∞ CHAP 14: LILAC BLOSSOM ∞

The journey has just begun.

Lina sighed as she walked into the building with droopy eyes and a frown on her face. How did she go from ‘make Mark like me’ to ‘make Jeno forgive me’? That’s okay! She assured herself, once she cleared things up with her partner, Mark would be her one and only target.

It all started with this morning’s conversation...

It was an hour before practice and the girls were having a small conversation. Lina clapped, “Girls hear me out. Look, just a disclaimer, I sincerely respect my partner as a senior. But, there’s this trouble... you see, we don’t exactly get along so well, and I need a quick fix so that we won’t be killing ourselves in our next meeting. What do you say?”

Camilla wrinkled her nose, eyes glancing to the older members. “Is it a good thing, or a bad thing?”

The others shrugged. Lina saw their miscellaneous faces and responded with sass, “It’s a good thing, or else you wouldn’t be able to see me here. I could’ve died from boredom back there!”

Hana defended Jeno, frowning, “I had a discussion about our favorite books with him last practice and he told me lots of exciting stories.”

Lina’s lip formed a sarcastic smirk. “Yeah, dull people attract each oth- Ouch!” Hana smacked the younger’s shoulder with a hardcover book in her hand; Lina let out a small yelp. She then shouted, “Okay fine, you guys are hilarious.”

Lina started. “I don’t really know if hates me or not but his actions are getting weirder these days. Like in the last practice, I couldn’t do a move. He didn’t help me, that’s okay, but he freaking shouted at me as if I had burned his favorite book.

Maybe he hates me since our first meeting. At the music show, I bumped into him and despite having apologized, he seemed unhappy. Then, on our first day at SM, I tried to read his books out of curiosity and ended up seeing Lee Jeno being angry for the first time in his life, according to Jaemin. At our first practice, we had a small fight, not a heat one, just small bickering and dissing each other. I remembered calling him ‘meanie’ for several times, but I've apologized to him a hundred times later. Wait no, just an exaggeration; I only said sorry 5 times in total. But still, I had sincerely said sorry. Or did I talk too much that a quiet person like him felt annoyed?

Anyway, I need your suggestions on how to make him forgive me. Gosh, I wouldn’t need his forgiveness if he weren’t the main and reliable source of information about Mark. This Jeno plan is a part of Mark plan.”

The girls remained quiet while exchanging vague glances at each other.

“Hey,” surprisingly, Hana was the first one to speak up. She was a girl of few words, but each time she expressed her thoughts, with their depth and maturity, they were useful in many ways. Lina was fired up as soon as she saw Hana opening . “No wonder why he hates you.”

Lina’s smile was replaced with a frown. “What?”

Camilla chuckled. “If I were him, you were in the burning room, and I had water, I’d drink it.”

The statement baffled Lina. She blinked a few times before asking, “Does he hate me that much?”

“Well, this is just my opinion. It’s not like I can read his mind or something.”

Hana organized a few ideas in her mind and let out a small hum before starting. “There are many factors building his hatred. The first possible reason is his personality type. From his book choices, he tends to be sensitive.”

Lina ceased her brow, sensing no logic at her statement. “His book choices? You mean ‘Top Boring Facts on Earth.’ Come on, it’s nowhere near sensitive.”

Hana ignored her whining and continued, “Besides that book, he shows interest in sad and deep novels. That explains his maturity. Let’s be real, his schedule is insane. Still, he reads. Why? Cause he needs sometimes for himself, to get away from idol life, and become another person, in another world. He chose to live a challenging, difficult life; it reflects his delicate way of thinking. Plus, he’s still freaking seventeen, but he’s become this grown-up. How can he simply joke around for fun?”

Glancing at the younger’s reaction; Hana saw the baffling expression with rounded eyes and opened mouth. She continued.

“Those jokes aren’t meant to irritate you, but to cover his hurt feelings. You’re younger than him and it’s sad to see a junior disrespect him. He may understand his weakness, such as, according to you, humorlessness, but hearing your jokes about his flaws every day accumulates the inferiority. However, since he’s mature, he pretends he’s immune to them.”

Sensing no reply from Lina but a bewildered expression, Hana decided to say all until the end. “When I heard your list of crimes, these are the worst things ever happened to him. One, touching his book without permission is extremely unacceptable for a book lover. If I were him, I would curse you till death.

Two, you showed disappointment when you got paired with him. Imagine, when you get paired with a junior, and he acts like he hates the idea, how will you feel? Sad right? Although you don’t romantically like him, as a senior, seeing it makes you want to kill someone.”

Lina listened to each word carefully, but nothing made sense to her. Thousands of questions exploded like a bomb in her mind. How could she ever imagine, Lee Jeno, all this time, is so thoughtful and subtle, especially with him sneering her every day? And he took her jokes to heart? That could never explain his overconfident attitude and teasing.

She looked down at her hands, which were clutching the hem of her shirt. Without knowing herself, a frown displayed on her face.

The logical and organized explanation amazed Camilla. Kathie, who had not spoken up since the beginning, voluntarily clapped her hands, praising the maturity of someone who’s younger than her. “You’re amazing!”

Lina moved her eyes quickly from side to side, biting her fingernails. It was her habit when she faced something tricky or worrying.

Unwillingly, a sense of guiltiness emerged. She swore, from the bottom of her heart, she never wanted to hurt her senior’s feelings. Not to mention, Jeno helped her, a lot, in terms of providing extra information about Mark.

Lina could not foresee this situation she was in. She went from hating Jeno with a passion to wanting to do anything just to make him happy, with no hard feelings. She stood up from her chair, walked back and forth while scratching her head. Kathie spoke up. “I’m dizzy already!”

Camilla stared at Hana in awe, mouth hung open. “It’s incredible how you can analyze Jeno’s feelings just by his books and her story. While she spends days with him but has no idea.”

Being the leader, Kathie’s strength was easing the tension between members and soothing out arguments. Therefore, she suggested some brilliant ideas. “Give him his favorite food, items. You can apologize directly, that’s fine!”

“I’m searching,” Camilla unlocked her phone, her fingers typing on the screen in a rush. “Favorite color, blue. Favorite … where the hell is the favorite food section?” she groaned in impatience, her eyes moving quickly across the screen.

“No need,” trying to recall the food that she intended to buy for Mark but ended up getting tricked by Jeno instead, she listed out. “Glazed doughnuts, chocolate milk, and Jjamppong,” she said, impressing other members with her information, and even herself that she can remember this.

“Wow, the only time when you know something about him. Chocolate milk is the best option now.”

“Okay, got it!”

So here she was, going to her practice room with bottles of chocolate milk in her bag. On her way, Lina whispered to herself, feeling nervous as each second passed by.

“He should better accept this. I chose the most expensive one in the store.”

Her practice day processed normally, except for the fact that Jeno suddenly appeared as pitiful as the typical character in movies. A boy looked like he had all the greatest things and girls went crazy over him. However, he was emotionally hurt by his parents (in this case, it was her fault).

It was finally break time. Jeno was about to exit the room but Lina spent no time grabbing his hand to prevent him from walking away. “Wait.”

Jeno wrinkled his forehead. “What are- Huh?” The question got interrupted by Lina’s sudden movement to force him to sit on the ground. “Hey, what the hell are you up to?” he shouted across