Chapter Text
the sun was coloring the sky in a hue of pink, orange, and gold. the roses in the garden looked prettier than usual, their red petals kissed with sunlight, swayed with the gentle summer breeze.
jaemin flipped the page of the book that he was reading mindlessly. Honestly, he couldn't focus on the words written on the yellow crinkly paper anymore. the song on his earphones was ringing louder in his brain than his wordless mumble of sentences.
he hummed along as 'myth' by beach house played on his 'reading time' playlist. sitting amidst the tranquility of his garden at 7 in the evening and reading books while listening to indie or jazz music is nothing new to jaemin.
yet, today was different. the once quiet street outside his house buzzed with the sounds of engines and unheard voices. the noises are a little faded because of the music in his ears still jaemin can't help but wonder what is going on.
The answer to Jaemin's curiosity came much easier than he expected. His mom walked in through their old white-painted iron gate, a few brown market bags in her hands. Jaemin could make out the outline of a few boxes of strawberries from one of the bags, but that was not his concern right now.
"What's going on outside?" he asked while taking out one of his earphones as she closed the gate behind her, the soft creak of the hinges blending with the distant hum of the busy street.
"I heard that the owner of the house right next to us finally sold it to a family. I guess they are just moving in today," she replied, setting the shopping bags on the ground to give her arms a rest. The scent of fresh strawberries wafted through the warm summer air.
The house had been empty ever since the old lady who lived there passed away five years ago. Jaemin was only 13 when she died; he was 18 now and barely remembered what it was like when she was alive. He did have a few memories of her giving his mom some fresh ripe oranges from her little garden. Her children were already settled in another country, so it was about time they sold the house.
"Oh," Jaemin mumbled, glancing toward the house beside them. "Do you know those people? Who are moving here?" he asked as he paused the music to finally take out both earphones.
The commotion sounded much closer than before now. He could even make out a few voices talking and laughing.
"I don't know them, but Mrs. Lee told me it's a family of three. The couple are both doctors who will be working at our local hospital, and they have a son," she said, giving Jaemin a small smile. "Do you want to say hi?"
"They wouldn't want to see a patient on their day off," Jaemin joked, eyeing his wheelchair which sat right next to the cushioned wooden chair he was sitting on.
"Jaemin, you are not a patient," she hissed at him, annoyed.
"I know, Mom. I'm just joking," he replied, giving her a wide grin, though a part of him winced at his own words. It was a feeling he was used to. It wasn’t the first time Jaemin joked about his massive insecurity just so he could avoid facing the thoughts that rumbled inside him randomly.
"That's not a nice thing to joke about," she said, frowning. "Anyways, what do you want to have for dinner?"
"Soup dumplings?" he said in an unsure tone, his mind still partly on the new voices in the neighborhood.
"We've been eating those for the past five days, Jaemin. I'm making some jajangmyeon," she replied before picking up the bags from the ground and walking past him into the house.
Jaemin only chuckled and gave her a slight nod.
Dinner was just the usual. His mom asked him about his studies and then gossiped about how the couple next door was wealthy enough to live a good life in Seoul but still decided to move to this small town in Busan because they had enough of city life.
Jaemin responded with slight hums and a few nods, then begged her for some extra ice cream for dessert since it was Sunday. She nagged at him for a while but eventually gave in, adding an extra scoop to his bowl.
After mumbling a small goodnight and giving him a soft kiss on the temple, she finally walked upstairs to her room. Jaemin wheeled himself back into his room, a long sigh leaving his lips as his head finally hit his soft, cloudy pillow.
The gentle breeze tickling his hair caught his attention as he turned to glance outside the window. The window on the first floor of the house next door looked unusually bright. The yellow spikes of light spilled out like rays of sunshine, illuminating the balcony. Jaemin could make out the silhouette of someone inside.
His mind drifted back to the conversation he had with his mom. He wondered if the 'son' of the couple was older than him, younger, or maybe the same age. Would he go to the same school as Jaemin, or had he already graduated from high school? He could even be a toddler for all Jaemin knew. The thoughts of the new strangers living next door blended with the tiring weekend he had, and the wind, which had been causing a disturbance before, finally lulled him into a sweet slumber.
The answer to Jaemin's questions again came easier than he expected as he stared at the mop of black hair standing right in front of the class, clutching the straps of his bag.
