DIVINITY ♛ LEE JENO

THIRTEEN

Morning came again and before he knew it, Jeno was woken up right when he fell asleep. The sun beamed through his curtains and he woke up in a sweat again. This time, it wasn't because of a nightmare, but because he snoozed off peacefully in the hoodie he threw on before his late night adventure. He shifted in his sheets before turning off the alarm on his phone, sluggishly making his way down the stairs.

Instead of the cat perched on one of the bar stools, it was the Prince. Yangyang didn't pay mind to the new presence, distracted by a YouTube video on his phone. Jeno didn't mind, knowing he wasn't necessarily up for another conversation this early in the morning with a Liu. He reached into the medicine cabinet, grabbing one of the last pills from the bottom of the bottle.

Yangyang finally looked up, his teeth shining at the sight. "General Lee. I feel like we haven't really talked much." he greeted him. Jeno spared him a quick nod, placing the pill on his tongue before washing it down with an entire cup of water. "Yep." Jeno gulped, letting out a rather loud burp afterwards. Of course, the Prince laughed loudly.

"Good one, dude." he shot him a look of approval. "You know, you're quiet. At least compared to the Lieutenant." Ah, Lieutenant Johnny Suh. Jeno raised his eyebrows, shaking his head as he reached into the fridge. "Everyone is quiet compared the my Lieutenant." he shrugged. A bowl of cereal would suffice for him in the morning, pouring his milk into the bowl.

"Milk first? That's criminal." Yangyang gawked, taking a bite of his own breakfast. Jeno's eyes lowered, eyeing the boy's plate. "I don't even know what you were trying to cook." he replied. It looked like a mix of mystery greens and poorly scrambled eggs. Yangyang scrunched his nose, playing with the poorly made meal with his silverware. "Let's just say cooking was never my forte." he sulked.

"Prince's never learned to cook?" Jeno raised an eyebrow. The other boy nodded, a smile creeping up on his lips. "You should see Mei-Mei though. She almost set the entire village on fire when she tried making stew." he chuckled in remembrance. There was something so juvenile about the royal man. He seemed even more bubbly than his sister, despite being a year older. Jeno couldn't bring himself to make an annoyed remark, or to not respond at all.

"I'll keep that in mind. Princesses can't make stew." he hummed, taking a big bite of his cereal. "You training today?" he asked the boy who was now immersed with whatever he was viewing on his phone. Yangyang shook his head, pausing the video. "Lieutenant Suh said we train on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays." he explained. Going easy on them, the General thought to himself. It was a Friday, thankfully the end of the work week. Even politicians have the weekends off.

"Have you ever heard of Zhong Chenle?"

Jeno looked up at the boy completely. He tilted his head, nodding it after he processed what he said. Yangyang's eyes widened, jumping up in place. "No way, bro. That's like my favorite YouTuber!" he exclaimed. Jeno was sure he would've woken up the other two by now with his volume, but he was glad he wouldn't have to go back upstairs to Meilin's room for the third time. "I've never really seen you in his videos before. He shows his friends Renjun and Minseo a lot though. You know them too?" he thought out loud.

Jeno rolled his eyes, but he couldn't help the smile arising at the thought of his friends. "Of course I know them. I used to live with them." he responded. At this point, Yangyang was starstruck. "You think you could get me like, I don't know, an autograph?" he beamed. Jeno couldn't hold in his laughter, shaking his head at the boy. "I promise you, Chenle is just as ordinary as the rest of us." he smiled, genuinely.

"Oh my goodness, do you also know Haechan?" Yangyang asked in a gasp. Ah, there it was. Haechan, the musical sensation whose career was still going on strong. Jeno hadn't seen him after his Asia tour, but he nodded of course. Yangyang's green eyes lit up in awe.

"Mei-Mei would freak! That's her favorite singer. She played his vinyls all the time back home. You know, she's not a fan of technology— but she made Ten smuggle a CD player on his trip back from Thailand so she could listen to his limited edition full length album." he explained. Jeno expected nothing less. Hyuck was a young adult heartthrob. Who knew he even had girls from secluded, technology free areas wrapped around his finger?

