90's LOVE | renhyuck ✔

.15

After a disappointing, depressing weekend (from being stood up), followed by a devastating, depressing Monday (from catastrophizing the situation), Jisu marched the streets wanting revenge. Which door should she knock on first? Whose face would she strike a ring-bearing fist to? It was like asking a mother to pick her favourite child. Jisu pinched a coin out of her pocket. Heads, Jaehyun. Tails, Johnny.

She rested the coin over a painted nail, flicked it towards the sky. It fell back on her palm, tails.

"I hoped you knew where he could be." His mother twisted the hem of her blouse. She didn't invite Jisu into the house. "I called Jaehyun's parents, but they're also waiting for him to appear. It can only mean they're off together... I only hope— I hope so."

"Don't worry, Mrs Seo," Jisu said. The nervousness in Mrs Seo's voice provoked fear in her own. "I'll tell you, they're probably camping in the woods. They mentioned it, like, a couple of times."

They'd only mentioned once as a 'Jisu hide-out,' but she also could only hope. And even if she were to find them frolicking in the woods, unscathed, it wouldn't alleviate the humiliation of being left alone at the back of Crash & Dine, trembling under a fluffy tiger-patterned coat, wearing nothing underneath, and taking drop after drop of unstoppable rain. Her anger floundered, then ignited, then faltered into sudden tears.

It was early enough not to worry about shadows creeping in the corners of her eyes, nor supernatural creatures lurking among the trees. She searched and searched, falling and scratching her knees, but finally, Jisu reached the place.

No tent rose among the trees, but two familiar figures were recklessly sprawled along the soft soil. If Jisu were to choose what she liked about them the most, it'd certainly be the audacious youth of their every move, how their presence rouse a bolt of confidence in her posture. Especially when they were like this, lying careless in the woods, undressed, immobile...

The sting of rocks stabbing at the raw skin of her knees was a mere afterthought as she let out a scream as dreadful as the scene before her, scarlet red and naked.

🗡

Chenle had, in his own words, reinvented himself.

While Renjun was busy writing an essay, Chenle was busy mimicking the choreographies of Triple-J and making as much noise as possible. He had the remote control in hand, turning the volume up whenever his favourite member sang.

He let the pen escape from his hand, unable to finish the task. Chenle's loud existence, for once, wasn't culpable for his lack of attention. On one hand, he now had a boyfriend for the first time in his life. On the other hand, he'd just lost a decade-long friend who'd single-handedly kept his head above water. Was Yeji, in a way, a bit of a mean girl? Sure, a bit. But she wasn't wrong. From an outside perspective, his navel-gazing and utter disregard for social mingling could be interpreted as taking advantage of their friendship, as him trying to keep his social status from deteriorating. He'd been so inconsiderate: Yeji took interest in Donghyuck first and, like Renjun, she'd never had a boyfriend. Although their situations were different. Renjun didn't have strict parents, he just lived in an asshole town full of asshole people.

At the shattering sound of the remote control hitting the ground, Renjun snapped up. The only news source in town had interrupted Chenle's program to announce two citizens had been found dead in the forest.

end of part one