❝I'm a dark fairy, not an evil fairy. there's a very clear difference.❞
maybe there's a proper explanation as to how Jeno's new classmate has managed to make everyone fall for his good looks and mysterious personality upon first sight...
a noren fan...
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"You said it wouldn't harm me."
"It didn't."
Jeno fidgeted with the strap of his backpack.
"I can't control how time works in the fairy realm," Renjun continued. "One night there could be equal to months or even years in the human world." he paused, looking Jeno up and down before speaking again. "Clearly you're still here and in one piece."
Jeno didn't say anything. Renjun was a dark fairy, and on the day he had found out, Renjun had told him that dark fairies were different from evil ones. Jeno had learned the hard way that dark fairies were still tricksters who could twist their words in any way to gain someone's trust.
It may not be the same for Renjun, but to Jeno and to many others in this world, tricksters weren't evil, but they certainly couldn't be considered good either.
—☆—
The bell rang, snapping Jeno out of his thoughts. Startled, Jeno almost fell out of his chair but was thankfully able to balance himself at the last second. Most of his classmates had already filed out the door and his teacher gave him an apologetic look, a look of pity, to which Jeno pretended he did not see.
Just as he had finished packing up his things, an announcement rang out over the PA system.
"Lee Jeno, please report to the principal's office."
Jeno groaned, doing everything in his will not to bang his head on the nearest wall.
Reluctantly, he swung his bag over his shoulder and walked out the door, ignoring some of the glances he got from other students in the hall. Ever since this morning, he had lost track of the amount of stares he got anywhere he walked. One week wasn't even that much. If anything, he could've been sick for a week and no one would care, but according to Donghyuck, there had been search parties out looking for him and that fact was probably spread all across town.
It felt daunting, as if they were silently judging him and he hated it.
Jeno knocked twice on the office door and moments later, he was met with the principal's face, smiling too widely for it to be genuine.
"Ah, Jeno, please come in! I'm glad you're here."
Jeno entered silently and sat down.
"How are you today?" the principal asked him.
"I'm... good," he replied hesitantly, hands clasped together tightly underneath the desk.
"That's good to hear. You have been doing alright recently?" the principal continued.
Great. This was nothing different than a disguised therapy session but with his principal rather than an actual therapist.
"Yes, I've been doing fine," Jeno answered, doing his best to sound as normal as possible.
"Great," the principal said. "Now Jeno, I want you to know that if you ever need anything, we are all here to help you alright?"
Jeno rolled his eyes internally. As if he would tell his principal or any of his teachers about where he was. If anything, they would be the last people Jeno would tell. It would be hard enough to tell his closest friends let alone the principal.
"Thank you," he said anyway.
The principal nodded. "Most of the teacher's know that you're going through a tough time right now, so if you ever need an extension on an assignment or—"
"I'm sure I'll be fine, sir," Jeno interrupted as politely as he could. There was no tough time that he was going through, but as much as he wanted to say that, he didn't.
"Alright Jeno," the principal said, nodding and then smiling his way-too-wide-to-be-genuine smile.
With a quick nod, Jeno got up from where he was sitting, walking towards the exit of the office.
Just as he was about to leave, Jeno turned back around. "Sir?" he said.
The principal lifted his head.
"Renjun was the one who took the locket."
A somewhat shocked look took over the principal's face for a split second, but he quickly covered up his expression with a calm one. "Thank you, Jeno. I will make sure to speak with him."
Jeno nodded and walked out the door.
The hallways were empty at this time, all students already seated in their respective second-period classes. At least there was no one to stare at him in the hallways.
When he reached his class, Jeno made his way to his seat wordlessly.
"Welcome back, Jeno," his teacher greeted him. "We are starting our mythical creature presentations today, I assume you have something prepared?"
Jeno paused, trying to find his memory of that night in the fairy realm (or nights, rather).
"Yes, we do sir."
Jeno turned to find Renjun standing behind him.
"We're ready, we can go first," the fairy continued.
The teacher smiled, motioning for them to come up to the front of the classroom. Renjun walked up first, leaving Jeno practically glued to his seat until that same invisible string pulled him up towards the front of the classroom.
"What are you doing?" Jeno whispered. "I don't remember anything."
"You will," Renjun answered, then pulled up a detailed powerpoint presentation onto the computer to project onto the large screen.
And then Renjun began to speak, introducing their presentation, which creature they decided to research, why they had decided to research it... the fairy spoke in both a beautiful and enchanting manner, yet his voice still managed to echo throughout the entire room. Each time Renjun snapped his fingers, the slide changed with perfect timing.
Jeno was brought back to that night in the fairy realm. For several moments, he forgot about the tricks the fairy had played.
When it was Jeno's turn to speak, the words came with ease. He didn't have to rehearse the words thoroughly before speaking them, nor did he have any cue cards to look down at.
The presentation ended as abruptly as it had begun. When it did, the class applauded and Renjun turned on his heel to walk back to his seat, not bidding Jeno even a single glance.
The rest of the class consisted of various presentations from all of his classmates. Donghyuck and Jaemin's was particularly humorous, as Donghyuck would make a joke and Jaemin would stand there, unsure what to respond.
Jeno stayed behind at the end of class, hoping to be able to speak with Renjun about the presentation.
"Hey—"
"You turned me in," Renjun interrupted.
"I— the locket? no. I mean yes," he stuttered. "It was the right thing to do."
Renjun didn't say anything, only zipped up his bag and walked out the door without another word.
---
curious as to whether any of my fellow writers ever have days where they impulsively write literally the next ten chapters of their story? i sometimes do but its at 3am and i wake up to find nothing makes sense haha
