7 DAYS * huang renjun

CHAPTER 4

saying things you don't mean,
to the one who means the most to you,
you see what i mean

Jaemin held open the door to an innocent-looking cupboard, from far away seeming to just be a regular broom cupboard with an ironing board and other miscellaneous items in it. 
But as Waiyin neared it, she noticed the dark brown looking heaps in the corner, accompanied by sickeningly green mould trailed half way up the wall, and scurrying shadows that were none other than mice. A nest of mice seemed to have inhabited the cupboard and the stench was almost unbearable. 

All too quickly, Waiyin took the doorknob from the other's hand, slamming the door shut suddenly. 
"That's disgusting, I'll call an exterminator right away." 
"Yeah you should, they could eat through the walls and run rampant around the house."
"Very funny, Jaemin."
"I wasn't trying to make a joke though?" 

The boy shrugged as Waiyin walked off, looking for a quiet place to make her call. 
She walked out into the orangery but much to her dismay, her phone displayed the notification for no connection. 
"No connection, huh? In this whole house? I don't remember that..." 

In fairness, it had been five years since she had ever been remotely near the house, but she hoped that she would at least be able to remember the whole house having no Wi-Fi signal. 

"Jaemin!" She called out to the boy who was just in earshot as he stood arranging things in the living room, "Does your phone have any connection?" 
She watched him reach into his pocket, grabbing his phone and she saw him shake his head.
"None at all? How am I supposed to call an exterminator?" 

The older boy soon came to stand with her in the orangery, tired of raising his voice for her to hear. 
"Not sure, we're going out into town a little bit later, maybe you could see if anyone there is of any help. Or there might be a landline somewhere here. And if not, you can just come to the bakery instead."
"I have no idea how the bakery is relevant but thank you for the suggestion." 
He nodded proudly, as though he were the most wise person to have ever lived, before picking up a painting that was turned upside down. 

"Jun painted this..." 
She could hear the painful remembrance within Jaemin's voice, and it sparked her own upsetting reminiscence - knowing that they all wished for the boy to come back one day. To show up and tell them that he never died. 

"It's beautiful." Waiyin commented with a choked up throat through the equally choked up silence. A beautiful blue butterfly, with baby pink outlining it's wings, and black designs that were half painted on - he never got to finish it. 

"You know, he probably would've given it to you if he had finished it. I watched him practice drawing it for hours just to get it right for you." 
Tears lined her eyes and she hated the fact that she couldn't even have a conversation about him without crying. He was so perfect and so innocent and so undeserving of death. 

"I heard you guys were looking for a phone~" Jeno said in a sing-song voice as he descended down the stairs, cradling a  black telephone set adorned with dust particles and scratches within his arms. 

The girl promptly wiped away her tears, collecting herself and placing the painting under a table so that she wouldn't accidentally run into it again. 

"Thank goodness, you're a life saver, Jen." Waiyin took the phone from his arms, and placed it down on a nearby coffee table as she searched for somewhere to plug it into. Finally, she spotted a port behind a chest of drawers, and worked on moving that - assisted by Jaemin. 

"Where did you even find this anyway?" Jaemin asked absent-mindedly, intently watching the girl to make sure she didn't fall behind the drawers. 

"It was in Renjun's room." 

Waiyin visibly tensed up at the mention of that. Renjun's room.
She couldn't tell if she was more upset that someone had gone in there before her and messed with the preserved atmosphere of the late boy or that Jeno had gone in there at all. 

"You went into his room?" 
Her shaken question was more of a frantic response as she prayed that he hadn't, begged for it to be a joke. But she already knew what the answer would be: 
"Yeah well... I mean, I was just looking around then heard you needed a phone and remember Renjun kept one under his bed." 

"But-But you went into his room."
"I don't see what the problem is." 
"Of course you don't- You never see what the problem is! It's Renjun's room, for fuck's sake, Jeno. Don't you get it?"

 The girl felt herself getting angry, without reason and beyond ration. She rushed upstairs to the room before she could say anything more. She had to check that everything was in order. 

🔂

i feel like the chapters are getting shorts each time ://