𝐼𝓃 𝒴𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝒟𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓂𝓈 ~| Huang Renjun

九

The days had passed and winter break was over, yet Jihyun didn't have the dream again. She couldn't enjoy her days away from school overthinking that something might have happened to her soulmate. Jihee had constantly tried to get her to her senses, yet it was all useless. Jihyun couldn't rest, and she hoped that being at school would help her mind get distracted from it. For the first time in all her life, Jihyun wanted to be in school.

"Are you okay, Jihyun? Do you need us to take you to the infirmary?" Jisung asked concerningly upon noticing the girl's upset expression. The conversation among the other people sitting at the table ended and all eyes suddenly focused on her.

As she heard her name being mentioned, her eyes shot up in the direction of the much taller boy before giving a faint smile. "Nope, I'm okay. Thank you for asking, though."

"Did you sleep? Like, at all?"

As much as she wanted to be honest with him, she wasn't so sure herself. She didn't remember falling asleep nor dreaming at all, but she couldn't remember staying up all night either.

"What's wrong? You look like the last time you ever closed your eyes was when you were in your mom's womb," Chenle was quick to mention with a frown on his face.

Jihyun couldn't help but give a silent giggle at her friend's comment before meeting his eyes. "Has little Renjun been on your mind so much you don't sleep?" Haechan baby talked, pouting at her and gaining raised eyebrows from the other girl.

"Has he actually?" she teased, playfully elbowing her exhausted friend.

"No, what the fuck? I just saw him once."

"Ah, so love at first sight eh?" She continued teasing the younger.

A groan escaped Jihyun's lips, yet she kept smiling. "You seriously won't stop it, will you?"

"Nope," Haechan said proudly. He nudged Jaemin, who seemed to be zoning out, getting his attention without Jihyun noticing. The two exchanged glances for less than a second before their eyes fixed on the girl as they forced their smiles back. "Hey, Jaemin. Remember what Chenle told us a few days ago?"

"Ah," Jaemin uttered, catching on. "About our little Jihyunie? What was it, let's see..." he pretended to be thinking when in reality he knew exactly what Haechan was meaning to say. "Ah, yes! Our Jihyun finally had the soulmate dream!" he cheered, extending his arms upwards excitedly with a big smile on his face.

Jihyun's eyes shot up to Jaemin, then to Haechan, then fully focused on Chenle. At first, he didn't notice her as he was talking with Jisung, but both of their smirks faded away quickly upon meeting her upset eyes. "What did I do now?"

"You told them?"

Jisung's eyes darted from her to the boy in front of him before sipping his drink, totally in for the drama. "Well, don't you trust them?"

"Not when you're the one telling the story, you always twist it!" Jihyun responded, frowning and rising her voice, gaining a muffled laugh from the boys. Jisung choked on his drink at the sudden anger in the girl.

"Then what exactly happened?"

Jihyun was far too tired to argue even more so she just gave in, not without giving her friends a groan and rolling her eyes. "Nothing special. It was short though. I wasn't able to interact with them at all. What else is there to say?"

"Are you avoiding sleeping? I thought you wanted to meet your soulmate, why would you skip sleep?" Jeno frowned and slightly tilted his head, his eyes obscured by his dark hair as he did so.

"I do want to." She rested her chin on her right hand as she looked blankly at Jisung still trying to breathe. "The only dream I had was the one I just told you about and..." she trailed off, meeting Jeno's still frowning expression before looking down at her left hand. "I don't know, I guess I got too worried about it. Jihee told me not to think about it, but I'm worried something might have happened to them."

There was a silence that lasted no more than a second, before Haechan spoke. "Speaking of something happening to someone, where the fuck is Renjun? I doubt he has anything better to do than being here in school." 

"Calm down, it's barely 8am," Xinghua replied, showing him the time in her phone. "He knows where we are. I told him. He's probably on his way here." She paused, looking at her phone. "You see? He just got here. I'm gonna go help him get here, you better behave," she stood up, pointing a finger at the honey-skinned boy.

As she left, Jihyun's eyes fixed on her figure as she faded between all the people before turning back to her friends, all of which were giving her a raised eyebrow. "Oh, for fuck's sake, not again."

"We haven't said anything!" 

"But I know you will, so stop it."

"I was just going to say that I'm happy you finally had the dream, even if it wasn't as mesmerizing as you wished," Haechan said with a smile. A genuine one. If Jihyun wasn't exhausted, she'd be scared of the scene before her eyes.

"Yeah, now you can finally shut up about your soulmate fantasies. Glad you moved on," Chenle mentioned as he played some game in his phone, his lips and tongue playing around with the straw of his drink. Several frowns fixed on him as the Canadian smacked his arm. "Ow! Don't tell me you guys believe that shit too," he darted his eyes around the table.

"Even if we did, you shouldn't belittle someone for their beliefs," Mark replied with an upset tone, sounding like a mom scolding her toddler.

"Wait so you don't?" Jihyun asked.

"No, no. We do," Jaemin was quick to mention. "Don't listen to Chenle, the thickness of his skull makes it impossible for anything to change his mind."

Chenle turned his head to his senior almost immediately, gaining a laugh from him. "How did you think Haechan and Ryoko got together?" Jeno asked.

It all made sense to her now that she thought about it. "Where is she, by the way? Wasn't she supposed to be here by last Friday?"

"She has her own friends, you genius."

"Hi, guys," Renjun smiled as him and his cousin approached them, sitting down next to Xinghua. A lot of people had already their eyes set on the boy. I mean, it was easy to spot a new student when most of the kids in the school had been together for years.

The others gave the boy a smile back and greeted him as he sat down. "How was vacation?" Mark asked.

"It was good, I guess," he uttered, looking around at the countless gazes fixed on him alone. "Uh, why are they looking at me? Oh Jesus, Jihyun, you alright? You look dead."

"Right?" Chenle smiled at the older's agreement.

Jihyun didn't seem bothered by it. As a matter of fact, she had stopped blinking and stared blankly at the distance, her breathing was barely  noticeable. "My God, did she fall asleep just like that? With her eyes open?" Jisung asked as he let out an airy chuckle.

"Do you think we should take her home? I doubt she'll survive by the end of the day."

"Wait, give me her phone," Haechan reached out for her phone. "I have an idea."

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