Jisung, Speak | ᴄʜᴇɴsᴜɴɢ

two

It had been two weeks now since the class has started. Chenle made new friends— Jeno, Jaemin, Renjun, Yangyang, and Donghyuck. Since they all became close, they always went to eat at the cafeteria together. They did their homework together and review together for their quizzes and tests.

Chenle gets along with everyone in the class except for one person— Jisung Park.

It's been two weeks since the class had started, but he noticed that the guy didn't make an effort to get along with everyone. Whenever there was a task given to them that should be done by pair or by group, Jisung would always ask their professor if he could just do it alone. He always does everything alone. He never see the lad with someone else. It's just always him alone.

Chenle was curious why Jisung seemed to be allergic to interacting with people. At first, he thought that he's just uncomfortable because they are all probably new faces to him, but it's been two weeks now. Almost everyone was familiar with each other and Jisung still preferred to be alone. He's not uncomfortable with people, he avoids them.

Chenle tried to approach him several times. Every time he tried to greet him, before he even says 'Hello' Jisung's already on his back and has walked away. The lad didn't even laid an eye on him. He never looked at everyone in the eye. His eyes were locked to the things he's doing. The only people he looked in the eye were their teachers when they asked him to recite, which only happened twice.

"Lele, where are the others? You're here early," Renjun asked him the moment that he arrived at the Café. Renjun sat in front of Chenle and placed his bag on the empty chair beside him.

Chenle shrugs, "I don't know, Hyung. Jeno Hyung and Jaemin Hyung said they are on their way already, it's just traffic since it's rush hour. Yangyang Hyung said he might be late because he just woke up, he forgot to set his alarm."

"How about Jisung?" The older asked.

"I don't know. I don't have his number nor Facebook account— I don't know if he has one." Chenle answered. Renjun sighed, he hoped that Jisung would attend their meeting today.

Renjun really doesn't want to be in the same group as him but Professor Doyoung— their professor in Statistics, forced Jisung to join a group and that unlucky group was their group. It's not that Renjun really don't like him but he felt like Jisung would do anything for them to kick him out of the group since he noticed that the lad preferred to do activities alone. He's just unfortunate that Mr. Doyoung doesn't let him do this activity alone and forced him to join their group.

A few more minutes have passed and the couple arrived.

"Phew, where are the others? Yangyang and Jisung?" Jaemin asked, and Renjun answered that Yangyang would be late because he woke up late, while they didn't have any news on Jisung's whereabouts.

"He's probably on his way," Jaemin answered on Jisung's behalf. Well, it's still 10 minutes before their agreed time.

"How did you know? Are you close?" Jeno asked with a hint of jealousy in his voice.

Jaemin chuckled at his boyfriend's possessiveness. "No, I just think that he's a punctual person. He will arrive on time. You guys judged him quickly. You already don't like him when you barely know him," he answered as he pointed out Jeno and Renjun.

Jaemin knew that Jeno and Renjun wasn't okay with the idea of Jisung as their groupmate because these two boys are open about it, they didn't even budge to hide their disdain to Jisung. Only he and Chenle were okay with the idea of Jisung being with them. Jaemin thinks that it was the people who should approach and make an effort to be friends with Jisung as he observed that Jisung was really not into it. Jaemin felt a brotherly love towards Jisung even though they still did not have a proper conversation, probably because Jisung was the youngest in their class followed by Chenle. He just felt sorry for the lad as many people already judged him because he's introvert.

"Oh, you're here, Jisungie! Here!" Jaemin called Jisung's attention the moment the lad arrived at the café.

Jisung sat beside Chenle as it was the only vacant seat.

"Hi, Jisung," Chenle greeted him. Jisung just gave him a nod, he did not even bother to greet him back.

"Should we start? Let's not wait for Yangyang," Renjun suggested and the others agreed.

"So, what'll be our topic? Do you have any ideas? We have to make a survey. It should be related to our course," Jeno asked.

"I think we should prepare three topics with different sets of questions. We still need Mr. Doyoung's approval on the topic. Just in case he doesn't like our first topic then we still have a backup topic for him," Chenle suggested.

"Hmmm, how about the benefits and disadvantages of music to teenagers?" Jaemin suggested.

"Benefits and disadvantages? It's hard to think of questions that will balance the two," Jeno answered.

"Like how I cannot think of any disadvantages when I'm with you," Jaemin said confidently to Jeno with a big smile in his face. Chenle and Renjun cooed at them. Chenle and Renjun started teasing Jeno as his face starts to heat up, his ears and cheeks were so red already.

The table gets louder. Jaemin continued to throw a punch line to Jeno; Chenle and Renjun teased him for blushing; and Jeno shushing the two. Their faces were full of smiles and laughter, all of them enjoyed this moment except for one.

Jisung slammed his hand on the table as he stood up, he looked at the four of them sharply. He couldn't take the noisiness, it made his heart palpitate. It made his mind blank. It made his blood boil. It made him panic for no reason.

Jisung, then, walked out of the café.

The four went silent. Chenle stood up from his seat. "I'll follow him."

"You don't have to—" Renjun attempted to stop Chenle but it's too late because the lad already went out of the café to follow Jisung.

"I think we pissed him. We're having too much fun, we forgot to do our work." Jaemin said, looking sad. "We should say sorry to him, we're being inconsiderate. We should make it up to him."

Chenle found Jisung quickly as the lad walked on the side road.

"Hey," Chenle approached Jisung.

The lad continued to walk, he did not even bother to look at him. "I'm sorry because we're too noisy."

Jisung stopped from walking. This was the first time that someone followed him when he walked out. This was also the first time that someone apologize to him.

Jisung looked at Chenle.

"Don't apologize," he said with his deep but minimal voice, and he continued to walk. Leaving Chenle dumbfounded. 

Why I shouldn't apologize? It's our fault that we made him uncomfortable. 

Chenle went back to the café. He couldn't follow Jisung anymore because the guy already went too far that he couldn't catch up to him anymore.

"Where is he?" Jaemin asked.

"I can't catch him up anymore," Chenle answered as he sighed. "How can we contact him? We don't have his number. We don't know where he lives. We have to finish this because we need to submit this on Monday."

"We might find his house. He left his bag, wallet, and phone here." Renjun answered. "We already looked at his ID, we got his address. It's just near this place. We should go now."

"How about Yangyang Hyung?" Chenle asked.

"We already texted him the address," Jaemin answered. "Now, fix your things and get your bag. We'll go to Jisung's place."

Chenle nodded. He was smiling as he put his things inside his bag. He didn't know why but he felt happy that he's going to Jisung's house.