"hey man," Haechan greets with his shoulders slumped as he approaches Jaemin sitting on one of the empty tables in the library.

"Oh hey," the blond haired boy gives him a small smile before raising a brow up, "what's up with you?"

"Renjun's been mad... I don't know if it's because of me or what," his friend said as he takes a seat beside Jaemin.

The latter hums, dropping his pen on his notebook to pat Haechan's back comfortingly. "I'm not entirely sure what his reasons are and what's on his mind right now, but you're not alone."

"He's been bitchy to you too?" Haechan snaps his head up with his eyes blown wide, staring at his friend.

Jaemin couldn't help but chuckle, "in some ways, I guess. He's snappy whenever I try to ask something."

"But he's not as mean to you as he is to me, I mean sure we bicker a lot but– why does it feel like it's my fault?" Haechan then pouts, staring at Jaemin's unfinished notes now.

The blond haired boy purses his lips and sighs, "how about I'll tell you what exactly happened last night." And so he did, Haechan listening to him from start to finish.

"Holy shit, it is my fault!" People from nearby tables snap their heads towards them and shushes them harshly, scowling at the two boys.

"It really isn't Hae–"

"But it is!" Haechan cuts him off mid-sentence, despite getting in trouble already– he's still raising his voice up just a bit to show how he feels about it.

"If I didn't drink so much, became reckless, forcing you guys to go to that party– associate with those bastards, maybe we wouldn't be here!" Haechan rants.

Jaemin's lips form a frown when he hears Haechan ranting, the latter isn't even talking badly about anyone else– like he usually is. He's cussing to himself.

"God, so much for being a social butterfly." Covering his face up with his palms and sighs deeply.

"If you're stressing about what happened and blaming yourself, you're really stupid."

"I know! Maybe I am," Haechan replies before abruptly looking up from his palms as he realizes it wasn't even Jaemin talking to him.

"What the hell are you doing here?" He glares at the newcomer who has calmly took the seat across from them.

"It's a school library. I went to find some books for my social studies class." The brunet boy replies, voice calm as always.

"Well off you go then, shoo!" Haechan rudely says with a hand gesture, wanting the brunet boy to leave them alone.

"I just wanted to tell you that I'm really sorry for what happened," Jeno blurts out, refusing to leave the table and instead talk to the two boys.

"Are you kidding me? How stupid can you be? To come here and apologize to us, without Renjun who've you've hurt the most! And then expect us to forgive you?" Haechan snaps at him.

Jaemin pats his back to calm him down, the unwanted attention they were receiving pretty much annoyed them even more.

For once, Jeno didn't have a flirty or shameless remark, but he still lets out a small chuckle with his arms crossed.

"Yeah, I get that," he said. "You can be mad at me, I'll accept that. But... I didn't really say I'm expecting to be forgiven, I'm just here to tell you first."

"Us first?" Jaemin this time chuckles sarcastically in disbelief, "what about the person who was deeply affected by what you did should hear this first?"

"I couldn't find him, and I wanted to talk to him alone." Was Jeno's response.

Jaemin had a weird gut feeling about this, something about Jeno's words made him feel like the younger boy was lying– at least half of it.

But he shrugs it off, he's probably feeling a different vibe. Lee Jeno is just that irritating.

Besides, he doesn't even know the younger boy to that extent. How can he just assume Jeno like that?

"Please, you're just wasting our time. Go away and leave us alone, we never wanted to be associated with you in the first place." Jaemin tells him next.

"You can't avoid us forever," Jeno said with a pout, making the other two boys across the table roll their eyes at him.

"Your 'charms' won't work on us, try using that to other boys you've been with, I'm sure it works all the time right?" Haechan retorts.

The brunet boy scoffs lightly, a crooked smile on his lips and shrugs. "I guess so." Humming at the end.

"Jeno?" They all pause before looking towards the raven haired girl at the end of the table. "What are you doing here talking to them?" She glances at the two boys.

"I thought we'd forget about them after the party?" She chuckles in amusement, ignoring the scowl she was receiving.

Jeno sighs and shakes his head, "I needed to ask something for our homework, don't worry about it Patrine."

Patrine scans each of them carefully and soon nods to herself, "hmm, alright. Well, I have to go and meet up with Hakim, see you then?"

"Of course," Jeno held his hand up for a high five– to which he thankfully got, smiling at her before she takes her leave.

"Why can't you be like your friend and leave already?" Haechan grumbles while rolling his eyes.

"Because unlike her, I have to apologize for what happened." Jeno smiles at him, almost mockingly. "Now, before I go, I want to tell you that you shouldn't blame yourself here."

"No one else is to blame between the three of you, because it's all my fault honestly." He says, "I should've done something to stop it, but I didn't and let them continue."

"And why didn't you?" Jaemin furrows his eyebrows. He's still angry, but he's more on curious now.

"Bec–"

"What are you doing talking to him?" They all froze by Renjun's presence, slowly looking up to meet his glaring eyes.

"He started it." Haechan immediately says and points a finger at the brunet boy, Renjun's glare hardens.

Biting his inner cheek, Jeno waves them off dismissively as he stands up. "It's fine, I have to go home now anyways. See you around." He tells them and quietly takes his leave.

All three of them might not say it out loud, but it's kind of weird how the brunet boy didn't do his usual exit; winking, flirty words, flying kisses and etcetera.

Every little thing that would leave them annoyed.

However, why does Jaemin feel sort of bummed out about it?