bad chemistry

fifteen

Jeno turns off his engine as he arrives to somewhere quiet and muted house as he parks the motorcycle. His knuckles stopped bleeding a few hours ago, since he kept driving straight for about three hours. He didn't feel the pain in his knuckles at all since he knows that the feeling is not there any longer. The evening is welcoming him to the empty house, with no birds chirping around. The crickets continue to sing his song with his presence, and he stands at the porch of the house while staring out at the lake that is in the scenery in front of him.

He turns around slowly before unlocking the door without another thought. As he opens the door, it creaks loudly indicating how long it's been absent of human presence. He turns on the front light, as it flickers to turn on. He locks the door immediately as he steps in, standing without a word as the coldness seeps in within his clothes. But he didn't feel a thing as he quietly makes his way around the empty rooms.

He sometimes stops by here whenever he thinks about the place, before walking upstairs and turning on the lights once more. His footsteps lead towards a particular room that is far from the hallways. He opens the door slowly, turning on the light and seeing the only small bed with a tiny desk. A kid's size table.

He dusts off the slight form of dust that formed at each crevice. He remembers painting at that very desk, and feeling the wooden table mold with his memories from the past. The laughs he shared in this room, the emotional tears that he released when he got in trouble, and when he played hide-and-seek under the desk...all is washed away ever since this house became empty.

Only the ghosts of his memories lingers around, as he lies down carefully on the bed. He always changes the sheets once in a while in order to not have more dust forming. The echos of his own childish laughter plays like a cassette tape in rewind. The outside world is unknown of this happy memory that he recalls from time to time before his accident. It's still pretty alarming that he once used to smile at the littlest things when he was out in the field. But now, he remembers it vividly but he cannot seem to remember the happiness that comes along with it.

He falls asleep soon after wandering and doodling memories within his mind. Dreams never came to him with excitement. It was always nightmares that seem to play within his mind. He isn't afraid of anything but that incident that brought him to his state. His mind starts to play that scene again, when the bomb blows up in his face. But he couldn't recall who had started to talk to him, and wanted to hurt him specifically.

Jeno's eyes shoot open with beads of sweat running down his forehead. He breathes heavily as he feels his heartbeat continue to run painfully as he sits up against his bed. For a second, he has forgotten that he was in his old home. The sunlight is shining brightly against the window, as the curtain blows against the window with the birds chirping their songs.

He makes his way downstairs to head back outside to where the lake was. The water within the lake glistens with the sunlight, but it wasn't clean enough for him to enter. He sighs to himself without another word, remembering how he lashed out angrily yesterday at the station. He couldn't bring himself to the station without a word. He makes his way back to the motorcycle after locking his house once more. Driving off again, he heads towards the highway and speeds to the maximum he can go, not caring about the speed limit.

-

Minju wakes up right at eight since she fell asleep pretty early last night. She rubs her eyes gently to help clear up her vision. Looking around, she remembers that Jisung and Renjun helped her arrive to her house safely without meeting Jungwoo. She takes a bottle of water outside from her fridge, sipping it slowly before hearing the doorbell go off. She widens her eyes quietly as she gets the sudden chills; no one should be arriving to her house this early. Minju carefully tiptoes towards the door as she decides to take a can of hair spray within her grasp, peering out through the looking glass. Since no one is there, she carefully opens the door before seeing no one in the hallways.

She tilts her head to the side as she was a little confused. However, something catches the glimpse of the corner of her eyes, looking to see a bag of food that is rested on the floor next to her door. She squats down to peer at the note stuck to the bag, "Hope you get something to eat. -Jisung".

Minju looks around the hallways to see the other hopefully, but she smiles to herself before picking up the food and heading back inside. Sitting on her dining area, she opens the bag carefully and takes out a bunch of food while inhaling the delicious scents leaving the bag. It is a bento box of steak and rice, with some side dishes. Another side of fried sweet potatoes and octopus, and she smiles immediately as she sees her most favorite snack of all, marinated eggs.

Without another thought, she starts to eat the food without even stopping to breathe. The eggs melt deliciously on top of her tongue, and the rice and steak is the perfect combination for her cravings. She hums to herself as she turns on the television, watching the morning news that comes in. After a few bites, she sends a text message to Jisung: Thanks for breakfast."

Jisung immediately replies back, "No worries, take a break today."

"Is Mr. Lee back?"

"No..but I suggest you taking a break from all the stuff that happened yesterday."

Minju puts her phone down slowly, staring at the uneaten food in front of her. It seems that Jeno didn't even take his phone so there is no other way to contact him. She just wanted to make sure that the other got something to eat, before shaking her head with a response popping into her head, "No need to take care of him and his thoughts when he is such a jerk."