Counting on Stars // NCT Ten

Guilt

"And then Byeol's mom came to pick her up and they left. Luckily the period ended as I was going back to English, so I didn't have to see Elaena again." Ten concluded with a sigh. All of his friends were sitting around the sulking boy, listening closely about the events from earlier that day.

"I can't believe Elaena would do such a thing!" Yangyang grumbled, stabbing his pasta with his fork.

"I knew she was bad, but this bad?" Jisung's mouth was agape.

"Why didn't you report her?" Jeno asked.

"I was going to," Ten said, "But Byeol didn't want me to."

"She's just too nice," Chenle said with a shake of his head.

"And she's getting hurt because of me." Ten said quietly. They all turned to look at him.

"What? No, Ten-" Johnny started to say, but Ten cut him off.

"If Elaena and I didn't have problems, then none of this would've happened. I didn't listen to you all and look at what happened. She broke her fingers, right before midterms as well." He said, casting his eyes down.

"Ten, none of this is your fault." Mark said gently but firmly. "Elaena's just a bitch, end of story."

"Yeah, but-"

"End of story." Taeyong echoed. "It's not your fault."

Ten looked up at the rest of them with an unreadable expression in his eyes. He sighed and left the table without another word.

"Ten!" Taeyong called after him, but Kun shook his head.

"Give him some time," He said and they stared after their friend as he went outside.

The sunlight hit Ten's face a little too sharply for it being late-November. He pulled out his phone and texted Byeol as he walked around aimlessly.

> Byeol <

Ten
Hey
got back from the doctor's yet?

She didn't respond for a while, so he figured they must still be there. He sighed, unable to get the heavy, guilty feeling off of his chest. Everyone was saying it wasn't his fault, but obviously it was. They were just saying that out of friendship obligations or whatever.

He rubbed his face with his hands and sat down on the nearest bench he found. His mind was running out of control- guilt, ideas for revenge, then thinking revenge was a bad idea, then wondering how to make it up to Byeol, and it looped rapidly. He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't even realize when someone sat down next to him.

"Ten, babe, why so sad?" The boy's head shot up at the high-pitched voice. It was the absolute last person he wanted to see.

"Fuck off, Elaena." Ten deadpanned, death glaring into her eyes. She gasped and put her hand over her heart, pretending to be hurt.

"Why? Are you mad that I hurt Byeol? Why do you even care about her so much? She's just some stupid new girl. You never cared about me like that-" She started to ramble, a frown forming on her barbie-doll face.

"Because she's my friend. And you've lost all chances for me to ever forgive you, so I suggest you pick up your pathetic ass and walk away right now." He responded. Elaena stood up and crossed her arms, opening her mouth to say something, but she got cut off when Ten shot to his feet and stepped dangerously close to her. Elaena faltered, involuntarily taking a step back.

"You heard what I said." He said lowly, looking down on her with an icy glare. She tried her best not to show it, but Ten knew she was scared. "And if you even think about going near Byeol again, I promise you, you will regret it."