Chapter 4.

Mark almost jump out of his seat when someone just threw a folder at their empty table. He was about to complain when he saw it was Artheena.

He slowly sits properly and cleared his throat. "Yo, it's you," he said while awkwardly scratching his head. "Uhm...what's this for?"

Chenle stopped sipping his iced coffee and took a look at what's inside the folder. His eyebrows shot up when he saw very neat handwriting that almost looked like it was printed.

Artheena didn't say anything and just walked away. It was already lunchtime and Artheena was not present the whole morning 'cause she was busy doing some research about their topic.

She didn't come back yesterday afternoon and just slept when she arrived at her father's house.

"Y'all don't need to have a group study," Chenle said.

Mark looked at him confused. "Huh? Why?" he asked.

Chenle raised the folder he's holding. "She did your work."

Mark's forehead creased and snatched the folder from Chenle before reading it. His mouth formed into an '0' shaped when he scanned the whole thing.

"Yo! Was that Artheena?" Haechan greeted while carrying a tray of food and sat beside Chenle.

Jaemin, Renjun, and Jisung did the same and started eating. "Where's Jeno?" Mark asked and plop the folder inside his bag.

Jaemin shrugged. "He only went with us to buy a bottle of water then disappeared."

Haechan shooked his head. "I tell you, that man is everywhere! Imma pray he won't cross paths with Artheena. Those two are like a fortune teller's crystal ball that absorbs all sorts of negative energy!"

"Oh yeah, speaking of..." Haechan turned to face Chenle. "He saw what happened yesterday right?" he asked while munching his food.

Chenle looked at his friend in disgust but he still nodded his head. "What was his reaction?" Haechan asked again.

Chenle shrugged. "Nothing."

Haechan rolled his eyes at him. "Tsk! You're not good at storytelling man!"

"That's because I don't mind someone else's business," Chenle reasoned out.

Renjun grimaced. "Even though you saw she needed help?"

"You guys helped her yesterday and the day before yesterday, didn't you? What was her response? Didn't she just leave you there without expressing gratitude or anything?" he pointed out.

"Just because she has 'that' attitude doesn't mean we are no longer allowed to offer help. You can't just mind your business all the time. Others may need your help, and the moment you apply that mindset of yours not- minding-someone-else's-business, everyone will question where'd your humanity went."

Chenle snorted. "Well not everyone wants help, Renjun. 1 out of 3 people hates it when someone helps them. They're better off dealing with things alone. And she..." Chenle pointed at the exit door as if Artheena was there. "She doesn't need any of those."

Renjun lowered his spoon and looked at Chenle intently. "How would you know that? Showing people that you don't need help doesn't mean you don't need one. It could be because she's not used to asking someone else to help her-"

"Oh please, you don't push yourself to someone who won't even acknowledge the good things you've done. Not everyone is you, ok? I don't have a big heart that'll understand your attitude problems," he argued back.

The other boy's exchange looks from Renjun to Chenle. They can't even eat properly as the two kept on arguing.

"Then how'd you managed to maintain your friendship with Jeno if you don't have the heart to understand his attitude problems?" Renjun questioned back.

"That's because we all grew up together! I'm used to dealing with his flaws and imperfections. Not only him but you guys too! And why are you questioning me now?! Sa ating dalawa ikaw yung kwestyonable eh!" Chenle snapped. Unable to control his emotions.

Their table fell into a pit of silence. Even the students who were eating near them were now looking over at their table.

Chenle and Renjun were hosting a staring contest. Both are oblivious about their surroundings.

Jisung smacked Jaemin's hand when he continued eating as if his two friends didn't have a debate. Jaemin looked Jisung, confused. The youngest glared at him and looked at the others side-eye.

Mark noticed the atmosphere was slowly suffocating them so he cleared his throat and decided to break the silence. "Yo...why are you arguing about her though?" he asked.

Renjun and Chenle look at him and together they say, "We are not!"

Mark opened his mouth to say something but opt not to. It's useless pointing out his point. These two are stubborn and will fight to where they stand no matter what.

He just sighed and raised his hands in defeat. "Just eat faster, class is about to start soon," was all he said.

THE GANG hangs out at the cafeteria for a while and when the bell rang, they all stood up and fix their belongings to go to their afternoon class.

They were walking near the field when a random student suddenly blocked them while panting.

"Yo chill man," Mark said, surprised at the sudden approach. "State your business."

The young student pointed at the huge library building across the field, still panting. "I-it's Jeno...he's...he's fighting with that girl agai-"

Mark didn't let the student finish and dash immediately in the middle of the field towards the library. The others followed him too except Chenle who sighed and rolled his eyes.

He shooked his head and continued walking. He has other important things that needs his attention. He put on his headphones and quietly walked to his target destination.

Meanwhile, on the other side, Jeno and Artheena were now lying on the ground. Both are gripping each other's collar, again.

"Sizzling meatballs! I told you it wasn't me!" Artheena exclaimed.

"You think I'll believe that?!" Jeno grunted.

Artheena snorted in annoyance. "And you think I'm expecting you to?!"

The two were already draining out of energy. They were pinning and rolling each other on the ground for minutes, both refusing to let go of each other's collar.

"I swear if you ruin my leather jacket!" Artheena threatened.

Jeno chuckled sarcastically. "What? You'll ruin my face? Is that it?"

Artheena kneed Jeno in the stomach earning a grunt from him. The pain caused him to loosen his grip on her collar and she took that chance to get up. Though she eventually failed when Jeno managed to kick her from behind.

She almost fell face first, a good thing her reflexes were fast. Not wanting to destroy the only asset that pushed her to wake up every morning.

Artheena blew her hair before standing up and scowled at him. "You really love kicking me from behind huh?!" She didn't think any second and sat on Jeno's abdomen before showering him with punches.

That was the scene Mark and the others had witnessed when they arrived. Haechan and Jisung's mouths hung open. Unable to process seeing Jeno being pinned down by a girl and was shielding himself using his arms.

Jaemin massages the crook of his nose before asking the student beside him. "What happened?"

The student shooked his head and shrugged his shoulders. "We don't know, president. Everything happened so fast they started yelling and throwing stuff at each other and basically, here they are now," the student answered motioning his hand at the two.

Jaemin let out a breath before snapping his fingers at his friends. "Grab whoever you think you can handle. I'd go for Artheena," he said and walked over at the two.

"I'd go for her too," Jisung mumbled before following Jaemin.

Mark, Haechan, and Renjun exchanged looks before quietly walking over to Jeno.

"I think I didn't pray enough," Haechan mumbled.

"But did you prayed earlier though?" Mark asked.

Haechan formed his hand into a gun as if he's shooting Mark. "Good point."

Renjun only shooked his head at the conversation his two friends had before cracking his knuckles. Jeno's a tough guy, they'll need to use their full strength to pull him away from Artheena.

...DAMZELinWHITE...

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