Mr. No || NCT || Completed

31 - Where a friend has a story

Renjun's eye lids were heavier than the dumbbells Jeno worked out with when he stirred awake from the murky darkness that had swallowed him.

Instead of seeing the ceiling of his room, he was met with the insides of a car and, on the driver's seat, an annoyed-looking stranger, who had been trying to get him to open his eyes for who knows how long. "Mister? We've reached your destination. You have to wake up now."

It took Renjun a moment longer to register that he was in a taxi and that he had no recollection how he had ended up in one. He blinked a few times and leaned towards the window, trying to see what lurked in the darkness behind it. "Where are we?" his voice was groggy, "I don't live here."

His slowness was getting on the driver's nerves. "You asked me to bring you here so, please sir, pay and get out. I have other customers to take care of."

Renjun was about to tell the man his address so that he could go home, when the door he had been leaning against was opened from the outside.
Startled, he looked up, squinting at the person standing next to the taxi.

"What are you still doing inside the car?"

"Chaewon?" Renjun finally found the focus button in his brain, recognizing the woman. "What are you doing here?"

Chaewon assessed the dishevelled state he was in – the messy hair, red face and blurry eyes – before sighing and turning to the driver. "Has he paid yet?"

The driver shook his head grumpily.
Chaewon held out her hand in front of Renjun. "Where is your wallet?" she inquired. She was wearing her round glasses and had put her hair up with a clip.
Renjun's eyes narrowed. "Are you trying to rob me?"

"Give me your wallet, Renjun", Chaewon ignored his suspicion.

"I've seen your face now, Chaewon", he warned her, "you won't get away with this."

Chaewon made a confused face at him. "First of all, you've seen my face plenty of times already, and why would I rob you?" She looked at his coat before deducing that since he was right-handed, he would probably put his wallet to the pocket on that side.

"What are you – how dare you?" Renjun was beyond shocked when Chaewon calmly opened his coat pocket and put her hand in there. "I can see that you're trying to steal from me."
"Okay."
"Okay?" he repeated, "it's not okay!"

Chaewon found the wallet, took out his credit card and paid to the driver all the while Renjun was complaining to her about her impoliteness.

"You're the girl whose address he needed?" the driver stated the obvious when handing back the card.
Chaewon nodded.
"Well, good luck with that train wreck", the driver commented.

Meanwhile, Renjun had snatched his wallet back, unbuckled his seatbelt and wobbled past Chaewon to get out of the car with a paper bag filled with notebooks. She was scared that he would run away or do something dumb, but when she closed the car door, he was standing a few metres away, glaring at her.

The street was quiet, dark and empty. While waiting for an elevator, Chaewon had checked the time from her phone - it was almost three in the morning and the weather was freezing, so it made sense that the atmosphere in the street was sleepy.

"It seems that you've had quite a night", she said, walking closer to him, "Didn't you have a family dinner? Why are you drunk?"
Renjun defied her tired eyes with alcohol-fuelled confidence. "I could ask you the same thing, young lady."
"What?"
"It's late", Renjun took a step towards Chaewon and crossed arms over his chest. In his head, he was probably very convincing and mature but, in reality, he was swaying from side to side slowly, looking like the slightest wind might knock him down. "Why are you out at this hour?"