KILL THIS LOVE | JENLISA

Chapter 99

Jennie

I shook my head, steadying myself. Any bouts of post-traumatic stress disorder will have to wait, I told myself jokingly, as I glimpsed at the stack of books that had to be all accounted for and arranged. An agonizingly tedious hour and a half of systematizing and lining up books later, I was finished at last, putting the last hard jacketed copy into place on a wooden rack.

I could feel the little beads of sweat rolling down my neck, trickling onto the nooks of my back and collarbones. I stretched lazily, feeling the muscles pulsate as I flexed my stiff arms.

The door to the bookstore was suddenly opened, making me sink my hands down by my side quickly, tearing my gaze towards the direction of the door. My eyes almost widened.

"Mino?"

There he was. I hadn't seen him at all in the two weeks since we had our little disagreement.

"Hey." He muttered passively, not making any sort of eye contact with me. With no words spoken further, he quietly walked over to the Classical Literature section. I was thrown off by his demeanour to say the least. I couldn't figure out why he was being so cold suddenly. As I worked on working up the courage to go up to him, I saw him walking over to the counter. Wordlessly, he put a book on the wooden table, along with some money.

"What are you doing?" I asked forthright.

"Buying a book." He deadpanned.

"No, I mean, what are you doing not answering my texts or calls, ignoring me in class and now pretending like I don't exist?"

Finally he drew his eyes up to mine, "What do you want me to say Jen? It's all cool? Not to sound pansy but you kind of did hurt my feelings."

With a vexed inhale of breath, I began candidly, "I am sorry Mino, I really am; I shouldn't have said what I said. I... I was just having a bad day, I was stressed and then you said that stuff and it got to me, which is not your fault. I will apologize a million times if that's what it takes to make this right." I paused to breathe, "You're my only friend Mino."

He stared at me for a second, "Damn it." He mumbled, sighing. "Okay. But an apology won't cut it."

My eyes sparkled, "Whatever you say."

"How about.. you help me study for the exams."

"Done." I smiled ear to ear, happy to have my friend back. Before I knew it, I was pulled into a spine crushing hug. I couldn't help but bury my face into the back of his neck. This was my home. As I pulled away, my eyes met his bright blue ones.

'You do know he has the biggest crush on you right?' Hanbin's words came cascading back into my mind. Did he?

I quickly broke away from the hug, lowering my gaze, tucking a loose strand of hair behind my ears.

"Jen?" Mino began, still looking at me.

"What?" I questioned gingerly, heart thudding against my chest.

"Uh.. the book."

I looked up immediately, "Oh, right. Yeah, just a second." I billed it quickly, handing it over to him. Wanting to change the atmosphere of uneasiness, I began, "So, The Picture of Dorian Gray? I didn't know you read the classics." I motioned towards the book in his hands. "I didn't know you read."

Mino snickered, "I was watching television yesterday and the Colin Firth movie came on and I thought it was pretty damn interesting. So I just.. I don't know, thought I'd check out the book."

"Good choice." I smiled plainly. Suddenly, as if remembering something, Mino glanced at his phone.

"Oh shit, it's 5:30pm already, I got to be somewhere." He started heading out, "I'll text you Jen."

I muttered a soft goodbye, and looked at the clock for myself. I too had somewhere to be.