Mr. No || NCT || Completed

33 - Where everything is annoying

"Hey, Renjun, how are you?"

Renjun rolled his eyes, already annoyed by the phone call with Liying. He had stepped outside early in the Sunday morning to get some air before heading to work, and chatting with his supposed fiancée had not been part of the plan.

"Why did you call?"

Liying scoffed. "Always so kind. I called to check up on you to make sure that you got home alright on Friday. Qiang said that we shouldn't have left you alone when you were so drunk."

"I wasn't drunk when you guys left, though", Renjun argued while waiting for the traffic lights to turn green. As always, there were people walking and hurrying around him, but the streets weren't packed. The late autumn morning was cold and cloudy so it made sense for most people to stay in. He would've liked to spent the day home as well.

Liying laughed, as if Renjun had said something funny.

He frowned. "Or was I?"

His memories of the Friday dinner with Liying and her bodyguard, Li Qiang, were foggy but he thought that he had been relatively sober until he had been left alone.

"I don't know what you consider to be 'drunk' but I would say that you got quite wasted", Liying told him. "I just wanted to make sure that you didn't die of alcohol poisoning. That would be an annoying hindrance to our wedding, don't you think?"

Her tone was light but Renjun didn't enjoy the joke. "I'm still confused about how easily you have accepted the whole marriage thing. What does Li Qiang think about it?"

The line went quiet.

When she spoke again, there no longer was anything light in Liying's voice. "What are you implying with that, Renjun?"
"Isn't he your boyfriend? Doesn't he have a problem with us getting married?"
"Are you threatening me?"

Renjun blinked.

"Threatening you?" he repeated. A herd of people exiting a subway station surrounded him for a moment, and he walked faster to get away from the crowd. "All I'm saying is that I'm confused about your compliance. I already told you that I don't care about your dating status."

"If you're so curious about my personal life, am I allowed to do the same?" the edge in her voice became sharper.

Renjun switched the phone from one ear to another, weighing his options. Clearly, he had hit a nerve without even planning it. "Does Li Qiang have a connection to you agreeing to the marriage? Otherwise, I wouldn't understand why you're being so defensive now."

Liying barely allowed him to finish before speaking up, "what did you mean yesterday when you said that Chaewon is a bad omen?"

Renjun froze on the spot, causing an older couple that had been walking right behind him to crash into his back. The woman glared at him despite him apologizing.

His brain felt like it had frozen as well, and it was difficult for him to think. The change of topic was confusing on its own but he was more preoccupied with the implication that he had spoken to Liying about Chaewon. He had no recollection of it happening but perhaps his memories were fooling him.

A wave of annoyance crashed through him. Following her deception, he had decided to put his brief acquaintance with Song Chaewon behind him and to never think of her again – yet here she was again, trying to invade his mind. And, while it wasn't supposed to matter to him how much people knew about her odd abilities, Renjun couldn't help feeling uneasy.

His silence didn't deter Liying. If anything, it signalled her that her words had struck a chord as well. "Based on what you told me, it sounds like she might cause you trouble. When I met her, I thought that she's a nice girl but if she truly is some mysterious mythical being, maybe you should be careful."