𝙙𝙞𝙘𝙚𝙮 | nomin

Ch.10

"I'm Jaewoo," he smiled and and reached forward to shake Mark and Jaemin's hands. He really built up this façade, pretending like a pro.

"Ah, I'm Mark," he smiled and looked over at Donghyuck who happened to be following a mosquito with his eyes.

"Jaemin," the other said, straightening up and catching Jeno's eye. "I hope your sister hasn't been pulling out of your neck too much anymore."

Jeno just wanted the earth to swallow him whole. He nervously put his two hands around his neck. "Nope, she's calmed down."

Donghyuck and Mark were in their own world, talking and laughing, but Chenle was caught between the two situations. He looked at Jaewoo to see a dark glint in his jovial eyes. "Your sister hurt your neck?" The tall boy played along, looking worriedly at Jeno.

Jeno nodded awkwardly, thinking that Jaewoo was a weirdly good actor. "She did, but it's nothing." 'You would know' he thought.

"So how do you guys all know each other?" Mark asked, diverting his attention from the boy who was soaking it all up.

"Yeah, how do we all know each other?" Jaewoo asked as he looked intently at Jeno. Jaemin began to feel a strange vibe from the two, almost as though they were conversing with each other between the lines. He didn't like it. It didn't feel as though Jeno looked comfortable under this Jaewoo character's stare.

"Well," Chenle cut in, smiling a bit too happily for the casual meet and greet. "Jeno and I are friends anyway, but you know that. Donghyuck and Jaewoo live on our street. It's like a little gang," he added.

Jaemin and folded his arms and carefully studied everyone's body language. Donghyuck was acting completely normal (to be expected, since he wasn't in on the violence that went down at the orphanage), but Chenle, Jeno and Jaewoo looked on edge. He was curious, but not curious enough to pry. He just...didn't like the way Jeno shrunk into himself while talking with him. 'Do I really make him that uncomfortable?" Jaemin asked himself. He knew they weren't on good terms, but this was like a little piece of the usual Jeno was blown up until the rest of his usual self was invisible.

"We've gotta fly," Mark said as he looked at his watch with a click of his tongue. "It was nice seeing you guys."

"Bye," they called as they continued on their way. The weight of Jaewoo's arm on Jeno's shoulder startled him as he felt the boy lean down.

"I'm disappointed."

He looked up at the boy and saw the face he had on - an angry one. "With what?"

"You keep involving yourself with that guy."

***

Jeno yelped as he felt his back collide with the wall of his bedroom. After skilfully coaxing Chenle and Donghyuck to leave them alone, Jaewoo had decided to use Jeno's room this time.

He stared lifelessly at Jeno as the boy recovered from the force of his head hitting the wall. He shook his head sorely and tried to stop his vision from swimming. Once Jeno recovered, Jaewoo stepped forward and put his two hands on the boy's cheeks, keeping his head steady and to stop it from lulling. He moved his hand down to the collar on Jeno's polo shirt, peeling it down to see his handiwork from last week.

The bruises were a faint, healed green colour and the scabs from his nails digging in were gone. As Jeno's eyes drooped with his dizziness, his head lulled to the side. Jaewoo took this opportunity to pull the side of the shirt down, seeing a scar from a few months ago on his collar bone from when he had used his pocket knife. "Tsk. I guess everything's fading..."

Jeno squinted his eyes when the dizzy spell passed and snapped out of his daze. Jaewoo pulled Jeno towards him away from the wall and threw him harshly onto Chenle's bed, where he rolled him onto his tummy and forced his shirt up. The scratch marks were still there, clearly stalling in the healing phase.

Jaewoo pulled the shirt up more and rolled Jeno over again to see his bruised stomach area, where the colours varied depending on which punch was harder and which punch was lighter. Jeno tried to scream but a hand flew to cover his mouth quickly, a sick grin spreading across the other boy's face.

"Stop!" Jeno yelled when he pried Jaewoo's hand off his mouth, angrily trying to push him off. Jaewoo grabbed Jeno's forearms so harshly that the boy nearly screamed, his fingers squeezing his arm tightly. He used his grip on Jeno's arms to pull the boy up, literally kicking and screaming, just so that he could slap the boy's face.

Jaewoo muffled Jeno's protests by backhanding him and then slapping him again. His cheeks were so red from the contact that he couldn't feel them - they were practically numb. The stinging he could feel originated from his tummy, where the purple bruises were were exposed. His eyes were so wide when he saw the look on Jaewoo's face.

He was slapped again until he could taste blood in his mouth. Jaewoo usually never touched any part of him that was on display since he didn't want to be obvious about the abuse, but today was not the case.

"Let go!" Jeno yelled again and used his legs to push the taller boy off him. He was about to reach the door when Jaewoo grabbed his ankle and ripped it from under him, causing Jeno to fall hard on the floor, whacking his face off the floorboards. He cried out and felt the liquid build up in his eyes, but more than feeling pain, he felt terrified. Absolutely terrified.

Jaewoo grabbed the other ankle and yanked him back, causing Jeno's arms to burn as they slid across the floor too fast. He dug his nails in, scratching the floorboards as he was dragged. His shirt was pulled up again to expose the scratches on his back. "Aw Jeno, this is just how it has to be. It wouldn't be this bad if you didn't try to have a mind of your own."

Jeno could tell by the tone in his voice exactly what was going to happen next. A tear escaped his eye as he saw Jaewoo pull out his pocket knife, flipping it and catching it by the hilt a few times. But Jeno couldn't find it in himself to even muster up a reaction.

He just felt numb on the inside.