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jisung sat in silence, the boy trying so hard to develop the information he had just received. yinxiu watched him intently, worried for the boy who went deathly silent.
"sh-she went through all of that?" he finally managed to stutter out, looking up at yinxiu with pained eyes. the older could only nod, rubbing her nose with a tissue.
he was conflicted. all of that happened to her at the age of 15? he remembered that time, of course he felt bad because news spread quick about her brother and father so suddenly passing, but he didn't think the reason behind it would be something as bad as this.
that explained why the girl came to school with dull eyes and monotoned expressions, becoming even colder than she already had been. he always felt urged to ask why but at the same time, it was none of his business so.
but now he wished he had. he wished he had pushed their small "rivalry" aside and befriended her, because obviously she needed one. he saw how hard yunwong tried to help her friend be happy again, but the girl was the student body president and didn't have much time on her plate along with the training her parents had put her in to help run their business.
yujun only had renjun, but jisung knew that wasn't the same as having an actual friend. he could imagine how hard it was for her to keep sane.
being in the student council as well, jisung had heard all about how renjun and yujun adored renshu from yunwong. he vaguely remembers the said male picking them up from grade school every once in a while and coming to the volleyball and soccer games as well.
he remembers how his parents talked about how bad they felt about renshu, but how the girls father always gave them weird vibes when they would see him around.
"you know, gyuri was close to him." yinxiu admitted, earning a surprised look from the younger boy. "she never talked about him?" he cocked his brow, earning a soft chuckle from the girl.
"when we were in high school, gyuri deemed him her favorite guy in the school. she had basically adopted him." she smiled at the memory. "they didn't hang out much on their own accord but any time they saw each other in the halls or had a class together they would immediately start a never ending conversation."
"did they really?" jisung asked in amusement, leaning in as a signal for the older to tell him more. yinxiu smiled wider, ruffling his hair.
"me and renshu were hanging out at school and gyuri came up to us and asked if she could hang out with us. we were kinda surprised because she was one of those well known and loved sophomores and we were just freshman, but she was so cool to hang out with." the older reminisced.
"what about sungho?" the boy scrunched his nose at the idea of going to school with his older brother. "ah see he was a senior, but he was so overprotective of gyuri." yinxiu laughed, covering her mouth.
"there was this one time gyuri was crying to renshu because her boyfriend had cheated on her and shit, and sungho put that kid in the hospital. the whole fight was crazy." she looked back, amused at the memories.
"oh i've heard that story before, just renshu wasnt a part of it." jisung gasped audibly. "yeah, and then have you ever heard about gyuri beating the shit out of a group of girls who picked on renshu?" yinxiu made eye contact with the younger, laughing at his dropped jaw.
"it's so weird that you and renshu went to school together when you're his aunt." jisung chuckled, playing with the strings of his sweats. "yeah, but we just told everyone we were brother and sister. i mean we might as well have been." the older hummed.
"is that why you and gyuri got along so well when you reconnected?" "oh definitely. i know she was like heartbroken about rens death."
jisung pursed his lips, remembering back to the time that his sister went through a whole "mid life crisis" as his mother put it. she didn't come out of her room for days, barely ate anything, and didn't communicate with anybody.
"i'm guessing that's why gyuri went to her dance competition and recommended her to momo. because she remembered her." yinxiu sighed contently, small smile sitting on her pink lips.
"gyuri recommended her?" jisung perked up, caressing his brows. yinxiu nodded, pulling out her phone to pull up pictures. "gyuri used to attend yujuns dance recitals with renshu a lot, i'm guessing yujun doesn't remember her much but she adored gyuri." she explained, turning her phone screen to the younger to show him pictures taken of gyuri hugging yujun in one of her dance costumes.
"when gyuri first opened the studio she reached out to me and asked how we all were and if yujun was still dancing." she continued, swiping through the pictures of yujun in her dance costumes. some pictures we're of renshu and gyuri together at the recitals, giving proof that what the woman had said was true.
"why does that sign have gyuris studios name on it? that was definitely taken before she opened it." jisung squinted, taking the phone from the older to look closer at the sign that gyuri and renshu held together in front of the dance auditorium.
"yuyo was renshus nickname for yujun." yinxiu pursed her lips. "so of course gyuri developed the habit of calling her that. in high school, renshu had told her she had to name her dance studio that or he'd brake their friendship as a joke but i guess she followed through." she choked out, eyes becoming glassy yet again.
"we were connected in so many ways and i didn't even know." jisung muttered, looking at the last picture taken. it was yujun when she was around 12, wide smile as she held a bouquet of roses. next to her was renshu and gyuri with equally big smiles.
"you really were, which is why i was excited for her to become friends with you again." the chinese hummed. "did you know doyoung hyung in school as well?" jisung asked suddenly, causing yinxiu to choke.
"y-yeah." she stuttered, eyes darting around the room. "did you like him then too?" jisung teased, earning a glare from the older.
"no i did not, he didn't even know i existed." she rolled her eyes. "did you like yujun then too?" she asked, catching the boy off guard. his cheeks burned as he looked away with an uncontrollable smile.
"shut upppp." he groaned, laughing at the end. "oh so you did!" "no!" "yujuns gonna love hearing about that."
