Sideline | RENJUN

Chapter 25

Renjun let out a deep breath as he closed the door behind him, returning home after school. He was just going to pick up a few things before meeting Jieun, Jeno, and Soojung.

"Please don't be here." Renjun mumbled as he walked past the kitchen but obviously, Jaemin just had to be just there.

"Who do you not want to be here?" Jaemin asked as he turned towards Renjun, phone in his hands. Renjun saw that he was holding a pack of jelly in his hands, munching on them.

"Where's everyone else?" Renjun asked, noticing that their apartment was quieter than usual.

"Zhilan's helping Jaehyun downstairs and brought the other two along with her so I could focus on my homework." Jaemin told him. "Why? Is something wrong?"

You can't tell him. You can't tell him that Jieun's now your girlfriend, he'll flip.

"No, nothing's wrong." Renjun lied, hoping to get past the male but Jaemin only sighed, placing the candy down.

"You like Jieun, don't you?" Jaemin asked, making Renjun wince. Please don't give me the talk.

"What if I do?" Renjun asked, glancing at Jaemin. "It's not like I can be with her, you know that."

"If she loves you enough, she'll understand." Jaemin told him and Renjun was confused when Jaemin's eyes went soft. "I know it's going to take time to figure out, but if she says no, you have to let her go man."

"I get it." Renjun mumbled, not particularly wanting to her Jaemin's nagging.

"Hey." Jaemin said, grabbing onto Renjun's arm as he walked by. He took a deep breath before continuing. "I talked to Zhilan last night."

"And?" Renjun asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I know I didn't really support Haechan nor Jeno's relationships and I'll be honest, I'm kind of nervous about yours too especially since Taeyong's on edge after what happened with Xiaojun. But at the end of the day, I'm your friend and we stick together, so if that means helping you protect Jieun, so be it."

Renjun didn't know what to say as he stood there, staring back at Jaemin. "Did you really just say that?"

"Yeah, and I won't say it again." Jaemin told him, shoving his hands in his pockets. "I just, you know. Don't want Jieun ending up like Seolhee."

Renjun couldn't help but roll his eyes. "Sometimes it seems like you were the one in love with her, not Jeno."

"She was my patient, Renjun! She was under my care when she died, why do you think it hit me so hard? Jeno and I were so broken, we couldn't even take her away from the site, we just left her there with Haechan!" Jaemin ranted, throwing his arms up in the air.

"Okay, okay, I get it." Renjun said, patting Jaemin's shoulders. "But I need to go, I'm meeting Jieun and Jeno."

"Oof, good luck with that." Jaemin mumbled, making Renjun shoot him a look. "What? Jeno's been in a bad mood since Jieun exploded on all of us, and you know how Jeno is when he's in a bad mood."

"I sure do." Renjun sighed, quickly gathering his things.

...

Jieun took a deep breath as she saw Renjun enter the diner, Jeno and Soojung following. Despite how Soojung was smiling and giving Jieun a wave, she could tell that Jeno was not as happy to be there.

"He'll get over it, don't worry." Doyoung reassured her as Jieun put the cloth in her hands away before grabbing the tray of milkshakes for the others. "He just takes a bit of time."