amnesia || renmin au

twenty four

Jaemin woke up with a smile. After the events from the day before, he felt lighter. Remembering Renjun seemed to take a weight off his chest, and he was for once genuinely excited to get to school so he could see him.

He found Renjun by Jeno's locker, with the blond haired boy. Jaemin still felt a bit awkward around Jeno from what happened a few days ago, and he could tell Jeno felt the same with how he looked to the ground and shifted his feet when he and Jaemin made eye contact.

"Jaemin remembers now?" The blond boy asked Renjun.

Renjun nodded. "Yesterday when we talked my name slipped out of his mouth and it shocked both of us." Renjun laced his fingers with Jaemin's which threw him off guard, he had forgotten this feeling and it felt like he was experiencing it for the first time again.

The boy beamed. "I'm so glad!" He stopped for a moment, then added, "My name's Chenle, by the way."

The name brought a vague memory of a small boy laughing manically at a joke and saying something to Renjun in Mandarin. "Ohh I think I remember you!" Jaemin smiled. "I'm sorry, my memory..."

"Don't worry, we understand," Chenle responded warmly. "I'm glad you're remembering!"

The warning bell rang, and the four boys said their goodbyes and headed off to their classes.

-

They were given a work period in class, but instead of working on their project Jaemin and Jeno talked about how Jaemin was doing.

"I don't know if you feel a little awkward about that incident," Jeno started. "I still feel bad, I shouldn't have grabbed you like that."

"Don't worry about it, it was kind of weird but I'm fine, it was just a little unexpected." Jaemin felt a bit uncomfortable thinking about his unusual reaction. Whose voice did he hear? Why did it affect him so much?

"I'm glad you remembered Renjun," Jeno said, changing the topic. "He was so sad every day I thought he would keep you away forever."

Jaemin thought for a bit. "But I still don't understand why he was so against me remembering? Isn't this a good thing?"

Jeno paused. "Well yeah, but... never mind. It is a good thing. Renjun's just worried..."

"What's he worried about?" Jaemin pressed on.

"He cares about you a lot." Jeno sighed. "He loves you so much, and he can't stand to see you hurt again."

"But I'm not hurt! You just said it's a good thing?" Jaemin was so confused. "Can you please stop speaking in riddles and just tell me?"

Jeno didn't say anything. He simply turned and suddenly drew his focus to the paper in front of him, ignoring Jaemin.

Jaemin sighed. Is this how it was going to be? It doesn't matter, he decided. What matters is that I remember Renjun.

He didn't have his feelings for Renjun quite figured out yet. He knew they used to be boyfriends but Jaemin felt like that bond had been disconnected from them being apart and Jaemin's memory loss. He still wanted to love Renjun though, he wanted to go back to how things were before his accident. And maybe, hopefully, Renjun wanted the same too.