The doorbell at Jeno's house rings, the dinging sound echoes through the quiet house as the boy's parents are currently out of town for work purposes.

Sluggishly, Jeno turns off the television with the remote control before standing up and weakly tosses it onto the couch.

Answering the door, he's immediately greeted by worried looks from his group of friends– with the absence of Jaemin.

"Hey." He mumbles as he steps aside, not hesitating to let them in before shutting the door close behind them afterwards.

No one really uttered a word, all sharing the same feeling; confused, shocked, angry.

But none of them shared a certain feeling Jeno's experiencing; betrayal.

"What happened?" A moment after, Mark was the first one to speak up, starting the conversation they've all been waiting and have came here for.

Donghyuck beside him nudges his side, but the elder boy doesn't mind him, too focused on Jeno's state.

The way the younger boy's shoulder tenses hearing the mention of the incident at school today, it doesn't miss Mark's eyes.

"I... Don't know..." Jeno cautiously answers as if what he'll say could hurt someone. But then he chuckles to himself, the sound full of sarcasm that makes his friends glance at each other.

"Who am I kidding? Of course I know," he said. "Except for the part where I was actually a damn fool for him." Adding a bite to his words.

Chenle purses his lips while Renjun who was beside Jeno, places a hand on the younger boy's forearm. "Do you mind telling us everything?"

Not paying a glance at the elder boy beside him, Jeno shrugs his shoulders. "Apparently we're not dating, never was." He answers.

He then hears his friends gasp, looking up at Mark when he exclaims, "what? How?!" Donghyuck rubbing his ear from the sudden volume of his voice near him.

Jeno looks at him with a bored and tired expression, but his eyes show more than those. He's obviously hurt, how can he not?

The boy he likes and thought he had a relationship with turns out to be nothing, well– for the other party that is.

Because if Jaemin had thought the same thing, reciprocate Jeno's feelings, Jeno wouldn't be here right now; lost.

"Honestly, it's all my fault." Jeno says with the calmest voice he can muster up with, low-key concerning his friends from how he's not screaming in anger right now.

"Hyung, don't say that." Jisung's gentle voice soothes him a bit, but at the same time, he thinks the younger boy shouldn't sympathize his stupidity.

"Oh, Sungie. It's true," sighing deeply, the raven haired boy leans back to the backrest of the couch, pulling his legs up to criss cross them.

"I'm in the wrong, because I was so deep into my feelings, thinking that Jaemin and I had something– romantic, when in fact, there wasn't anything there."

Smile turning bitter, he shakes his head, more on to himself and what he's done. "I'm such a dumbass, how could I think of such thing between us best friends?"

"Stop blaming yourself, Jen." Donghyuck grumbles, hating the way the raven haired boy is talking about himself. "It's Jaemin's fault."

"It's n–"

"Look, Jen. You and Jaemin are my best friends, and I love you lots." The tanned male begins with a genuine approach.

However, it then changes the next second, "but what he did is fucked up and he's utterly stupid for not seeing your feelings for him."

Jeno bites his inner cheek, "I was about to give him a small gift, for our supposed monthsary." He brings up.

Everyone immediately perks up from his words, previously planning to not mention that part yet thinking Jeno doesn't want to talk about it.

But to their surprise, the raven haired boy talks about it, letting them know every single detail.

"And then he walked off to his next class, leaving me there by his locker completely confused and upset. At first I thought he was just joking around, but then at lunch... You know."

Ending it right there, Jeno doesn't realize his eyes slowly filling up with tears until Jisung wipes it with his handkerchief, ever so gently.

He silently thanks him, hoping the younger boy could read his mind or something in a way. Like how Jaemin does.

Oh for goodness sake.

Before Jeno can begin ranting about Jaemin in his thoughts, Chenle shakes his head. "That just proves Donghyuck hyung's statement, Jeno hyung."

Renjun pats Jeno's forearm gently, moving down to grasp the younger boy's clenching hand in his. "Jen, we know you're blaming yourself."

"Which you shouldn't do, because none of this is your fault. You think it is because you caught feelings for your best friend, and you were blinded by it. That's not wrong." Mark states.

"Hyung, your feelings for Jaemin hyung is genuine. It isn't fake or forced, or any of that, that's normal and completely okay." Jisung also began to join in more.

Backing them up like always in this situation, Donghyuck nods in agreement.

But Jeno is stubborn, as he's somewhat known for, he's doubting their reassurance. Just a tad bit. "Exactly, I was hoping too much, living in a dream, falling too hard. Look at me now," he sniffles.

"I wouldn't be this hurt if I was paying attention, if I was being careful and stop feeling I was special to him."

"You are special to him." Renjun frowns, glancing at Jisung leaning his head to rest on Jeno's shoulder as he holds the elder boy's other hand.

"Not in that way, Injunnie." The raven haired boy mumbles.

Then they all went silent, quietly having their own opinions on Jaemin's doing. There's a part of them angry, and another part where they're disappointed.

Mark and Donghyuck so badly want to give Jaemin a peace of their mind tomorrow, even if it's at school.

"What are you gonna do now?" Mark asks, eyeing the younger boy carefully as Jeno ponders in thought for a while.

But as soon as Jeno stretches his lips to form a bitter and obviously fake smile, Mark can only hope he can be there for his friend throughout this time.

"Nothing." Jeno replies, ignoring the looks he's getting, especially when Jisung lifts his head up to stare at him with furrowed eyebrows.

"I'll do nothing, and pretend everything is going well. Like nothing happened." Jeno elaborates.

Sharing a look at each other, Renjun was the first one to sigh and says, "you don't deserve this, Jeno-yah."