war of love, jeno

chapter twelve

"So how was everyone's day?"

The six boys looked up at Mark in annoyance, only wanting to finish their dinner before having to leave for another run.

Renjun sighed, finally giving in as he sat down his knife and fork, ignoring the flavoring smell of steak sitting on his white porcelain plate. "Art was fun. Already have a project due next week, though."

Mark nodded, taking a bite of his food. "Nice, nice. Anyone else?"

"I didn't know being a Physical Education major would be fun," Chenle commented. "We only did a few drills today, nothing really special."

Jisung squinted as he looked up from his food and towards Chenle, "I saw your entire class- like- drenched in sweat when they were coming inside earlier."

Chenle shrugged, "guess being a part of a gang pays off when it comes to the physical side."

Donghyuck coughed, everyone looking over at him- half clearly uninterested, the other half showing no emotional reaction. "I'd like to point out that my day went very well."

"Really," Mark nodded, "do tell."

Donghyuck smiled, leaning back in his chair. "Sure was. Music class truly is one of a kind. We went over a few music sheets first, everyone going around to express their vocal ranges and such."

"Very interesting, Hyuck. Jeno? Jaemin? Jisung?"

"Medical class was just a lot of note-taking and stuff and the professor said that it's kinda gonna be like that mixed with hand-training. For health class we had to watch a video of a woman giving birth for a baby project."

"A baby project? How long is that gonna be?"

Jaemin shrugged, "don't know, wasn't listening very well. We're figuring out all kinds of stuff tomorrow."

Jaemin grew a bit anxious thinking about what he had asked Chenle do earlier and decided to continued. "I'm really hoping I don't get stuck with one of the kids that don't do anything for their part."

"You're in a gang," Renjun pointed out. "Either they're deathly afraid of you and stay away at all chances or they'll do whatever you want because... once again, you're in a gang."

Jaemin shook his head, "you guys already know I'm hiding my association. I can't have people knowing about this until I graduate."

"So anyways, my day was alright," Jisung perked up. "Spent a bit of time learning some new choreography and I've got a new partner."

"New partner?" Mark raised an eyebrow. "How's that going so far?"

"Eh, could be worse. She's a pretty good dancer but extremely quiet whenever I stand next to her for some reason. We still get the work done, though."

"Hmm," Chenle thought aloud, "could be, I don't know, the leather jacket on your back that says NCT in bold letters?"

Jisung hummed, "I don't think so."

Mark sat up, ignoring Jisung, "okay, and then lastly, Jeno. How was your first day back at school?"

Jeno had been quiet through the entirety of everyone's speeches, his once full plate now practically empty besides a few broccoli scraps.

"Got in a fight, probably broke the kid's nose. Saw some people from a few years ago. Went to class. Slept a bit. Went to eat lunch. Came home. Sat down for dinner. End."

Mark's eyes widened as he watched Jeno walk over to the sink. "I'm sorry, you got into a fight? What was it this time?"

Jeno shrugged, "oh, I don't know, maybe the taunting he was doing when I was walking by. Impressing his friend probably didn't work as well as he thought it would."

Jaemin looked up at Jeno, "but I didn't see anyone else in the infirmary today?"

"Why would I know where he went afterwards?" Jeno asked. Turning around, he was met with different looks from his friends. "I didn't kill him! You guys are always on my back about that. It was one time, lay off."

"You were only let off from that because he had unfinished business with Taeyong Hyung. Otherwise, you'd still be covered in bruises."

Jeno glared at Mark as he walked out of the room, heading to his personal bedroom. "Yeah, I know. Thanks, Dad."

It quieted down as Jeno walked into his bedroom, the door closing softly behind him.

Jisung suddenly looked up from his last bite of food, making eye contact with Jaemin. "What were you doing in the infirmary?"

Jaemin froze for a second, not expecting the question at hand. He knew none of them were supposed to be around her but what else could he have done? Not all of the others would be as understanding as Jeno had been earlier.

"Just, you know, doing some check-ups with Kim."

so a baby project
tbh this was inspired by an episode of lab rats. i'm currently rewatching it on disney plus and i just finished the episode where adam and chase were doing the project and ended up quite literally frying their babies heads.

anyways, that isn't the only twist. some of you guys are not gonna like what's about to happen later
hint: jaemin is protective in this book

you could probably tell by now that i have absolutely no idea how university or college works so if you do, please help me out 🚗

oh also, updates will now become every other day bc i'm a bit busy with a few of my own school project 😪