First & Last [RenMin] ✔

05

He doesn't see Jaemin after that, which is worrying. He wants to know where his significant other disappeared to and the reason behind his disappearance. Though Renjun will admit he feels guilty. If he hadn't asked the question, Jaemin wouldn't have felt the need to leave like that. Of course he understood if Jaemin didn't want to speak about it as well, but then why not just tell him that? Why run off like that?

Shifting his bag over to his other shoulder, his eyes flicker over to Mark who takes a seat between him and Chenle. Not all that long after Jaemin ran out, he got a call from Chenle claiming that they needed to meet up regarding something important. Mark had a night shift, so they agreed to meet up today, after Mark's class.

"So care to tell me what's so important?" Renjun queries after Mark greets him with a ruffle of his hair and a pat on Chenle's head. He pulls away, hands flying up to fix his hair, eyes shifting over to Chenle who has a smile across his face. His eyes are intense, disbelief and uncertainty lingering through his orbs despite the smile which is nothing new. Ever since he met Chenle, the kid was always smiling. Which only made him scarier when he wasn't.

"He's back in town," Chenle says simply. His voice is a little higher, words coming out thicker. He's still smiling, but his eyes have lost their shine. Renjun doesn't need to ask who to know who he's referring to.

"What do you mean he's back in town?" Renjun demands. It sucks. It feels like betrayal, not knowing this information. They were supposed to be friends. All of them. So why wouldn't he contact them? Why wouldn't he contact him? And does this mean he contacted Chenle?

As if reading his mind, Chenle waves his hand in an up and down motion. "He hasn't gotten in contact with me. Mom called yesterday. Asked if I knew he was back in town. She saw him at the store." He cuts himself off as one of the waiters makes their way over with a tray of drinks. They ordered while waiting on Mark.

"Here you go," he murmurs softly, placing each order in front of each of them respectively. Renjun doesn't miss the slight tremor in his hand as he places the cup of mocha (sue him for deciding to try something different) in front of him. "Enjoy your drinks," he says with an eye high smile. He must be new with the way the nerves radiate off of him; he looks sort of cute too. With one final bow, he heads off back inside.

"Your mom saw him in the store?" Renjun asks, pulling his gaze away from the direction the waiter had disappeared in.

Chenle hums. "She wanted to know if I've heard from him yet because apparently he looked like shit. Looked like he was speaking to himself too."

"So maybe he found his soulmate," Mark comments absentmindedly, but Chenle's already shaking his head.

"She's seen people speak to their soulmates. Says this was different." Chenle pauses, hands pressing tightly around his cup as he releases a sigh. "I don't think he's doing so well."

He knows where his friend is going with this. Senses the words that's left unsaid, but he wants proper confirmation. "You want us visiting him." His voice is taut with all the emotions he was withholding. It was taking every ounce of him to keep it from slipping.

"Do we know where he's staying?"

Chenle barely glances Mark's away as he responds, "Same address." He pulls out a notebook and flips to a page, scribbling something down. Renjun sips from his cup, eyes not once straying from Chenle. The sound of tearing echoes between them as he pulls a page out and then he's sliding it over to Renjun and oh. It's got an address written in Chenle's massive handwriting and without asking, he knows whose address this is. Which means he knows the intention behind Chenle handing it over to him.

"Why me?" Lifting his gaze, up from the piece of paper, he furrows his brows as he looks at Chenle questioningly.

"You live the closest to him," comes the simplest and least expected answer for Renjun.

Chenle can be persuasive. Convincing. In just three words, he could get someone to do something whether they declined before or not. Which is why he doesn't bother fighting him on this. Reluctantly stretching out his arm, he pulls the piece of paper to him and heaves a sigh. Tucks it in his phone case before slipping it back onto his phone.

"I'll go tomorrow after class," he murmurs.

They speak for a while after that, catching up. Their schedules always have a tendency to clash with Mark working during the nights and Chenle and Jisung looking for an apartment together, they haven't had the time to just sit the way that they are now and catch up on everything. Through the conversation, Renjun has to decline the possibility of dates more times than he would care to count and he has to deal with the disappointment across Chenle's face (because as excited and as pleased as Renjun is that he's finally found his soulmate and no longer has to go on all of these pointless dumb dates, he wasn't exactly jumping to tell his friends just yet. He wanted to wrap his head around it before anything else.)

The waiter comes back with the bill and he's still trembling, but a little less. He casts a glance at the three of them in which he catches Renjun's eye, flushes and looks away almost immediately.

"Thank you, Shotaro," Renjun murmurs as the three stand up. The waiter boy looks surprised for a split second, and then he's smiling and bowing. He waves to them (and Mark admits that he did look vaguely familiar.) They part ways when Chenle and Mark leave for the station. Renjun goes the opposite direction, taking the bus.

For the rest of the ride, it sits on his mind. Their friend and Chenle's mom's words ring on a loop in his mind. And then, how Jaemin is. How, despite this little distraction, he couldn't shake the worry off.

All his hope is riding in Jaemin being home when he gets there.