Colors || Lee Jeno

Chapter 14 | "calm down"

Hyewon still felt heavy from her encounter with Xiaojun last night. She'd been thinking of what he said all the way until she fell asleep.

I miss you.

She shook her head, forcing the thoughts away as she looked over her outfit one last time. Jeno was going to pick her up and he told her to dress for something active, whatever that meant. So there she was with a red athletic crop top and a pair of leggings, her hair pulled back into a tight ponytail with light makeup on.

She decided to leave her knives at home this time, trusting that whatever Jeno had planned would be safe for her as she left her room and skipped downstairs.

After grabbing a bottle of water and shoving it into her backpack, she headed to the door, only to hear someone clear their throat from behind her.

"Going out again?" The voice asked as she turned to see Xiaojun there with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Uh yeah, I'll be back later though." She said anxiously, knowing that Jeno was waiting for her outside.

"Please don't." Xiaojun said quietly.

"Don't what?"

"Don't go."

She let out a sigh, shaking her head slightly as he looked up at her with sad eyes.

"Xiaojun.... I'm sorry but I have to move on. It's not fair to me or you to try and force something that isn't right."

"We could try..."

"No we can't, Xiaojun. I know it's hard to not have you colors yet, especially with our history, but it's not fair to either of us to try and be together when it's not meant to be." She said gently. "I have to go, I'm sorry..."

With a deep sigh, she turned and walked out of the house, having to physically rip her body out of the building to avoid running over to her ex and just holding him. She knew it wasn't fair to give him hope where there shouldn't be any, and it wasn't fair to Jeno either.

Or to herself. She had a chance at perfection with Jeno and she just had to start moving on and letting herself be open to it.

"Morning, Hyewon." Jeno said with a grin as she slid into the passenger seat of his car. "How's your morning been?"

"Honestly? Not great. I had an awkward encounter with my ex last night and then again this morning." She said with a sigh.

"Oh.... Are you alright? We don't need to do anything today if you wanted some time alone." He said quickly, turning to her with concerned eyes.

"No no let's do something, I could use the distraction snd I'm excited to see what you have planned for today." She replied enthusiastically, seeing his face light up again.

"Well, it's not exactly me who planned it." He said, starting the car and pulling away. "This was Taeyong and Johnny's idea."

"Oh? Am I going to be seeing the guys again?"

"Yes ma'am you are, they wouldn't shut up about you yesterday." He said with a playful roll of his eyes. "No one has brought a girl to the house in years."

"Really? Do any of your other members have their colors yet?" She asked, intrigued.

"Yeah, some of the older members. Taeyong and Taeil's girlfriends are both working overseas right now with Johnny's girl in Chicago. Yuta's lives in Japan but she comes to visit a lot." Jeno explained. "I'm sure you'll meet Jaehyun's girlfriend soon, they tend to go out more than come over since she doesn't love the mafia stuff but she's definitely going to want to meet you. Doyoung's girl still doesn't approve of the mafia thing so we've only met her once."