"Everyone, this is your new classmate who will be joining us from today. Let's welcome him with a warm applause," Mrs. Kim announced, her loud voice echoing in the classroom, soon followed by a series of half-hearted claps and a few hooting sounds.
"Okay, now let's hear an introduction from your new classmate and then proceed with our lesson," Mrs. Kim mumbled after the applause died down, giving the new boy a gentle nod.
The new guy, who looked much taller than Mrs. Kim, pressed his lips into a thin line before saying in a hushed voice, "Hi, my name is Lee Jeno. I'm looking forward to making friends and I hope we will get along. Thank you."
Lee Jeno. Jaemin was sure this was the guy who moved in next door. In their small town, it was almost impossible not to know everyone, and Jeno was a fresh face for sure.
"Alright, Jeno, please take a seat at any of the empty desks, and everyone else, open your physics textbooks to page 25," Mrs. Kim said. Jaemin's eyes followed Jeno, who gave a small nod to Mrs. Kim before walking to the end of the middle row to take a seat.
Classes after classes went on, and Jaemin lost himself in the endless cycle of opening textbooks, jotting down notes, and solving questions. He might have even forgotten about Lee Jeno somewhere between the tiring schedule of his last year of high school.
Even before he could mentally sort how or what he thought about this new guy, the same tall figure was standing next to his desk, staring at his unopened bento lunch box while all the other students were either enjoying their lunch break in the canteen or in the wide, vast green playground.
“Hi, im jeno.” he says, jaemin couldn’t help but stare at him wondering what’s his business in front of his desk all of a sudden.
“Hi?” jaemin replied, his voice cracking. Well, that was embarrassing.
"Um, guess you are here alone?" Lee Jeno asked, nervously tugging at the ends of his sleeves, his expression genuinely puzzled. Maybe that's why Jaemin couldn't tell if Jeno was being serious or trying to play bully.
"Are you kidding me?" Jaemin scoffed, glancing pointedly at his wheelchair folded neatly beside his desk.
"What? No!" Jeno said, a little louder this time.
"Well, I can't go to the ground and run around with those jocks playing football because my legs don't work. Is that what you wanted to hear?" Jaemin said, opening his lunch box. He really couldn't deal with a new bully right now, or even worse, someone who wants to be his friend out of curiosity about his disability and would forget about him in a few days. Those people were definitely the worst.
"I know that," Jeno said, his expression unreadable. "I-I mean, I know about your condition? That's, that’s how I recognized you. Mrs. Kim told me about it and said that I could take your help in catching up with the syllabus. Only if you want to help, though and i’m not really good at starting conversations. Sorry, if i came out as rude, that was not my intention at all" he rambled. Jaemin couldn’t tell if he was trying his best not to offend him in any way or if he was just a big talker.
"It's only been a month since school started, so there's not a lot to catch up on," Jaemin said with a tired sigh as he popped a dumpling in his mouth. Guess Lee jeno ain’t trying to be his friend or a bully.
"Yeah, I know, but I still need to do whatever's been done, and I really don't want to bother you, but since she suggested your name, I figured—"
"Do you live on the third street in the big old house that's colored off-white? You moved here yesterday evening, right?" Jaemin asked, his words muffled as he chewed on his food.
"Yeah, how do you know?" Jeno asked, looking a little dazed.
"I live next door. Just—just give me your number or Instagram, and I'll text you about the schoolwork," Jaemin said, staring at Jeno's face.
Jaemin could see a sense of relief wash over the boy’s face as he pulled out his phone from his blue school pants pocket. “Here”, he said giving jaemin his cell phone.
Jaemin typed in his number and saved it with a simple ‘Jaemin’. He mumbled “give me a call so that i have yours too” before handing the phone back to jeno.
“Sure and thanks” jeno replied this time giving him a full wide smile.
His eyes look like half moons, they somehow shine when he smiles.
He hears his phone buzz in his pocket after a second and mumbles a quick “got it” before putting another dumpling in his mouth.
“Shall we eat lunch together?” jeno asks, putting his phone back.
“You don’t have to butter me up for help. Go to the cafeteria, you’re new you should make new friends” jaemin says. Making friends at the end year of high school is difficult since everyone else is already in close-knit friend groups.
“I’m trying to” jeno mumbles shuffling awkwardly, jaemin gives him a quick glance making the newcomer clear his throat before he talks again, this time in a firm tone.
“I said i’m trying to be friends right now”
Guess, lee jeno was trying to be something after all.