war of love, jeno

chapter eighteen

"And what have I done to honor such a call from the Shin Eunjin?"

Eunjin laughed from the other side of the phone, tidying up her work backpack and zipping it back up as she held the device close to her ear.

"One, happy birthday. Two, I'm about to be on the way to school, it's about a fifteen-minute drive. Are you there already?"

Jaemin hummed across the phone, the sound of the music in the background slowly lowering, "one, thank you very much, madam. Two, I am currently on the way to campus."

"Alright, drive safely."

The two quickly said goodbye, Jaemin putting away his phone to continue driving while Eunjin walked downstairs.

"Ready to go?" Jihan asked, taking one last sip of her hot coffee before swirling her keys around her pointer finger, ready to get the day started.

Eunjin hummed, following after the older girl outside to the car. The two got in, putting on their seatbelts as they headed to the school campus.

Jihan came to a slow stop by one of the curbs as she let Eunjin out to go find her partner. A few minutes later the younger girl was returning with a baby doll.

"How's the grade going?" she asked as they pulled out of the parking lot. Eunjin looked away from the front of the car down to the baby, lifting up the back of its shirt.

"Still at 100. It'll hopefully stay there today. I'm scared it's gonna start suddenly screaming when I'm trying to wash some dishes or something."

"I wouldn't worry too much about that. Don't those things sleep? Make it take a nap or something to make it be quiet."

Eunjin laughed softly, "I was gonna try but it's built to perform as a regular human baby. It's a lot easier said than done putting a child to sleep."

Jihan nodded, "yeah, I wouldn't know that."

Eunjin had been too busy fixing her baby's clothing to notice she missed the sad smile on her best friend's face. By the time she looked back up, it was gone.

"Alright, we're here. Have a good day at work. Oh, wait, before you go," she quickly stopped Eunjin before she could shut the car door, "what time do you get off?"

"Um, I think eight? I'll text you if I'm wrong."

Business was slow on the particular Wednesday afternoon, mostly college kids coming in to get their coffees and quick snacks before heading to class.

Eunjin and her other coworker didn't mind too much, taking the low customer rate to catch up with one another and do their own things.

"Sorry, I'll be right back," Eunjin apologized to her coworker, rushing towards the crying baby in the back.

She was quick to encase it in her arms, swaddling it as comfortably as possible to decrease the loud crying. It worked slightly, the sound of soft snores coming from the robot baby after a minute.

When she finally placed it back into the carrier she stood up straight, fixing any wrinkles on her uniform and walking back into the front.

"Hey, I'm gonna head to the bathroom really quickly, you think you'll be able to handle it alone?"

Eunjin nodded, watching her coworker head to the restroom. She waited for someone to come in, boredom encasing her.

The sound of the familiar doorbells ringing brought her back to life, her posture returning to normal as she smiled at the shorter girl walking inside.

The customer had been looking up at the menu when she walked inside but when she looked at Eunjin, her face changed slightly.

She tilted her head slightly looked at the girl taking her order before finally speaking. "Are you Eunjin?"

She nodded.

"I'm Yena." She cleared her throat. "Uh, you're Jaemin's project partner, right? He was with Jisung and me before he gave you the baby earlier. Um... sorry, that was probably a weird way to introduce myself."

Eunjin smiled, shaking her head. "It's alright, it's nice to meet you. Can I take your order?"

Yena nodded with a smile, looking back up at the cafe menu one last time. She waited patiently in the same spot as she watched Eunjin make the beverage.

"It was nice meeting you, Eunjin. We should get to know each other, you know, only if you'd like, of course. You don't have to, though. Don't feel too pressured-"

Eunjin cut the girl off with a small laugh, "yes, I'd love to get to know you. Your number?"

Yena leaned forward, grabbing Eunjin's phone to happily type in her phone number.

how we feeling abt yena 🤩
did u guys notice anything strange 👀

this is random but i'm kinda curious. how long have you guys stanned nct dream?
for me i found out abt them in early 2018 from the boss mv and then i found out about nct 2018 as a whole and at the time touch and go had been released and i literally fell in love with the dreamies. when i tell u guys yuta's smile in the touch mv made me so giddy i'm not even kidding 😭