reputation : nomin

🍏 : chapter two

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everything happened so fast. in jeno's mind, it still feels like saturday. a night full of drunk students, savoring their last days before school year starts. it was hard to believe that it's already monday and monday means school.

“ jeno? are you already up? ” every morning jeno would wake up to his mom's delicate voice asking him if he's already up. today was not an exemption.

jeno was still laying on his bed comfortably although he already have woken up like an hour ago.

he was gathering his thoughts and trying his best to reassure himself that this school year will be great. which i may tell you that doesn't work well. he's still nervous overall.

“ no! ” jeno shouted weakly. he covered himself by the thick blanket of his bed to transport some warm to his half freezing body. it's typical of him to sound so dispirited every morning. especially now that he doesn't want to move any muscle from his body to get up just to attend yet another catastrophic year of highschool.

“ well, you better be! school's starting in an hour honey! ” he can picture his mom right through his door, grinning. her voice was always cheerful during mornings. jeno always wondered why. as far as jeno knows, people's voices are hoarse during mornings since they just woke up, right?

“ come here mom... ” jeno quietly mumbled. so quiet that it was almost a whisper.

seconds after, his mom opened the door. she was smiling at him. both she and jeno have the same smile, that kind of smile that just so lovable. he figured out that he got his smile from his mom and his eyes from his dad. gene was so strong in this family. all of them are appealing.

“ you're over thinking again? ” mrs. lee softly asked his son. she could already sense her son's uneasiness by just looking at his face. mrs. lee then sat in the far end corner of jeno's bed.

“ no? ”

“ don't trick me lee jeno for you already know that it will not work on me. get up now. breakfast downstairs. don't think of anything okay? be confident! you'll do great! i'm sure of that ” once again, his mom was smiling at him and it made jeno's confidence to boost a little.

“ but what if it's not? what if it will not turn great for me? ” jeno sat up on his bed and looked at his mom. his countenance dropping. a downcast expression was visible.

“ then it's fine too. you know that whatever you do it will be enough for us already, right? ” mrs. lee touched his son's face. tracing all the beautiful yet sharp features imprinted. every touch was filled of so much love that it heals every aching part of him. in conclusion, a mother's touch is so powerful. ♡

jeno smiled. those words comforted him. the thing jeno mentioned that he was so afraid of, was his grades. no, don't get it wrong. jeno's grade was good, even great last year. he was included in his class honor list. he's just afraid that this year will not be the same.

it was his last highschool year. a graduating student meaning, after a year he will be standing in a stage getting his diploma and finally, he'll no longer needs to go to that school. no need to meet his annoying classmates everyday. graduating also means he needs to do his best to be the class valedictorian but it's doubtful. there are like ten students fighting for that title and jeno desperately wants to claim that. he wants to make his parents proud, but that equally means he needs to beat renjun, a fellow classmate of his who's extremely smart. there's no way he can win over renjun. that's just impossible.

he was always a grade conscious student. always worrying about it. up every night just to study, just to make sure it will not go down. over the time, it became a hobby for him. he would compare his grade every semester and trace if there's some differences like, does it increased? or the other way around?

if his grades increased a little, then it's good. maybe he could reward himself an ice cream on his way home but if it's not then that means another night in his room. not doing anything but studying.

“ you're spacing out again, darling. don't be too hard on yourself, okay? it's your last highschool year. make it memorable. good grade is good but seeing you having fun, feeling genuine happiness, will be even more great ” his mom ruffled his already disheveled hair and jeno whisked her hands softly while a small smile was plastered on his lips.

“ mom, don't ”

“ why? you're still handsome even if your hair's messy ” jeno could only giggle when his mom winked at him.

minutes passed by and the only thing surrounding them was a comfortable silence. jeno heaved a sigh and that resulted to his mom hugging him in which he found himself hugging back more tightly than he imagined. now, that was a very precious sight. jeno was never the type of person who likes to do skinship, not even with his parents. he loves them so much, yes, and the only way he knows how to show it is to excel well in studies. not by hugging or kissing them. it's not just a thing he grew up to.

“ think about it, you can go back in your school's basketball team ”

basketball. that was one thing jeno enjoyed doing. he was a member before, perhaps two years ago but because of training and studying, he needed to quit it. he needs to focus on his study that time. he met most of his friends there too. they're also a member and they still are up until now, except for his mark hyung who's already in college but donghyuck and jisung was still playing.

“ hmm, possible... ” jeno said. unsureness was tangible in his voice. he doesn't know if that's what he really wanted to do. he enjoys doing it but if he wants to be his class valedictorian then it means he needed to do anything to stay away from any form of distractions.

jeno removed his hands that's hugging his mom a while ago. he proceeded to go downstairs now and to eat. he doesn't want to be late on his first day. no one wants to be late on their first day, right?

“ donghyuck will come here. we're going to walk together ”

“ oh hyuckie will come? ” his mom squealed in joy and jeno could only shook his head at his mother's obvious fondness to the latter. donghyuck is jeno's bestfriend since they were just in their mother's womb. both of their mother's being friends wasn't really an advantage for jeno. when he was a child, he was forced to hang out with donghyuck while their moms gossiped about everything.

after several attempts of jeno to push the younger out of his life, he gave up. donghyuck was so insisted to befriend him before and even though jeno wouldn't admit it to himself, he's grateful to have donghyuck as his best friend.

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