DNYL CLUB/// norenmin

Chapter 18

FINALLY I'M DONE!!

Happy birthday to our little boy Zhong Chenle. You get more talented every day,  and I can't wait to see what this next year brings for us all.

Ok, so here's your chapter. You might cry. You might be confused. Things will clear up.

so just a reminder, Renjun had been having a coughing fit at the end of chapter 17.

~(T-T)~

Renjun's eyes started to flutter open. As the world came into focus, he realized that there were other people sitting next to him.

"Why didn't you tell us?"

Now there's a voice I haven't heard in a while.

"Jaehyun?" he croaked out.

Taeyong's concerned face hovered over him. "Junnie, why didn't you tell me?"

Renjun tried to sit up, but a shooting pain bolted through his chest. His older cousin pushed him back down by the shoulders, making him lie down.

"I told him he should have let someone else know," Jisung said.

Chenle piped up. "I figured it out."

Renjun furrowed his brows. "How?"

"When petals follow you everywhere, it becomes pretty obvious." Chenle shrugged. "Plus Kun also had it a little while back."

"Wait, is he okay?" Taeyong's eyes widened. "I knew he was sick, but I didn't know he had hanahaki."

"He's fine," Chenle said. "He had to get the surgery, though."

Renjun began coughing again. "I'm starting to think that might be the only option for me, too."

"No!" all four people in the room yelled.

Renjun frowned. "Okay, so you'd rather I die?"

Jisung sighed. "Your hanahaki isn't getting worse at all, Renjun. In fact, it's gotten better." he frowned. "At least it had, for a little while. I don't know what happened."

"I do."

The door had silently opened while they were talking, and Jeno stood there. He leaned against the doorframe, hesitating. "Is it fine if I come in?"

"Yeah, I guess." Renjun shrugged, then froze. "Wait."

"How much did you hear?"

Jeno sighed. "Enough, Junnie. I heard enough to know."

Renjun's eyes started to fill with tears. "I'm sorry, Jeno. I'm sorry I didn't tell you, I hope you can understand. I couldn't tell you, you get that right? I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." He paused to take a breath. "Please, please, don't tell-"

"Don't worry," Jeno said softly. "I won't tell Jaemin, okay?"

Renjun nodded mutely. He looked down at his lap, eyebrows lowered.

Jeno took a step into the room, and then walked over to the bed. Jisung moved over to make some space, and Jeno sat down next to Renjun. He placed his own hand over the smaller boy's.

"You know, if you had told me earlier, things would be so much easier by now."

"How?" Renjun whispered.

Jeno looked at him, placing a hand on his head. "I would have done something about it, I- I wouldn't have let you feel so alone."

Renjun ducked his head. "That's alright," he said, face flushed. "You two don't have to. You have each other."

Jeno looked away for a second. "Actually, I-" he paused, taking in a deep breath. "I think Jaemin might already like you back."

"What?"

"Yeah," Jeno whispered.

"How do you know?" Jaehyun asked.

Jeno wouldn't meet anyone's eyes.

"What is it?" Taeyong said.

"I- I know because I have hanahaki, too."

~

Renjun sat on the bed, sobbing. Jaehyun had already herded everyone other than Taeyong out of the room, and now only Renjun and his older cousin were there.

Jaehyun walked back in. "Ten and Johnny are taking them out for a while, babe," he said to Taeyong.

He then sat down next to Renjun. Seeing the young boy, he said, "Renjun," he said, "please don't cry."

"It hurts, hyung," he said weakly. "It hurts so bad." His lungs rattled with another bout of coughing, and blood splattered the sleeve he covered his mouth with. Petals floated into the air.

Taeyong watched a pale pink cherry blossom petal descend from above into Jaehyun's open palm. He looked to his boyfriend, eyes teary. His hand lifted off the bed and he cupped Renjun's face.

"Why is this happening to you?" he whispered. He moved his hand and stroked Renjun's hair gently. "Why is this happening to you?"

"I don't know," Renjun sniffled. "How did this even happen?"

Jaehyun, who had been sitting quietly, deep in thought, started to speak out of nowhere.

"Hey- Renjun, you know how I'm a data analyst for hospitals, right?"

"Yeah, and?"

"So when I was looking through some stuff a while back, I noticed the hanahaki statistics and, well, they aren't as bleak as you think they'd be."

Taeyong sat up. "What's that mean?"

"Most people with cases of hanahaki severe enough to kill them are already very close to the person they love, so they end up being together eventually anyways. But, the thing is," he said, pausing to take a breath, "I don't think I've ever seen any data about a hanahaki triangle."

"Triangle?- oh, because there's three of them," Taeyong said.

"Yeah, triangle," said Jaehyun. "You three can't be the first, but I only know one person who can find out for sure."

About twenty minutes later, they were on the doorstep to an unfamiliar house.

Taeyong spoke up. "Jaehyun, I don't know if this is a-"

"Hey, Jae!" A tall man opened the door."How've you been?"

"Not bad, Taeil. Hey, I'm sorry for dropping in out of nowhere."

Taeil grinned. "It's alright." He looked behind Jaehyun to Taeyong and Renjun, who waved a little. "Who's this?"

"Oh, this is my boyfriend Taeyong and his younger cousin Renjun."

"It's nice to meet you guys," Taeil said. "Come in!"

As they walked into the living room, Taeil started talking again. "Sorry, everything's a mess. I wasn't expecting anyone." Renjun noticed that despite this surprise, he seemed genuinely happy to have visitors. "Sit down, do you guys want water? Soda?"

"No, thanks," Renjun said as they sat on the couches.

"Soda's fine for me," Jaehyun said.

Taeyong smiled. "Same."

The three sat in silence for a bit while Taeil went to the kitchen. A couple minutes later, he came out with three glasses of Sprite. He handed on to Taeyong and one to Jaehyun, keeping the third for himself. He then sat down on a chair across from them, smiling.

"So, what brings you here?"

So many things...