eclipse - Huang Renjun

48.

"Happy Birthday!" Daejung yelled, clapping loudly. "Happy birthday my baby." Aera cooed, already getting emotional at the sight of her all-grown-up daughter.

Yenmi groaned, sitting up straight from her bed. "Thank you, mom, dad." She said, her voice rough as she rubbed her eyes. "How's our birthday girl doing?" Daejung grinned, pulling her up on her feet. She instinctively wrapped her arms around his torso, her eyes closing.

"I was great till I woke up." She mumbled. Daejung let out a breathy laugh, caressing her hair which was all messed up.

Aera smiled at the father-daughter duo who didn't get enough bonding time for the past few months. "What does my princess want to do today?" He asked.

"Dad," Li whined at the nickname which he used to call her with back in elementary. Aera by now had taken out her phone, recording the adorable scene.

Daejung chuckled, his chest vibrating. His daughter only snuggled closer to him, inhaling his scent she missed a bit too much. The older sighed, resting his chin on the crown of her head.

"It has been long, huh?" He said, guilt lacing his voice. The birthday girl hummed, gently hitting his back. "You're too busy for your 'princess' now." She mocked.

"Okay okay now don't be all sad~ group hug!" Aera butted in, tossing the cell phone aside with a grin etched on her lips.

The duo cackled along with her, embracing the warmth they all radiated.

And that's how 21-year-old Yenmi's day began.

...

Li drummed her fingers against the steering wheel, rolling her eyes ever so slightly. Without realizing it, the day was slowly coming to an end, being somewhere around 5 already.

"I should've taken an uber." She mumbled.

The one from the other line hummed, too bored listening to her complaints. "You've been saying that for the past five minutes, babe, I get your point." He deadpanned.

Glancing at the screen monitor from where she had dialled his number, she scoffed. "No, you don't. You haven't been giving the response I've been looking for for the past five minutes." She retorted.

"What do you want me to say? That I should come and pick you up because you're too annoyed with the traffic?" He asked back.

"Yeah!"

She heard him chuckle from the other line, although distorted due to the unstable network, it yet was music to her ears. He cleared his throat, probably having another question in mind.

"No, but why did you call me out of all the people you know?"

"Renjun, hun, I already told you why." She said.

He raised both his eyebrows at the new nickname- though she couldn't see it. "No, you didn't tell me, Mei." He taunted, giving off the same energy as her.

Getting no reply from the other side, he assumed that the traffic was clearing up which is why she didn't say anything- eyes on the road.

That was until he heard her curse again.

"Fuck this."

"Yeah anyway, I didn't mention why I called you? At this point, I don't even remember." She added, sighing.

An almost unnoticeable smile tugged on his lips, mumbling incoherent words. "You told me how you had a picnic with your parents, your bonding time with them. How you met up with some of your old friends and uh- yeah how you almost got hit by a truck but we don't talk about that."

Yenmi felt her heart tug at his words, he did indeed listen to her rant. Ignoring the feeling, she pressed the honk again before answering. "My bad, well you see- all my friends are literally in the hall doing as they said, preparing."

"So you don't want to call them because?"

"Because I don't want to disturb them! They're doing this for me after all." She said, a grin on her lips as she thought of the people she loved and cared for.

"Yangyang? Pretty sure he's not there."

She glanced at the rearview mirror to see the boy in question sleeping soundly, he hadn't gotten a good night's sleep the other night after all.

"He's sleeping and snoring loudly."

Renjun snorted, imagining his friend lying flat in the backseat while Yenmi drove the car, it wasn't like he had a license either.

"I yet don't understand why you couldn't have teleported this weakling there." She grumbled. Although she did know how to teleport herself, Yangyang couldn't teleport- he didn't have those powers.

"I have to drive there with Donghyuck and Jeno." He sighed.

Not that he was lying, the two were yet busy getting ready- the girls and Mark had already left for their destination, way before them too.

The two boys had broken the stereotype of females taking the longest time to get ready, well they were unique.

Renjun glared at the boys who were running around with a towel wrapped around them. The Phoenix snickered when she heard muffled yells, followed by Renjun telling them to shut up.

"Can I not bring them?" He asked to no one in particular. Yenmi pressed her foot on the accelerator, the black car moving at a steady pace.

"I need some entertainment, get them with you." She answered his question, eyes fixed on the road. Although young, the girl wasn't dumb to not pay attention to the road- she didn't want to take the blame for accidentally killing Yangyang.

"Whatever you say, birthday girl." He teased.

Huang sighed at her lack of response, shuffling being heard from his side. The other two boys had finally gotten ready- which meant he had to get driving for Jeno couldn't exactly teleport and they yet had quite some time.

"I'll be hanging up, gotta drive too." He informed her, earning a delayed hum from her.

"Don't crash, I'd not like to see your corpse, Mei."

Before she could even protest, the call had ended with a beep, leaving her words stuck in her throat. She glanced at the now black screen, a soft smile playing on her painted lips.

"I'll stay alive for you, Huang."

Cute??!?!???
My exams are yet going on I'm sorry for not updating much 😤