dicey ↬ nomin

Ch.6

"What's this?" Jaewoo asked as he entered Jeno's bedroom. Chenle was downstairs playing with the youngest children and Jeno was waiting to leave to collect a few other kids from school. He brandished his phone and pointed to the picture of Jeno lying on top of Jaemin. "This was in my Instagram feed."

He blinked and looked slowly from the picture up to Jaewoo, who towered over him while he sat on his bed. "I fell on him today. What of it?"

"But why were you together when I specifically told you not to be?" It unnerved Jeno how calm Jaewoo sounded as he turned his phone off and slid it into his pocket. Then, folding his arms, he looked intensely at the boy.

Feeling his mouth go dry and his heart rate increase, because indeed there was no explanation for his defiance, he shuffled back on his bed until his back hit the wall. He glanced around and saw an opening to Jaewoo's right, but the taller boy noticed and stepped to the side.

"It's just you and me, Jeno."

This made him shiver as he met eyes with the angry boy. "Jaemin and I aren't even friends."

"But he is someone who you talk to a lot."

Jeno tucked his knees into his chest when Jaewoo began to lean over the bed towards him. "Reluctantly. It's not like we even get along. I don't like him at all."

He effortlessly grabbed Jeno and pulled him towards him and off the bed, frighteningly silently. There was no noise as the shorter boy felt his breath hitch and his legs feel like jelly. His whole inside was trembling and crying out for him to lie and say something in his defence. But he couldn't open his mouth. The room suddenly felt hostile as the sun passed the window and left a shadow over Jaewoo's face.

Jeno felt cold hands on his back as Jaewoo slid them up his school shirt. And then, agonisingly slowly, he dragged them down his back and his nails dug into his skin, causing him to bleed. The wave of pain that hit him was immense as he cried out and tried to push the boy away, but to no avail as he felt the blood on his back cause his shirt to stick to his skin. The other boy had a completely blank face as he brought his hands out of Jeno's shirt, examining the blood under his nails. "Now my nails are dirty," he sighed and pushed Jeno back onto the bed.

The contact of the bed against Jeno's back made tears flood his eyes, but he didn't dare to make a noise because he would probably be hit. Instead, the stinging feeling intensified until he almost couldn't feel it anymore because it was so intense.

"Oh, and Jeno? You would do well to pick up plasters on your way home." Jaewoo left and slammed the door while Jeno sobbed on his bed from the pain. He stood up and made his way to the bathroom, where a line of disinfectants and antiseptics lay on the counter. They were actually there for the kids who cut or scraped their knees outside, but luckily the older kids had access to them too. He removed his shirt painfully as some of the material had clung to the deep scratches. Applying some of the fluids to the wounds while looking at his back in the mirror and biting back his gasps and cries, he put his school blazer on to hide the shirt on his back.

"Chenle! Ms. Kim! I'm off to collect the littlies from school!" It was lucky they had a half day today so he could collect them instead of Ms. Kim. He didn't want her to work too hard, especially when capable young adults lived with her. Knowing that Donghyuck would like to go too, he popped his head into the living room and beckoned him to follow.

"Were you crying?" Donghyuck asked as he pulled his earplugs out, standing up off the couch.

"No, of course not. It's just my hay fever acting up."

He tilted his head in confusion. "You don't have h-"

"Let's go!"

They waved everyone off and left to walk to the school, where only a few parents were standing waiting. The sun was still high, leaving Jeno feeling as though his skin was burning. But the tarmac on the road was hot too, leaving a smell of burnt rubber as cars drove past. The smell made Jeno's stomach churn, relieving his mind from his back for a while.

"I saw Chenle hanging out with Jisung today. I see everthing," Donghyuck wiggled his eyebrows. "I think there's something going on with those two; after all, Chenle never talks about Jisung even though they're kinda friends. Right? I mean, I see them talk sometimes, but I never know what it's about. Maybe they're hiding a secret relationship."

"Maybe," Jeno answered, finding the theory highly unlikely. "How's Mark?"

Donghyuck gave Jeno a look of curiosity. "Why are you asking? Are you interested in him?"

He sighed in exasperation, having to put up with Donghyuck's quick assumptions all the time. "Calm down Hyuck, he's all yours."

"He better be," he murmured and left a lingering look at Jeno before turning back to the school gate.

The parents were beginning to gather along with a few kids their own age there to collect siblings. No one had as many siblings as Donghyuck and Jeno. As a few of the younger kids began to emerge, a huge fright caused the two boys to jump and the light brown haired boy to scream. That fright was an arm around their shoulders and a "boo!" from Jaemin.

He slid into their view and laughed at Donghyuck's scream. "Wow, controversial. You sounded like a girl."

The boy pouted and looked away. "And I thought we were friends."

Jeno just stood there as they conversed, still looking for his 'siblings'. "Hey, why are you two together?" Jaemin asked.

"We're collecting together."

"I didn't know you were friends," he scratched his chin and looked between the two.

"We're not friends," Donghyuck shook his head. "We're more like brothers, you know?"

Jeno shot Donghyuck a look to tell him not to elaborate further, and luckily, the boy caught on that Jaemin didn't know. He perked up when he spotted Hyora walk out, calling her over. "Hey sweetie, how was school?"

She smiled giddily and pointed to one of the boys at the gate. "I'm getting married to him tomorrow. He gave me this!" She showed the three boys her daisy ring and wiggled her fingers happily.

"Aww, this is your sister, Jeno?" Jaemin cooed and patted her head. "Cute! Be careful not to hurt your brother too much," he whispered to her, referring to the bruises on Jeno's neck which, of course, had nothing to do with her.

Then three of the boys came running out: one who stayed upstairs at the orphanage called Taewon, and two younger boys who stayed downstairs called Hyunwoo and Dongwoo. The two boys went over to Donghyuck while Taewon went over to Jeno.

"Oh, here's my sister!" Jaemin called and waved over the crowd to her. It was lucky for Jeno and Donghyuck that it looked like they each had their own siblings instead of being one big family, because that would have raised suspicions. "C'mere, rascal," he put his arms over her shoulders as she stood in front of him, less than half his height. "Anyway, bye Donghyuck. See ya tomorrow." He looked swiftly at Jeno and smirked, not giving him an exit before turning around and jumping into one of the cars parked on the road.

Once Jaemin was gone, the rest of the children arrived: Heeoh, Yuna and Ki from upstairs, followed by two little four year old girls called Minhee and Gaho from downstairs.

In total, there were four older children (Jeno, Jaewoo, Chenle, Donghyuck), five younger girls (Heeoh, Hyora, Yuna, Minhee, Gaho), four younger boys (Ki, Taewon, Dongwoo, Hyunwoo) and two babies who Ms. Kim looked after full time as they weren't in school yet.

"Home we go," Donghyuck sang and carried Gaho on his shoulders. Minhee was holding his hand, while Yuna, Hyora and Heeoh stayed with Jeno. The four boys ran ahead trying to race each other to the orphanage.