read this when you're lonely • lee jeno

29.

"but why did she leave the group so abruptly- especially after eunha said she's dating jeno?"

"dude I don't know.. it's a bit.. strange don't you think?"

the two boys hyuntae and jinsoo were talking quietly as they awaited for their friends in the cafeteria.

"do you think dasom likes jeno too?" hyuntae asks, making jinsoo suck in a breath as he thinks. "I don't know... if she did, wouldn't she tell us?"

hyuntae nods. "you're right. but dasom encouraged eunha to get to jeno too isn't it? so she shouldn't have a crush on him"

jinsoo lets out a deep sigh and waves everything off. "we must be over thinking. something probably glitched making her leave or she pressed it by accident."

"but-"

"shush! it's lunch time. no bad vibes please!"

hyuntae closes his mouth, shoulders slumping. "alright.. "

"hey guys" minjeong's soft voice alerted hyuntae in an instant, lifting his head to meet her smile.
"hey winter" jinsoo greets back. "where's eunha?"

the question makes minjeong sigh and she rests her cheek against the palm of her hand. "after dasom left the group yesterday, eunha was trying to contact her but she never replied. all the calls were declined too and now she's sitting in the corner over thinking" she looks over her shoulder and the two boys follow her gaze, seeing eunha sit at the corner of the cafeteria munching on some biscuits while looking down.

they all look back at each other.

"hey min. do you think dasom likes jeno?" hyuntae asks. the girl purses her lips and shrugs. "if she did we would've known right? I mean we all tell each other about our crushes so she would've done that"

"but look, she's been reading our texts and never replying, she doesn't eat with us anymore, and she doesn't greet me as excitedly anymore" jinsoo says, frustrated.

"maybe she has something going on, if she needed to talk about it she would've done that. the group chat was probably too noisy anyways so she must've left for a while"

both hyuntae and jinsoo spare each other a glance.

"that makes more sense" jinsoo says. "should we tell eunha?" he glances over at the table in the corner, now seating not only eunha, but jeno too.

"I'll tell her after school. jeno's there to comfort her anyways"

"true"

---

RIGHT as the final bell chimed, the students rushed to thank the teacher before leaving class one by one happily.
eunha grabs her bags and sticks a lollipop into her mouth, sweet strawberry flavour staining her taste buds.
she walks out of the class and raises both eyebrows in surprise seeing jeno waiting outside patiently. he greets her with a smile and a wave, opening his arms awaiting a hug. she gives him a quick hug before seperating herself from him, jeno snaking an arm over a shoulder to keep her close.

"wanna go on a date with me today?" jeno asks, looking down at his girlfriend who had the lollipop bulging out of cheek.
"sure. where to?"

he grins. "you'll just have to wait and see, girlfriend"

she chuckles softly, leaning her head on him as they walked out of the school compound. "okay okay"

---

HARSH rays of the evening sun shine down on the couple as they walk together to this secret destination jeno wanted to take her for their first official date. left hand hooked around eunha's right arm, jeno carried a black umbrella to shield them both from the blinding sunlight.

"we gotta make a stop at the convenience store" jeno says. "you want any snacks?"

the girl thinks. "maybe a can of coffee and a muffin"

"got it"

as they reach the convenience store, jeno buys two small packs of bread and the food that eunha wanted.
when he's out of the store, he hands her the food and eunha doesn't question as the boy throws the packs of bread into his bag, thinking he was just saving some food for later.

jeno brings her back into the same position, hooking an arm around hers while carrying the umbrella. as they continued walking, eunha would tear off pieces of the muffin and feed it to jeno. the boy would beam in happiness, enjoying every single moment he felt of being loved like this.

"we're here!" he exclaims, closing the umbrella and keeping it back into his bag.

"a park?"

jeno shakes his head. "Nuh uh, not just any park. look." he points at the pond. "there's ducks!"

eunha's jaw drops open when her eyes move where jeno pointed at, seeing the crowd of ducks casually floating in the pond. jeno pulls her to the edge of the pond and takes out a large cloth from his backpack, laying it on the grassy floor before taking a seat. "sit down" he pats the empty space beside him, putting the bag between his legs and pulling out the two packs of bread he bought. "here" he says, handing her the bread. "for today's date with amazing boyfriend jeno, we shall be..." jeno drums his thighs to create a drumroll. "feeding ducks!" he giggles and rips open the packaging. "I know you've been having a duck obsession lately. I've seen you scrolling through that clock app and saw you cooing over ducks, so here we are, feeding cute ducks together"

the smile jeno had on his face was childlike, proud of himself for planning a nice simple date that fit his girlfriend's current interest.

the girl beside him pouts, looking at him with a look of gratefulness, honestly touched with such a simple date. "thanks jeno.. I've always wanted feed ducks with someone"

"hehe. now you can feed ducks with me" he rips off a small piece of bread and throws it into the water, all the ducks immediately swimming towards the treat, fighting for that single piece. "you should feed them too. I don't wanna see a duck massacre happen because of bread"

the statement creates laughter from the both. eunha rips off pieces of the bread and throws them into the water with jeno doing the same.

the ducks were eating happily. a few even quacked at the couple as if saying a sweet thank you. to eunha's surprise, one even hopped out of the water and very gently pecked her leg before running back into the water.

"the duck kissed me!" she throws her head back, laughing while clapping like a seal.
jeno doesn't respond, only rolling his eyes. "pft. I can do that too."

"jeno, you're getting jealous over a duck"

"and? I'm a Taurus."

eunha sighs. "what will I ever do with you..." she continues throwing bread into the pond.

jeno snickers, sneakily pressing a kiss to her cheek before he returns to his original task of throwing bread to the hungry ducks.
eunha leans her head on his shoulder and they feed ducks until the bread is no more.