kiss me, leave me + ljn

the bet

jeno lands in his bed, looking up at the white ceiling. he let out a dry chuckle, so this is what my life as come to.

he sighed, sitting upright and raised his phone to his eye level, fixing his hair while using his phone as a mirror.

message from
JAEMIN: come over, we're watching the game tonight.

jeno ruffled his hair and stood up from his bed, making his way to his closet to grab a leather jacket before heading out of his house. just as he touched his door handle, he heard voices whispering from the other side of the door.

"how could you let him speak to you that way?"
"honey, he's just stressed, that's all."
"he can't be disrespecting you like this. we're still going to carry out this deal."
"does he have to be a part of it?"
"yes."
"but-"
"it's for his own good."

jeno's grip on the door handle tightened, veins popping out from his skin. he scolwed, pulling the door open. his eyes travelled up from the ground to meet those of his parents. they stare at him, his mother startled while his father had an unreadable expression etched across his face.

jeno's heart palpitated aggressively against his ribcage, his hand gripping his jacket as his breathing became heavier and heavier by the second. all the words he wanted to say, all the thoughts that consumed him late at night, all the emotions he felt; they were all going to explode, waiting at the tip of his tongue. he could feel it.

he looked at his father, expression still unreadable. at that moment, his phone vibrated against his leg, pulling him out of his anger and rage. he inhaled sharply, eyes darting between his parents.

"i'm going to jaemin's.", with that, he shuts his door and walks down the stairs towards the front door.

—

he knocked on jaemin's door and then proceeds to open it himself. the whiff of instant noodles and convenience store foods filled his nostrils, making his stomach growl uncontrollably. he walked towards the kitchen, the voices of his six friends getting louder and louder as he inched closer.

"look who's here!", haechan announced with a sing-song voice as jeno stepped foot into the kitchen. the boys greeted him with cheers laughter, pretending that he's a famous person who had just entered the house after winning a grand prize.

the group spent the next couple hours eating, watching the game and joking around with one another, allowing jeno's mind to feel at ease, his smile never once leaving his face.

as they settled down on the couch in jaemin's living room, renjun cleared his throat, "so, how are you going with the bet?". mark's eyes darted between all the boys, not knowing what was going on. "wait, what bet?", mark asked, scratching his head. haechan shook his head, "bro, this bet has been going on for a week now. how are you still aware of it?".

"well, i'm sorry i had exams to study for! i wasn't gonna flunk my exams cause of some bet!", mark retorted.

"calm down," chenle started before looking over at jeno wearily, not knowing if jeno would feel upset from talking about it. jeno nodded his head slightly at chenle, giving him the green light to start explaining. "well, as we know, nari cheated on jeno a month ago. we were talking about it after and renjun made a joke about how jeno could not pull any girl anymore since he was cheated on, and that turned into a bet."

"basically," renjun chimed in, "if jeno gets another girl to confess her feelings to him in within the next two months, jeno wins. but if jeno confesses first or if the girl doesn't like him back, he loses and we win."

"what's the prize?", mark asked.

"jeno sacrificing his pride when we win would be enough of a prize.", haechan states, jokingly wiping a non-existent tear off his face.

"oh, you're definitely not gonna get that satisfaction.", jeno flashed a cheeky grin at his friends.

—

JAEMIN
dude

JENO
what

JAEMIN
why are you doing this?

JENO
its just a bet
its not that serious

JAEMIN
it is that serious, jeno

JENO
how so?

JAEMIN
youre doing what nari did to you

JENO
no im not
and i am not like nari in any way

JAEMIN
sure youre not
seen 12:03am

—

"j-junho...", eunji stuttered. her left hand resting on the wall adjacent to her as her right hand gripped onto her chest. she could feel her heart palpitating against her ribcage, as if it was going to jump out of her body any second.

her eyes started to fill with tears but she continued to look straight at junho and his group of friends.

"what?", he asked her, his face expressionless. her words were caught in her throat, she was struggling to breathe, trying to comprehend what she overheard.

junho rolled his eyes and scoffed, "you're so dumb, eunji.". he slowly walked towards her, every single step he took made eunji's breath hitch, her body feeling hot and cold at the same time.

"let me spell it out for you. my friends and i were wondering, how easy it would be for me to get what i want from out of you," he took a step.

"it shouldn't be that hard, right?", another step.

"so i tried.", another step.

"and you wanna know what i found out?", he stopped right in front of eunji. his face inches away from hers, his piercing gaze making eunji tremble. "you were so easy. so fucking easy, eunji. i didn't even have to try and you fell for me."

"b-but, you said you loved me..", eunji mumbled. junho scoffed and pushed eunji's shoulders, making her fall back. she closed her eyes, awaiting the impact from the fall, but it never came. she opened her eyes to see her body in junho's arms.

"i wasn't in it for love. i just wanted sex. and you gave that to me on a silver platter. you were just a bet ti me. so, thanks for the memories, you slut.", with that, junho pulled his arm out from under her, causing her to fall straight onto the concrete floor. he spat on her before turning around to join his friends.