Mr. No || NCT || Completed

60 - Where Renjun talks the talk

Renjun stared at the small, black contraption - Chaewon's recording device - as if it was going to murder him. He had borrowed it from her the other day after their meeting with his grandmother and Cha Kunwoo because he had wanted to listen to the material she had recorded to see if they had missed out on any details. That, however, wasn't the reason why he had grabbed the machine from his locker back in the café before having dinner with his parents and the Yun family.

"This is a dumb idea", he told himself as if he didn't know it already.

His plan wasn't to listen to the already existing recordings. Instead, he wanted to record something new.

Renjun looked around the quiet study café he had stumbled upon while wandering around after leaving his parents' place. Despite the approaching exam season, the place was deserted and even the barista was nowhere to be seen - although, there was a sign on the counter, telling the customers to call said barista when they wanted to order something.

It was a cheesy idea but Renjun needed a way to contact Chaewon even if she didn't want to be contacted. He wanted to - Renjun frowned at the americano he had diligently ordered from the barista who had emerged from somewhere when he called, before disappearing again after preparing the drink.
He wanted to apologize.

Hitting the button was burdensome for his ego but after contemplating his options for a while longer, Renjun swallowed his pride and pressed down the button.

"Uh." What did he want to tell her again? "Hey, Chaewon." Why did it sound like a question?

"I just had dinner with my parents and the Yuns. It was awkward, as expected, but it wasn't too bad." He was stalling and he knew it. "Did you - uh - have you eaten something? I tried to ask your brother how you were doing but he wasn't very happy to see me and didn't say much about you. That is understandable. Uh. Yeah."

Renjun rested his forehead against his hand, leaning towards the table.
He didn't know what to say. He hadn't expected it to be so hard.

"I should've planned this a bit more before I started recording", he admitted aloud - just to say something, "I don't even know how to erase stuff so I just need to keep going. But then again, I don't know if it would have been any better even if I waited longer. You know that I'm not as well-versed when it comes to speaking as you are."

Did that sound like he was being snarky about her chattiness?

The wolf was hiding somewhere in the back of his head. While it didn't understand complicated emotions or what was going on between Renjun and Chaewon, it recognized the awkwardness Renjun was currently exuding and wanted to have nothing to do with it.

"Haechan told me to leave you alone. He thinks that it was heartless of me to make mean comments about your self-control since I know that it's something you struggle with." He ran his fingers over his forehead. "And, as painful as it is for me to admit that he can be right about something, I know that this time he is right. I was out of line."

Another long silence.

"I'm sorry."

Renjun grimaced. Apologizing wasn't his forte and, even though he meant it, the words felt heavy and foreign in his mouth.

"I don't know if I can even find a way to get this recorder past your family. Earlier today when I visited your home, I was hoping for the little kid - was it Seungwon - to be the one to open the door but instead I met Junwon. We'll see whom I'll be up against when I go back and try to hand this over." Just thinking about going back to Chaewon's home twice during the same day made him hide his face behind his arm. The wolf whined in the back of his mind theatrically, trying to claw past his brain to get away from him. "I have never done anything like this before. You know, trying to go to someone despite knowing that they are avoiding me. Usually I'm the one who avoid others."