bad chemistry

thirty - eight

They both awkwardly stand close together in the elevator on the way up to Minju's apartment. Jeno looks down to glance at the other before gaining the courage to hold hands with the other. She feels her cheeks burning up in excitement as she feels her heart racing nonstop. Jeno feels her fingers intertwining with his as she leads him off the elevator towards her residence. He then gets pulled inside which makes him stumble onto the floor as she apologizes immediately, "Omg! Sorry, are you okay?" 

Jeno clutches onto his knee in response as he pretends that it stings, "It hurts." 

Minju knows right off the bat that he is lying, but she goes along with it as she bends down and kisses the other's cheek without another response. She skips down the hallways towards the kitchen as Jeno calls out teasingly, "Hey wait!" 

Minju smiles and enters the bathroom immediately to wash up as Jeno makes his way towards the kitchen to grab a cup of water. He smiles to himself when he can hear her humming inside as she washes her hands. Jeno takes out a small pot and realizes that he craves from some spicy ramen, and he decides to cook something simple for the both of them. He doesn't know how to cook that well either as he doesn't plan on burning down the building. Minju sniffs quietly within the bathroom as she realizes that ramen is being made as she feels her own mouth watering slowly. 

She slowly exits the bathroom as she quickly finishes her shower as she steps up as she dries her hair with a towel. Jeno turns around as he realizes that a ray of light is radiating through the bathroom and helps Minju's natural beauty radiate even more. Something about women with wet hair- it really changes everyone. 

He clears his throat to stop focusing on her as he places his attention on the ramen instead. "Let's eat now." 

Jeno separates the ramen into two bowls as Minju sits on the counter quickly with more excitement. She starts to munch on the ramen as she finds more excitement of eating so as Jeno sits next to her as well. The ramen's heat is steaming from the bowl as she is excited to do so. Jeno munches excitingly as well because he enjoys watching the happiness from Minju's face. Minju stares back at the other as she enjoys sitting next to the other as she eats the ramen. They both don't talk much as the food is disappearing more from the bowl, and Jeno finishes everything by doing the dishes. 

He then makes his way over to Minju who is resting on the couch as he grabs a new towel from the bathroom before he does so. He sits behind her quietly and starts to dry her hair gently with the towel. Minju turns her head slightly to turn on the tv before staring at the window again as Jeno continues to dry her hair for her. The tv gently interrupts the silence between the two as Minju speaks up slowly, "I didn't know that you enjoyed doing these things." 

"I have a few tricks up my sleeve." 

"I wonder if someone else got to experience this?" 

Minju asks carefully as she realizes that the other's motion of drying her hair has suddenly stopped. She turns her head slowly to look back at the other's face, whose staring quietly at the television in order to recollect his thoughts. She turns her whole body to face the other as she apologizes immediately, "Sorry, I didn't want to-" 

"She did experience things. But, she doesn't really understand what those were because she never liked me to the maximum of how much I liked her. My feelings died along with the bomb, and I don't like her at all now. But, yes...I did do things but a lot of it was just imagined as well." 

Minju nods quietly in response as she was not sure on how to respond back. Jeno soon places the dryer down next to him as he soon places his warm palms on her cold cheeks. She is taken aback slightly as she stares at him slightly with her cheeks warming up immediately. Jeno's face then soon brightens up into a smile as he replies assuringly, "I don't want to see her anymore. She left me in a state of overworking my body. Thanks to you, I can breathe." 

Minju continues to feel her heart racing quickly as the other spoke as the other words start to disappear from her hearing. She leans in and shuts him up quickly with a gentle peck on the lips which startles Jeno as well. Although Jeno does not realize it, Minju notices Jeno's cheeks reddening in response as she smiles softly at his expression of a surprised puppy. 

Jeno closes the gap soon after as he presses his lips gently onto hers to reciprocate. They both smile in response as the atmosphere turns into a lovely, warm feeling. A feeling that Jeno wishes he could feel strongly but it slowly can be understood as he is able to receive it. 

The office is quite busy without Jeno around as Jaemin is the one to be in charge. Renjun has been working with a different case with Taeyong as a different member starts to work within their facility. Jeno often calls and texts Donghyuck to see if there is any update about the stalker but no new news have been seen. Jisung is also Jeno's right hand man as Minhyung is also working on a different case with another team. 

A new worker started to work the next day as Jeno is still out and about helping Minju with her training and her action shot scenes. Chenle is in charge of showing him around as Jaemin is busily working to talk with the bosses above. The new recruit seems to be someone from abroad as Donghyuck leaves that up to Chenle to take care of. As they both continue to work on their papers, Chenle leans over to ask the new recruit some questions so that they can get along.

"Where are you from?" 

"From America, but I learned Korean ever since I was young." 

Chenle widens his eyes and nods as he himself learned Korean in order to get this job. He smiles enthusiastically as the other is quite reserved as Chenle is determined to get closer so that they can get along. He then proceeds to ask, "Oh. So what is your English name then? I am aware that your Korean name is Minsoo." 

"My English name is John."