never | h.rj

3.

A ringing sound from his phone is what awoke Renjun this morning in place of his regularly scheduled alarm. He forced his eyes open to look at the digital clock sitting on his nightstand, squinting at the abrupt brightness of the numbers.

"3:00 am? Who the-" Renjun stopped mid sentence when he saw the caller was his dad. He clicked the green button and placed the phone against his ear.

"Renjun? Hello?"

"Yeah dad, I'm here" he responded through a yawn.

"I'm sorry to have to tell you this son, but my trip has been extended. I'll be here for another month or two."

A small smirk appeared on Renjun's face. A laugh even escaped his lips as he processed what his dad had just told him. His outer reaction was the polar opposite to the way he felt inside. He had just become so used to it.

"It's all good." Renjun said stretching his free arm over his head. "I'm doing just fine here."

"Are you sure? Should I come home?"

"Nope."

Even if everything wasn't fine, he still would have said it was. Renjun's dad was always gone. Constantly away on business trips. Even if he were to come home, it's not like he'd stay for long. He never did.

"What time is it there?" His dad asked.

"3 am." Renjun replied dryly.

"I didn't realize and you have school. I'll get off of the phone now. Try to get some more rest before school, lack of sleep can negatively affect your grades."

Right...

~

"Renjun, Mina, see me after class to receive your assignment."

Mina looked across the room at Renjun.

This morning while both of them were at their lockers, he didn't bother taking any jabs at Mina or even speaking at all. He only muttered a quiet, "excuse me" when Mina was unintentionally blocking his locker.

It was unusual, to say the least.

After class, the two reported to the teacher's desk to receive their assignment as requested.

"I've introduced a new learning style called Collaborative Based Learning. It's a type of learning that will teach you how to work well with others and apply what you learn in the classroom." Ms. Bae informed.

Mina had a bad feeling about where this was going. Renjun hadn't seemed to catch on yet. He was caught up in his own thought process like Mina had been yesterday, chewing on his finger nails.

"Yesterday, students were allowed to choose partners."

Oh no...

"But, since you two weren't here, you guys will be paired together...until the end of the year."

Mina thought she was going to faint. Renjun finally caught on and his eyes immediately widened. His hands instantly dropped to his side.

"What?!" The boy shouted. He sounded beyond displeased. Mina couldn't even blame him because she felt the same way.

"You will have a project due at the end of each week, based on everything you learned during that week. So, you will still have to take good notes during class. That means you'll have to work on your projects after school."