started with a dare | NORENMIN

19 | RETURN

"did you say you think?" doyoung asked the younger male, wanting to confirm that he heard correctly. a nod came from the younger male, confirming doyoung's thoughts, and it caused him to let out a sigh.

silence engulfed the two boys following jeno's nod. it was a silence that neither of them knew how to break. jeno was struggling to find words while doyoung was just in disbelief at the whole situation.

maybe it was because he didn't understand topics such as jeno's situation. maybe it was because he wasn't able to grasp the whole idea of liking two people at once. but that didn't stop him from giving advice to the struggling younger male.

"rather than saying 'i think', it might be better to say 'i know', so if you aren't one hundred percent sure about the way you feel about jaemin, then you should spend some time to think," doyoung suggested. turns out, he knew exactly the right way to do things, as usual.

"if being around jaemin and renjun are preventing you from spending time to think about your feelings for them, then find a place to get away and spend some alone time to yourself. find someone you can talk to and sort everything out."
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and that's exactly what jeno did: got away from everything and spent some time to think.

although, it wasn't much of getting away, but more of running away, away from his unresolved problems, away from everything that was holding him back. the brown haired male ran away from everything that happened since the summer started, with his growing feelings for a particular roommate while experiencing feelings of being left out and alone.

but it wasn't for no reason. jeno had a good reason to run away. he had a good reason to spend time alone and allow his thoughts to engulf him. maybe it wouldn't be valid to anyone else, but to him, it was, and that's all that mattered because it turns out, that was exactly what jeno needed.

however, the get away didn't exactly do what he wanted it to do. sure, it did help him organize his thoughts and spend time to recognize whatever he was feeling, but it did nothing to help the brown haired boy confirm his feelings for jaemin.

the only thing that it did regarding jaemin was to help jeno acknowledge the idea that he may feel something more for his korean roommate more than he thought he did, and that he may have felt this way for longer than he thought.

that could've also explained why jeno spent such a long time thinking about his dared kiss with jaemin and how he had strangely enjoyed the feeling of his friend's lips on his. there was no way he would experience feelings like that if there was no underlying reason behind it.

after a week of being at his parent's house and thinking, lots of thinking, jeno finally returned back to his dorm room after being away. he was aware he left his phone and keys back at the dorm, and he was also aware that he had left without letting anyone know, other than doyoung who had encouraged him to take a break from everything.

and the very first words that greeted the brown haired male when he returned back to his dorm room was "where in hell have you been?!" from his two roommates, plus jisung and mark.

immediately being trampled by his friends and being engulfed in a hug, the brown haired male was taken aback after seeing his roommates looking relieved and the two room imposters looking as if they were about to scold him.

a bombardment of questions was what followed from his four friends, but before jeno answered any of them, he turned to renjun and pulled him to the side, asking if he could talk to the red haired male alone. hearing that line from the returning boy caused the other three to leave the room in respect of the two male's privacy, and after making sure they were fully out the door and not listening into their conversation, jeno began to speak.