Metanoia

Forest: Chapter 7

The man had a strong set jaw, and in observing his face there was hardly any trace of age. Instead, his visage was smoothed over with pure youth betraying the fact that he wasn't an adult at all. Simply a teenager just like Renjun. However his facial features did give off a more mature feeling. Yet his raven hair that covered most of his forehead made a great contrast. In fact his whole figure was a contradiction in general. With his figure being rather grown and lean despite the boyish clothes he was wearing.
Renjun was able to put the pieces of the puzzle together. And when he did, couldn't believe his eyes. "Jeno?!"
His classmate reflected his shock and the raven haired boy leaned back without a word.
"What are you doing here?"
"I could ask you the same thing, Renjun." Jeno spoke slowly obviously still processing what the hell was going on. There wasn't really much to blame on his part either. He literally just got chased by a yelling teen with an axe. What was more crazy was that knew this yelling teen as shy, fearful kid who always got straight A's. Never in his life would he think that Renjun would ever try and attack someone with an axe, much less a weapon in general.
The blond scoffed, shrimping out of Jeno's grip with a slight flush on his face. "I ran away from Goldenleaf."
"Yeah I get that but..." The younger teen squinted his eyes in confusion. "Why?"
Renjun opened his mouth to respond until he caught a scrape on Jeno's neck. He paused in thought for a second before standing up. "How about we go back to the shack and talk about this there?" He dusted off his pants."While we're at it we could also treat your injury."
Still in a state of bewilderment Jeno merely nodded and followed the smaller teen along.
In all honesty, he had never thought of talking much to Renjun. He did feel guilty about it but he couldn't do much about it. In school the blond was always so silent and cold- only talking to Donghyuck and that underclassmen with the orange hair. It wasn't like he would ever approach Jeno in the first place. Thinking more about it, Renjun never interacted with the raven haired boy except for the aggressive glares and cold glances.
He glanced at the supposed runaway in front of him, leading the two back to his house. With his head held high and his conversation going rather casually. Maybe Renjun changed in the time he left school.
Jeno recalled the last time he saw his classmate, which was when he had hit Jaemin and Donghyuck. 'How would I know....' He shivered, a bit unnerved. 'I never knew him in the first place.'

