alters » nct dream

15

"morning guys." greeted mark to his friends as he unlocked his locker.

"morning, hyung." greeted jaemin back.

"have anyone seen eunha?" asked mark to his group.

"i haven't seen her today." replied jeno.

"yeah, i don't think i've seen her." replied donghyuck.

"why, hyung?" asked jaemin.

"nothing much. i just wanted to tell her that the student council committee will be accepting volunteers from today onwards." explained mark.

"don't worry, hyung. i'll pass the message to her." said jeno.

"thanks jeno. i'll see you guys during break time later!" mark said before walking off to his homeroom.

"i guess she's coming in late, today." jeno said after checking the time on his clock.

"where did the notes go? did she take it already?" two familiar voices whispered as they walked past eunha's locker, voices owned by none other than eunjin and raeil.

jeno scoffed and muttered to himself, "pathetic," as he watches the two girls walk away.

the '00 liners walked to their homeroom class together and even when their teacher was done with taking their attendance, eunha was nowhere to be seen.

"jeno, did something happen last night when the two of you were out?" asked renjun as soon as their teacher left the class.

"not really. we took a walk and that was it." jeno replied, hesitant at first but he remembered eunha's words.

"she's probably sick. we went home late, last night." jaemin said as they nodded at the possibility.

a little spot within jeno's heart was worried. he thought of all the possible unfortunate things that could've happened to eunha.

even more, the fact that he knew eunjin and raeil planned on verbally assaulting her made him more scared.

as he made his way out of the class, he walked slower and was left behind by his friends. jeno then fished out his phone and quickly searched for eunha's number before pressing on the call button.

"hey, eunha?" he spoke as his call was picked up from the other end.

"hey,"

"are you okay? are you sick? you don't sound so good." he said in one breath.

"i'm not feeling so well. why did you call?" she replied with a weak voice.

"really? do you need anything? should i come over?" asked jeno.

"no- no, please don't. i'll be alright. you should head for your class. i'll see you when i see you, okay?" she said and hung up in an instant.

the normal hours of school felt longer for jeno. his mind was a mess. he couldn't smile or even laugh with the dreamies when all that flooded his mind was eunha.

"do you guys have any plans this afternoon?" asked mark to the dreamies at lunch.

"well except for our basketball practice, not much." replied donghyuck.

"oh right. jeno, we still have meeting later right?" asked seolhyun to jeno, who wasn't into the conversation at all.

"jeno?" called renjun again.

mark lightly tapped on his friend's shoulder and he instantly replied with a "huh?"

"are you okay? you seem odd today." asked jaemin as he intently stare at the man before him.

"uh yeah i'm good. i just have a lot on my mind." jeno said with a weak smile.

"so do we still continue with the meeting later?" asked seolhyun again.

"let's just cancel it." said renjun before jeno could answer.

"why did you ask, hyung? do you have anything planned after our practice?" asked donghyuck.

"just thought maybe we should visit weiyun. make her feel safe for a short while, at least." replied mark.

"sure. let's meet up at the park later." said seolhyun.

"i won't be able to join you guys. i have a therapy session after school." said jaemin.

"that's alright. she'll understand." said mark as the rest agrees.

"i'll head for my class early. see you guys later." said jeno as he left the table with his tray.

"he seems weird today," said jaemin as soon as jeno left the cafeteria.

"i'll go check up on him," said renjun before walking away.

"hyung, did you text eunha? how is she?" asked jisung to mark.

"i did. no replies. hopefully she's resting well." mark replied. deep down, a part of him is also just as worried as jeno is.

jeno's pov

"jeno!" called renjun from behind.

"hey, why did you leave early?" i asked. i wanted some alone time. it felt wrong to be chatting with the dreamies when eunha isn't there - and no one even knew what happened to her.

"i've known you for years, jeno. i know there's something bothering you. perhaps, is it eunha?" he asked with a tilted head.

i scoffed at his question and walked away without a word.

"hey, come on. let's talk about it." renjun said, catching up with me as we continued to walk with the same pace.

"nothing's wrong -"

"do you like her?" he asked bluntly and it caught me by surprise.

"what?"

"you like her, right?" asked renjun with a teasing smile.

"we've only known her for a few days, renjun. i don't fall for someone that quick." i replied dryly - whether it was a lie or the truth, i don't know it myself.

"you care a lot about her. that just shows it." he said.

maybe that's because i've seen how fragile she is.

maybe that's the thing about people. maybe we only start caring when we know what they're made of. maybe we only start caring when we know what they've been through. and sometimes, maybe we only start caring when it's too late.

"i don't know, renjun. we couldn't protect jinhye-noona. and you know how it is with weiyun, too. i don't want to lose any of the dreamies anymore, renjun." i said.

it's true. if we failed to protect jinhye-noona from the devil, i want to at least protect weiyun and eunha. 

"what are you saying, jeno?"

"you'll know, someday."