Ashes | JENO

Chapter 4

Jeno leaned back in the seat of the lecture hall, tired of the class already. His professor was rambling about the story of Romeo and Juliet, a story that you had to be and idiot if you didn't know it.

"Romeo and Juliet is a play written by Shakespeare early in his career. It is about two young lovers whose deaths ultimately reconcile their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetime and is one of his most frequently performed plays. Today, the title characters are regarded as young lovers."

Sound like idiots to me, Jeno thought as he stared into his notebook, his definition of love from last week's class still there.

Jeno sighed as turned his attention back to his professor. Why are people so obsessed with the concept of love anyways?

Sure two of his friends were "in love," but was it really something real? For Jeno, it seemed like all love stories ended in some type of tragedy and clearly, Romeo and Juliet were no different. For now, Haechan and Ayeon might be happy but Jeno was certain that eventually, it would end in disaster.

Like Seolhee.

The thought of the girl made Jeno clench his fist, bitting down onto his bottom lip.

If you weren't stupid enough to tell her that you loved her, she would probably still be alive.

The snap and poke of wood into his skin made Jeno realize that he had snapped his pencil in half from his anger. He let the two halfs drop on the table as he threw his head back, looking at the ceiling.

Why is are you even thinking about her, it's all in the past now.

Thankfully, Jeno's lecture ended quickly and he shoved the play he was reading for class into his bag, his notebook and broken pencil bits in along with it. He swung the bag over his shoulder before making his way out, glad to be done classes for the day.

Jeno's class ended a bit before Jaemin's so like usual, he made his way over to the other side of the school to meet his best friend.

On his way, a random girl he could have sworn that he had never seen before ran up to him, an extremely rare occurence.

Jeno could already feel the stares of other students that were equally as surprised with the girl's actions, fully aware that it would be stupid to approach one of the Phoenixes, not to mention Jeno. But apparently, this girl was too dumb to know that.

"Jeno-ah." The girl said in a high pitched aegyo voice that made Jeno want to shove her head into the closest wall. The pout and puppy dog eyes didn't help.

"Who are you?" Jeno said, gritting his teeth.

"We met a few weeks ago. At the bar." The girl continued. "Don't you remember?"

"No, I don't." Jeno said, looking over her head and walking away. That didn't stop the girl though.

"We spent the new year together." The girl said, grabbing onto his arm.

Dumb move.

Jeno froze in his spot, letting out a deep breath in annoyance.

"I said I don't remember." Jeno said, swinging his arm so the girl was forced to let go. The action clearly surprised her but Jeno didn't really care. What were you expecting anyways?

"Now I have better things to go than talk to you." Jeno said, adjusting his jacket and bag that was out of place from the girl grabbing onto his arm, making sure to keep his bag half on so the girl got a good glimpse of the golder phoenix on his back.