Touch || Lee Jeno

three.

"Thanks—" Jeno caught the ice pack Renjun tossed his way. 

He pressed it against his cheek, feeling the cold sensation numb his face. He looked over at his two friends who were also busy treating their own wounds. 

"Seriously—" Jeno dropped the ice pack on his lap in frustration— "what were you thinking, picking a fight in school?" 

Across the room, Renjun looked down in silence. Jeno turned to Donghyuck, who gave him an apologetic look. 

"I'm sorry, man, Jinwook and his guys just get on my fucking nerves." Donghyuck tried to explain. 

There was a moment of silence. Jeno placed the ice pack back on his cheeks, feeling both annoyed and sympathetic. He understood what Donghyuck must've felt— Jinwook was a certified asshole— but they were doing so well ignoring Jinwook and distancing themselves from his mess. Now word will get around, and he just knew avoiding their gang will be slightly more tricky. 

The silence was interrupted by the sound of the sliding clinic door. Jeno looked up to see his other friend, Jaemin, enter the clinic. Jaemin had barely entered the clinic but was already spouting words, eyebrows furrowed in annoyance. 

"You guys are seriously— I passed Clinic 2 and Jinwook looked pissed. Jinkyu probably already knows about this. We were finally getting him off our backs, but you guys just had to beat up his little brother, huh?"

"That asshole deserved it!" Renjun protested, anger in his eyes. "Seriously— how long are we going to let that garbage excuse of a human being talk shit to us like that?"

Donghyuck nodded in agreement, "He was unhinged man, talking shit about Renjun's mom— that's a new low."

"He was baiting you," Jeno sighed. "There's only so much Jinkyu could do to keep us in his radar. We hadn't done anything that he could use as an excuse to get at us. He had no choice but to leave us alone. Now we just gave him something to use to rope us back in."

Jeno's words finally sank in with the rest of the boys. 

"Fuck—" Renjun kicked a chair out of frustration, sending it toppling to the ground. 

"Alright," Jaemin broke the tension, clasping his hands together, "what's done is done. Let's just go now, or we'll be late for our next class." 

The boys groaned as they got up, Renjun and Donghyuck leaving the clinic first. Jaemin passed a medicine cabinet on his way out, but not before rummaging through its contents until he found what he was looking for.

He turned to Jeno. "You've been getting those headaches, right?"

"Yeah— why?"

"Here—" Jaemin handed Jeno an entire box of painkiller sachets.  

Jeno rolled his eyes playfully, still taking the painkillers anyway. He exited right behind Jaemin; as soon as they walked out of the clinic, he noticed a girl waiting just by the door. He gave her a look, and so did Jaemin, but he didn't pay her any attention. 

Jeno was about to walk away when—

"Excuse me?"

A soft voice called out, and he couldn't help but turn around. Sure enough, the girl was staring at him. Her small, brown eyes caught his attention first. They were curious, almost innocent. Her straight, black hair was neatly tied into a ponytail. 

He stood there, feeling a weird sense of familiarity as they looked at each other.

The girl stood there, just as awkwardly. She fidgeted with her fingers before speaking up once again.