"She thanked you? Wait, how are we even sure that it's a 'she'?" Jeno asked and sat on his chair.
They were at their dorm, currently having dinner. When Renjun decided to tell them about the letters he was receiving for the past days.
"Are you even listening, Jeno?!" Renjun rolled his eyes. "In her first letter, the sender told me that I'm older, but she won't call me 'oppa' nor 'gege' get it? Who else would call us boys oppa if not girls? Unless you're Jaemin or something...."
"What the hell, Jun?! Why did you have to remind me that?!" Jaemin said while coughing.
"Wait, 'gege'?" Jisung asked. "Does that mean she's Chinese?" Of course, Jisung knew. He was also Hyejin's friend and classmate, after all.
Renjun shrugged, "I'm not sure about that, though."
💙
"Lee HyeJin!" HyeJin flinched when their professor called her name, causing her to wake up and bump her head on the wall. "Detention, now."
HyeJin groaned and stood up from her seat. She swung her bag around her shoulder and left their classroom. She turned left, instead of heading towards the 'detention room'
Instead, she passed by his locker, not forgetting to slip her daily letter inside his locker.
She sighed and went on her way to the detention room.
💌
"Renjun, wake up. Sir Jang has been staring at you for five minutes now..." Jaemin nudged his seatmate, who was in deep slumber.
Renjun slowly opened his eyes, and muttered, "Oh shit..." He looked at their professor, who was giving him a stern look.
"I'll beat you to it, sir." Renjun yawned as he carried his bag and slowly stepped out of their classroom. He could clearly hear his classmates' chuckles when he left the classroom.
He sighed and closed the door. Not long enough, he saw a familiar figure walking towards the same direction as his.
He thinks he knew who that person is, but he just can't remember who— "HyeJin?"
The mentioned immediately turned around when she heard someone call her name. "Crap, turn back! No!"
The girl stopped on her tracks, as Renjun immediately ran towards her. She could feel and hear her heartbeat getting louder every time Renjun gets nearer. It feels like everything was in slow motion when Renjun ran towards her.
"R-Renjun oppa?" She asked, slowly looking away.
Renjun stopped running when he was beside her. He smiled while catching his breath. "Hey..."
"Where are you..." HyeJin turned her head towards the direction they're headed to. "...going?"
"Ah..." Renjun stood up properly and started walking, as the girl followed him. "Detention. I fell asleep during history class." He sighed.
"Wait... what?" HyeJin asked.
Renjun laughed, "I know. Horrible, right?" He sighed. "What about you? Where are you going?" He raised a brow.
"U-Uh... I... I-I kinda... slept during math class..." HyeJin scratched her head.
Renjun's mouth was agape. He didn't expect that HyeJin would be that type of person who would fall asleep during classes.
Well, who doesn't fall asleep during classes nowadays? "Really?" He laughed.
HyeJin nodded. "Y-Yeah... I know, sounds horrible... you can laugh at me, oppa." She said.
"Nah..." Renjun shook his head and opened the door of the detention room, letting HyeJin go inside first. "I guess I'll be spending this whole afternoon with you." He smiled.
"Oh, and just call me Renjun." He smiled.
✨
"Pst..." Renjun called out the girl's attention in front of him. "I'm bored... should I really do this?"
"Oppa—" She was cut off when Renjun gave her a stern look. "I mean... R-Renjun." She coughed once. "Of course you should do it as early as now... so that you could go home early."
Renjun sighed and just nodded. "Fine, fine... what about you? What's your task?" He asked, peeking over the paper the younger was holding.
"Reflection paper." She sighed. "A minimum of 1,000 words."
"Minimum?!" Renjun's eyes widened. "That's insane!"
HyeJin sighed, "What can I do?"
"Hey..." Renjun leaned closer. "Tell me if you want to get out of here and I'll gladly bust the two of us here."
'The two of us.'
The thought of her being alone with Renjun makes her feel the whole zoo inside her. She wanted to scream and fangirl, but she won't. Especially not in front of her crush.
