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DOWNTOWN. chapter nineteen | bedside chats.
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"You're here again," Taeyong said, making me lift an eyelid. "You know, Renjun isn't going to die if you leave him for a day."
"It's personal for me," I replied, beckoning for Taeyong to sit next to me. He pulled up the spare chair, sitting around the foot of the hospital bed. "Tell me, Taeyong. Do you think Renjun's going to wake up?"
"I try to think positive," Taeyong sighed, cracking his knuckles with his elbows to his knees. His auburn hair wasn't neat, meaning that he wasn't going to work today. I assumed that he was on emergency leave because of Renjun. "But I can see it on your face that you know the truth, or really, you're just thinking of all the worst possible scenarios."
"I'm not a psychic, so it's the second one," We chuckled in unison. Taeyong placed a hand on my back, rubbing it soothingly. "I barely knew him, and I wish I got to know him better. That's why I care about him."
"You care so much about him because he barely knew you? That's an odd reason."
"Well, you guys care about him a lot and have so many memories with him. For someone like me, it was a spur of a moment, and I think for even an almost stranger to care about his injury... he would know how much he's loved."
Taeyong hummed in agreement, understanding my explanation. "It's a shame the kind of shit Renjun has been through," He said. "Renjun is from China, so he moved here without his parents. He's really young, which meant that he had to look early for jobs and housing. He met Haechan not too long ago, and after Renjun got to talking, Haechan convinced us to keep him on our team. So, Jaemin gave him some biking lessons, a spare bike, and a dream. Renjun worked part-time with a mechanic, practically thinking of him as his father."
I listened, staring attentively at the lying figure. "Then, the mechanic died around a few months ago. We told Renjun to take some time off of racing, but he was adamant that he was in a good enough figure to continue his duty. He almost swerved off the track one night, and had everyone scared to death," The memory made Taeyong snicker. "Renjun was so stupid for that. After seeing all of us concerned, he decided to take two races off, allowing him to heal. Even then, Renjun was happy to see us again. He was always such a ball of sunshine that I hated seeing him so sad. I didn't think he meant it literally that one night he said he'd take a bullet for any of us, no matter how much he'd hate us in the future."
