Thrilling » Huang Renjun

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Two months later

The past months had dragged on agonisingly slow, Jieun had found herself in a cycle of despair ever since Renjun had left.

Hoping that he would have only gone for a week or so but those weeks turned into months and there was still no sign of him.

Anywhere.

She never realised how much one person could mean to someone, until he had left. Her days were bleak, some days she didn't even want to leave her bed, other days she just got through it- barely.

When he left, everything came crashing down.
Mark left for Canada, continuing his studies there and that left Jieun with her Mother, which was fine- if she was ever home. Working absurd hours and that left the nearly 19 year old girl, stuck by herself in a pit of loneliness.

But of course, her best friend would never allow that.

"So, the shop ran out of bread so I brought ice cream instead." Her best friend said, walking into her house with their shoes still on.

"Yah, what did I say about your shoes!" She exclaimed from the sofa, glaring in that direction.
"And Ice cream has no correlation to bread, it's just an excuse to use my money for your own needs." She huffed and muttered under her breath about how she got stuck with them as her best friend.

"But, studies show ice cream is good for you!"
"Really?" She drawled out, giving an unconvincingly clap of her hands.

"Shut up."

"Yah Park Jisung, I'm older than you!" She exclaimed with a gasp and the boy shrugged, sliding into the sofa and stealing the remote from her.

"You act 12 so- ouch!" He whined, holding his arm where she had slapped him and he huffed.
"Mum said to bring you over but now I'm not because you're mean."

Jieun's face lit up and she sat up straighter.
"Really?"
"Don't be too excited, you see her basically everyday- you're like the daughter she always wanted."

"Aw, don't worry you act like a girl anyway."
"No I don't!"
"Mhm."
"Take it back! Jieun- ouch! Okay Noona, fine there you go!"

"Hey." Yunhee said with a smile as Jieun and Jisung entered school the following day and came to their table.

"Hey." Jieun said quietly, sliding into her seat and sighing, looking over to the empty one next to her.

"What do you want?" Renjun said, making the girl look up from counting the tiles on the floor in confusion.
"Huh?" She asked as they reached the cafeteria and Renjun nodded over to the food line.

"Oh I'm not hungry-"
"You need to eat something, you haven't been eating." He stated.

"I'll buy something later."

She slid into the seat and looked up at Renjun who was still standing as he put his bag on the table, rummaging through it.
"Aren't you sitting?"

Renjun looked up at the girl and shook his head.
"I'm buying you food and if you don't eat it I'll break your arm again." Renjun said as he grabbed his wallet and began walking off.

"That's what I call, love."
"Which part, the food or breaking her arm?"

A small sigh fell from her lips as she looked around the table, Jaemin and Yunhee were practically the only ones talking, hushes voices to not disturb the others.

Jieun's eyes lingered on them for longer, feeling the sense of jealousy wash over her.

Donghyuck was stabbing his fork at his food, eyes boring into the table as he remained silent.
Chenle and Jeno were on their phones and Jisung's eyes followed Chaerin as she made her way over to the table.

"Hey guys!" She exclaimed, taking her seat and a chorus of greetings resounded.

"I like your jacket Jieun." She complimented and Jieun looked down at it.
"It's Renjun's."

"Oh..." She trailed off at the bluntness in her voice, but it was still full of void.

Jieun sighed, emptiness filling her and suddenly the room felt too stuffy and tight.

"Sorry, I need some air." Jieun muttered, standing up and walking away from the table, finding herself on the field.

The girl sniffled as she dropped into the dull grass, cloud looming in darkness and her emotions remained melancholy.

The girl felt content in the presence of him, a small sigh escaping her as she layed back, hair sprawling out as her eyes glued to the seamless clouds.

Flickering her gaze to Renjun, she gave him a warm smile and he joined her, laying back with his arm under his head as they both looked up at the sky in peace.

But that all seemed like a distant memory as she sat alone in the depth of the bleak surroundings and droplets of rain began to fall.

But she didn't care because he wasn't here.