dicey ↬ nomin

Ch.22

As Jeno waited at the traffic lights on Sunday afternoon, he pulled out his phone to check the time. He flinched at the early time on the screen, noticing that there were only a few people out on the streets and it could be described using any word other than loud. The few cars that rolled on past while the lights highlighted the red man were driven by elderly people on their way to church.

He glanced back down at his phone, aware that he was supposed to meet Jaewoo on the other side of the road. They were doing shopping for Ms. Kim and had split to cover more ground. It was unfortunate that Chenle was under the weather and Donghyuck was looking after him, because he was stuck alone with his tormentor now. There was no wiggle room around the guy, stifling poor Jeno's freedom. It was a relief to him that Jaewoo had opted to split up because he was finally able to breathe without being criticised for merely fulfilling a human necessity.

As he glanced up at the traffic lights, he saw another boy on the other side of the road. He was wheeling his bike along the pathway and stopped outside a shop to check his phone. Jeno squinted across at him, finding him to be kinda cute. He glanced back down at his phone to hide the embarrassed blush that decided to dust his cheeks. He wanted to whack his head off a wall, because he knew he liked boys but he didn't think he could find any attractive since Jaewoo started up his random acts of hatred. He found that recently, he was actually quite intimidated by boys. It was all Jaewoo's fault, but of course, the perpetrator couldn't care less.

He nervously glanced up again and slipped his phone into his pocket, eyes widening when the cute boy made eye contact with him from across the way - it was freaking Jaemin. He looked at him in a moment of stupor and didn't miss the sneaky smile that played on the other boy's lips, almost as though he could read Jeno's mind. He did not just think Jaemin was cute. He did not just look dumbly at him while mind-blanking, and he most certainly didn't almost miss the changing of the traffic lights.

The ticking sound beeped, reminding Jeno of when he used to hold his mum and dad's hands as he skipped across the road. The big splash he would cause when he jumped into a puddle just before reaching the other side. He shook his head and looked at the flashing green man on the light monitor, noticing him start to beep out. Hastily making a run to cross, he saw that Jaemin was waiting for him on the other side with a sly smirk. He couldn't contain the red colour that occupied his cheeks and embarrassed him more than he already had been. He willed the colour to drain, but to his unluck, it remained and fed off his insecurities.

"Lee Jeno. Well I never." Jaemin's hands were wrapped around the handlebars of the bike he was wheeling, a creepy smile on his face. "Fancy seeing you here."

Jeno sniffed and shrugged. "I'm shopping for Ms. Kim."

Jaemin cocked his head to the side, trying to remember who Ms. Kim was. "She's...your care giver, right? Are you shopping alone?"

Nodding weakly to the first question, he explained that he was in fact shopping with Jaewoo. Fortunately, the boy hadn't shown up yet so he was safe for a minute to talk to Jaemin. His mind kept relaying the same words over and over: "you thought he was cute! You thought he was cute!" He angrily tried to wish the words away, wondering why the voice in his head sounded so snide. It was like he was mocking himself. Why would he mock himself?

He let out an irritated grunt, earning a questioning tilt of the head from his company. "So where's Jaewoo, then?"

Jeno looked around to see if he could see the boy in question, spotting him walking towards them a little ways away. "He's over there," he said in a small voice, knowing that he had already seen the conversation with Jaemin, so there was no excuse. He gulped and felt the blush on his cheeks disappear to be replaced by a pale complexion.

Jaemin looked in Jaewoo's direction and smiled, waving to him. Jaewoo smiled back as he neared. He had shopping bags in his hand and threw his other hand over Jeno's shoulder, a malicious vibe coming from him that only Jeno recognised. After spending nearly his whole life with Jaewoo, he could look beneath the façade and pick up on the real him. Right now, he wasn't happy. At all. "Hi. You're Jaemin, right?"

"I sure am. If I remember correctly, then you're Jaewoo."

Jaewoo's hand tightened around Jeno's shoulder, sending a mild warning to him for talking to the pinkette. Jeno's heart beat sped up, face paling and breathing becoming uneven. The feeling of the hand on his shoulder made his skin crawl, almost like the feeling of being watched but not being able to shake off the feeling. It made a tight sensation constrict his chest. "That's right. I see you've spotted Jeno here, which means that you two must be quite close to be able to chat in the streets."

Jaemin nodded and smiled. "Jeno and I are homies, you know? He's my brother from another mother."

Jaewoo's poison leaked from his expression, his touch, his voice, his air. Any gap in the façade yelled to Jeno, screaming and telling him that he was more angry than a raging lion. After all, Jeno wasn't supposed to talk to Jaemin. His hands held each other, tightening until the skin turned white in fear. Clearing his throat, he looked up at the pink haired boy to signal an end to the conversation before anything could get him into deeper trouble.

Jaemin noticed the awry atmosphere, reminding him of the first time he had come across Jeno and Jaewoo together when they had met up with Kei. He smiled happily at the two and looked down at his phone to check the time, actually taking a moment to absorb the tension. Something definitely didn't seem right, and he could confirm it now after experiencing the unease again.

Jeno looked a lot smaller than usual, and it wasn't a physical change. He also had a face as pale as a ghost while Jaewoo's hand seemed to be gripping a bit too tightly onto Jeno's shoulder to be deemed friendly. It was one thing noticing the tension once, but when he noticed the second time during his pizza delivery and then this time too, it couldn't have been a coincidence. His eyes flicked over Jaewoo's hand again before settling on Jeno's gaze, understanding the silent message to ditch the convo.

"Ah, shoot! I've gotta go. It was nice seeing you two." Jaemin waved and lingered on Jeno's eyes, trailing them down to the tightly clenched hands that were nearing a fully cut off circulation point. Either Jeno really didn't want to talk to him, or this Jaewoo character didn't want to talk to him. He guessed the latter because the urgency in the black haired boy's eyes spoke more about "get away while you still can" than "get away from me, I don't like you".

"Bye Jaemin," Jaewoo smiled and trailed his hand down Jeno's back challengingly.

Jeno looked at Jaemin in rehearsed happiness and gave him a thumbs up. "No problem. It's always nice to bump into a friend."

As they parted ways, Jaemin hopped onto his bike and checked the time for reals. He was a good ways away when he sneakily peeked over his shoulder. His eyes narrowed, a small ounce of possessiveness crawling across his mind while watching Jeno literally being dragged. It looked painful and it was painful to watch. They were far enough away that they wouldn't look at him but close enough to still distinguish, and he could see how hastily Jaewoo was pulling Jeno along the sidewalk. It was quite menacing, actually, and it made Jaemin feel weird inside. He couldn't describe the feeling, but he reacted to the situation with a widening of the eyes and a tightening of the chest.

Indeed, he could tell that something was terribly wrong.

Of course, focusing on the two boys so much only meant one thing: he wasn't watching where he was going. And with all the right intentions of making sure Jeno didn't get hurt, he still managed to crash his bike into a lamppost. Ouch.