never | h.rj

14.

"Hello, best friend of mine, whom I adore so much and appreciate," Mina sweetly spoke into the phone.

"What do you need, Mina?" Jeno replied tiredly, slightly annoyed by the call that woke him up an hour before his alarm was scheduled to go off. He mentally cursed himself for making his ringtone and his alarm the same sound.

It was five o'clock in the morning, they still had two hours before they needed to be at school. What could she possibly want right now?

"Well, you see, I kind of need a ride from the most reliable person I know...did I mention how much I appreciate your friendship?" she coaxed.

"Did you forget that you have a car?"

"No, Jeno, I did not forget," she said in a forced sweet tone. "The problem is, my car is at school already...but I'm not."

"How did that happen?" he questioned.

Mina figured he'd ask that and gladly took advantage of the opportunity that had just presented itself.

"Well, I would love to tell you about it on the way to school..."

"You can't ask one of your parents?" he suggested as a last resort.

"I wouldn't dare," she deadpanned. "They both have to go to work anyway."

"Ugh, fine, Mina. I swear the things I do for you," he rolled his eyes even though deep down he knew he didn't mind. He was really only bothered by how early she called.

"Ah yes, because you love me so," Mina sang happily before trudging into her bathroom to get ready for school.

~

After poorly avoiding Jeno's question twice, Mina finally caved.

"Fine, it was Renjun," she stated in defeat, looking down at the leather seat. She didn't even want to look at the shocked expression she knew was plastered onto his face.

"Huang Renjun? As in the guy you hate, that equally hates you?"

Mina closed her eyes, wincing at his words. But she didn't correct him either, she just nodded her head to confirm.

"Sorry Mina, but I don't believe you. What could possibly make him willingly give you a ride home?" he queried.

Apparently fragility.

"I was having car trouble and I had no one else to ask for help," she lied. "I had just finished volleyball practice."

Mina knew she could just tell Jeno about everything except the ice cream but there was something more than just "Renjun's reputation" that was keeping her from doing so. She thinks Jeno worries too much about her already, she didn't want to add to his stress.

"So, what are you going to do about it now?"

"Do about what?"

"Your car," he said slowly.

"Well, I have practice again today so I'll just ask Coach to help me out," Mina replied before climbing out of Jeno's gray Jeep. Leaving the boy in there, replaying the conversation in his head.

Jeno bit his lip. Something wasn't adding up and he could tell Mina was keeping something from him. He looked at his best friend through the window before getting out of the car himself.

After grabbing his book bag out of the backseat, Jeno spotted Renjun getting out of his car.

He jogged over to where he was calling his name to grab his attention.

"Yeah?" The boy replied, squinting from the sunlight attacking his eyes.

Jeno positioned himself in front of the sun to block the light from Renjun's eyes, earning a "thanks" from the shorter boy.

"What happened on Friday? With Mina?" He asked but continued once he saw the confused expression on Renjun's face.

"She told me you gave her a ride home but I feel like there's something she's not telling me."

Renjun's eyes drifted downward.

~

"How could you not tell me?"

"Tell you what?" Mina questioned the taller boy in a calm voice. She was just about to walk into the gym for practice when she felt a hand forcefully grab her arm. Mina could tell that the boy grasping her arm was upset by the amount of pressure she could feel from his hand.

"That you were in an accident," Jeno shouted angrily, unintentionally squeezing Mina's arm.

He saw her wince in pain and immediately let her go.

"I'm sorry..."

"It's alright, I probably deserved it," she stated, rubbing her arm. Jeno repeated his initial question. This time, in a softer tone that was still laced with anger.

"Who told you about that?"

"Renjun, I asked him this morning."

Mina stayed silent for a moment before deciding to move on.

"I didn't tell you because I didn't want you to worry about me any more than you already do."

"And it wasn't even an accident. I was tapped and then I was too shaken up to drive myself home so Renjun did," she continued, filling him in on the rest of the details.

"Mina, you still could've told me," Jeno said pitifully.

Mina looked up at him.

"That's why I didn't," she pointed a finger at his face. "That's the face you always make when you're worried and you're always making that face around me."

"You might think you're hiding it with insincere smiles, but I always see it in your eyes."

Jeno tilted his head, squinting his eyes. He wanted to protest and say it wasn't true but he couldn't. She was right. Mina has always made him worry. Even in the pool of emotions she elicits from him, there's always a drop of worry hidden in there somewhere.

Before Jeno could respond, the two were interrupted by Coach Nayeon coming out of her office.

"Mina, why aren't you dressed?" she asked giving her a disapproving look. "You're late for practice. I want you to get dressed now and give me fifteen laps around the whole court. If you're late again it'll be thirty."

"Yes ma'am," Mina replied, trying not to groan. If Coach heard that, she'd make Mina run forty today and fifty next time.

She quickly rushed to the locker room to change and accept her punishment.

~

"Ladies, you're dismissed," Coach announced. "Don't forget what I said, Mina."

Mina nodded her head in Coach's direction before walking outside to the parking lot.

The archery team was released at the same time as the volleyball team. Renjun noticed Mina walking in front of him and he was reminded of his encounter with Jeno earlier this morning. He was going to ask her about it but he could see how exhausted she looked when she turned around to open her car door.

He decided just to ask her tomorrow since they'll be working on the project anyway, then he watched Mina pull out onto the road and continued to watch as she drove down the street.

Only wanting to make sure she wasn't going to be a safety hazard to others on the road. Totally not trying to make sure she was okay.

Please forgive me for slow updates :(
I hope you enjoy this one, and please leave feedback and comments. My goal is to improve so I need to know what works and what doesn't.

Thank you so much for reading!! =)