All Night Long - [L.JN]

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Look at my face it's not a game ~

Days and weeks passed, until it was a month after the party. A month since Jeno had last seen Hanbyeol.

The morning after that night he got up in his own car, feeling rather sore from sleeping uncomfortably. After their talk, they decided to enjoy the silence of the night, when the party finally ended and at last Jeno gave her his number. But she did not even dare to store it in her phone.

So a month passed with his friends trying to cheer him up, especially Jaemin and Yeeun, the girl from the party. Surprisingly, she was a dear friend of Hanbyeol and tried to convice her to contact him, in vain. So, she at least wanted to be there for the poor man.

Jeno was really down in the dumps and not even his friends' attempts could brighten his mood up. But Hanbyeol's letdown did not stop him from living his new life as a fully independent adult.

September arrived, and with it his job's first task; one of the many universities in Seoul wanted to restore their classic-looking building and Jeno was an expert in the field.
So, on the first monday of the month, he and his teammates went to talk with the principal and to inspect the university's conditions.

They got the measures from the map of the building and then went around the classrooms and the professor's offices. Jeno remembered that university's name, as it was the one in which Kim Jihan, Hanbyeol's dad, worked. Therefore, when his team arrived to the astronomy section, he expected to meet him. But, instead, he found his very own daughter there.

"Ms. Kim, do you want to make changes to your classroom or your office?" The team's leader asked, and she seemed unfazed by Jeno's presence. "No, thank you. The restoration is enough."

They finished with some notes about the structure of the rooms and their job for that day finally ended. Jeno was completely absent from the moment he entered the classroom, seeing Hanbyeol as an astronomy's professor, just as she dreamed.
He met her again, and so he knew they had hope.

He stayed in the classroom until everyone else left, leaving him alone with the woman, who didn't seem to mind his presence. She was actually ignoring him.

"We have to talk."

"We do not."

"Yes, we do. You hung me up."

"First time? Go cry about it with your friends."

"Why are you being so bitter? Let's just talk like adults."

Hanbyeol snorted with a half-smile, shaking her head as she turned to him. "Why are you being so persistent? Are you not tired of me?!"

"So that was your plan. Trying to tire me out. Yeeun told me, but I thought she was just exaggerating."

"So you are seeing her, uh? Why don't you just stop talking about me and instead think of knowing each other better? You would make a great couple." Hanbyeol retorted with bitterness, of which she had no control over. And she hated not being in control of her feelings.

"You are clearly jealous, but you still want me with another girl. Can you please stop this bullshit already and tell me what's wrong with me wanting you?!"

"I am telling you why. I cannot be with you when you will always think about the past, of how I left you twice without any reasonable explanation. And I do not know my future, the power I have over my life and my independence. I cannot live fearing to pain you more than I already did..."

"Kim Hanbyeol, stop worrying about everything in other people's lives." Jeno firmily said, a bit heartened by her full attention to his feelings; but it was time for her to worry about herself too.

"I... Are you not upset...?" She asked stunned and insecure, gazing at her shoes. "I'm not. I could never be upset with you." He stated with a small smile growing on his lips.

"But-"

"No 'buts', please. We are here, together. That's what matters. The future will come and we'll be ready."

Hanbyeol didn't seem fully convinced, but she still nodded. This time, however, she was tired to run. Tired to be unhappy.

"Should we... Start over?" She quietly asked, looking up at Jeno, who shook his head. "No. We shouldn't forget. But we can always start a new chapter of our book, called 'life'."

They smiled at each other, Hanbyeol holding back her laugh for the weird ending sentence.

"Is that from Mark?"

"Yeah."