war of love, jeno

chapter forty

"Feels like fate."

Jeno chuckled sadly, a sudden pained feeling hitting him hard in the chest as he continued petting the cat sitting in his lap. "What do you mean by that?"

Eunjin shrugged, her eyes moving from looking at Seol to Jeno, "like right now, you know? We were paired and became friends and- wait."

Jeno nervously straightened his back, not expecting the sudden halt as Eunjin tilted her head while staring at him. "What's wrong?"

"Do you consider us friends? I don't want to sound weird if you don't consider us-"
"Yes, of course."

"Ah," she nodded, "that's a relief. But like I was saying, we're in a class full of students and somehow got paired but technically we've been indirectly interacting for a while. It's weirdly cool."

"Weirdly cool?" Jeno laughed. "Wow, so much for a friendship, huh?" he said, looking at Bongsik.

"No, you know I didn't mean it that way," Eunjin laughed, gently smacking him on the shoulder. "I just mean that it's weird how we were paired up but not like a bad weird? A good... kind? Sorry, I don't know what I'm saying anymore."

Jeno shook his head as he looked back at her with a smile, "I'm kidding, don't worry. I know what you mean. And yes, I do agree, it is a weird cool. But I enjoy it."

Eunjin smiled, "yes, me too."

"Don't know whether I'm happy to be back at school or not," Eunjin said to herself, shaking her head as she stood in line to grab food.

Her indecisiveness kicked in as she scanned each of the food options in front of her. Truthfully, she wasn't very hungry but she knew she needed to eat something after having already skipped breakfast.

"A sandwich will do, won't it?" she asked herself, grabbing one of the packaged ham sandwiches. She stepped out of the line and took a glance around the cafeteria room, her lips pouted slightly.

None of the others had classes today so she didn't really know who else to sit with. It was beginning to overwhelm her when someone tapped on her shoulder. She smiled seeing the familiar face.

"Looking for somewhere to sit? How about you sit with me?" Eunjin wordlessly nodded as she followed behind Yena to an empty table.

"So how's your day been going?" Yena asked, setting down her tray and picking up her chopsticks.

The dark-haired girl across from her shrugged, "very draining, quite frankly. But I'm happy to be out of bed again. It wasn't even a full week that I was stuck in bed but it felt like the walls were closing in on me at every second. It felt so lonely and empty."

Yena hummed, "I know what you mean. Dancing is a big passion of mine and I love every second of it until I end up getting hurt somehow and have to sit out for a while until I recover. Those are always my worst days. The fact of knowing that no matter how bad I want to get up, I can't. Because I know that I may be hurt but by sitting out, I'm recovering. If I were to just ignore that and dance before I got better then I'd up the possibility of being hurt even longer."

"I know what you mean," Eunjin nodded. "So many times I just wanted to get up, walk, run, do literally anything but I was barely able to move my leg for the first day without crying in pain. I definitely prefer being healthy over physical injuries."

"Same," Yena smiled.

The two fell into a comfortable silence for a few seconds before Yena's phone began ringing. Eunjin could see the girl's eyes widen slightly as she read the name.

"I'm sorry, I'll be right back."
"Don't worry, it's okay."

Eunjin sat silently for a couple of minutes, scrolling aimlessly through Instagram while taking small bites of her sandwich every now and then.

Yena finally returned just as Eunjin took her last bite, her face now switched from happy to apologetic. "I'm really sorry, my parents just called and said my brother is home for a visit so they want-"

"-you to go home. I understand. I actually just finished so it's all good. I hope you have a nice time with your family," Eunjin smiled.

"I will, thanks. Have a good rest of your day, see you later," the younger girl rushed, picking up her tray before leaving.

Eunjin was the opposite, slowly standing up as she picked up her trash and threw it in a nearby trash bin.

She was alone for a few minutes on a bench while waiting for her next class when the screen of her phone flashed to show a new incoming call from Jihan. "Hey, Ji, what's-"

"Eunjin, I'm in the parking lot. Hurry and come get in. We have to leave immediately."

Eunjin's eyebrows furrowed at the sound of Jihan's panicked voice. "Okay, I'm on my way now. What happened?"

"The cops just called and said someone broke in."

was writing this chapter and abt to post it yesterday (LIKE I WAS SUPPOSED TO) but i fell asleep during proofreading and when i woke up my phone was dead so i completely forgot about publishing it 😐

anyways on a happier note, finally some well deserved jeno and eunjin content! did we ever decide on a ship name?

i can't remember lmao but anyways hope y'all enjoyed 😎 can't believe we're already over halfway done with this book. WHICH MEANS! more drama is coming your way 😏 i'm kind of excited to write some stuff.