Bad Blood [NoRenMin] ✔

13

"Can you believe it's already April?" Haechan asks. "We've been here for six weeks!" he proceeds to exclaim. The truth is that he really can't believe it. The days went by in such a blur; Jaemin feels as though he's blinked right past them. He sort of felt as though he were missing out, but when he looked at Haechan, drowsier than Jaemin recalls him ever being, he thinks that all he's missing out on is the sleepless nights (as if he didn't already have those.)

"It's not April yet," Jaemin reminds him. Which is true. They started here the third week of February and now they were nearing the end of March. "It's still another two weeks," he reminds the boy across the room. It felt weird having Haechan in the room again but at the same time it was nice. He missed the ever smiling sunshine of his presence. Of course, Jaemin never told him this.

"Yeah, you're right. I'll start rounding off after the twenty-third," he says mindlessly, biting at his pencil.

"What's the twenty-third?" Jaemin asks because with how concentrated Haechan appeared, it seemed important.

Seemingly startled, Haechan looks over all wide eyed and his lips forming the shape of an 'o'. He snaps out of it within seconds, however and he's back to smiling. "It's Renjun's birthday," he explains. "Mark says he wants to do something for him so we're planning on going out." He watches as Haechan shifts on the bed, the textbook almost falling. His hand shoots out and he catches it in time. He turns to Jaemin and smiles. "You should come with us."

At a loss for words at the invitation, Jaemin keeps staring.

Haechan, unfazed by this reaction, straightens his back and he's nodding long before he says something. "You should definitely come with us. It's a weekday so we won't stay out too late," he insists.

"But Renjun and I aren't really friends," Jaemin murmurs. A quizzical look flashes across Haechan's face. He shrugs and leans back down and pulls his book across his lap. Finding it a little odd, he asks, "What?"

"Nothing," Haechan says and when he looks at Jaemin, he's sort of smiling. "It's just that I don't think Renjun thinks that."

"He doesn't?"

"No," Haechan murmurs. "Not at all. He seems fond of you." His phone goes off and he drops the book as he unlocks it. A smile tugs at his lips and he practically jumps off his bed and rushes to the door. Before he opens it, he looks at Jaemin. "Consider it, okay?" With that, he's out of the room.

*

The day goes by in a blur. It mostly consists of Jaemin writing out notes and mind mapping from the notes he already had. Haechan texted him an hour after he disappeared saying that he was going out with Mark and would be returning the next morning. He attended his only lecture for the day and then returned to his room only to collect his things before he made his way to the library.

On his way there, he can't stop his mind from wandering to the day before. He thinks back to all the conversations he had with Renjun post his first evening in the room; their study sessions together and although limited, the conversations they had. He thinks about how comfortable the silence was when they weren't talking. (The last time he ever experienced this was with Jeno.) No stranger would have done what Renjun did for him the day before either. He doesn't think any friends from his past would have done it either. Jaemin thinks it over, and he thinks that maybe he was lying to Haechan when he said he and Renjun weren't friends. Maybe it wasn't the best or clearer of friendships, but there was definitely something there.

When he walks into the library, he finds it empty.

The librarian looks over and he smiles. "Welcome." It's a curt greeting and feeling as though it deserved some sort of response, he nods his head. He goes to the far back of the room where there was a set of couches all positioned around a small coffee table and surrounded by the non-fiction section. It makes him think of Renjun.