Enemies | Lee Jeno NCT

chapter 27

"By the way, I don't think I asked you but what Uni did you sign up for?"

Jeno kept his gaze ahead and hummed, "Hmm, Busan University. What about you?"

"Oh my gosh." I groaned jokingly and he laughed.

"You mean, 'Oh yes!'" he mocked.
"I don't do that."
"Sure you don't."
"Shut up."
"Only if you make me."

I glared at Jeno who looked down at me to see if I was satisfied with his reply. Obviously not and never will be.

"If you get accepted, will you stay at the campus?" he asked.
"Hm.. I'd like to see what it's like for a month or so and if I like it, I'll stay."

He hummed and nodded in response before saying, "I'm staying there for the whole time."

"Well, I was thinking of doing that at first but at the same time, I wanna see my parents. You seem so sure with being away from yours."
"Yeah, I do actually. More than sure."

I turned my head to look up at him. He just stared ahead. Now, I didn't want to seem nosy but, did he mean what I think he meant?

"Uh, Jeno?" I slightly jumped up and waved my hand in front of his face.
"Yeah?"
"Uhm.. I don't know if I'm just taking it the wrong way but.. are you and your parents.. ok?"

The guilt in me started to rise once I saw him turn his face the other way, out of my sight. He didn't reply back so that only made me pull onto his arm out of compassion.

"I'm sorry!- I didn't mean to- Shit." I cursed myself under my breath and facepalmed.
"Nah it's alright. I should've not said anything."

Hearing his voice made my eyes shift to his face again, I actually felt bad. Was he gonna keep this all to himself?

"I'm sorry."
"For what? You didn't do anything."
"But still..."

The cold, serious toned Jeno. Could it be all because of his parents? Was it because of them he was always like that? I didn't even know if I could use the word 'was' for that, because he was really happy these days actually.

"My parents aren't the best people to know. They never showed me the parent love once when I was a kid," he began. I listened with full attention only on him, "They didn't even attend my graduation. But as I've gotten older, it's all grown on me, so I don't really care as much. Once I start Uni, I just want to leave that hell hole of a place and never go back."

I wanted to speak, but the words wouldn't come out of my mouth. I was speechless.

"And you know why I could never do my homework? Because of them. I couldn't even get time to study because I had to deal with their shit."
"Jeno..."
"Hm?" he turned to face me.

Even if we were walking in public, I leaned forward and gave him a hug. He seemed so taken aback that his hands didn't make contact with my torso, but then he started to pat my back, "You're really brave for staying strong. I mean, even if you're not on the inside, you're still on the outside. I really didn't expect this."

I pulled away to see his eyes widened. I didn't think I'd be hearing this from Jeno today.

"Thank you, Y/N," he began, showing me a smile, "I appreciate you as my friend."

I showed him a warm-enough smile and we carried on walking. It was quiet between the two of us. I was sort of processing the information that I didn't presume.

Then, I felt the urge to ask, "Do Haechan and Jaemin know?"
"Yeah, you're the third one to know."

I nodded slowly before thinking of something to ask, "What about the Jeju Island thing? When are you supposed to do it?"