Journey 16

Everyone has their own addictions. Jinri couldn't start her work without drinking coffee; Luna starts and ends her day by playing the guitar and Amber simply loves chewing gums. Therefore, addictions helped in fulfilling a person's satisfaction, making his day complete just like how Chanyeol developed his own one.

This unusual addiction to jellies started on his first day of being a sixteen-year old, when he woke up suddenly craving for some.

 

"I don't have jellies here Chanyeol. Just go and buy some outside."
"But I want it now!" Chanyeol whined.
"UGH! You're sixteen for heaven's sake, not a seven-year old! For once, be a man!"

Chanyeol winced from Jinri's stinging words and huffed.

"Oh I'll buy my own jelly alright! I'll buy it on my own because I'm a MAN!"

Jinri shook her head in unbelievably as she tried to concentrate on her book.

*Seriously, what's happening to that kid? He's getting weirder and weirder each day. I swear he's slowly becoming Kyungsoo the second...*

"...now search for your partners..."

*Maybe Kyungsoo's really influencing him! Oh no -*

"...You have an hour before deadline. Start now."

There was a rush scrambling of chairs as everyone but Jinri paired with each other. Jinri took her time before she realized that her co-biology classmates were already starting to their works, and she was left all alone.

"Um, sir... I don't have a partner..." she told her white-haired professor.

The teacher looked around and pointed at the far corner of the room.

"Mr. Kim Jongin is free Ms. Choi, go and partner yourself with him."

Jinri groaned inwardly as she took a glimpse at Jongin. The man was standing at the furthermost corner of the room, still like a statue. He met eyes with her and she felt the familiar sensation of coldness and anger from Jongin's deadpanned eyes. She stood up and walked hesitantly towards him, giving him a timid smile at the same time.

"H-hi." she said nervously, approaching his table.

Jongin took an automatic step backward and hit the wall behind him. For a second, Jinri saw Jongin's annoyance because he was cornered by Jinri, but that was just for a second only.

"So, where should we start?" Jinri asked, keeping a friendly tone at him.

Jongin continued on staring at her emotionlessly until Jinri grew more uncomfortable. She averted her eyes from Jongin and focused on the dead frog lying in front of them.

"I guess I'll start the slicing then." she gulped.

Still, she received no response from him.

Dreadfully, Jinri started dissecting the frog with her own hands, trying not to puke from the amphibians' internal organs popping from its preserved body.

"A little help please?" she asked Jongin, getting paler at each second.

Jongin reached out his hands, still keeping his distance from Jinri. She in return gratefully transferred the sliced frog to Jongin's hands who had started analyzing the frog's parts the moment he received it.

"Done." he muttered after less than 5 minutes of dissection.
"Already?!" Jinri exclaimed. She looked around the room and saw that none of her classmates had even reached the middle part of dissection, but the man beside her had done it within 5 minutes only. "Wow."

Jongin looked unflattered from Jinri's amazement and continued staring at her. The dead stare was starting to annoy Jinri so she said,

"Are you angry at me? Did I do anything you disliked?" she asked boldly.
"No..." the other one answered. Jinri waited for more of his explanation because he sounded like he's going to say more, but Jongin went back to being silent again.
"Then why do you keep on distancing yourself from me?"
"I do it from everyone." he said. "You're nothing special."

Jinri bit her lip, really getting annoyed at him. She went back to her study and tried to focus on the paragraphs instead.

"Thanks for doing most of the lab work." she puffed before absorbing herself on the book once more.

Moments later, Jinri couldn't concentrate again. It was not because of the frog's putrid smell, or Jongin's sarcastic words earlier, but because of Jongin sniffing her.

"Why are you sniffing me?????" she asked, half-rising her tone.

Jongin went back to the farthest corner and answered.

"You smell bad."
"What?!" Jinri instantly sniffed her hair. It smelled of strawberry, and it was Joonmyeon and Kyungsoo's favorite scent. "I don't!"

The bell rang from somewhere and his classmates groaned in unison. Most of them hadn't finished their lab works yet, but still they were forced to submit their works. Jongin picked his bag and slung it on his shoulders without sparing a look or goodbye at Jinri.

"Hey! I don't smell bad!" Jinri called after him before he disappeared from the line of people filing outside their classroom.

* * *

She expected Luna, Amber or Kyungsoo waiting for her outside their classroom but none of them showed their faces. As if on cue, Luna's text popped on her phone.

Luna: Hi! Me and Kyungsoo have guitar lessons today. Amber's with us. You don't mind, right? ;)

*So I'm left alone.* Jinri thought dully, but she texted 'okay' to Luna nonetheless.

She decided to stay on the library since it was the most comfortable place she'll be in. The feeling of blending in the crowd just like what she wanted to be felt unusual for Jinri. In fact, it was the first time that her wish was granted because she has no weird Kyungsoo, desired Joonmyeon, admired Amber or famous singer Luna with her. Today she's only Jinri the Middle.

