punch drunk love | renmin

19

arrived home renjun slammed the door open, startling his mother who was chilling on the bed watching some drama. "oh dear god, renjun! you scared me. what's wrong?"

"mom. i think he knows. jaemin." he didn't need to mention anything else for his mom to understand the situation. renjun walked upstairs, with the same pace from before. he entered his bedroom and locked the door, his heart beating rapidly. this can't be happening again, no way. i won't let this happen.

-

"yah, what's up with you today?" jeno poked jaemin's back. renjun called school that morning, he announced he was sick and wouldn't be coming to class. jaemin just zoned out, he was still wondering what went wrong yesterday. it seemed all fine, he even laid on his stomach! still, he ran off. did he say anything wrong?

"wait, didn't you hang out at renjun's yesterday? you were so euphoric." haechan wondered out loud, still whispering because he wouldn't get detention just because of the volume of his voice as jaemin their first day of school. "right! i've seen you yesterday, you played at the basketball yard, right?" jaemin snapped out from his thoughts when renjun was mentioned. "ew! look he's pouting." haechan whisper shouted pointing at his outrageous friend. "i don't know!!" jaemin whined, "we were having fun and all, joking, talking calmly, chilling and then he ran away!" he explained. "did you say something out of place?" jeno asked.
"no!! he was fine and then sprinted to his house."

"that's nothing like renjun. it's his shy twin!" haechan laughed. "he ran away from you before, tho." jeno said. "omg! really?!"

"WHERE ARE YOU GOING?" jaemin surprised the other, making him jump. what the heck? he was just going home. "we need to find that kid." haechan annoyedly replied agreeing to continue their research. "you still didn't find him?!"

"it's not as easy as it seems! there are many kids with bleached hair, you know?" jaemin rolled his eyes, as he and haechan walked to the open door, backpack on their shoulders.

"mh, is huang renjun still here? i've borrowed som-" a kid, with bleached hair, walked in their direction.

"IT'S YOU!" jaemin screamed pointing his finger in between his eyes. "it'S nOt aS eASY as It SeEMs!!" haechan mocked him while he was giving all his attention to the shorter.

jaemin checked him out first with a judging look. then walked around him, to have a full view of the kid. "what your business with him?"

"huh?" the other is quite the introvert type of person, as jaemin walked around him, he felt more and more uncomfortable. "with renjun! what do you want from- OUCH!" haechan interrupted him by smacking the back of his head. "don't scare him!" he scolded his friend. "what's your name?" he asked to the light haired boy, uncomfortably being stared at by jaemin.

"xiao de jun, but i like to be called xiaojun." he said trying to avoid jaemin's glare. "nice! xiaojun, i'm haechan, this annoying kid is jaemin." haechan took xiaojun's hand and started shaking it. "don't know about jaemin but i'm one of renjun's besties." he showed some cringe action as usual. "i'm his neighbor, you can give me those papers you borrowed from him." jaemin said, still not liking the other's presence. "wait, i didn't mention any papers.. how do you know?"

"tsk... he told me.." jaemin rolled his eyes the nth time that day and snatched the papers from his hands.

renjun woke up late, around 1 pm, waked up by his mother knocking at his door. "dear? did i wake you up?" renjun sleeply nodded. "oh, i'm sorry. i've made you some tea." she handed him the moomin cup, filled with green tea, plus a spoon of honey. renjun's favourite. "can you tell me what happened yesterday?" renjun hesitated for a second, but then agreed to. he explained everything, she knew already about jaemin's weird actions, so he just explained what happened the previous day. from the hug, to the bet. from the weird pace his heart was beating to, to the ambiguous statement he spoke.

"i think you overreacted! you made it look ambiguous yourself, sigh." she said after understanding the whole situation, "if you didn't run off that speedily you could have just let it slide as if nothing."

"i was just taken aback! i'm really sensitive since what happened last time." he pouted.

if you were wondering why renjun transferred halfway high school since he actually wanted to finish it in China. thanks to his parents that were allowed to transfer by their boss after requesting to, basically renjun begged sicheng and chenle to change their father's mind. to put it simply, he was bullied, to the extent of being beaten, because he was, in fact, gay.

last year he came out as gay. first, he told his parents. at the time he did a painting because that's what he's best at. they took it well, for some reason his mother suspected it already, his father was supportive too. but when it came to his friends, some shit went down. his best friend took it the worst. then the word spread, everyone at school knew.

when he walked the halfway he could feel everyone's glare on him. at first, he just ignored them, it's none of his business if they find him disgusting, but then some higher grade guy started getting physical: the start of the end. on the last day of school he filed up a report, 'kang dotak and his classmates', that's the title. attached to the file were photos of his bruises and cuts, audio of him being drowned in the toilet water and all kind of evidence. he wasn't the only one leaving that school.

when he changed school he didn't want to repeat the same mistake twice. as of now the only ones who knew about his preference other than his parents, are sicheng and chenle. they are fine with it since they don't discriminate.

he trusted the others, yes. but he trusted his friends from the other school as well. people are just unpredictable. he didn't want to risk it. also, he didn't think his sexuality would be something necessary for them to know.

the day would come, he just hoped it wouldn't come that soon.

"renjun. sweetie. from what you told me they all seem like good friends. give it a shot. if it goes wrong this time as well, there's nothing to fear! lele and cheng are by your side!" his mom softly smiled, she has a soft spot for chenle and sicheng. they were the only ones who helped his kid to get out of that horrible experience.

he was still deep in thoughts. she was right, even if they turned their backs, he still would've those two dummies. still, for somewhat reason, the idea of jaemin hating him, wasn't so easy to digest. "come down when you're hungry." she kissed his forehead and went downstairs, not before closing the door.

renjun got up. he rummaged in his jacket's pocket, looking for a coin.

if it's head i'll tell them about it, he threw the coin in the air. CROSS CROSS CROSS. the coin landed flat on the painting for the contest he placed on the desk. head. damn.

🗻🏜🗻🏜

I'm sorry for the long wait!!!
almost done writing the story :)) can't wait to publish all chapters.