kiss me, leave me + ljn

consequences

JENO
you were right

JAEMIN
what?

JENO
you were right about everything
go ahead and gloat
seen 11:00pm

incoming call from
JAEMIN

JAEMIN
"what happened?"

JENO
"i hurt her, jaemin. what else?"

"what did you do?"

"i brought her to the carnival, but nari was there too and eunji saw her kissing me."

"fuck."

"yeah."

[...]

"jeno?"

"hm?"

"i'm not going to gloat, dude. i'm here for you."

"i don't know what to do, jaemin."

"talk to her again, in a couple of days maybe."

"yeah, she probably needs time to process all of the stuff i just dumped onto her."

"what stuff?"

"the company merger and the bet."

"yeah. shit, dude, i told you
not to do this."

"i know."

—

a series of knocks came from his door. he looked up from his phone, "come in.".

his mother peeked her head in, looking at jeno. he nodded his head, "what's up?".

"i just wanted to check up on you.", she said, closing the door behind her and walked towards him, taking a seat at the end of his bed. she cocked her head to the side slightly, "so, how are you?".

jeno sighed, "could be better.".

silence fell over them, as his mother looked around his room, spotting the mochi plushie sitting on his desk chair. she smiled, "where did you get that from?".

he looked over at the plushie, smiling slightly as the memory of eunji flashed through his mind. "from the carnival.", he answered, taking his eyes off the plushie. and just as quickly as his smile appeared, it vanished from his face as he remembered what he did.

"jeno," his mother started, gently placing her hand on his knee. he looked up at her, "yes?".

she inhaled deeply, patting his knee, "i'm sorry. for putting you through this. i should've thought about you more. we should've thought about you more.".

he looked to the side.

"i thought you would want to know that nari called your father a while ago.", she continued. his ears perked up.

"she asked your father to take that clause out of the agreement.". he looked at his mother, relieved to hear the news, "so that clause is gone?".

his mother nodded. jeno exhaled deeply, a small smile slowly forming on his lips.

—

JENO
hello

NARI
hi jeno

JENO
thank you
for doing that

NARI
jeno, i am sorry

JENO
for what

NARI
for hurting you
i'm sorry
and i know that you don't want this anymore
and i'm not going to force you into anything
i respect your choices and your decisions

JENO
thank you for that
it really means a lot to me

NARI
consider this my parting gift to you, jeno

JENO
thank you, nari
seen 12:04am

—

it has been a week and eunji has been ignoring jeno more than ever. he couldn't expect her forgiveness, not after what he had done to her.

"cheer up, buttercup.", haechan said, taking a seat next to the boy.

he sighed, feeling frustrated at himself and at the situation. "why did i do this?", he asked, ruffling his hair.

"pride, ego, more pride?", haechan listed nonchalantly while licking his ice cream cone. the two boys sat in silence, watching the trees sway gently in the wind.

"y'know, if you had just thought about her for a second, this probably wouldn't have happened.", haechan stated bluntly. "i didn't even get the chance to explain myself to her.", jeno responded.

"jeno, you're not going to be able to for a while.", haechan said. jeno looked at him, feeling helpless, "why not? why can't she just listen to me?".

haechan looked at the boy, "it's not about you, jeno. it's about her and what she needs right now. she's been through shit before you came along and you really hurt her by doing this. even if your feelings are genuine, she doesn't owe you any of her time to hear you out.".

jeno sighed. haechan is right.

he just has to wait.