The Apartment We Won't Share | noren

CH. 8

CH.8 RJ

It was May 26th of the year 2000, when Renjun realized it was his and every senior in the campus' last day.

Two weeks went by, and Renjun and Jeno hadn't been talking ever since their fight.

It took a toll on the both of them.

Jeno appeared distracted and became even more aggressive to his teammates. Renjun was sluggish and gloomy the whole time, only giving small smiles here and there.

Renjun walked inside the school gates after parking his bike.

He sprinted when he remembered he was supposed to give the morning announcements.

He burst into the Broadcasting room and found everyone of his friends in there, waiting for him.

Chenle immediately hugged Renjun and the older had to prevent himself from laughing when he saw how Chenle was trying so hard to stop crying.

Once the two pulled away, Mark gave Renjun a warm side hug. "You're live in three."

Renjun gave Mark the printout of the sports article he worked on for the past week. 'Jeno Lee, the rising star of Fencing.' It read.

Mark expressed his gratitude. Renjun then hummed and took a seat inside the recording room.

He gazed upon the room he'll surely miss, and saw the people he'll leave behind through the window.

It took all of his strength to not cry in front of them.

Upon Mark's go signal, Renjun started his final announcement. "Good morning, everyone."

JN

Jeno was, as usual, traning with Hendery when he heard a familiar voice through the speakers.

He ignored most of the speech, and continued his match with Hendery.

"This is Huang Renjun of the Broadcasting Club, signing off." Jeno could hear the pain in his voice.

"I would like to leave with a verse that tugged on my heart, 'The story we won't tell is my greatest fantasy. The passion I won't feel again isn't lost on me. I wonder what life we could've had there, in the apartment we won't share." Renjun tried to cover up the cracks in his tone by clearing his throat.

Jeno couldn't take it anymore and began to take off his gears.

He briskly walked to the exit until he paused when he heard Renjun once more, "And to Lee Jeno..."

Everyone turned to look at him but he couldn't care less, "I'll try to hate New York."

Jeno slammed the door and left, with hot and salty droplets cascading down his cheeks.

📝

DH

Donghyuck was in his last dance class, and had just finished a special performance that the seniors gave.

They were on their water break, so he chugged down the water in his bottle and breathed deeply.

"Hyuck," Donghyuck's classmate, Jungwoo, called him.

"Yeah?"

"Someone's out here to see you."

Donghyuck raised a brow but nodded nevertheless. He made his way outside the classroom and saw Jeno, looking all miserable with his tear stained face.

"Jeno? What-"

Jeno handed over a book, entitled 'The Fountainhead,' to Donghyuck.

"Give this to Renjun, will you?"

Donghyuck frantically shook his head, "No. You want him to have that? Give it to him yourself. He's in his literature class."

Jeno sighed, "Don't make this harder that it is. Please just give it to him."

"No! I don't understand, why don't you give it and say goodbye to him personally?" Donghyuck argued, "Renjun misses you so much that he's even thinking of staying!"

"I can't. I have to leave for the National Training Center in Seoul later." Jeno said.

Donghyuck opened his mouth to argue but Jeno spoke instead, "And if I see him today, and he still ends up leaving, I can't watch him walk away. It'll kill me. But if he stays, then I'm killing his dream. Nothing good comes with me meeting him." Jeno explained.

"Closure, don't you want it?"

"This is the closure I want." He pushed the book to Donghyuck's hands. "Just... give it to him."

Donghyuck pitied Jeno as he watched him walk away.

Jeno paused and turned around, "And tell Renjun that... I hope he loves New York. It's a great place."

@UNSENTARCHRIVES