Beautiful // Nomin

~39~

Saturday morning dawned, and Jeno woke up to a splitting headache.

He groaned and rolled over in his bed, one hand grabbing a pillow to hide his head under and the other hand instinctively grabbing for his phone. He groggily unplugged it from the charger and turned on the screen for notifs.

His eyes landed on a text from Jaemin.

Oh my all might.

He'd forgotten about last night, last night with his undying love for Jaemin, last night alone, crying in a drunken stupor because he knew he couldn't have that boy.

Jeno'd pressed "Sent" and Jaemin'd answered.

Are you okay, Jeno?

No "baby," no "Samoyed", no "puppy." Just "Jeno." The older boy wished Jaemin would have addressed him something other than his actual name, like nicknames Jaemin called him before. They really were drifting apart, weren't they? Or was Jeno just being too sensitive?

Are you okay, Jeno? And nothing more. No "I love you too" back. That's what pink-hair Jaemin would've sent. He'd truly changed simply after some hair dye, seriously? Even the moments before Jeno and Jaemin stopped hanging out, Jeno had already sensed that Jaemin's flirtatious, naughty spirit was already fading off. Maybe that had always only been a façade to match with his "fuckboy" reputation.

Jeno replied, after much deliberation, "Yeah I'm fine. Sry abt that, u can forget it."

He slammed his cellphone on his bed and closed his eyes, still trying to wake up completely. He was just telling Jaemin to forget about it? After so much confusion in his heart, Jeno had finally come to realise that he actually loved Jaemin. And now he was so easily telling him just to forget about it?

His phone buzzed again; Jaemin had seen it and replied quickly.

Oki. Just checking up on you :)

Jeno read it and waited.

And waited.

He might have waited for fifteen minutes, just lying there staring at his phone screen.

Jaemin clearly wasn't planning on sending anything else.

Ouch.

----

The weekend passed by uneventfully: Jaemin just working at the restaurant all day, and Jeno staying cooped up in his dark bedroom, playing computer games and acting sulky.

Monday, he dragged himself out of bed to go to school, literally whining because he'd slept at 4 AM, waiting a whole night and early morning for a game update. He even seriously debated whether or not to go to school, but it wasn't like he was sick or had a good reason, really.

It was crazy how many days it could take for a person to literally change their whole lifestyle. Jeno was changing rapidly, and he wasn't even trying to.

But after that one Friday night of drinking, he'd been too suddenly different; even if it'd only been a few days. He felt so moody, so lowlife, so sluggish. He didn't want to go anywhere or meet anybody. It was insane.

He wore his hood and a face mask to school, skulking through the halls like one of those uncategorized emo loners.

His group of friends walked past. Kiara was with them.

Jeno bowed his head even lower, almost making it passed without being noticed, but at the last second, heard a "Jeno??" behind him. He winced at the sound of his name but decided to keep walking as if he weren't the "Jeno" that they'd thought he was.

"Wait," Kiara's voice called, to his dismay, and she turned around and followed him. "Jeno-yah?" She caught up and bent down to look at his face, before laughing. "What are you doing, hiding?? Your posture and the way you walk is way too obvious; I could tell you from anywhere."

Jeno was not amused. "Shh, I don't want anyone to know," he said lamely.

"Why, baby?" Kiara giggled.

"Just because," Jeno sighed, but it was already too late. Everyone in the hallway had turned around and realized that that was popular boy Lee Jeno.

"Is something wrong?" Kiara asked, still finding her boyfriend's behavior cute and amusing.

"No, I just need to get to class," Jeno mumbled, feeling awkward with all the eyes turned toward him. "Catch you later babe..." he said under his breath and gave his girlfriend a weak smile before hurrying off.

Kiara was left confused, but just shrugged it off and went to catch up with their friend group, while Jeno trudged to his classroom alone, swearing in his thoughts as he tried to ignore the people around him.

He really should've stayed home today.

At lunch time, Jeno texted Kiara and said he was going home to eat during lunch break, unlike meeting at the cafeteria with their friends like usual. Kiara's text back was laced with concern, but Jeno didn't bother answering.

It was hard heading back to school after the lunch break, but Jeno dragged himself back to the dreaded building. He sat through more boring classes before PE hour finally rolled around.

PE. The dream hour.

The only hour at school where he could see Jaemin.

Although Jaemin might not interact with him at PE anymore (and exercise logs had finished by now), Jeno at least could still watch him. What a pity that they only shared one class together throughout the day.

But what a disappointment.

Jaemin wasn't at PE today.

Jeno kept his eyes out all throughout the hour, trying to figure out if he was missing Jaemin somewhere. But he wasn't, Jaemin simply wasn't here. And he hadn't told Jeno anything, sadly. Before, Jaemin would literally inform Jeno about every next minute in his life. Now he informed nothing at all. Before, it felt like Jaemin was chasing Jeno, but now, Jeno felt like he was chasing Jaemin.

Had Jeno done something wrong?

As the guys headed toward the showers, Jeno pulled out his phone and texted Jaemin.

Ur not at school today?

Jaemin didn't answer right away, and Jeno didn't have time to wait. He shoved his cellphone into his bag and walked with leaden footsteps toward the showers.

He felt tired, heavy, dispirited, miserable.

Maybe he'd go to that BBQ restaurant again tonight.