MILK - L.JENO

31 ; graduation

the two were now in the auditorium, attending their graduation ceremony. they ran to the backstage hand in hand, grabbing attention from some of their friends.

as nayeong's name was called to the stage, jeno clapped enthusiastically. maybe too much, earning some weird stares from some students.

and as jeno's name was called to the stage, nayeong smiled widely and clapped. jisung, who was in the audience laughed, making a mental note to tease his sister about it later.

the ceremony came to an end, and jeno was nervously fiddling his fingers. he couldn't wait to talk to nayeong again, and this time, freely, since now he has nothing to hide.

flashback

"jeno!" nayeong exclaimed. jeno scratched the back of his neck. "hey, yeong-ah."

"what are you doing here? aren't you supposed to be in the ceremony?" nayeong asked. jeno's eyebrows furrowed. was she that dense?

"..you're very dense for a smart girl, yeong-ah." jeno laughed. nayeong laughed along, "i get that a lot. but seriously though, what are you doing here?"

"well, to give you your last milk." jeno took out a little milk box with a little straw.

nayeong's cheeks reddened. it wasn't like she didn't expect it. she had put the puzzle pieces together and figured the person who claimed as her secret admirer was no other than one of her brother's bestfriend. she choked out a laugh. "figured."

it was time for jeno's cheek to warm up. "wait, you knew?"

"you said it yourself. i am a smart girl. but this time, i wasn't that dense. i just didn't want to get my hopes up." nayeong looked down to her black converse. she took the small milk box from jeno and poked the straw in.

"wait, wha-what do you mean you didn't want-" jeno's words were interrupted by the sound of the door being slammed open. it revealed their gym teacher panting. "you two! what do you think you're doing? hurry and go to the auditorium! you can be all lovey dovey later but go and graduate first!"

the two reacted the same way when she said they were being all lovey dovey, their cheeks burned up and their eyes widened. but in a rush, they just bowed to the woman and ran. "sorry, ms. ashido!" 

present

jeno saw his two siblings running up to him to tackle him with a big hug. usually, he would run, but this time, he stayed still- waiting for the two to squeeze him and shower him with compliments. "we're very proud of you, jeno!" his father exclaimed through the facetime call.

"we're very sorry we can't attend there physically. but just know that i want to shower you with kisses right now." his mother wiped a tear. jeno smiled, his eye smile showing. "i'll keep that in mind." resulting both of his parents to smile too, showing their eye smile just like their youngest.

after the three siblings ended the facetime call with their parents, taeyong swung his arm around his brother, "say, how did it go on the rooftop?" he asked. jeno scratched the back of his head. "um, we didn't have enough time to talk about everything but.. she knows who i am now." 

yoonji smiled widely upon hearing her youngest brother. "that's my boy! which one is she? let me meet her!" she exclaimed. 

"oh yeah, uhm, do you have the thing that i requested?" jeno looked to taeyong. taeyong nodded and pulled out the item that jeno was referring to. "go get 'em boy."

on the other side of the auditorium was the park family taking pictures of their oldest. nayeong's father took a look at the pictures he just took of his oldest and smiled. "we are totally framing this." nayeong groaned, "it better be a good one, dad."

her mother glanced at the picture and smiled too. "don't worry, you look beautiful here. no wonder you're my child." the woman sassed, earning a 'tch' from her husband. "she literally looks like me." 

"she was in my womb for 9 months, excuse you." the four laughed. nayeong reached and managed to pat jisung's head (after jisung bend his knees down a bit). "time for you to continue my legacy here. try to beat that hwayoung kid, like i did with his brother." she stated proudly. jisung scoffed, " no, i don't have the time for that. i wanna beat chenle, not that hwayoung guy."

hearing her brother's statement, she rolled her eyes, "whatever you say kiddo, i'm with chenle on this one."

as jisung reached to tickle his sister, a hand reached out to nayeong's shoulder. she turned around to see n, or should she say, lee jeno with three bouquets in his hands that she assumed was from his family. suddenly, he stretched out one of his hands, one that was holding a bouquet of white and light red carnations. "here, congratulations on graduating, yeong-ah." he handed her the bouquet in his hands while avoiding her gaze.

jisung's face displayed a teasing smile and started to walk away from his sister and bestfriend to give them some alone time. 

"u-um, thank you. congratulations too. we.. we survived, huh?" nayeong awkwardly accepted the bouquet. she gazed down at the flowers in her hands. she remembered something from a book she read, that said white carnations symbolized purity and luck, while light red carnations symbolized admiration. if she could, she would run outside out of embarrassment. it wasn't a bad thing, she just wasn't used to being adored by someone- especially by someone like jeno.

jeno let out a small laugh, "yeah, i guess we did. um, do you wanna," he paused. jeno took a deep breath to calm him down and let the words come out of his mouth, "continue where we left off?"

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yall i finally know what
to write jfkfg sorry i took
so long i love yall :')

-nin

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