chain reaction | nct

03 - Lunch

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At lunch I sat in the corner of the cafeteria as I waited for Lily to come and save me from my social anxiety. The whole room was busy with people chatting and eating. As my eyes panned the room, I noticed a quieter table, full with the members of NCT. WinWin was wedged between Yuta and Taeil, looking uncomfortable as he stirred his food around his plate.

Taeyong was sat next to Jaehyun, opposite the trio. The others scattered around the wide table. There were 9 of them, all of them stunning, easily the most attractive people in the school. Heck, in the whole country.

As my eyes wandered over them all I made eye contact with Jaehyun. Oh crap - I hope he didn't think I was staring (which I was). I went to look at away instantly.

I blushed, thinking about his adorable dimples and looked down at my food, praying Lily would come any second now.

I went to look up again and noticed Jaehyun laughing. Was he laughing at me? Of course he was, he must think I'm pathetic.

I took out my phone,

1 new message

Lily: Sorry, can't make lunch, Lucas is taking me out! xo

Eunji: Have fun.

I was blunt on purpose, how could she ditch me like this? A tear threatened to brim out of my eye as I sat on my own for lunch. Again. I'm a fool for thinking this term would be different.

A pair of hands landed on the table in front of me, as I jumped from the shock.

"Oops, sorry Eunji. I didn't mean to make you jump."

I smiled faintly as I looked upon a smiling WinWin standing in front of me.

"Eunji, are you crying?" I looked up at his pained expression.

"Of course not, why would I be?"

I smiled, a bit more convincing this time.

"Ok, well me and the others were wondering whether you wanted to come and sit with us."

"No, no, I'm fine here, but thanks."

"Come on, pleaseeee, Eunji."

"WinWin, thanks but..." I was cut off by him lightly tugging me off my feet and pulling me over towards the rest of NCT.

I awkwardly stood in front of them all, their gazes fixed on me.

"WinWin, I'm fine..." I started to turn away to head back to my usual table in the corner but a voice stopped me.

"Guys, this is Eunji, she sits next to me in class."

They stared me down as I stood there not knowing what to do with myself. I'm pretty sure WinWin didn't ask the others whether I could sit with them.

"Come sit next to me and Mark, Eunji," a boy said, breaking the awkward silence, with a playful smile.

I looked over at where the voice came from, a young boy with chestnut hair.

"Or come and sit here if you want," Jaehyun said as he patted an empty spot next to him, smiling nicely with those darn dimples.

I hesitated before I went and sat between Haechan and Mark. I was definitely not going to sit next to Jaehyun, I couldn't handle it.

Jaehyun's hands went to his heart, pretending to cry over the fact that I didn't sit next to him. I looked away and glanced at the two boys sat in front of me. One had jet black hair and was smiling downwards shyly, the other had brown hair and reminded me of my older brother. I smiled sadly at the memory of him.

"Hi, I'm Johnny and this is Doyoung."

"Nice to meet you, thanks for letting me sit with you."

"Of course, anytime, it was actually WinWin who begged for us to let you sit with us, I think he likes you," Johnny said with a light chuckle. I uncomfortably shifted in my seat, I hoped he meant in a friend way.

"Anywayyy, I'm Mark," a nice boy with a red tinge to his hair said as he looked at me with his doe eyes.

"I'm Haechan and I think we should be best friends but don't tell Taeyong," I looked puzzled at the boy sat on the other side of me as he eagerly smiled back.

"Erm, sure, but why can't we tell Taeyong?"

"Well, it's..." Haechan was cut off when Johnny kicked him under the table and smiled at me.

"It's nothing, Eunji, don't listen to Haechan."

This whole situation was so weird, it left me in utter silence. I could then begin to sense the people in the cafeteria looking at me, wondering why I was sat with them. I mean, why was I sat with them? And why were they being nice to me? I thought everyone was scared of them.

"We need to go," Taeyong's voice echoed down the table as he stood up.

"Aww but I wanted to keep talking to Eunji," Haechan said with a slight pout.

Taeyong looked harshly at Haechan, he then immediately said bye to me and got up with the rest of them. WinWin also said bye but was dragged out by Yuta and Taeil, again. And then I was on my own again, except everyone was staring at me.

Great, attention that I don't want. I got up and practically sprinted out so I didn't have to face anyone.

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