never | h.rj

2.

"Why are you acting like you care so much about me all of a sudden?" Mina's words resonated in Renjun's mind as he sat on the sofa, staring blankly at the TV screen.

"She's right...that was strange of me." He says out loud. He convinces himself that Mina was just having a bad day and he just happened to be in her way when she snapped.

He wipes his hands on his thighs before standing up and walking into the kitchen. "I don't know why I let myself worry about Little Miss Perfect. Her parents probably just got her the wrong color iPad." He concludes, opening up the fridge.

Renjun stands there with the door open, scanning the nearly empty appliance. His eyes study the bare shelves. "I guess I should go to the store."

He goes back to the sofa to grab his keys and wallet, leaving the house without bothering to announce his departure. It's not like anyone was there to hear it anyway.

~

Renjun aimlessly pushed his cart around the store, throwing whatever items that caught his eye in. He had already made sure to grab the essentials like milk, eggs, and vegetables. Now, he was just wasting time. It was better than sitting alone in that empty house.

While passing one of the aisles, a familiar figure caught his attention. He strolled backward, pulling the cart with him to check if he saw correctly. His eyes landed on a small girl with wavy, shoulder-length, black hair with two faint streaks of indigo in front.

Renjun decides to engage and moves towards her. She looks up at him from her crouched position and sees him coming closer. She quickly turns back to the shelf in front of her and hurriedly makes a decision.

She grabs the item and stands up, wanting to get away as quickly as possible. Unfortunately for her, she stood up too quickly. The room spun for a minute and she didn't dare try walking because she felt like she would instantly hit the ground.

This gave Renjun all the time in the world to approach her. "Well, look who it is." He feigns surprise. "The princess is shopping? Alone?" Mina tenses up at the infuriating nickname.

"Where's mommy and daddy?" He teases in a baby voice, poking his bottom lip out.

Mina had planned on walking away once the room stopped spinning, but Renjun just pissed her off for the second time today. She turned around to face him with a clearly annoyed expression.

"Renjun...was me making your nose bleed this morning not enough for you? Would you like me to do it again?" She threatened, balling her fist tightly at her side.

While looking at her fist, Renjun's eyes shift to her other hand. She's holding a box...of pads.

"That makes a lot of sense..." he mutters to himself, loud enough for Mina to hear apparently because she responded with, "Pardon?"

"Huh? Nothing. Well, it was nice seeing you," Renjun says sarcastically. He decides not to test his luck with the menstruating female any longer. He pulls his cart away from the girl and continues walking through the store.

Mina glanced at the shelf one last time to rethink her decision before walking to the front to check out her item. She walked out of the store with a single bag and three more hours to waste.

She checked her watch and realized that it would be lunchtime at school soon. She wasn't really hungry so she opted to go to a small coffee shop and ordered an iced coffee with a package of almonds.

There was free wifi, so for the next few hours, Mina decided to catch up and get ahead in her classes. She pulls out her laptop and notebooks and gets to work.

Teachers loved having Mina as a student. She never turned in work late and you could always clearly see the effort she put into each assignment. That's why she's one of the top five students in her class.

Renjun is the only other student quite like Mina, which is why the teachers don't understand how they can't get along. To be frank, Mina and Renjun were the only people who understood their feud. It was a rivalry, they saw each other as competition. As enemies.

Out of the five spots for top students, Mina and Renjun each held one. Leaving three more. Those spots were taken by Osaki Shotaro, Liu Yangyang, and Na Jaemin. They too were astounding students, yet none of them showcased the same dedication as Mina and Renjun.

~

Mina had been so engrossed in her work that she didn't even notice the three hours go by so quickly. She checked her watch then decided to do one more assignment before going home.

"I'm home!" She announces, just to get no response. Unlike Renjun's house, Mina's house wasn't empty but she wishes it was.

She trudges upstairs to her bedroom, closing the door behind her. She threw her book bag on the floor, forgetting about the expensive laptop inside.

"Why does this uniform have to be so freaking uncomfortable?" Mina questioned in exasperation.

One by one she removed each item of the ensemble. The light blue tie they had to wear, the navy blue blazer with gold buttons, the white button-down shirt, and finally the gray, pleated skirt.

The guys wore the same thing except they wore gray slacks, of course. Mina would much rather wear the pants but girls weren't allowed.

Such a dumb rule.

Mina tossed her clothes as she removed them, not caring where they landed. She walked over to her tall dresser to pull out her favorite pair of sweatpants and a comfy sweatshirt.

"Why are you home so late?" a voice followed the sound of her door opening. Mina turned around to face her father.

Good thing I wasn't naked.

"I had to stop by the store," she responds dryly, pointing to the box on her desk.

"Mhm," he hums in disbelief. He looks around her room and his eyes land on the messy pile of clothes Mina had just removed.

"Clean this filthy room up. Now." He says sternly before walking back down the stairs, not bothering to close the door as Mina had it.

The room was far from filthy. There was only that pile of clothes and Mina's book bag on the floor.

He must still be upset about this morning. Mina figures.

Mina and her father had gotten into an argument earlier, before school. He was already in a bad mood when he woke up and Mina just happened to be an easy target.

It only upset him more when Mina tried to defend herself from his cruel words. Leaving them both in a grouchy mood for the rest of the day.

Mina didn't even bother going to her mother because she already knew how that would play out.

She would take his side and commence to throw Mina under the bus in order to save her own skin. Some parents.

Part of Mina couldn't even blame her, though. Her father was so erratic, it was best to stay on his good side. That's why she didn't dare come home after getting sent home by Principal Suh. Who knows what would have happened if her father found out she got sent home by the principal?

Mina was far beyond sick of the way she gets treated in this house. That's why she was so glad she only had one more year left before college. College would be her ticket away from them. That's why her grades had to be perfect.

The school she wanted to get into was far from home. It was called the Neo Culture Institute of Technology, or NCIT for short. It was her dream school.

She would get accepted into the Computer Science & Engineering program, get a good job, marry a good man who was nothing like her father and give her kids a better childhood than she had.

Mina sighed as she thought of her future, bending down to pick up her clothes. "Why does it have to be this way?" Mina asked as she blinked back the liquid blurring her vision.