90's LOVE | renhyuck ✔

.28

Staying in a decaying, foul-smelling barn with Donghyuck would incite two outcomes: Renjun would either kill Donghyuck... or himself. So as an escape route, Renjun beelined to the Cafeteria.

It'd been so long since walking through those double doors. So long, Renjun's legs had lost their muscle memory, nothing but oversoaked noodles lumping along the greasy tiles, struggling to keep his balance in this critical moment.

Their eyes were lodged in Renjun's wobbly walk like a physical force that barricaded Renjun from the kitchen and the path to the microwave. So Renjun clenched his fingers around the cold sandwich and sat beside Jisu.

He expected her to shift away, sliding the smooth fabric of her skirt along the metal bench. After all, she wasn't his biggest fan, and no miracle — not even Yeji's silent coercion — could turn her into one. But Renjun's quiet arrival didn't stir a ripple effect. Yeji didn't mutter an I'm worried about you, Renjun, at his awkward walk, and Jisu's lips only parted to chew on lumpy broccoli. Her jaw, tight shut, was the only telltale sign of his unwanted presence. This wasn't their original dynamic. It was better.

To break the silence and avoid Yeji's unmoving stare, Renjun said to Ryujin:

"Why aren't you with Chenle?"

Ryujin tilts her head as though Renjun had just spoken gibberish. Then her face washed with understanding, like Renjun's words were processed in her mental translator machine. What was wrong with his diction?

She put her sandwich down, her manner so patronizing, a mirror to Renjun's one and only sexuality talk with his parents. "I won't endorse him in his delusions, Renjun. It's dangerous for him."

Renjun stared at her. Stared until his vision prickled and Yeji stretched along the table to catch a piece of broccoli from Jisu's fork. "So you, what, just left him to his own devices?" He imagined the classroom he'd been dragged into not so long ago. He thought of the yellowing walls and the precarious state of the desks. Then, he envisioned Chenle, fetal-positioned in the middle of the room, crowded board to his side, rocking himself on the floor. "He's having another reunion today, and you won't even participate? After you encouraged him!"

She tilted her head again, eyes narrowing into slits. "I'm not his mom. He's your cousin."

By his side, Jisu burst into whole-chested laughter and in response, Yeji stretched her mouth to the side, clicking her tongue. This level of apprehension couldn't be found in their pre-fight habit, and Jisu had snapped at him for less. But now Jisu held her tongue with two hands clasped tight over her mouth, her body shuddering with restrained giggles.

"But," Renjun tried. "Didn't you hang out with him? After school, helping with the whole conspiracy board. You helped with the theories."

"He's not in his right mind," Ryujin said. Renjun wouldn't argue against that. "Is he alone? Good for him, maybe he'll take a hint. For once."

Renjun's hand balled into a fist. His face warmed. Still shaken from his class with Donghyuck, Renjun was at his wit's end. No one talked about Chenle like that. Except, perhaps, himself. But Renjun was allowed to shame Chenle into shape — they shared blood, a life, and family costumes like jumping on the doormat at arrival, or shaking hands on the sink over wiping them on clothing. Who was Ryujin to dictate what Chenle should and shouldn't do, or feel or not feel, when all she knew about him before their brief collaborative project was Renjun's groaning complaints?

"You'll come earlier to help with the decorations, won't you, Renjun?" Yeji's sugary-sweet tone cut through his thoughts.

It's almost like the ghost of their previous roles. "Of course."

"And cleaning after?"

"Certainly."

"Great!" Yeji sat back, then sat up again. "I'm not trying to be rude, it's just that," she sighs, "it's always just the three of us doing all the after-party cleaning since you never show up and, when you do... you run away."

A bolt of pain jolted down his spine at the reminder of that night. Johnny and Jaehyun's names, previously dormant, conjured life-like images of their faces before death: mocking, then angry, then accompanied with fists. Fists like the one Renjun sported right now. He loosened his hand. Those faces had haunted his daily life, and still carried their ghastly reminder even after death.

"I'll be there," he said.

Yeji slouched back with a hand to her chest, but what her eyes invoked was far from relief.

"It'll be fun," she said. "Promise."

🗡

short update, sorry!!