— Chapter 2 —

Not Done Yet

A small groan rang out in the silence of the room, followed by the shuffling of bedsheets as Jinki awoke. Turning to his left to get off, he accidentally knocked the bedside drawer. A piece of paper fluttered down to the floor, grabbing his attention. He slowly sat up, wincing at the sharp pain he felt in his jaw. He picked up the paper and read it. There, written neatly was a short note.

" Jinki, I'm really worried about you.
I hope nothing happens after what Sehun did.
He hit you pretty hard... luckily your jaw isn't broken.

If you're reading this, thank goodness
you've come to! And before you have any questions,
I would like you to remember that I have spare keys to
your apartment from before. Sorry for not returning
them yet.

Love, Me. ♥︎  "

Jinki couldn't help but smile broadly even though his jaw still hurt. Taeyeon... he found her quite adorable, especially when she wrote short notes or letter to him. It was heartwarming, unlike in most cases in this generation where people just text each other.  More emails were being sent, even letters were printed nowadays, and fewer people ever got to writing a letter by themselves. Their reason? Convenience and time-saving.
Every handwritten letter holds a special meaning and emotion to either the writer or receiver, sometimes even both. And that's exactly what Taeyeon and Jinki did within their small group, writing letters to each other... Call them weird or whatever you want, but it was special to them.

Click. The door swung open with the soft melody of keys jingling.

In waltzed Taeyeon, a notebook in hand as she peered around the door. She continued tiptoeing in, entirely unaware that Jinki was awake.

"Taeng? Is that you?" a sleepy voice called out, causing the girl to squeal and run back for the door, hitting the corner of a table as she did so.

But she cleared and quickly composed herself, ignoring the suppressed chuckle that came from behind her.

"It's not funny!"

The taller male only shook his hazelnut-brown hair strands out of his face, shoulders shaking slightly from trying to hold back his laughter.

"You're finally awake... Are you okay?" Taeyeon spoke softly as she moved to Jinki's side, a slight pout showing.

"I'm fine, my face just hurts a little. And um... how did I get here?" he blinked, finally noticing another person in his apartment.

"You were knocked out, infirmary was closed, and Taemin happened to see us. So he- no, we carried you back here, and tada!"

"Wow, you've gotten stronger, haven't you, Taemin?"

"It's nothing," Taemin chuckled, scratching his nape awkwardly, "We had to stop a few times though." He was a year younger than the two, but nevertheless close to them. Being the youngest, he was often babied by his seniors, even his friends would take every opportunity to shower him with affection in their group of fourteen.

"Yeah! You were really heavy."

"Oh come on, I'm pretty sure it's just because you're not strong enough~"

"Very funny. Ha. Ha." Taeyeon flicked Jinki's forehead.

"Oww! Do you want me to whack your forehead?" he grimaced, puffing his cheeks slightly.

"You started it first, so no complaints!"

"Guys... you can stop now!" Taemin cut in, obviously amused and entertained by the friendly banter.

***

The weekend flew by, with Taeyeon checking in on Jinki every chance she got, and soon they were back in school. His injury had faded to a bruise, but it still hurt. His locker door had a few coloured post-it notes stuck to it.

"Sorry we couldn't help you, oppa!"

"We were scared... I hope it heals soon."

Tch. You're only doing this because of your infatuations, they don't actually mean anything. Jinki peeled off every sheet quickly and stacked them together, tossing the papers far behind into the deep, dark corners of his locker. He closed the door quietly and rushed to class.

***

During break time, he plopped onto his usual bench in the canteen. As he looked up, he realised that everyone was staring intently at him, their heads stretched across the table.

"What?" he blinked.

"Are you okay, my little boy?"

"Chicken... is my chicken okay?"

"We heard what happened, and we were really really worried."

"Just look at that bruise! It's like a medal of honour, I'm so proud of you!"

"Kim Jonghyun!" an icy glare shot its way to the grinning male, accompanied by a high-pitched voice. Excitement had all but washed off his face. A loud smack could be heard as the above mentioned was hit on the back of his head. He let out a yelp, before staring at the one who hit him with sad puppy eyes.

"That's not going to work on me. It never did. Our friend got hurt, and here you are, gushing over how brave he is and how cool that bruise looks. Do you even have the slightest bit of sympathy in you?" Jessica ranted, her tone low and threatening.

"Sorry, Sica..." Jonghyun whimpered, turning back to his salad quietly.

Everyone else at the table was laughing quietly.

"Discipline Master Jung strikes again!" Hyoyeon singsonged, beaming from ear to ear.

"It's okay Sooyeon, I don't mind. But thank you," Jinki smiled, nodding in acknowledgement to her.

"Brats approaching at your 5 o'clock," Kibum—or as he'd rather be called, Key—mumbled to Jinki through his mouthful of fried rice.

The tables around the group of friends were immediately silenced by the arrival of Kris and his gang. "Still having fun with your injury?" his deep voice boomed, standing next to Jinki with his arms crossed. The whole group simply stared at him.

"Didn't think so."

"You know, you aren't impressing anyone, trying to be cool like that." Key blurted, sighing at the never-ending stupidity and aggressiveness of the basketballer.

"You're spouting crap again. I'm always cool."

"You're the one spouting nonsense."

"Also, you might want to spend your time studying for the upcoming exams instead of trying to pick fights and arguing with people. Given your character and situation now, I doubt anyone (read: the smart people) would want to help you with your work," Jessica added in English, clasping her hands and smiling innocently at Kris. "I don't see you getting into university with that... attitude of yours."

"You-" he stuttered, speechless.

"Buuuurn." Hyoyeon whispered and giggled.

A small voice whispered "Fight, fight, fight." Immediately, more people caught on, chanting loudly around the whole canteen. Girls rushed to the front to watch, but still kept a distance, while some guys stood on the tables and benches, hooting and cheering.

"Shut up! If you want to see a fight happening, start one yourselves!" Jessica shrieked, her icy glare turning into hot daggers of fire. Her voice echoed everywhere. Sure enough, the canteen fell silent once again. Jessica had never shouted this loud before, which surprised everyone. Many hated to admit it, but they were frightened by her after that.

Even Kris. His fearless façade faded, and he even jumped, stumbling back only to bump into his buddies. He could only hope that no one saw it. Jonghyun on the other hand, whimpered even more loudly, ducking his head low, while everyone else at the table covered their ears at the volume.

"Let's just go, we don't need to waste our time dealing with these people," Taeyeon finally spoke up, getting off her seat. The rest followed suit. Sooyoung stuffed the last of her sandwich into before scuttling back to the group. They left Kris and his gang stunned, their feet rooted to the ground.

"What are you people staring at? Go back and eat!" Sehun yelled at the crowd in an attempt to mend his leader's broken ego.

A/N: Here's the second chapter guys! Hope you enjoyed reading. Another question ^-^: Guess who asked "is my chicken okay?" If you get it right, you get a shoutout in the next chapter o 3 o You can ask for hints~ Have fun thinking~ You can go ahead and guess who said the other two sentences <3

Sarangs to thes9ne for upvoting and subbing!
Even more sarangs to shazwanibms and vipsonexotic for subscribing! Thank you for your love and support~

See you next time~