fangirl | renjun

Chapter 11

The walk to the convenience store was now awkward. Jaemin and Yuri immediately take action by entering the convenience store themselves. They left Aera and Renjun standing beside each other in silence.

"How long are we going to keep this up?" Renjun's eyes were on his feet, but his eyebrows remained knit together.

"What?"

"They think we're fighting." Renjun takes a deep breath and raises his head, finally meeting her eyes.

"We aren't though." The shakiness in her voice made it quite obvious that she was finding this absurd.

"They wouldn't have left us here if they didn't think that way." He obviously knew what was going on.

Aera didn't want to admit it but the moment she realized that he knew much more about how a relationship works than she did made her feel unpleasant. She couldn't exactly explain the uneasiness in her stomach or her mind going blank well enough to describe the unpleasant feeling.

Instead of saying anything more she simply gulped down on her saliva and turned around to look inside the glass that separated the two of them from Jaemin and Yuri. They were talking between themselves, but every once in a while they would look back at the two of them and whisper something to each other.

"Well," she sighs, turning her head back at Renjun, "your mood suddenly changed when I asked you about why you agreed to this in the first place?"

Then it happened again. His face scowls at her but immediately turns back to a stoic expression. He looks away and takes a deep breath. It was clear that the answer to the question was only making his mood sour.

"You don't have to--"

Aera was cut off by the sound of the bell ringing at the top of the door of the convenience store. Renjun and Aera both take a step away from each other as they turn to look at Yuri and Jaemin holding all the drinks in their hands.

"I'll help you with that." Renjun was about to take the drinks from Yuri's arms before she also took a step back.

"The two of you can take a walk around the neighborhood first." Jaemin smiles at Renjun knowingly. "Then you can come back to the room."

They were in no mood to even fight back. Plus, Aera saw this as the opportunity to finally get that answer out of him.

The answer to her unpleasant feeling and her growing fear that she might be feeling stuff towards Renjun might be with his answer to that question. Possibly, the answer to her own heart not beating might be there.

Jaemin and Yuri were quickly out of their sight when the two only responded with awkward silence.

"Now, there's no reason to pretend." Aera bites down on her lip. "I feel like this whole business deal is sort of weird without me knowing what benefits you."

Renjun looked at her before he began walking ahead. Aera catches up quickly beside him as he wasn't exactly running away or even walking any faster than he normally did.

"So?"

"Jaemin's my friend and I could see he was hesitating." His voice was low, almost whisper-like, but with their shoulders touching each other's, Aera hears his answer quite fine.

"I could tell you're lying."

Renjun sighs as he turns the corner away from the route of her home and the art shop he knew, but towards his place.

Then it was quiet. Just as the neighborhood was.

"Well," he was now dragging his feet on the pavement with each step making it echo against the walls of the houses, "it's not exactly a lie."

Aera takes a deep breath, "but it isn't exactly the truth either."

Their shoulders were walking side by side with Aera's shoulders touching Renjun, but every once in a while she would turn her upper body just to catch a glimpse of his expression.

Maybe it was the orange tint of the sky, but there was a certain longing in the way he was looking down at his feet as he dragged them along. His eyes were low and almost in tears, or they were just sparkling, she wasn't too sure.

"Now I feel bad."

Renjun immediately lifts his head up to look at Aera. "Why?"

She shakes her head and forces a smile on her face. "Maybe we should head back before it gets too dark." She stopped walking, her face still had a fake smile plastered on it.

She turned her back against Renjun and began walking back to her house.

"Aera!" Renjun calls out her name before she could even make it pass one lot.

She doesn't want to remember how it felt to be in his arms, but the moment he called out her name it felt like she was back in the moment where she was about to cry and Renjun had held her in his arms.

"I wanted to make someone jealous."

She feels her heart sink to the pit of her stomach at his reason for agreeing to this whole set up. She blinks a couple of times as if she was just slapped by reality.

She hears footsteps from behind her and it didn't take long before Renjun was standing in front of her.

It helped as it made her stop the tears that were coming.

"I'm shallow, aren't I?" He chuckles to himself. "I seized the opportunity after giving it some thought." He shakes his head.

Aera simply shakes her head, scared that if she spoke her voice would tremble.

Renjun opened his mouth a few times, but decided to close it every time. It was clear that he didn't know how to even supplement her with details or what kind of story she deserved to hear. He was scared that her perception of him would change.

Especially now.

"You're much more popular than you think, Aera. People talk about you and your dedication to Jaemin Much more than that people saw how you make a great significant other." Renjun looks away rubbing the back of his neck.

Aera's ears at this point felt like it was absorbing too much. She knew about how people talked behind her back, but never has she ever heard a single praise about her.

"But much more than that," he takes a step back, "you were Yuri's best friend. Volleyball club Kwak Yuri's best friend."

Again she no longer could respond.

"I'm not sure if you've heard of her or if any of my friends have even mentioned her to you, but I dated a senior and we broke up last year." He blinks a couple of times before taking a deep breath. "Jinae, that's her name. I'm sure Yuri knows of her."

"I personally know her." Her voice whispered.

Renjun visibly swallows his saliva.

Jinae was quite small for a volleyball player if she was honest. But she could clearly see the two of them as a couple. If she was honest, they would have been the picture perfect couple. They both flaunted such pretty faces and gentle but playful demeanors.

"But that's no longer the case."

Aera feels her phone vibrate in her pocket. "Hello?" It was Yuri on the other line.

"Your parents told me to tell you not to stay out too late. The sun's about to set."

Aera looks up at Renjun and simply forces a smile on her face before ending the call with Yuri. "We have to go back."

"Aera--"

"My parents told me we should head back before the sun sets.

"Didn't you hear?"

Aera was now almost a block away from him. "Come on!" She waves at him.