𝙙𝙞𝙘𝙚𝙮 | nomin

Ch.15

The school day was over and Jaemin was walking restlessly around the infirmary, picking up random bottles of pills and fluids just to read the really long Latin words scrawled on the labels and have absolutely no idea what it meant. He was waiting for Jeno to wake up from his beauty sleep, but he guessed the boy really needed the uninterrupted rest. It had been confirmed by the nurse that Jeno was suffering from a bad fever.

She had told Renjun and Jaemin that one of them could wait for him to wake up, so he told Renjun to head back to class while he stayed behind. He didn't mind though, since he felt really bad about his frenemy collapsing. He nearly made it to the infirmary before passing out but couldn't hold on a few minutes longer to answer some of the general questions. Jaemin stopped pacing and looked down at Jeno as he slept in the white covers, soundly breathing without a care in the world.

The door cracked open and in stepped Renjun and Chenle. "I told Chenle about what happened since he seemed to know Jeno's mum. He said he can bring Jeno home," Renjun whispered, careful to not disturb the sleeping boy. "How is he?"

Jaemin brushed the hair off Jeno's forehead and frowned. "He's been a bit delirious, but it's calmed down in the last hour. He hasn't stirred since then."

Chenle nervously scooted over to his friend, dragging the nurse's chair with him to the side of the bed to take a seat. "Did he...um...say anything strange while he hallucinated?"

Jaemin scratched his chin in thought. "Not anything stranger than a bizarre dream...He did talk about that Jaewoo guy a bit. He talked about lots of people, to be honest."

"Was anything he said linked to being in danger?" Chenle asked casually, trying not to seem pushy or suspicious, but he just hoped his brother wasn't dreaming about his tormentor too badly.

"Ah, no. Nothing like that. He actually started to laugh and talk about kittens with Jaewoo. That was a bit strange, now that I think about it. Is that what you were looking for? The kitten thing?"

"No," Chenle shook his head, smiling at Jeno as he knew he was dreaming about his memories. Back when Jaewoo used to be nice. "Thanks for looking after him."

"No prob," he smiled and looked over at Renjun who was leaning against the sink at the back of the infirmary, listening but not interacting.

"Well, I can take it from here if you want to get home. I called Jeno's mum and got through to her. Apparently she couldn't pick up earlier because she was out of the house."

"That explains it," Jaemin nodded and moved to grab his school bag off the floor. He looked from Chenle to Jeno and saw the worry in the Chinese boy's eyes. "You two get along really well, huh," he mentioned.

Chenle smiled and laughed. "I did tell you we're like brothers, didn't I? When we met the second time."

"It rings a bell."

Renjun walked forward and picked up one of the test tubes in the sink. The pills inside it were pink, causing him to wrinkle his nose. "Are you ready to go?"

Jaemin nodded and slung the bag over his shoulder. "Tell Jeno that he's a jerk for making me worry."

Chenle chuckled and took Jeno's hand. "I don't think I need to tell him something he already knows. He probably feels really bad that you missed half the day to stay with him."

"Well, he better appreciate it. I just hope he'd do the same for me."

Looking at Jeno in thought, Chenle opened his mouth to speak and then closed it, unsure. "D-do you want to stay until he wakes up?"

Renjun's eyes widened when he saw his friend consider it, thinking they were mortal enemies. 'So he really does have a crush on Jeno' he chuckled inwardly, just having an inside joke but also dwelling on that thought. 'It would explain a lot if he did...'