"Why? You have an escape plan?" She asked, raising a brow.
"Hmm... let's just say I have friends who've been here a lot of times and they told me a lot of backstories." Renjun whispered.
He suddenly remembered the time when Yuta and Donghyuck got detention.
"And get caught? Nah, I'd rather stay here." HyeJin said. Truth be told, she wanted to get out of the room, fast. But she also want to enjoy the moment with Renjun— even if it's not the most ideal one.
"Okay." Renjun shrugged. "Your choice."
Renjun started answering a 10-page worksheet given by his teacher. If only he wasn't stubborn enough last night, then he slept early.
HyeJin could clearly see him answering, even if her laptop's screen was blocking her view.
His hair was disheveled, and his eyes were already closing. Maybe he was that sleepy.
She sighed and continued typing.
700 more words.
📚
"HyeJin..." She slowly opened her eyes when she heard someone call her for the second time today.
"Oh crap, was I sleeping in class again?" She immediately sat up.
"What?" Renjun laughed. "You're still with me if you have forgotten. We're inside the detention room." He smiled.
"You fell asleep while writing that reflection paper." He said, pointing at the bond paper that was printed with words.
"Wait... as far as I can remember... I still have more or less 50 words to go... how—" She was cut off when Renjun suddenly pulled her up and gave the papers to her.
"I finished it. I must say, your writing skills are impressive." He smiled.
"U-Uh.. what?" She asked, following Renjun towards the teacher in charge of the detention room. They handed their assigned tasks and grabbed their bags to get out of the room.
"Oppa, you didn't have to do that— I mean, it's my essay, I should be the one doing it." HyeJin said, trailing behind Renjun.
"I said, call me Renjun." Renjun stopped on his teacks to face the girl. "Besides, you looked tired while doing it, and then you suddenly fell asleep. That's why I continued it for you. Don't worry, though. I assure you, what I wrote wasn't nonsense. Besides, it's no big deal."
"Okay... thank you, Renjun."
"Hey, can you accompany me to the locker room for a while?" He asked.
Her heartbeat started to beat fast. She remembered the letter.
"Oh... sure..."
They arrived at the locker room and HyeJin stepped away from Renjun for him to input his locker combination.
Renjun sighed upon seeing another folded piece of paper. He took it and placed it in his pocket.
"What's that?" HyeJin asked, trying to hide her smile.
"Fan letter, I believe?" Renjun chuckled. "I get them every single day."
"Is that so?" HyeJin asked.
Renjun nodded, "Yeah, from a certain l.hj. I don't know who he or she is, though." He said.
"Don't you get irritated?" HyeJin asked.
"I'll be honest, it kinda does... but it's fine." Renjun said while closing his locker.
"Oh..."
Silence enveloped them as they only heard the sound of the crickets while they were on their way outside the school campus.
"Oh gosh, Haewon's gonna kill me!" HyeJin's eyes widened when she saw the time on her watch.
"Just tell them you had some errands to run. I don't suggest telling them that you were in detention with me, though. They might tell Taeyong-hyung, and I'd be dead." Renjun laughed.
The two stopped when they were finally outside.
"Goodbye, I guess." Renjun was the first one to talk.
"Y-Yeah... take care, and be careful on your way home." HyeJin forced a smile, she still can't get over about what Renjun said earlier.
"You too. Oh, and good night." Renjun smiled and started to walk away.
"Good night..." She said softly, before walking the other way.
🌙
Dear Renjun,
I haven't gotten enough sleep since last night. I was too busy thinking of you >< What about you? How are you? Hope you're eating well~
— l.hj
"Like HyeJin?" He chuckled when he read that l.hj haven't gotten enough sleep.
He suddenly remembered how HyeJin fell asleep earlier while encoding her reflection paper.
He sighed and placed the letters at the corner of his study table with the other letters as he continued doing his homeworks.
—tbc.