Haunting; Noren NCT

♱•Twenty-One•♱

Renjun makes up a few things on the spot about him and Jeno, and thankfully Jeno plays along. Jaemin didn't look too convinced, constantly eyeing Jeno almost as if he knew something was off about this entire situation. But he didn't question it.

Once he assures them he's okay, he sends the two boys home, telling them to rest well and sleep off the hangovers. Thankfully they didn't argue, obviously not planning on staying very long in the first place. They say goodbye to Jeno, and Renjun was quick to show them out before running back up to his room.

Jeno sat on the bed, arms crossed over his chest as he stared at the brunette. Renjun carefully clicks the door shut.

"You wanna explain to me what that was?" Jeno asks, jumping straight to the point, his eyes narrow and he doesn't look happy.

Renjun sighs and sits on the bed beside Jeno, keeping a decent distance between them "my mum was trying to help me make Jisung feel less nervous about meeting new people, she was saying how nice my friends were and she mentioned you" he says, picking at a loose thread on the cuff of his sweater "we got to the house and there was no one there called Jeno so he questioned me on it and I panicked"

"So boyfriend was the first thing that came to mind?" Jeno snaps, keeping his gaze on the floor in front of him, not looking over in Renjun's direction even once.

"I panicked! I'll admit I could have just said you were another friend but I didn't, it was the first thing that came to me" Renjun could feel himself becoming more and more annoyed by the second. He didn't want to argue, he would much rather prefer Jeno to just disappear and not come back, but he knew that wouldn't happen. Not now anyway.

Jeno runs a hand through his raven hair before crossing it back over his chest "you can't keep doing this Renjun" he says, finally glancing over at the boy "I'm dead you can't keep telling people I'm a living human being".

Renjun scoffs in disbelief "shouldn't you be thanking me? You said it yourself you haven't had a conversation with someone in god knows how long, yet in the past month you've spoken to several people, and who do you have to thank for that? Oh yeah me!"

Now it was an argument.

"I was more than happy with just having a conversation with you! I didn't ask to be part of those other people's lives, I only wanted to be part of your life, for you to keep me company for a while until you left" he says, his voice scarily calm "what if I had straight up told them I was a ghost, how would you have felt if I did that?"

Renjun waves him off, laughing at how stupid this all was "you really think they would have believed you?"

"They would if I disappeared into thin air right in front of their eyes!"

Renjun rolls his eyes, not quite believing this was happening "maybe you should be more open minded, you were the one that said you were bored, I thought you'd be loving all the attention, you know like the total attention whore you are!" Renjun yells "just get out of this house! Get out of my god damn life!"

"Don't tell me to get out of this house, I lived here before you this is my life! I won't let a stupid kid like you ruin it!"

"Your a friggin ghost! You don't have a life!" He couldn't understand why everything Jeno said seemed to add fuel to the fire.

"I did have a life!" Jeno throws back, acting as if the fact he was once actually alive was going to make so much of a difference in this argument.

Renjun laughs, almost sounding crazy as he stands, making himself taller than Jeno "yeah! You did! But you threw that away didn't you!"

Jeno jumps to his feet too, towering over Renjun, his eyes dark "you have no idea what it's like to feel that alone" Jeno seethes, the yelling seeming to have come to a sudden stop.

Renjun could see the the mixture of rage and sadness in Jeno's eyes, obviously very hurt by the previous comment.

"Doesn't mean you would have been alone forever, you didn't stick around long enough to even bother finding someone" Renjun says "who knows? You could have found someone else to fuck around with"

This seems to be the final blow, Jeno's eyes brimming with tears. Renjun didn't regret what he had said. He was so angry, not exactly angry at Jeno but angry at everything and everyone. He was angry at his parents for taking him away from his friends, angry at the fact his friends back in China were still living as they use to, probably not even thinking about Renjun. He was angry at Yangyang for causing him to get drunk and causing the thumping headache he currently had.

But more than anything he was mad at himself.

He was mad at himself because he knew Jeno was right. Renjun should have had the courage to just invite Jaemin over that day to meet his parents instead of asking Jeno to. Renjun should never had developed feelings for someone because they showed the smallest amount of interest in him and cared for him. He had always been the type to let feelings get the better of him yet never acted upon them because he knew he would get hurt. However, he had almost been sure that Jeno had felt the same way.

Obviously not.

Jeno took a step away from him, reaching up to wipe a stray tear away "I can't believe I fucking cared about you" Jeno laughs "you have no idea how easy your life is, you have no idea what I went through. Sure I may have 'thrown my life away' but you have no idea what if feels like to wake up every morning, not being able to smell the scent of breakfast cooking downstairs or the soft murmurs of your parents talking downstairs. You have no idea how it feels to watch your own body get buried in the middle of nowhere by a man you don't even know, a man who doesn't even know or care who the hell you are. You have no idea how it feels to spend and eternity not talking to someone yet being forced to watch family after family move in and move out, children born and die." He says, his eyes narrowing "and because I care about you, I hope you never do know how it feels.".

Renjun was silent, not knowing what to say. His heart was beating so loud he was suprised he could still hear Jeno speaking.

"So sure go ahead, mock me for finding a guy who made me laugh, a guy who amused me and a guy I enjoyed spending every single second with. You made my shitty eternity just a little bit better Renjun, I'll admit it, but I'm dead, I'm old and I should have known that ghosts were maybe never supposed to have friends in the first place".

Renjun's own eyes become blurry, his mind going back to the kiss they had shared, the way they had both wanted each other with so much passion. Jeno had made him feel things he had never felt before. But Jeno was right, he was dead. And Renjun needed to accept that.

"Well if you're dead can you at least act it" Renjun asks, meeting Jeno's gaze. "Leave me alone, just disappear before you lead me on a second time".

And that's all it took for Jeno to disappear and the room to heat up at the loss of his presence.

•••••
A/N: this book seems to have gotten a lot of attention lately and I suddenly feel the same pressure I did with my Norenmin book (･_･;

Love you all tho~ ♡