Chapter 16

"Are you just going to let the weekend pass in your room?" Hyunjin knocked on Yiyeon's door, but she did not respond.

Slightly worried, he decided to turn the knob and enter the room. He sees Yiyeon seated on the floor. She was on the other side of the room. Her back was facing Hyunjin.

He wasn't sure about what she was doing, so he decided to get closer.

"Yiyeon?"

The girl hummed, "Hyunjin, I'm not hungry."

"The last meal you ate was last night's supper," he sighed and sat beside her. "You do know that I'm here to listen... right?"

She slowly nodded.

Hyunjin looked at what she was looking at. It was her uniform. They were scattered on the floor, and a white, powdery substance was covering them. He reached for the clothes as he touched the substance.

"Is this... flour?" He asked as he sniffed the powder. "Did you have baking class yesterday—wait, you don't have that subject," he said as he quickly threw a glance at Yiyeon.

"They could have done much worse," she muttered under her breath. "Why is everything suddenly a big deal? Hyunjin, I'm scared..." she said and looked down.

"They? Who did this to you?" He asked, totally alarmed. 

He then remembers what he, Yiyeon, Seungmin, and Felix talked about yesterday.

"Did Jeno's fangirls... did this?" He asked.

She shrugged, "It's hard to point fingers..." she sighed and laid down. "What am I gonna do?"

Hyunjin could not answer.

***

Being alone have her some time to think. Think about everything that had happened in the past months. Was I a bad person towards someone when I was dating Jeno? No, that's not it. That can't be it. I never did anything that would hurt someone in that way... I guess.

Yiyeon found herself sketching a picture of the basketball court--where she had first Yangyang. This also reminded her of basketball, a thing where Jeno excels at. 

"Yiyeon-ah!" The said girl looked up to see Jaemin staring at her worriedly. "Is everything alright? You haven't uttered anything since this morning..."

"I didn't?"

"Yes! You just nodded, shook your head, and shrugged to everything that we told you," Jaemin said and pulled his chair closer. "Renjun even said that he'd be confessing to his crush, and you didn't even spare him a single glance."

Yiyeon immediately looked at Renjun and gave him an apologetic look, "I'm sorry, I keep on spacing out this day." She sighed, "Don't worry, I'll treat everyone to samgyeopsal later."

The rest of the club members cheered, but Jaemin made them silent, "These people, seriously.." he rolled his eyes. "You don't need to treat us, and you don't need to apologize. Just tell us what's wrong. Maybe we can help."

Yiyeon sighed, "Everything's wrong, Jaemin-ah..." she looked down. "The idea of dating Jeno was already wrong in the first place. But we already broke up, so it should be okay, right?" 

"Did something happen between you and Jeno?" Jaemin asked. "Well, come to think of it, I haven't seen Jeno trying to talk to you, nor you talking to Jeno... and what's weirder is that he doesn't--"

"Jaemin-hyung, you're talking too much!" Jisung interrupted and covered his friend's mouth. 

Yiyeon sighed, "No, it's okay..." She looked at them and tried to smile. "He... After the project, he promised that he wouldn't be talking to me anymore..."

"That doesn't sound like Jeno at all," Shotaro said, crossing his arms. "One thing about Jeno is that he won't shut up, especially when it's about you." He noticed that his friends were looking at him weirdly. Shotaro raised a brow and crossed his arms, "What?"

Jaemin sighed defeatedly, "Let's not force Yiyeon to talk about it if she doesn't want to," he said, and everyone nodded. "Anyways, are you coming with us for lunch? Soyun's treat."

Meanwhile, the said girl could only roll her eyes. "What the hell, Jaemin?"

***

"Noona, do you want to try their chocolate chip ice cream?" Yiyeon turned to look at Jisung, who was seated beside her. 

She slowly nodded as Jisung handed her the menu, "Sure, Ji."

The club members decided to go outside the campus to have their lunch as the cafeteria food bore them.

"Okay, okay, attention!" Jaemin said as he clapped his hands.

