now that i know you exist, how can i not love you?
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"where are you from, chenle?" jaemin asked, stuffing a questionably big wad of rice into his mouth.
"i'm from shanghai." he responded quietly from beside me.
"what made you come to study here?" hyerin questioned, leaning forward slightly, resting her elbows on the table, making jaemin complain, adding to the background noise as she ignored him.
"uh, my parents thought it'd be a good opportunity." he said.
"is it strange being without your parents?" hyerin asked yet another question.
thinking that chenle was starting to get overwhelmed with questions, i interrupted before he could open his mouth to form a reply.
"my god, cut down on the questions." i murmured, leaning my head on my hand and pushing my now empty tray slightly further in front of me.
"you eat so much considering how small you are." jaemin said, a sly smile on his lips, as i glared at him, not hesitating to drink the flavored milk carton i had bought.
"my appetite is great so shut up, you-" before i could throw an insult at him, i felt someone sit down next to me, making me automatically turn to see who it was, seeing yet another person sit opposite them, next to hyerin.
"i would gladly drop out of school even if it meant having to work in a corner store for the rest of my life." he sighed dramatically.
i recognised both of them, one of them fairly new to me and the other someone that i definitely knew.
"might sound tempting, jeno, but you'd probably regret it after a few years." hyerin responded to him.
lee jeno.
he wasn't necessarily part of our friend group, yet he would usually sit with us at lunch and talk to us around school, but it would only ever be the three of us hanging out, never anyone else.
i would call him a friend i suppose, but unless i was with jaemin or hyerin, i usually wouldn't talk to him.
"this is renjun, by the way," he gestured to the boy sitting next to hyerin.
chenle had noticed him and greeted him, uttering something to him across the table and grinning after.
"renjun!" jaemin cried, making me exhale loudly as he smiled widely, "do you remember me?"
laughing slightly, he smiled too, "it's only been a few hours, so yes, i do."
"wait, you guys already know eachother?" jeno asked, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion.
"yeah, jaemin and i were paired up with these two for the, quote on quote, tour." i answered, sneakily slipping my phone out of my pocket to check the time before shoving it back into my blazer before an angry dinner lady saw.
"oh." was all jeno replied with before nodding and taking a sip from his juice carton.
deciding that i was still hungry and wanted another snack to satisfy my worryingly large appetite, i reached into my pocket, digging around for the small amount of money i had put in the previous day.
"i'm going to go to the vending machine to—" before i could even get to the end of my sentence, my face fell and eyes widened, as i let out a dramatic groan.
"what?" hyerin said, watching me lean forward and rest my forehead on the table sulkily.
"i lost my two dollars." i said bluntly, my voice slightly muffled by the table as my arms limply hung down by my lap.
sighing, i rested my chin on the table, blowing a stray piece of hair out of my face.
"i mean i don't have any money, and even if i did, i wouldn't give it to you." hyerin stated proudly, grinning at me.
"you're so mean." i pouted.
"i can buy you something." i heard from beside me.
my head snapped over to the look at chenle, my eyes wide.
i sat up, looking over at him properly.
"wait, wh—"
"i'll buy you something if you want." he said, completely seriously.
not knowing if i should respond and accept the offer, i looked over at jaemin and hyerin for some kind of support, even though they weren't the ones asking or being asked.
"don't look at me, i'm not the one offering a snack to you." jaemin voiced, making me turn back to chenle with a shocked look on his face.
"for real?" my eyebrows rose slightly higher as a small, hopeful smile appeared on my lips.
"yeah?" he seemed lost as to why i was taken aback by his sudden offer as if it was common.
"i mean..." hesitating to reply, i felt kind of bad, but was really fucking hungry so i wasn't about to turn down this opportunity, "if that's ok."
he nodded, smiling slightly as he stood up, making me realise that we actually had to walk to the vending machine to get something from it.
just before we started for the hallway that it was in, i turned to the others on the table.
"are you guys not coming?" i asked, my voice coming out shakier than i expected.
"uhm, no?" hyerin responded.
"what do you think he's gonna do if we don't come, eat you? just go and come back." jaemin snickered, making me purse my lips and frown at them before i turned back to join chenle.
we started walking towards the entrance to the cafeteria, the vending machine just down the hall from it, not many students in the halls as lesson still weren't starting for some time.
i felt a couple eyes staring at us as we walked by several tables, making me feel slightly uncomfortable even though i knew it wasn't me they were looking at.
this year had been the first year that we were hosting an exchange program and a lot of students were making a big deal out of it, and they would stare at the foreign students as if jesus had just resurrected again and was walking past them.
once we made it out of the cafeteria into the bright hallway, i felt more at ease.
thinking desperately of something to say to chenle to break the silence that would soon turn awkward, i tried to think of anything i could possibly say.
however, chenle beat me to it.
except it wasn't what i had expected.
"do you remember me?" he murmured, catching me off guard and making me panic slightly, even though it was simple just to say yes.
"f-from the—"
"the café?" he finished the sentence for me, making my eyes widen slightly, "we ran into eachother in the small corridor to the bathrooms. you... you remember, right?"
it was clear that his voice was full of uncertainty and i could tell he was getting worried that i was going to just respond with a confused no.
"i do." i responded quietly, "i do remember you, actually."
"really?" his eyes lit up, and a small smile appeared on both of our lips.
i nodded as we reached the vending machine, chenle reaching into his blazer pocket as he turned to me.
