Sideline | RENJUN

Chapter 11

Watching Renjun enter the diner was a bittersweet feeling as the male smiled, taking a seat at his usual place. Jieun couldn't help but smile back though, deciding to ignore everything that was telling her walk away and avoid interacting with the Phoenix.

Doyoung was chatting with a few customers, leaving Jieun to deal with Renjun alone. Jieun immediately went grab the food she had prepared for the two of them.

"Jajangmyeon?" Renjun exclaimed as he saw the big bowl of noodles Jieun had, placing that and the other bowls and cutlery down.

"Mhmm." Jieun said, setting up. "Was craving it, hope you don't mind."

"Not at all." Renjun said, smiling as Jieun passed him a pair of chopsticks. "Is it weird that we're eating noodles in a diner?"

"Probably." Jieun said as she grabbed one of the smaller bowls, placing some noodles in before passing it to Renjun. "But I'm too hungry to care."

Renjun chuckled and the two of them ate happily, Jieun enjoying the prescence of the male.

You shouldn't, Jieun thought to herself. But you can't help it. There's just something about him.

"So are you from here?" Renjun asked as they ate.

"As in Neo City?" Jieun asked back. Renjun nodded. "Yeah, I was born and raised here."

"I see."

"You?" Jieun asked, even though she already knew the answer from Xiaojun.

"I'm from China. Specifically Jilin, but I grew up in Beijing with my sister." Renjun told her.

"Wow." Jieun said, trying to fill in the space. She was hoping Renjun would talk more and luckily, he did just that.

"Yeah, we were part of the Beijing Phoenixes. We joined because my sister fell in love with one of them." Renjun explained. "And well, there's this rule that you can't date anyone that's not a Phoenix, so if Jiayi wanted to be with him, we had to be part of the gang."

This, Jieun didn't know. Seolhee had never mentioned it before, so Jieun couldn't help but wonder why that rule was in place.

Renjun must have realized her confusion, chuckling.

"That's my sister, Huang Jiayi. As much as we bicker, I have to admit, I can't live without her. She means a lot to me and she's always there when I need her. She's the only family I have left so when I moved here without her, it was definitely hard but somehow I managed."

Only family I have left, Jieun thought. "So you're like me."

"Huh?" Renjun asked, clearly confused.

Jieun awkwardly cleared her throat, realizing that she had spoken before thinking. "Sorry, when you said that Jiayi is the only family you had left, I couldn't help but think about myself."

"Lost your parents too?" Renjun asked, meeting her eyes. Jieun nodded her head.

Jieun was looking down, biting her lip at the thought when she felt a hand on her arm and looked over to see that Renjun was giving her a comforting pat.

"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want." Renjun told her.

"You're not curious about it?" Jieun asked. "Normally people ask how it happened or if I'm alright. Or they apologize which is another thing I don't understand, it's not like they caused the accident."

Renjun shugged his shoulders, leaving his hand resting on her arm. "I'm a curious person but I don't think it's necessary to pry about these things. If you wanted to talk about it then you will and I'll be here to listen, but if you don't, I won't force you."