the death bell | na jaemin √

七

_rule 7
students caught cheating in a confirmation exam will be dismissed from the exam and immediately escorted to the extermination room without any other judgement. there are cameras and mics situated in every glass cage as well as the door to the cage being controlled manually from a control centre; this ensures that the students reframes from any acts of cheating

—-

[t e n  d a y s t i l l e x a m i n a t i o n]

the two of them walked side by side as jang-mi glanced up at jaemin; he was oddly quiet today. he had his hands shoved into his jeans with his bag hanging off one of his shoulders. jaemin was a dandy guy, always cared about his fashion more than his studies: made sure to look casual but not messy, neat but not formal. today was no different except for his awkward silence

she wanted to ask, but hesitated against it as she wasn't meant to care about him, she wasn't ready to break character yet

truth is, jaemin had too many childish thoughts in his head after yesterday nights discussion

FLASHBACK...

"do you like jang-mi?"

Renjun eyes shifted down, his fingers began fiddling together "that was unexpected..."

"well i like her, like seriously, no games" he shrugged, sitting back up again

"oh" he turned towards his desk "ok"

"aren't you going to reply?" he was curious now. he had a slight instinct that told him that renjun liked jang-mi, thought it was only a slight instinct, he didn't think it would actually be true

"what if i did? would you hate me?" renjun looked down, staring at his books

"i-i..."

'would you hate me?'

would he?

"let me give you one warning" renjun looked at him this time "we've never fought while we were dorm mates. i was careful to never cross the line and make sure you could live an easy life. you entered in exam season, making it more of a reason for me to protect you but also worry about you. i will always let you have the upper hand, let you win me in competitions, let you boss me around, let you use my things and let you talk over me.

but i won't let you steal what i earned"

BACK TO THE PRESENT...

jaemin suddenly stopped in his tracks, his eyebrows knitted together. jang-mi stopped a few steps in front of him, looking back to see a perplexed jaemin who was staring into nothing

a second or two later, jaemin shook his head as if denying a thought before connecting his gaze with jang-mi, smiling big and running next to her.

"really thought you were gonna say something like 'your awfully quiet today', you know, like normal people do" jaemin laughed

"well you thought wrong" jang-mi now really preferred that he was quiet instead of being back to his loud self. jaemin laughed once again, skipping along the path as they entered the threatening lecture room