war of love, jeno

chapter forty-two

Jeno stood in front of the laminating screen with squinted eyes, his mind in a haze as he tried to figure out a plan of attack.

His eyebrows were pulled down, lines creasing on his forehead as he looked at the multiple entrance points on the building.

His tense shoulders relaxed slightly when he felt a hand touch his shoulder. "You finally gonna ask for my help or should I keep watching from afar?"

Jeno sighed, "I don't need your help, Hyunjin. I just need to take a moment to think is all."

The older girl scoffed a laugh, taking a seat on the corner of the table. "I've never seen you looked more stressed. I'm assuming Mark isn't participating in this?"

Jeno shook his head, "he's got work with the older guys so I'm team leader again. Which means I've got to somehow figure out how to utilize all of the boys so we can get in and out safely."

Hyunjin nodded slowly, her eyes looking over the blueprint map as she came up with some type of plan. She was about to stand and share with Jeno when she felt something vibrate on the table.

"I think you got a message."

Jeno shrugged, still holding a hand under his chin as he tried to organize everything he was thinking about. "It's probably just Taeyong again. What does it say?"

Hyunjin's eyebrows creased as she looked over the message, an unknown contact number as the sender. "Um, Jeno? I might just be assuming stuff but I doubt you'd leave Taeyong's number unsaved."

"What do you mean unsaved?" Jeno asked, turning towards her to grab the phone.

He scanned over the new message trying to figure out if the number was recognizable. After a few seconds, he shook his head.

"What's the message say?"

"I told you I'd find another way. There's always going to be another way."

Hyunjin sat up after the first sentence, her eyes widening. "What the hell? Shouldn't you tell Taeyong about this?"

Jeno shook his head, "no way. He'll just try treating me like one of the kids again. I'll just get Chenle to look into it. If he finds someone bad behind it or something then I'll let him know."

Hyunjin tilted her head, "are you sure? This looks really serious and you already have a lot on your plate. You really need to take time for yourself too, Jeno."

The blonde boy shook his head, "Chenle is one of the smartest people in NCT. I'm telling you, he'll make sure everything is under control. Now, please, I need to get back to this map thing."

"Let me help before your head explodes. I'm not asking anymore," Hyunjin groaned.

Jeno finally gave in, throwing his head back as he passed his report paper over to her. "It's just one of our rivals trying to take out one of our supplies, nothing too important."

Hyunjin nodded, "great so how about you go through here on the left-wing while Renjun goes through the right-wing. Donghyuck and Jisung can watch from above while Jaemin and Chenle are ready nearby to help just in case something goes wrong."

Jeno nodded, rubbing his lips together. "Okay, yeah, that could work."

Hyunjin rolled her eyes, cockily tossing her hair back. "Of course it will, I'm the one who came up with the plan. You boys overthink too much. Just sprinkle in some of your own critiques and it should be perfect."

Jeno scoffed, shaking his head. He was about to say something when his phone vibrated once again. He expected it to be Taeyong but a small smile spread to his lips seeing the familiar girl's name.

"Who's got Lee Jeno smiling like a kid again?" Hyunjin teased, ruffling his hair. He backed away immediately, smacking her hand off.

His face alone expressed his displeasure for the action of affection. "None of your business is who, weirdo."

"Yeah, we'll see about that. Are they a girl?"

Jeno rolled his eyes, "yes, she's a girl. That's all you're getting from me, though. Now go away and help your boyfriend bag some drugs or something."

Hyunjin laughed, waving as she exited the room.

"Alright, so do you got a plan now?" Renjun asked, walking into the meeting room with his and Jeno's coffee in hand.

Jeno nodded, still staring at his phone as his thumbs typed quickly. "Yeah, Hyunjin helped me out. Let me message Eunjin real quick, go get the guys for me, please. We should get going soon."

Renjun took a step back but was hesitant to take another. "Jeno... are you sure you should still be communicating with her? You know we were instructed to stay away, specifically you, actually."

Jeno looked away from Renjun, no longer feeling like he could keep eye contact with the guilty feeling in his stomach.

"Yeah, I know, Renjun. Thank you. I don't really have control over this situation, though. I wasn't the one who purposely made us partners and we're already too far into our project."

Renjun nodded, his eyes scanning Jeno's sad face before he walked away.

He wasn't sure how Jeno was going to manage to get himself out of this.

technically i'm posting this like an hour and ten minutes before midnight so i met the deadline. so that's two updates on time this week 😎

i went to a water park amusement park type of thing yesterday but it was so hot that the parent was like scorching and now my feet are really dry and although it's already been over a day, my feet still hurt a lot.

my friends and i had to step in water like every few steps because none of us were told to bring scandals lmao. i don't think my feet have ever hurt this much and i'm still like physically tired.

it was really fun though. the place we went to is actually really popular so it was kinda scary being around so many people without a mask on for once in like over a year.

we also got catcalled by the same boys twice and that wasn't fun so ✋🏽😃