The Way It Is

three

Chapter 3

Last two minutes.

"Jeno-yah!" Jeno saw Yangyang a couple of feet in front of him. He was waving his hands, and the person who was guiding him looked like he would fall if you bump into him accidentally.

Jeno also saw Hyunjin, who was nearer to him. He was free. The person guarding him was on the other side of the court for who knows what reason.

He suddenly remembered the scene at the parking lot last night.

How Yiyeon rolled her eyes and turned her back away from him.

How she walked away and never looked back.

How he became weak within three minutes.

"Jeno! What are you doing?!" He heard their coach yell while pulling his own hair out of frustration. "Chenle, go and substitute Jeno first. You! Stay here!" The coach said and pointed at the bench.

Jeno sat on the bench and looked down. He knows that he shouldn't screw this up, even if it were a practice game.

"Here." Someone patted his shoulder and handed him a bottle of water. "You aren't acting yourself lately. What's up?"

The boy sighed, "I recently found out that Hyunjin and Yiyeon are cousins," he said and looked at his friend.

"You didn't know?" His teammate choked on the water he was drinking. "You dated Yiyeon for almost two years, and you didn't know?! I mean, they share the same surname. If they aren't siblings, they could be somehow related to each other."

Jeno threw him a look, "Hyung, you and I literally share the same surname. Donghyuck, too, and Taeyong-hyung, but are any of us related to each other?" He raised a brow. "Besides, how would I know? They barely interact with each other."

"What do you want them to do, then? Run around the whole campus and say, 'Hey! I'm Hyunjin's cousin!' or 'Hey! I'm Yiyeon's cousin!'" Mark laughed at his friend.

Jaemin, who was seated at the top part of the bleachers earlier, suddenly sat beside Mark. He kicked his back lightly, "Yah, pull yourself together! I'll be writing an article about this, and you wouldn't want your image to be crumpled just like that, right?" He asked.

Jeno rolled his eyes, "Why are you here? Get lost, Jaemin-ah!"

"Yah, I'll be interviewing Hwang Hyunjin later. You know, Hwang Yiyeon's cousin," Jaemin shrugged. "Ah, of course, you know it since you're dating Yiyeonnie."

Jeno could only roll his eyes while Mark was trying his best not to laugh.

The sound of the buzzer was heard, and the ball was thrown in the air. His teammates are starting to come back to their area.

The game just ended, and Jeno hadn't realized.

Jaemin stood up and picked his camera, "I need to speak with your coach. I'll see you guys later." He said and walked away.

***

The weekend passed by in the blink of an eye.

Yiyeon didn't even notice that she was walking to school on a Monday morning.

The temperature was a bit colder than usual. She had her hands in her pocket and the only thing that was giving her heat was the gray hoodie she was wearing. She didn't even realize that the hoodie she got from her closet earlier was actually Jeno's, and he gave it to her when they were still together.

"I haven't seen you talk to Jeno this day," Yiyeon looked to her right and saw Daewon who was eating his sandwich. "Is everything okay between the two of you?" He asked.

The girl shrugged, "We kind of got into an argument last night, and of course, typical Hwang Yiyeon and Lee Jeno..." she sighed and continued watching the basketball warm-ups. "Shouldn't you be with them? Mark-sunbae must be looking for you."

"It feels weird to see you alone, that's why I came over and talked to you," Daewon chuckled.

"Sucks that Yejin is absent, indeed," she sighed. "I'll be meeting Jeongmin and Sungchan later so yeah, I won't be alone since then."

Daewon nods, "Okay then, suit yourself." He then looked up and saw Yiyeon stand up. "Where are you going?"

"To class," Yiyeon shrugged.

"But the next class is in two hours."

"I know. That simply means that I can have two hours of sleep without Liu Yangyang and Choi Yejin interrupting it," she shrugged. "Fighting, Daewon-ah! Tell Jeno that I'm rooting for him, too..."

Yiyeon left the auditorium and went to her next class, which was literature.

She entered the classroom and saw two of their classmates. One of them was playing on his phone, while the other one was reading a book.

She just shrugged and went to sit on her usual spot, which was on the second to the last row, beside the wall. Usually, she wouldn't have free time as long as two hours, especially if she's with her friends. They would probably spend all their time laughing at the cafeteria or eating ice cream at the ice cream parlor located in front of the university.

She felt someone patted her shoulder, and when she looked up, it was her classmate who was reading a book earlier.

"Minseo-yah..." Yiyeon greeted.

Minseo handed her a neatly folded gray hoodie.

Yiyeon raised a brow, "What's this for?"

"Someone happened to figure out that you might feel cold since it's almost winter and the air conditioner's literally there," Minseo said and pointed at the air conditioner on the wall.

Yiyeon raised a brow, "Someone? Who?"

The girl pointed at the person who was standing outside. He was wearing their university's basketball jersey. He was smiling at her.

Minseo went back to her place, deciding that her work there was considered done.

Jeno waved his hand lightly and pointed at the pocket of the hoodie.

Yiyeon swears that she was trying so hard not to smile. Inside the pocket, she sees a folded piece of paper and an energy bar with a heart sticker.

On the note, it says:

I'm sorry :c

The moment Yiyeon looked at the doorway, he was already gone.

"You suck at this, Jeno," she chuckled.

Yiyeon looked up to see that she was already at the entrance of the school.

She sighed, "I should stop thinking about him."

- tbc.