the little bell ⇢ rensung

treize

renjun ran outside the practice auditorium as he scoured through the hallways, his hands itching him to help jisung out of his emotional breakdown because it geniunely hurt to see the younger in such unresolved emotional pain.

praying that jisung would be fine, renjun left no stone unturned in the place as he kept his eyes peeled for the poor violinist.

and tragically enough, even after searching for him for over 3 hours, not even a single sight of jisung was seen anywhere. it was evening, the time they usually practice for their complementary chamber music and just spend time with each other until jaemin and yangyang finds them in some weirdly romantic position.

giving up, renjun noticed everyone else was going home as it was already time for the university to close for the day. the sky darkened from a bright tangering to a dark, gloomy teal, as gloomy as his hope.

letting out a heavy sigh, renjun went back to the auditorium to take his belongings and call it a day. carefully tiptoeing through the place, he made sure his footsteps are as silent as he could muster for the intense reverberation would amplify his presence. waddling to the stage, his ears tuned into a certain muffled voice along with some thuds reverberating from the storage room.

right, of course, he forgot one stone to turn.

relief coursing through his body, renjun ran to the room, not giving a fuck on whether the footsteps are clattering against the floor or not. all he wanted was to launch himself on to jisung's arms and never let go, reassuring him that everything is going to be alright.

and by 'alright', he truly meant it. renjun was resolute that he can help jisung overcome his stage fear no matter what happens. and moreover, he begged the concertmaster to give jisung a second chance, and thankfully, he only agreed on the terms of his own mastery of the piano.

violently swinging open the doors, renjun took notice of the violinist hunched back, still crying his heart out over the apparent devastation that hit him on so many different levels. he wanted so badly to approach jisung and give him a bone-crushing hug but something stopped him.

it felt like both a mental and physical barrier for renjun as it was not just his sane mindset telling him to not jumpscare the shit out of the younger and give him a bit more personal space, there was something physically blocking his way, almost like a force field surrounding the violinist.

helpless, renjun waved it off as his conscious knew better about stuff like this, leaning on the doorway, he peeked into whatever was the younger doing until he gets an appropriate time to comfort him. jisung was still sobbing as he clutched his sheathed violin, devastated that he still could not perfect a bow's movement without trembling in feat. his face felt numb and tingling from crying for so long, the true seriousness of the situation finally dawning on him.

jisung was told that he was worthless— he could not achieve his dream of being an orchestral playerwhich envisioned at a young age.

he was encouraged to abandon it because he was not good enough.

jisung felt as if a void was consuming him entirely as he so desperately wanted to deny any of those claims, an image of his bleak future slowly morphing and etching itself into his mind. he finally took the decision that everyone wanted to take.