war of love, jeno

chapter twenty-nine

"Good morning."

"I feel like dying."

Jihan sighed, propping open the door some more to walk through. She smiled sweetly as she walked towards Eunjin's bed, placing down some breakfast for her.

"Please don't," the younger girl groaned in displeasure as Jihan walked towards the windows.

It had become a "tradition" for the older girl to come in every morning and open up the large windows. But as of now, Eunjin wanted them closed.

She originally only left her room for school and work. She had her own bathroom attached to her room and also had a mini-fridge with a few snacks. But now, here she was not being able to move without putting her entire body in pain, the perfect excuse to just stay in bed.

But it felt different this time. She had always had the choice to go out or stay in bed; now she was bound to the bed by invisible chains that weighed her down entirely.

She felt like she was in shock.

"You know, I was finally starting to feel like I was coming alive again. Starting school, working, finally socializing. And now I'm back in bed," she scoffed a laugh, shaking her head.

Jihan eyed her sadly, taking a seat at the end of her bed. "It's okay if you need time-"

"No, what I need to is to be able to walk again without people huddling around me to make sure I don't fall like a two-year-old learning to balance itself," Eunjin blurted.

A second passed before she sat up, frowning. "Sorry," she sighed, "I... I don't know where that came from," she said honestly.

"I just," she threw herself back unhappily, "I hate not being able to do anything. Even before this, you, and Jisoo, and Yuna were always following me like I was a lost puppy. And I appreciate you guys looking out for me and all but I just wanted to finally feel like I could do something by myself, for myself."

Jihan smiled, gently placing a hand over the blanket covering her leg. "I understand. It's okay, really. I'm sure Jisoo and Yuna would understand too. When you heal, I promise, we'll give you some more space. Okay?"

"HELLO?"

The two girls' eyes widened hearing their front door being pushing open, a picture frame sounding like it had fallen off of the wall.

"I picked it up! It's not broken, we swear!"

"What do you two think you're doing coming over and breaking stuff?" Jihan laughed, sticking her head out of Eunjin's door. Her breath got caught in her throat as made eye contact with someone.

"What is it?" Eunjin asked, trying to sit up.

Her question was answered when three bodies walked into her room instead of two, one of the people catching her off guard.

"Chaeyoung?" she called excitedly, opening her arms wide to welcome the girl.

Chaeyoung smiled brightly, setting down her backpack as she walked towards Eunjin and hugged her tightly.

"Ow, arm- arm- arm."

Chaeyoung immediately backed away, apologetic. "Right, I forgot you got injured, sorry. So, how's uh, how are you?"

Eunjin smiled, "could be better. Seriously better. But anyway, what are you doing here? It's a random Thursday and shouldn't you be in school?"

Chaeyoung nodded, "well actually I'm moving back to Korea. The school programs are a lot better here, anyways."

Eunjin nodded, although she was still a bit confused. She hadn't actually known what school Chaeyoung had been enrolled in and thus couldn't really tell which school had better programs but she questioned why her friend would switch schools a few months in rather than waiting until next year.

But she didn't say anything to the others.

"I'm kinda hungry, do you guys have anything to eat here?" Chaeyoung asked, rubbing her stomach as it grumbled quietly.

Jihan smiled apologetically, "no, I'm sorry. Jin and I have been too busy to go grocery shopping lately. We can go eat somewhere though?"

"What about Eunjin?" Yuna asked, jumping onto the bed beside the said girl.

Eunjin smiled, "you guys can go without me. I've got a lot of stuff I need to do and need to speak with my project partner anyways."

"You sure?"

She nodded, carefully sitting up and ignoring the pain in her limbs. "Go on, text me when you get to wherever you're going. Just make sure to bring me some food home too."

"Wouldn't dream of forgetting about it," Jisoo laughed, leaning down to give the girl a hug. The others followed, giving their friend a hug before leaving.

As the door pulled shut, Eunjin listened to every sound around her. She heard their voices slowly becoming quieter as they stepped through the house, the front door soon closing softly as their car engines outside started.

Soon enough they were gone and she was once again alone in her dark room just the way she liked it.

Picking up her phone, she dialed a familiar number. After a few rings, they picked up.

"Good morning."

"It is nearly one already."

Jaemin scoffed over the phone, "okay? It's like our own tradition now. I say good morning and you tell me it's not the morning."

Eunjin hummed, "right, right. I've called to tell you that you need to get your child, I'm starting to hate its guts."

Jaemin laughed on the other side of the phone, the sound of his car's engine starting sounding quietly in the background. "Why do you suddenly hate our child so much?"

Eunjin sighed, looking over to the corner of her room where the plastic doll laid. "I got in a little accident yesterday. Fair warning, the score has gone down to ninety-three because I let it cry and dropped it yesterday."

"Right, okay. So where would you like to meet up today, Madam?"

"Alright, so here's the thing," Eunjin started, "I can like barely walk so I'm going to need you to come to my house and pick it up."

nearly halfway through the book and the only scene we have of them together is jeno staring at eunjin with lovesick puppy eyes as he watches her get patched up after being stabbed

fun fact of the day: i was gonna make a love triangle and have jaemin address eunjin as m'lady because u know, miraculous ladybug and stuff bc i absolutely love that show but i've decided to go against it and wait to use it for another story ;)