Take It Slow (NCT U's TEN)

Chapter Sixteen.

Chittaphon ignored the stares that his fellow students were giving him as he stormed past them. It seemed almost as though the news of Jaehyun's and his heated argument was following him through the hallways, each person looking at him for a second or two too long.

Marching into his registration room, he sat down in the corner on the little plastic chair, mentally wishing he could just go back to his hostel room.

Eventually, the rest of his registration class found their way into the stuffy room, the volume increasing steadily as each student walked in. He couldn't shake the feeling that they were all talking about the argument.

Unsurprisingly, the rest of his school day went horrifically slow. Every lesson felt like it had lasted for five hours, and each break time felt as though they were all lunch hours. He had also accidentally passed Jaehyun in the halls a few times, the pupils surrounding seemingly slowing down and watching each time they were near to each other. When the final bell for the day sounded, he almost physically jumped for joy.

He was happy to be able to go to his room and sleep for the rest of the day, until he remembered he didn't particularly want to see Jaehyun any more than necessary. So, after walking sluggishly to the school gates, he turned the opposite way from the hostel's direction, and instead began walking to Skye's.

Skye's day hadn't been all too eventful, either. She had stayed in bed all day, watching films on her laptop and occasionally checking her phone. It wasn't until twenty minutes after school had ended that she had to get up to answer the doorbell.

She opened the door expecting to see Chittaphon. Instead she stood face to face with Jaehyun.

"Skye, hey." He said quietly. For a few seconds she stayed silent.

"Hi," was all that managed to escape from her mouth.

"Can I come in? So we can talk? I heard some pretty crappy rumours today and I just wanted to clear some up," he spoke. Skye wanted to let him in so badly, an ounce of hope that maybe he didn't cheat.  Perhaps Aria had seen it wrong. Yuta and Hansol might've misread the situation, too. But she just knew that it had happened, no matter what his excuse was.

"I'm sorry, but no. I'm not in the mood to talk," she replied, looking down. Jaehyun sighed deeply.

"Skye, nothing hap-" he began, shortly cut off by Skye.

"Nothing happened, right? You didn't kiss some other girl, did you? Yuta, Hansol, Aria and probably a lot of others mistook you for another guy, didn't they? You were with me for the entire night, weren't you?" She questioned again and again, making him feel vulnerable. His shoulders slacked and he started playing with his fingers.

"I'm sorry, Skye," he murmured. Skye shook her head.

"That's not good enough," she told him. He paused for a moment.

"What else can I say? Some cringey 'I love you more than anything else in this world' thing?" He asked. Skye almost chuckled.

"No, that wouldn't work either. I think 'good bye' suffices for now," she answered.

"Skye, no. You dont mean that," he stated. Skye frowned.

"Can we talk another time? My parents will be home soon and I'm not in the mood to argue," she asked. He let out a frustrated sigh and nodded his head slowly.

"Fine. See you around," he agreed, turning on his heel and walking away from the door.

Skye closed the door as soon as he'd left, pressing her forehead to the door after closing it. She sobbed silently, knowing her parents wouldn't be home for hours and that all she wanted was to talk to someone other than him.