"renjun, your friends came to see you," renjun's grandmother knocked at his door. "tell them i'm sick," he groaned into his pillow. his voice was hoarse from crying and he didn't even want to think about how he looked.

   "honey, they already know you aren't sick and they said that they won't go home until they can see you," his grandmother said. renjun didn't answer. he didn't want to see anyone if their name wasn't jaemin, and there was no way that he would be there. jaemin didn't even know his adress.

   his grandmother was silent for a moment and he thought that she had left. "i'm coming in," the door opened slowly. renjun covered his head with his covers. "go away," he muttered. he felt the mattress dip as she took a seat on the bed. "i know you don't want to see them, but at least tell them in person. it's rude to keep them waiting," she patted his back and spoke softly. 

   renjun sighed before sitting up, "please call them in for me then." his grandmother rubbed her hand up and down renjun's arm before standing up and leaving. a minute later, renjun's friends stumbled in, each one trying to enter before the other. they all froze when their gazes fell upon the sad boy, sitting in his bed.

   "god renjun, you look like shit," donghyuck said. "shut up," mark mumbled, hitting his arm. donghyuck rubbed it dramatically when realistically, it didn't hurt that much.

   "hyung, are you okay?" chenle asked, coming to stand next to the bed. renjun smiled weakly, coming to realize how bad he probably looked. his hair was mezzy and tangled, his clothes wrinkled, dried tear stains covered his cheeks, and his eyes were red with large eye bags. 

   "have you been crying?" jisung came to stand next to chenle as jeno stood stiffly where he had been ever since he entered the room. "i'm sorry," jeno spoke up. everyone turned to look at him with puzzled expressions while renjun knew exactly what he was apologizing for. "don't be," the chinese said.

   "no," jeno took a step forward, "i shouldn't said what i said. i'm really sorry." renjun frowned, he didn't like how guilty jeno looked and he knew that jeno thought all the crying was over him. some of it did have to do with what he had said, but for the most part, it was about jaemin.

   renjun looked at jeno who looked completely ashamed and sorry. "jeno, it's really not you. if it was you, i promise i would've told you. i probably wouldn't have even let you in," he explained. 

   jeno stilled looked unconvinced, but thankfully, he gave the topic a rest. "if it's not whatever jeno said to you, then what is it? you haven't been to school all week and you even went to school during exams when you had a super high fever," mark mentioned. renjun fiddled with his fingers in his lap. "it's something personal, that's all," he ended up saying.

   it wasn't too far from the truth and he really didn't feel like telling all his friends about his and jaemin's relationship. jeno looked at him skeptically but didn't say anything. "what kind of personal— ow!" donghyuck recieved another wack from mark who was warning him with his eyes. "fine, i won't say anything," he sighed.

   "do you need anything? i could buy you something if you want," chenle offered. renjun shook his head, "it's fine. i just want to rest." the others seemed to take it as a sign to leave. "alright, we'll go so you can rest then," mark said. the two youngest frowned but knew better than to go against the oldest of their group. he usually knew how to handle these kinds of situations better than the rest of them, so no one ever questioned what he did or said.

   "okay guys, thanks for stopping by," renjun waved from his place on the bed. each of them took turns waving and saying by, before jeno closed the door behind them. 

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word count: 681

oof

✎ ---- dreaminghyuck⤾