed the autumn sun to warm their bodies.

Their conversations adding to the array of noise coming from all the other students in the expanse and creating this bubbling feeling of peace during their break period.

Mari had been snacking away at her carrot sticks as she watched Jeno try to convince some of the others to join him at the gym, needing a new gym buddy as Jaemin had taken up after school photography.

"I'll still come with you on the weekends Jen," Jaemin said and the boy looked towards him.

"Weekend? What about like 5am bike rides?"

Jaemin looked at him with the utmost disgust plastered on his face, absolutely petrified of the thought of waking up any earlier than 7- school was already hard enough.
"Yeah no, I don't think so."

Jeno sighed, head falling into his hand as he shoved another apple slice into his mouth.

"Hey guys, what're you talking about?" A familiar voice asked as they made their presence known to the table.

Everyone looked up to see Donghyuck, sun bouncing off of his golden complexion as he had one hand shoved into his pocket and the other the tray with his food on it.

"None of them will come with me to the gym," Jeno sulked as he watched the bubbly boy sit down next to Jisung and Winter, who was sat in front of Jeno and Mari.

"Gym? I'll come if you want, I've always wanted to go to the gym but never had a gym buddy," Donghyuck offered and Jeno's eyes lit up.

"Really? Dude you're a legend," Jeno exclaimed excited at his new gym buddy making the rest sigh in relief that they won't get dragged into a late night gym sesh.

"You know what I'm excited for," Daeun voiced and the rest turn towards her, some interested and some not.
"The camp."

At the sound of the trip a mixed array of positive and negative responses filled the air.

"It's like 5 weeks away," Chenle states, "why are you worrying about it now?"

"Because young one, you must prepare in advanced what you're going to wear. It's Jeju, you gotta look nice," Daeun states and Karina enthusiastically nods.

"I agree, if we were in the middle of the forest I don't think I'd care as much but because we are going to an island, that changes stuff."

"I'm just glad it's the beginning of autumn and still warm, Id hate to go and it be winter," Jisung shudders at the thought.

Mari laughed inwardly as she listens to the group talk about her home town.

"Surely you can show us all the cool places Mari!"
"You too hyung!"
Both Chenle and Winter exclaimed excitedly and the two in question look towards each other briefly.

"Uhhh sure-"
"I guess so. I mean, we actually have our assignment to do on one of the days though, so you guys will have to be without us for one of the days," Mari interjects, shoving another carrot stick into her mouth as the others nod their heads.

"That's okay, I'm sure we could just spend the day shopping or exploring until you two get back," Jaemin said with a sweet smile and Mari looked around the table.

Every one coming to a mutual agreement before Daeun decided to speak up.
"So where are you guys going for your assignment?"

"I'm actually so glad I dropped out of Tourism when I did, I don't think I could handle it," Renjun said not to anyone in particular but everyone agreed with him.

The teacher was infamously known for his hard marking and his ridiculous assignments, Mari was definitely shocked when he announced the news they'd get two extra weeks for the assignment as it was so unlike their teacher.

"We're going to a beach," Mari states, briefly making eye contact with the boy across from her before looking away at the rest of the group.
"It's usually heavily tourist populated so it' be a great hot spot."

"Plus it's very familiar to us, it was one our go to spots to hang out," The group looked towards the boy as he spoke, interested in what he had to say as the two usually kept their pasts to themselves.

And the group couldn't lie, they had been trying to decipher what all the tension between them was, they could tell there was something going on, that there was something there but they didn't know what- well at least one person thought that at least as she sat in the corner of the table watching them in scrutiny.

The tension felt like a constant game of tug of war, both sides pulling as hard as they can before they took a rest and just accepted the others presence before going back to pulling a the rope- and with each pull, the rope was thinning in the middle threatening to snap.

As the group continued their conversation, planing lightly about what they were going to do on the island, Mari fell into a deep thought. Head coming down to lean on Jeno's shoulders as her mind plagues her with memories of the beach.

The shadow of a smile pulling at her lips ever so slightly, just enough to raise the ends, met her face as she she recalls all the happy summer, even winter, nights on the sandy shores of the beach.

Unaware the the gaze that fell on her, the girl spacing out as she looked blankly at the table.

The boy watched her intriguingly, the way her hair fell over her face as she disassociated from the world, lips parted slightly while breathing shallow breaths.

The beating of his heart fell harder, letting out sharp exhales as he watches the girl whose head laid on Jeno's shoulder.

A war zone of guns and grenades were exploding inside his head, a guttural conflict penetrated his mind as he was stuck in the middle of the warfare.

Confused on which side will win as he peers at the girl before him. He knew what she was thinking of, the memories, the laughs, the smiles. They were so happy- but I guess things change.