chinese lessons; renhyuck

five

He quietly makes his way out of the restroom and sees the same customer still sitting at the same place, Jisung and Hendery seem to have gone home already since it's past their shift.

He must be the tutor Mark has been talking about, right? His head is rested on one hand as he sits hunched over at the table, staring blankly at nothing. He looks sad, almost upset. He reminds Donghyuck of a lost child that needs his mother, and he almost feels guilty as if he was the one who ditched the tutor in the first place.

As much as Donghyuck wanted to turn around and leave immediately and pretend that he never saw the stranger, he didn't want to disappoint Mark. Also, this stranger might just be the ticket to becoming Mark's boyfriend again.

He sits down at the opposite end of the table, "Hi." he tries to say casually. He tried his very best not to sound nervous and unsure which was clearly failing spectacularly judging by how hard he was trying. The boy on the other side of the table slowly lifts his head up, Donghyuck thinks he sees his eyes widened ever so slightly.

"Mark?" He questions uncertainly with squinted eyes.

Donghyuck laughs awkwardly, "Um. Yeah, that's me...?" He winces on the inside, that definitely did not sound convincing at all.

The boy nods, his lips pursed together. The silence almost suffocating and Donghyuck didn't know what to say either, so he decided to break the ice himself.

"I'm really sorry for showing up late. I had work to do," He gestures down at his uniform attire, "obviously." He was hoping that would lighten up the atmosphere a little bit but to no avail. The boy stares at him for another moment or two and then finally speaks up, "Your name tag..."

Oh fuck, he forgot about that.

He looks down at his name tag that reads Haechan. Now he's glad he decided to use his nickname for work, he can still save this. "Oh, this?" He points at his name tag, "This is my nickname, but my real name is Mark. I'd prefer if you called me Haechan though." He gives the customer a smile. He doesn't smile back.

Um, rude.

"Okay..." Donghyuck doesn't know what else to say, "What's your name?"

"I already told you when we chatted four hours ago."

"Right." He clears his throat again. "I forgot?"

He blinks slowly, a look of disbelief and disappointment clearly plastered on his face, looking at Donghyuck for another moment before answering, "My name is Renjun," he pauses, turning his head to the side to look away briefly before continuing. "I'm sorry, I'm really tired."

"Totally understandable!" He reassures him immediately. "Really sorry again, I swear I'll be early tomorrow." He says, playing nonchalant, while inwardly panicking over what to say next, "How about we start exactly after my shift ends?"

The customer-- Renjun --hums in acknowledgment but continues to look away from Donghyuck, picking up his drink, and takes another sip before setting the glass down. "Okay."

"Okay." Neither of them says anything else.

Renjun continues to drink his tea while Donghyuck fidgets in his seat. What does he say next? Renjun did say he was tired and honestly he couldn't blame him but he should've at least smiled back (That hurt him a little bit, not gonna lie.) or tried to hold a conversation or even looked Donghyuck in the eye instead of staring at his tea like it holds all the answers.

Plus, Donghyuck was tired as well from all the drinks he had to prepare during the past few hours and the emotional turmoil he had to go through by answering Mark's call but at least he tried to make small talk, which was really going nowhere if he was being honest to himself.

So yeah, not really the best time to start with the lessons.

The entrance bell rings which once again breaks the silence that has enveloped them. Seeing Taeil-hyung walk in has never been so rewarding as right now, he already cannot handle one hour with Renjun. What more five months? He shudders at the thought.

"Oh Haechan, why are you still here? I'm closing the coffee shop soon..." Taeil trails off, seeing an unfamiliar figure sitting opposite of Donghyuck, "I'm sorry, am I interrupting your date?"

Renjun chokes on his tea.

"What?!" Donghyuck nearly shouts, shooting straight up in his chair, causing Renjun to jump in his seat, "Hyung, we're only friends!" Donghyuck hastily adds although he wasn't really sure if they were. Do friends sit in awkward silence for an hour while trying (and failing) to make small talk every five minutes? Yeah, thought so.

Taeil lets out a heartily laugh, "Alright, if you say so..." He turns to give Renjun a knowing smile and Donghyuck internally screams. "By the way, you two really have to get going. It's getting pretty late and I'll be closing soon." "Okay, okay." Donghyuck replies which Taeil acknowledges with a smile before walking to and entering the 'Employee Only' door at the back.

They are once again met with silence, with Renjun tidying up the papers sprawled on the desk, papers that were probably meant for the lesson, and silently starts packing them back inside his backpack. Donghyuck could only stare at him and wait for him to finish packing up the last of his items.

He catches a glimpse of a camera bag inside the backpack. He stores away that information at the back of his brain folder for future use.

"I'll be going now." Renjun finally stands up, his backpack strapped over his right shoulder, and slings it onto his left shoulder. "Good night." He bows slightly, his eyes trained on the ground, and quickly leaves the café.

Donghyuck releases a breath he did not know he was holding. That was not a great start.