"Classic Hyuck." was all he replied with, the smile on his face softly remaining.

Soon enough, the Princess made her way down the stairs. Unsurprisingly, she was dressed in another dress, this time a sweater over her chest. The skirt of it still reached her ankles and her boots were still high and mighty. Jeno sighed, checking the time on his watch. "No time to eat, Princess." he walked towards the front door, slipping his sneakers on. Meilin frowned, putting a hand to her stomach. "I'm starving." she pleaded, but he already motioned her to follow him out the door.

"I promise you, Jisung getting angry is worse than an empty stomach." Jeno exaggerated, but he knew he wasn't lying. Meilin climbed into the passenger's seat, fumbling with the seatbelt once again. Thankfully, she heard the buckle click, relaxing into the leather that was heating up beneath her. She couldn't help frowning as she looked out the window, stomach grumbling underneath her sweater.

Jeno eyed her expression as he backed out of the driveway, hand next to her face on the seat. "Maybe if you woke up at a reasonable time, you would've had time to eat." he mumbled, earning an upset look from her. "I do wake up at a reasonable time. It's not my fault these meetings occur once the sun reaches the east." she sighed. Jeno furrowed his eyebrows at her awfully dated analogies. Sun reaching the east, what is this, the 1700s? "Plus, I was up late. I haven't had a good night's rest since I've set foot here." she added.

"That makes the two of us." Jeno replied, a yawn escaping his lips at the mention. Meilin snuck a glance at him for a moment, observing his awfully tired look that was tattooed on his face at this point. "Now, why were you up late last night?" she pondered, making his lips press into a thin line. They reached a stop light, but he still didn't bother to make eye contact.

"I wasn't tired." he shrugged. Meilin noticed he did that a lot. His shoulders always seemed to go up and down, and up and down. When they weren't shrugging, they were tense. "Yeah, sure. I thought fire shifter's energy depleted at night." she crossed her arms unconvinced. Jeno rolled his eyes slightly, keeping them on the road. "You ask a lot of questions, Princess." he hummed.

"Yes we've been over this." she mumbled. Before she could say anything else, the sound of her stomach begging for a crumb of food yelled underneath the fabric of her clothes. "My goodness, you're trying to kill me, General Lee." she exasperated. She flailed her arms to the side, sticking her tongue out the corner of her mouth and closing her eyes lazily.

"I.. need.. food..." she spoke dramatically, pretending to die. Jeno couldn't say he was amused, but impressed at how much energy she had to complain in the morning. He let out an annoyed sigh at her act, shaking his head at her childish behavior.

"Jeez, we'll get some food after the meeting." he grumbled. Meilin automatically composed herself, sitting up with a satisfied smile. He continued shaking his head, hands gripping the leather wheel. "We'd have to stop by the pharmacy first. You'll probably meet Mark Lee's fiancé." he mentioned, making her eyes light up at the sound. "Fiancé? I must congratulate him!" she cheered.

"I think you could do without." Jeno replied. Every time someone mentioned the wedding to Mark, he shut down the conversation quickly. No one could tell what the reason was. Maybe him and Miyeon's relationship was on the rocks— maybe he would mourn being an unmarried man too much. Both were unlikely. The conclusion they always came to was the depression he likely felt at the thought of his uncle not being present. The same depression that all of them felt about his passing every now and then.

Meilin sighed, catching a view of the river they rode along from the passenger's seat. She wondered how far it expanded and how deep it was. The sun reflected off it beautifully, lighting it up in a deep cerulean color. It somehow felt oddly familiar, like she had seen the sun reflect off of it in the same manner. How crazy of a thought, she tried convincing herself— yet she couldn't shake the image of her recurring dream.

thirteen— dramatics

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double update because this chapter is short and uneventful, more of a set up for other things

opinions on anything so far?? meilin?? jeno?? meilin AND jeno??