The first thing she did after she logged in the library was to search a good book to read on Fiction Novels section. She was thumbing every books' spines from the shelf until she stopped on a fairy tale book entitled "Peter Pan". Remembering Joonmyeon's gift for Chanyeol, Jinri pulled the book out from its mantle. The gap revealed an angelic eye gazing directly on her, and her heart skipped a beat because that was Joonmyeon's eyes staring.

"Joonmyeon!" she called. The eye blinked before it disappreared from the gap. Jinri ran towards the other side of the shelf but she hadn't seen Joonmyeon anywhere. Jinri's shoulder fell as she realized that she might have been daydreaming, since she'd been thinking about Joonmyeon for the last 4 weeks.

* * *

Jinri found Kyungsoo and Chanyeol playing video games when she reached home late at night. 

"Hiya!" Kyungsoo greeted before returning to his shooting attacks on the game.

Jinri restlessly flopped herself on the couch.

When Chanyeol noticed Jinri's energy, he dropped down his game control and searched the fridge.

"Noona, jelly?" he offered to Jinri.
"No thanks." she answered.
"How about now?" Kyungsoo joined, offering another plate of jelly to Jinri.
"Not now."

There was light knock on the door which Chanyeol and Kyungsoo both turned to. Jinri was not in the mood in receiving any visitors so she instead let the boys welcome their unwelcomed guest.

She heard the door opened but silence followed in. Still feeling tired and missing Joonmyeon, Jinri called the boys without looking at them.

"Who's the visitor?" she asked.
"It's me." Joonmyeon replied.

Jinri straightened up as fast as a lightning and turned to Joonmyeon. There he really was, standing on her doorstep, visiting her late at night.

"What are you doing here?" she asked aghastly, looking at the wall clock at the same time. "and at this time too?"
"Can we talk?" Joonmyeon asked.

Jinri nodded, following him outside her apartment. The chilly October night freezed Jinri but she did not reconsider on going back to her apartment just to grab her jacket. Insetad, her mind was focused on Joonmyeon who took the intiative to talk to her.

They stopped on the parking lot, just on a sighting distance from her apartment. Joonmyeon ped his jacket and wrapped it around Jinri, curling her hair at the same time.

"I'm sorry." he mumbled, looking down on his feet as he said those two words.

Jinri sniffed, then hugged Joonmyeon tightly. 

"Why are you the one saying sorry? It should have been me Joonmyeon. I'm so sorry I lied..." she said burying her head on his chest. "I'm just happy that you're finally talking to me. I missed you so much."

Joonmyeon hugged her back and leaned his chin on Jinri's head.

"Four weeks of not talking to you was the biggest torture I did to myself. But now I've overcome my immaturity, so please accept my apology Jinri."
"You don't need too."

Joonmyeon replied with a lingering kiss on Jinri's right cheek. "Good night. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"
"I'll look forward to it." Jinri said eagerly, waving Joonmyeon good bye. "Drive safely."

Meanwhile, Kyungsoo and Chanyeol were peeking furtively behind Jinri's curtain. The scene of the two sweethearts consoling each other was clearly seen from their view, as well as Chanyeol's jealousy oozing from his face.

"Jelly?" Kyungsoo showed the plate of jelly he was holding earlier in front of Chanyeol's face. Chanyeol glared at him, understanding the double meaning of the word.
"No, thank you." he grumbled, getting back to their video game.

Jinri entered the room with a much different aura now. She hugged Joonmyeon's jacket tighter around her while she giggled happily.

"I forgot to give this back to him, but he told me he'll pick me up tomorrow." she shared.
"Huh. Like there's someone asking." Chanyeol snapped.

Jinri's mouth hung from Chanyeol's words while Kyungsoo hid his triumphant smirk.

"Well, I'm just sharing." Jinri defended.
"Well, no one's caring." Chanyeol retorted.

Kyungsoo ate a spoonful of his jelly and watched the scene amusedly.

"What's wrong with you, huh?" Jinri challenged.
"Nothing." Chanyeol asnwered, too-casual to believe. "How about you? Anything wrong with you?"
"There's nothing wrong with me. I think it's you."

Chanyeol abandoned his controller and went to the kitchen. Seconds later, he was holding a bar of soap on his hands and without further ado, he rubbed Jinri's right cheeks feverishly.

"Ow! Chanyeol, WHAT ARE YOU DOING???!" Jinri shrieked, pulling herself away from Chanyeol.
"There's a mosquito bite on it, if you haven't noticed."
"Then you could have just tell me instead of rubbing my cheek out of nowhere!"
"Or you could have looked at your face first before going outside with someone!"
"Guys. How about some jelly?" Kyungsoo interrupted, grinning maliciously.
"SHUT UP!" the other two chorused.

Author-nim loves comments. (^3^) Good night subbies!