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Renjun was quite popular for various reasons. He was up to date on social media. He had cute and attractive looks which he used to charm people, and he was part of the theatre club at school, so he was a brilliant actor.
He knew how to deal with people, whatever the situation presented to him was. He could bluff, bribe, charm and befriend any sort of character.
Now, Renjun wasn't cocky. In fact, one thing he could use more of was self esteem. But he was aware of his useful abilities, and chose to use them wisely.
Fortunately, he came from a two parent household, had one older brother and money wasn't a problem. He wasn't swimming in it, but there was no need to chase it down either. His mother was a nurse while his father was an accountant.
"Renjun, did you do the English homework last night?" One of his friends, Haechan, asked. They sat together in class, the seating arrangement being the reason for why they started talking in the first place.
"Mmm," The older hummed, "I think I did. We were given so much maths homework though, that I had to do it really late. I wouldn't trust my half asleep self's answers."
"Meh, I don't mind. I also left the Chinese till last minute," the younger snickered, waving his hand dismissively as if school was one big joke.
Renjun happened to take classes quite seriously. He didn't know what it was he wanted to be when he was older, but when the day came that he figured it out, he wanted to have the correct education for it. Also, his parents were quite tough on his brother and him about trying their best.
Originally, the teen was from China. He and his parents were quite happy there, but a job offer for his mother appeared in America, and his father suggested that they went with it.
Renjun objected strongly. He wasn't willing to leave Asia, and he was perfectly content with his life there. Both his parents didn't want to force him to leave, so they left him with a friend for a year and a half.
The friend he lived with, ironically, was Canadian. He was married to a Korean woman, and they had a son. Mark Lee. Mark was like his other brother, before his biological one had been born. He was only ten at the time, so friendships were extremely important to him.
Mark was deaf. Or partially at least. He needed serious hearing aids in order to make out the sounds of voices. It was more so that he needed to hear traffic or explosions or whatever it may have been.
Renjun took it upon himself during those eighteen months to learn sign language. Korean sign language to be exact. It wasn't too difficult, and Mark helped him out as best he could.
In he end, they found hilarious inside jokes, inappropriate signs, and plenty of things that his parents couldn't understand.
Unfortunately, once that small time period ended, Renjun had to return home and reintroduce himself to the normality of how his life used to be. He missed Mark a lot, but they saw each other quite often anyway.
As the Chinese male took down notes as the teacher spoke, he couldn't help but feel Haechan lazily doodling on a loose page beside him. It was seriously distracting and rather infuriating, but the older knew to keep his composure.
He wasn't great with confrontations, and he also loved his friend dearly, no matter how annoying or lazy he could be. But his patience could only go so far, and the sound of lead against paper, the small pieces crumbling to the white surface, made his teeth grind together.
"Hey, there's a party tonight. You coming?" The younger finally whispered, giving up on his terrible sketch and glancing at Renjun who was desperately trying to focus.
"Can't," he responded. "I have drama practice tonight."
"Ugh, skip it."
"No. I like practicing."
"But you never come to parties. Why? Are you avoiding them?"
The older sighed, dropping his pen and looking at Haechan seriously, "You know I don't enjoy those kinds of things. The atmosphere is always too heavy for me. I prefer the comfort of my own room, people I know and no loud noises."
The taller pouted, looking defeated as he attempted to pick his pencil back up. Renjun prevented him from doing so, grabbing it and placing it nearer to his own things than Haechan's.
The younger took the hint, not oblivious to how people felt. He was simply worried about his older friend, and the fact that he didn't have girlfriends or boyfriends, didn't expand his tastes and didn't play anything dangerously.
Haechan didn't believe Renjun was living, quite frankly, and wanted him to be a teenager before an adult.
"I'm so tired," the shorter finally sighed, picking his pen back up and trying once again to listen to the teacher. His friend wasn't sure what to do, so he went back to drawing and left Renjun alone.
Renjun forced himself to keep it together. No matter how tired he was, people had it worse. He was always one to tell himself that he didn't have it bad, and if someone had it worse, to want better for them.