Jisung could only hide his face in embarrassment, "Seriously, why is Jaemin-hyung the editor-in-chief of the club? It could be Taeho-hyung instead." Jisung sighed.

Jaemin rolled his eyes, "Jisung, I can clearly hear you." He then composed himself as he sat properly, "The reason why I called all of us here is to celebrate. The first celebration is that it's Yuan's birthday!" They all cheered for the Chinese male seated beside Shotaro.

Yuan smiled and thanked them.

"Secondly, it's a celebration to welcome Yiyeon to the club!" Jaemin said and clapped his hands. "With this, order anything you want. I'll pay for it," he smiled.

The members cheered as they browsed the menu.

"Sometimes, Jaemin-hyung is stupid, but I really like it when he does this," Jisung chuckled.

"Do you guys... always have gatherings like this?" Yiyeon asked.

The younger boy nodded, "Once or twice a month? It depends on the workload." He shrugged. "And it's always Jaemin-hyung's treat."

Yiyeon nodded as she read the menu, "But everything looks expensive?"

"Just trust me," he chuckled.

Their mini-celebration pushed through, and the fact that they have work to do almost slipped their minds. Not that they were rushing, though. 

***

"What are you guys doing here?" Jeno raised a brow upon seeing his friends standing by their doorstep. "Is something wrong?" The guys paid no attention to him as they just walked past him, trudging their way to the living room as if they were the ones who inhabit the place.

Jeno glanced at Jaemin, whose face was indescribable, "You tell me, my friend." He said and crossed his arms. "Is something wrong," he asked and raised a brow. Jeno looked at the others, whose positions were the same as Jaemin's.

He scratched his nape in pure confusion, "I don't get anything at all. Could you be more specific?" He asked and sat on the couch across them.

Renjun sighed, "We heard from someone that you have been avoiding Yiyeon? Why is that?" He asked and leaned forward. "That's unlike you..."

Jeno sighed and leaned back, "It's for the best..."

Shotaro scoffed, "Idiot."

The rest of them looked at the Japanese male who just cursed at Jeno. 

"See? Even Taro-hyung agrees!" Jisung said. 

"I thought you still love her?" Jaemin asked. "If you still do, then what's this?"

Jeno sighed, "I do... I really, really love her. I really do," he clasped his hands together. "But I don't think I should take another step closer. I don't want to hurt her. Especially now that all eyes are on us."

His friends looked at each other.

"You know about it?" Chenle asked.

"Of course, I do. I mean, I'm involved in it. Yiyeon probably knows it, too." He sighed. "As much as I want to protect her, I can't... this sucks."

Renjun stood up and flicked his forehead, "Dumbass! I expected this much drama from Yiyen, but from you? No!" He sighed and crossed his arms. "Just in case you missed it, Jeno, they hurt her already. Are you just going to let it slide?"

Jeno's eyes widened as he looked at Renjun, "What..."

Even the others were surprised at what Renjun said.

"You aren't making this up, are you?" Shotaro asked.

Renjun rolled his eyes, "Why would I make something up?!" He exclaimed. "Hyunjin told me everything about it last Sunday," he took a deep breath. "He said that Yiyeon spent most of her time locked inside her room, and when Hyunjin was able to come inside the room, she was just staring at her uniform that was covered with hardened stains..."

Jeno clenched his fists to his sides. He closed his eyes shut, not wanting to hear what Renjun was saying. But he has to listen. Especially that the person he loves is involved.

"Hyunjin asked me a favor," Renjun continued. "He asked us a favor... to look after his cousin when he could not. Especially now that Yiyeon's already a part of the newspaper team." He looked at his friends who wore worried expressions.

"And yes, I have already told Sungchan. He probably told Yangyang and the others already."

"Speaking of Yangyang... what could he possibly do? I heard that he's also not in speaking terms with Yiyeon," Jaemin said.

Renjun shrugged, "That's their problem, not ours."

Although everything seems unclear, one thing is certain for Jeno.

He won't let Yiyeon get hurt again.

- tbc.

wow it's been a week.