somewhere only we know | huang renjun

012 | he was worth it.

!he was worth it.

               "WHERE ARE YOU?" my father's voice boomed through my phone.

"I'm- uh-," i stuttered as i signalled to renjun that i had to go, nearly tripping over my own feet as i stood myself up from the rock. "are you home early?" i asked.

"i'll ask the questions here, y/n. now tell me where you are! why aren't you in your room?!"

"i'm on my way home now, i just- i just went for a walk to get some air. i wasn't feeling well," i lied, my voice shaky.

"get home this instant! you know very well you do not leave the house without telling me, do you hear me?"

"you weren't in tow-"

"Do you hear me?!"

"yes," i gave in, knowing it was never worth putting up a fight.

"if you are not home in the next five minutes, you'll be lucky to see the light of day tomorrow, y/n. i'm waiting."

and with that, my phone hung up. i knew i was at least 20 minutes from home, maybe 15 minutes if i ran.

best not to waste any time, i thought. i quickly waved to renjun, who stared back at me with round, worried eyes, and made a run for it back towards my house.

i soon reached home again with knots in my stomach, making me feel queasy for the interaction i knew was ahead of me. i opened the front door as quietly as i could, hoping not to make my entrance known so i could sneak upstairs and pretend i had been there for a few minutes longer. i twisted the door knob, but as i stepped inside the wind caused the door to slam shut loudly behind me, causing my dad's ears to prick up from the living room and hear me walk inside.

my heart dropped once i began to hear the yells again, feeling them echo around my brain without being able to process any of the words being spoken to me. i merely nodded my head, trying to hide my panting breath and keep my gaze steady on the stairs in front of me. while his roaring words continued, i replayed renjun's voice in my head reassuring me that i'd be alright – he was some kind of comfort among the chaos of what was supposed to be my home.

my imagination was interrupted as i felt a rough hand snatch my phone from my grip, shaking me awake and back to reality. i looked up into my father's scowl and nodded helplessly as he ordered that i be grounded for two weeks.

as if that'll make a difference, i thought. i was never allowed out of the house anyway, obviously.

i shakily made my way upstairs to my bedroom to find solace, sitting myself down on my bed and staring at the bleak walls in front of me, once again contemplating my life. my empty stare was interrupted as i caught movement in the corner of my eye. i turned my head to see a hand waving to get my attention from across the fence. renjun had already made his way back home, and he stood in his bedroom looking at me apologetically, holding up yet another one of his signs.

'i'm sorry' the sign read. i watched his lips curl into a pout as he gestured to me, trying to tell me the incident was his fault.

i couldn't help but smile with pity, feeling guilty that he was taking the blame for me getting myself into trouble. i stood up from my bed, walking over to my desk to scribble down on my own sheet of paper to show him.

'i'm not' i told him, smiling big. he returned the grin, the sparkle in his eyes not failing to reach me despite the distance.

it would be silly to feel sorry for a day like today. while it sucked that my dad was home early and had to catch me out of the house, i could never feel bad about spending that time with renjun. he was worth it. the time i had spent with him in those couple hours, i had never experienced anything like it before. for once i felt like i was cared about, and actually valued as a person. so, i'd never trade my time like that for anything in the world.

'movie?' renjun mouthed to me. i screwed my face up, wondering if i had misinterpreted his lips. how on earth would we watch a movie? he held his finger up to me, signalling for me to wait. i obliged, and watched as he walked to the other side of his bedroom to drag across a large cabinet with a tv on top of it so it was facing the window for me to see. flicking a switch, renjun turned the screen on and held his remote up to it. i watched as he typed kimi no na wa (your name) into the search bar and the screen soon became enlarged, projecting the animation across the monitor.

renjun turned back around to face me, smiling proudly at his idea. he gave me a thumbs up, signalling to make sure everything was fine. i lifted my hand up to my ear and frowned.

'i can't hear' i mouthed to him.

renjun made an ah shape with his mouth, turning back around to fiddle with his remote. the tv soon displayed large subtitles for me to read as the anime commenced. renjun turned his neck, looking back at me once more with raised eyebrows. i sent him a nod of approval, and pulled my chair up to the window to get comfortable as we watched the movie apart, but nonetheless, together.