wake up. | nct/wayv

4.5

LEVEL FOUR [ CONTINUED ]

UNIT : DREAM RUN

PLAYER : RENJUN
SEPTEMBER 2020

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> he followed the address to the heart of seoul. it was a particularly busy day, seeing that the traffic was high and the streets were filled with pedestrians on their commute. renjun was a bit anxious but it wasn't enough to contain his curiosity about the man.

the address obviously wasn't going to be his home, so he trusted him. the city was full of corporate buildings and businesses—it was hard to score a place to live within. plus, they were most likely apartments, and there was nothing that looked like an apartment number on the paper he held tightly in his hands.

he weaved through crowds of strangers, the body heat combined with the warmth from the post-summer sun making beads of sweat form on his nose.

it's just a block down, the bus driver had told him. two blocks down, the small businesses he'd encountered did not affiliate with the man, and he was starting to think the address was wrong or made up.

that was, until he stopped before a bakery. a familiar figure stepped out of the doors as renjun stood in front of them, not knowing what to expect.

the man presented a cake in his hands. a few people beside him smiled at renjun excitedly, as if they were distant relatives at his birthday. he looked down at the small round cake to see the word, "congratulations!" in red icing.

"you said you got into university, right?" the male said. today, he wore an apron over a white shirt and black, flour-stained jeans. "i wanted to congratulate you."

a strange feeling fluttered in renjun's chest. at this moment, he felt like crying to him all over again. he was just a stranger, but why did he care enough about renjun to do this? he stood there in silence, unable to think of anything to say to him.

"i'm doyoung," the man finally said. he nodded at the people beside him. "this is mark and jeno. i found out they go to the same school!"

"i-i'm renjun," he finally stuttered out. "thank you... thank you, you didn't have to do this..."

"don't worry about it. come inside, let's celebrate."

while doyoung carefully walked back inside with the cake, jeno beckoned for renjun to join them. he held the door as renjun took slow steps towards them, apparently still awestruck by what happened.

he would have never guessed that that one fateful day at the park would turn his life around. now he was starting to have less regret for crying pathetically on the park bench—it somehow led him to doyoung, a man he would come to learn was too caring for his own good.