Autumn

03

******

" Admit it, you fucker. Who is it? "

"Renjun, let me go. I can't breathe!"

That was the exact thing Jaemin heard when he stepped inside his older brother's coffee shop. He saw his friends at the farthest end of the room. Jaehyun from the counter looked up at him, eyes pleading for him to do something. He goes to their table. Renjun is actively play-choking Haechan, and in front of them seats a nonchalant Chenle and a clearly traumatized Jisung trying to pry off the Chinese from their other friend. 

" Okay guys, quit the bullshit. You're scaring our customers. You wanna pay for their orders?" , The threat effectively did its job. The two separated. Haechan coughed dramatically to which all of them rolled their eyes to. It's just banter with the two of them, no one really gets hurt in the end.  Renjun sat back down beside Haechan, inching closer to the latter giving space for him to sit down. 

They always meetup after class to talk in here because it is convenient to all of them. It is the closest shop to the campus and also Jaehyun gives them a discount for being friends with his brother.  Normally there should be 8 of them but Yangyang and Jeno are both in basketball practice and Mark obviously is down with the pregnan- errr...  flu.

" Why do you always have to be violent? " , Haechan complained, " I almost saw Jesus earlier. "

" You know what they say, 'small but terrible' ", Chenle said, doing air quotes while giggling, " He's the chihuahua of our group. "

" You want a taste of my fist, big head? "

" Oh, yeah- "

" Okay, enough. Stop it, y'all are so immature. "

" Says the one who still sleeps with a teddy bear at night. ", Jisung remarked, smirking at him.

" Fuck you, Ji. "

They don't hate each other. It's just that physical attack and verbal violence are their love language. It's common to see them at each other's throats regularly.

" But that's not the point of this meetup. ", Renjun said.

" I obviously told you not to tell anyone, you asshole. "

" Why should we be kept in the dark, huh? "

" Yeah", Jisung agreed, nodding his head to emphasize his disapproval.

" Besides, you didn't tell us the name. Technically I just relied the story. "

" So, who is it? ", Jisung inquired.

" I told you guys earlier! "

" Yeah, and we know that's bullshit. Mark's life revolves around books, school works and us, this friend group. Can you name anyone that interacted with him aside from us, no one right?",  Chenle argued.

" Hey, he's quite popular", Jisung defended his hyung, probably offended for him.

" Yeah, that's right. But he knows no one personally. "

" Yeah, that's right! So save us the bullshit and tell us- "

" I believe you. You're telling the truth, right ?"

Everyone halted their argument when they heard Jaemin speak. They all looked at him in confusion.

" Yes but how? Why? ", Haechan asked.

" A little birdie told me- "

" It's Jeno, I'm sure. "

" - that Mark's been feeling ill for a few weeks now. He's been throwing up in the morning, having dizzy spells and has been craving ketchup. Ketchup, can you believe it? We all know how much he hates it. Guess what all those imply... "