punch drunk love | renmin

32

"mind your own business ugly." said renjun taking the letter from his hands, "let's go xiaojun, don't mind this kid, he has no sense of personal space." he glared at jaemin and proceeded to walk away with the shorter. "wow, he called you both a kid and ugly. what a man."

"shut up hairychan."

-

the week quickly passed, it was saturday again. on the festival day, the students did a great job organizing stands and banners. renjun designed the opening sign, objectively the best, but he's humble enough not to admit it. the guys met at the gate, 45 minutes before the opening as scheduled, but renjun was missing. jeno and jaemin dropped by his house and he wasn't there, they supposed he was with chenle or sicheng, but they met both of them, no renjun.

"i can't believe he's late." jeno said as he carried around the last bottles of oil to hand out to the food stands. the other followed shortly behind, carrying other items as well. "it's weird indeed, no need to worry though, he's probably cuddling with xiaojun or something." said haechan nudging jaemin, "don't mess around you twink." he wasn't in a good mood, since the letter incident he's been sulking, he didn't tell anyone of their kiss yet, because even though he was certain renjun liked him, their closeness made him feel uncertain. "i guess i was right, look who's coming."

entering the gate were xiaojun and renjun carrying what seemed like a guitar. jaemin scoffed, "hey hey lovebirds, what are you doing with a guitar?" asked them even though they were still some feet apart.

"xiaojun class works with the drama club, he was asked to play the background with some other students." said renjun, "i'll get going, good luck with your task."xiaojun concluded with a 'fighting' gesture, waiving at renjun in the distance. he chuckled, then turned back to his friends. "am i in charge of something?", jeno shook his head after thinking for a second. "stick with us anyway and help me carry those things." haechan handed him two containers of oil. he rolled his eyes but didn't complain, haechan wouldn't take them back anyway. "hairychan don't be mean and carry those by yourself." jeno took one of the containers and gave it back to the younger. the two of them rambled a bit going forward. "you look good with that beret." said jaemin he was still pissed, but couldn't deny his perfect fit. "aren't you wondering why i'm wearing it?"

"should i?" jaemin finally took a good look at him as he took the beret off, letting his fresh bleached locks fall over his eyes.

"do i still look good?"

"oh, yes. hell, yes you do." he giggled brushing his hair out of the way. "it looks awesome, why grey?", "xiaojun helped me out, i always wanted to try this color." jaemin pouted at his mention. "xiaojun, tsk." he huffed, "and what was that letter? did he confess or something?",renjun watched him with a stoick face, before chuckling. "you're absolutely going nuts jaem, those letters aren't for me, they are like... prototypes? he likes someone and wants to confess, i'm just helping him out with words." jaemin narrowed his eyes, "you what?"

"you've been jealous of him this whole time for no reason." he cracked a smile. "if you're going after someone like me, there's really no competition, ugly."

he quickly caught up with the other two after fixing his beret.

jaemin sighed, his heart bursted. Oh My GOD, HOW CAN HE BE THIS ADORABLE. his grey locks, i cannot believe i managed to hold back from kissing him. jaemin i'm impressed.

jaemin rushed to the infirmary holding one of her classmates on his back. she twisted her ankle attempting to strike a point at the basketball yard. "thank you jaemin, i'm sorry for the inconvenience." the pained student said to jaemin when she finally sat on the nursery bed. jaemin told her not to worry and left the room after talking to the nurse. after hours of going back to back running from the gym where materials were stored to the stand, he could finally enjoy a break. know that he thinks about it, he didn't see his beloved since their meeting this morning, he could go look for him. he paced around for a while, when after passing by many stands of food he decided to go inside and searched through classes, until he encountered not only him, but his own ex-girlfriend too.

"jaemin?" they said simultaneously, "yo-you? what are you doing?"

"rather, what are you doing here? aren't you at the cotton candy stand covering the absent kid from first year?" asked renjun. bora didn't let a single emotion transpire as he analyzed the sweaty guy in front of her.

"oh, emh.. eh-ehh, renjun can we talk for a sec-" renjun was dragged away by the taller. "what are you and her ?? what ???" renjun rolled his eyes, "i need to talk with her, go do your job." jaemin shook his head, "whyyy" he whined shaking his arm subtly trying to drag him away, "renjun, listen to me."

"no, jaemin. you listen to me." he turned his way, sigh, he adjusted his beret after running his hand through his bleach damaged hair. "you might have talked with her, but i didn't." he paused.

"one day she stopped me, she begged me to back off. she really liked you and was worried we had something going on." jaemin frowned, he had no idea something like that ever happened, but it explains some odd behaviors. "you apologized already, now it's my turn." jaemin nodded, he felt awkward around bora, renjun surely felt that way too, but was still determined to apologize.

jaemin quickly said goodbye to both of them after taking renjun back to bora and drifted away, back to his stand.

bora and renjun started pacing around, no destination in mind. in the end they arrived at the back yard of the gym, many went there to have some privacy... make out and stuff. today it was empty, everyone too invested in the festival.

"jaemin probably explained himself already." he sighed as they sat on the sidewalk. the girl nodded absent minded. "we both know he's really bad at explaining though.", "i'm really sorry, i know you asked me too avoid him and when i say i'm really really sorry, i beg you to believe me, i won't ask for-"

" you ain't good either." she slightly smiled, "renjun, you know... some things can't be helped. what had happened had just a bad timing, jaemin likes you sooo much. i wanted to be in your place, i tried to make it happen, i did my best. do i have regrets? oh yess, so many." a chuckle made renjun turn to her. "i know you like him as well, i want you to be happy, i'm sappy. like when your friend gets a good grade, you're happy for him but you can't get over that jealousy of losing to them. but since that place can't be occupied by two people, i guess it's better you take it. i forgive you, love can't be controlled." she smiled patting his shoulder. "w-who said i love him!"

"renjun stop this act, come on. go get your man and stop playing hard to get, he had a special place in your heart for as long as you can remember, am i wrong?"she brushed dirt off her skirt as she got up, "friends?" a genuine smile made renjun sigh in relief.

......

full of grammar mistakes,
didn't feel like proofreading, sorry <3
have a great day and stay safe!!