"And here we are." Renjun pushed the door open not noticing Jeno's jaw drop. Of course he would though, despite only having come in there a few minutes the raven haired boy had no time to actually look around. He probably took one glance at Renjun had got the hell out.
The blond snorted in amusement and went into his bag to dig out his first aid kit. "How about we treat the wound while we talk about the current situation we're both in?"
Jeno's footsteps stopped signalling both heard Renjun and was walking around, looking at all the photographs and files.
    Finally fishing the small case out, he opened it and sighed in relief. The bottle of sanitizing alcohol was still intact and none of the bandages were damaged. That was good. Closing the kit and stood back up about to make his way over to the bed. "Ok Jeno, how about you go sit doWN UM."
    Turning around, Renjun's eyes widened and his face grew extremely hot. "JENO WHAT THE FUCK."
    The raven haired boy turned his head to look at the flushed teen, eyebrows furrowed in concern. "What?" He turned the rest of his figure around. "Is something wrong?"
    'Of course something's wrong.' The blond coughed. 'He's shirtless for fuck's sake.' No lie. He did look really good, and he was fit. But this wasn't what Renjun was expecting.
    "You said treating my wounds so."
    Upon closer inspection, which Renjun hated to do at this moment, he did see more scrapes and cuts around the rest of Jeno's torso. He made sure not to stare too long and stiffly gestured to the bed. "I said wound but whatever. Let's just get this over with."
    With that, he started to clean the wounds up earning hisses of pain from his classmate which he decided to ignore. In a bit of a silent moment the two just went on with what they were doing. Both trying to think up a way to actually start a conversation. However the two were in a bit of an awkward spot considering Jeno had just stripped off his hoodie and shirt. The two were sharing the same thought, 'I wish I got to them him better so this wouldn't be so weird....'
    "So..." Jeno cleared his throat. "About why you are here....."
    Renjun continued doing the menial task but his countenance darkened. "I ran because I was sick of Goldenleaf." His tone expressed some form of condensed hatred, the atmosphere becoming rather chilly. "I always thought that city was way too perfect for my liking and I forced myself to live through all the oddities it was bringing. It was just so unnerving and off putting. Going through the same thing everyday. People acting like everything was perfectly normal. And when things did happen, everything would play out to be just like a show or a movie."
    "But what about-"
    "Yeah I know." Renjun snapped, putting more pressure on a certain wound making Jeno flinch. "I remember what I did. But what you wouldn't know of it was that there was something completely off about how unbalanced things were becoming. With that stalker, Donghyuck's behaviour, the cities whole tone, Jaemin." He growled dumping the swab away in the trash can. "Everyone was becoming greedy. The whole town was becoming a whole pack of predators who haven't eaten for who knows how long."
    Renjun took the long piece of gauze and ripped it into smaller pieces to place against the raven haired boys injuries. "So I decided to leave. After the missing cases and death reports I was able to fix up my truck and drive away." He paused, daring to take a glance up at Jeno. Who was gazing at him with concern and worry deep in his dark eyes. Feeling shades of red rest on his face, the smaller teen looked back at what he was doing. "But there were two guys who chased after me... with guns..."
    "That was you in the pickup truck?" A small gasp came from Jeno's mouth and Renjun flinched. "Is that why you have the bandage over your cheek?"
    Renjun's mind went back to the horrific car chase and he shivered. "Yes." His eyebrows furrowed and his frown deepened. "Because of them I crashed into the forest and fucked up my ride. And now I'm stuck here trying to fix up the vehicle all the while finding out who is behind all of this."
    "Oh you think someone's behind everything?'
    "Absolutely." The normally paranoid kid moved around to treat the wounds on Jeno's back.
    The injured teen sat there in thought of it all. What Renjun said was, in fact, very suspicious if thought about. The town was usually a very peaceful place and that's what he loved about it. No extreme violence, no insults that went too overboard, it was technically those stereotypical towns with the stereotypical schools and neighbourhoods. It did seem as if everyone was fake. And looking back at his own behaviour, Jeno noticed how extremely plastic he was too. All he did was smile, get average grades, play sports and be popular. Now with what had happened recently, things had just gone to hell.
    "Now answer the question I asked first." Renjun interrupted Jeno's doubtful thinking process. "Why are you here?"
    He didn't answer right away. Everything after the blonds words went tense and for the first time, he thought maybe he said something wrong. Something very wrong.
"Someone close to me had passed.." Jeno spoke carefully. "It was an abrupt event. But it opened my eyes to a lot." His body trembled for a mere second before reassuming a strong stance. "I just don't think I can go around the town without being reminded of them. And so I took my motorcycle and ran without a thought. Which no that I think about it was kind of dumb."
"What makes you say that?" Renjun pressed on.
"Well, I packed my things, I got some essentials and tools for the journey. But I forgot to refill my motorcycle up with gas so after a bit it just died out on me. That's why I have so much cuts and stuff. I completely wiped out." He turned his head a bit to send his older classmate a smile. "But I guess it was just my luck to have bumped into you huh?"
"I wouldn't say that, exactly..." Renjun struggled not to return the smile. Secretly he was relieved he didn't have to continue his journey alone. But he wasn't going to admit that. Despite everything, he still didn't trust Jeno that much. Not when his best friend showed a side of him that was anything but comforting. "We're still both stranded in the forest. With limited supplies. We'll need to find a way to get out of here."
    "And find the culprit right?"
    "Well that's my goal. I don't know what yours is."
    Jeno shrugged. "Mine was just to get away from Goldenleaf. But yours seems just as good." His face became a bit red. "Plus it would be nice to have some company and not be alone."
    Renjun finished treating the wounds and sat beside the raven haired boy, staring at him skeptically. "You do realize I got grazed by a bullet and was involved in a car chase because of this."
    "I mean you survived."
    "That was a one percent chance out of a billion possibilities."
"Ok you thought that through." Jeno said rather surprised. "But whatever. I mean I just looked back on everything you said and maybe I want to change some things."
Renjun raised an eyebrow. "What does that mean?"
"Well you said everyone was fake. And than I realized I was pretty fake. And now I want to change."
"Wait my observation hurt your feelings and now you want to change because I insulted you?" The blond snickered a bit, his eyes glazing over with amusement. It was the first time that he had expressed such feelings in a while, and it was definitely the first time expressing them towards Jeno.
"...Maybe...." The raven haired boy pouted, a bit hurt on how easily his intentions had been read. "It doesn't matter. All I want now is to have some company and help. So sign me up on this crazy plan you have."
Eyes widening a bit Renjun was a bit speechless in how kind Jeno was being despite the fact he just chased this guy with an axe. "Yeah. Ok sure you can join." His eyes went a bit cold. "But if I find out you aren't just a normal student and you have some secret identity than I will not hesitate to cut the ties. One way or another."
Gulping, Jeno nodded fearfully. "W...Will do sir...."