all in › nct dream

CHAPTER 12

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"I've come to know that what we want in life is the greatest indication of who we really are."

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"Excuse me! Coming through!" Jisung yelled as he ran down the busy hallways of Ilseong Academy, he had heard about the news and decided to head towards his friends as soon as the break began.

People were beginning to gamble here and there and Jisung had to reach him before it was too late. "There you are! I've been looking for you guys everywhere!" He panted once he reached the classroom. Seeing as nobody even dared to spare a glance at him, he raises a brow in confusion, walking towards where a group of students were huddled together. There were words being flown in the air from one corner of the room to the other, it seemed like everyone was intrigued by what was happening.

Not getting any idea of what was happening at all, Jisung pushed past through the crowd and made his way to the front where his eyes rounded in shock, lips parting a bit as he stared at a familiar blond boy's back.

Jaemin was staring down at his previously clean desk. Despite his head not moving an inch, his eyes moved from each corner of his desk, almost burning holes onto every insult vandalizing the wooden table. His jaw clenched as he darted his gaze on the main attraction on his table. The infamous black collar made perfectly for him.

He wasn't able to pay back his debt on time. Getting help from his parents were no use considering the fact that they had left the Na family household for some unannounced business trip a few months ago. They left him in charge and since then there wasn't a single phone call to even ask him how he was doing. But parental love was the least of Jaemin's concerns when he had a debt to pay.

"Put it on!" Someone hollered from the growing crowd. Everyone seemed to be enjoying this but him.

"What's taking you so long? Put the collar on!"

"You know, they won't stop unless you put it on." Jaemin lifts his head up from the desk at the voice, seeing Donghyuck now standing in front of him with his arms crossed. He watches as the silver-grey haired boy picks up the collar, twirling it with his fingers. "Is this it?" Donghyuck questioned, ridiculing the item a bit. He didn't quite understand the life inside Ilseong Academy as a servant yet so entering the classroom and seeing everyone fussing about Jaemin getting a collar was nothing to him.

As the male touched the embossed name on the collar, Jaemin scowls and snatches it. Not one bit surprised, Donghyuck watches as the blond male attaches the collar around his neck. Even if Jaemin tried so hard to conceal it, Donghyuck could tell that he dreaded every second of it.

It didn't take long for the hype to die down and the crowd to dissipate to their own agendas. Donghyuck sat down on the desk beside Jaemin's admiring the vandalism other students did on the desk.

Well, that's gonna take a while to clean.

Jisung approached the two, glancing at Jaemin for a split-second as the male began to scrub the writings on his desk away. "Have you heard?" He began, looking at the Lee expectantly.

"Heard what?"

"About your cousin."

Donghyuck chuckled, a sly grin on his face. "Oh I definitely heard. I was just there this morning." He then turned to Jaemin, reaching out to nudge him. "Clean it up later. Let's go get something to eat."

Jaemin stopped for a moment, looking at Donghyuck with cold eyes. He wanted to bark back, to say something mean, but with the collar wrapped around his neck his tongue was frozen. He shook his head, hoping that the boy would leave him alone if he stayed silent and focused back onto cleaning his desk. Donghyuck sighed and shrugged his shoulders. He never really planned on treating the blond like garbage. That is up to his mood but he was a tad bit serious about making him his friend.