𝘄𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝗿𝗼𝗼𝗺; renjun x dream

𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙚𝙚

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"......My name?"

"Yeah, I believe that's what I said. Are you foreign?"

He's cocky, Renjun sighed internally while waving off the boy like an irritation. "Renjun. Huang Renjun. So, why can't I live here? So far, it's been the strangest sensation sticking around this place."

"But...But you can't be on our floor then. Unless you know Mark-" Jaemin was cut off by his own phone vibrating against his thigh and an obnoxiously loud ringtone resonating throughout the hall. The sound bounced off the walls and stairs, fading away into nothing. "Damn it," he grumbled, picking it up and rolling his eyes when he read the contact name. "I'm gonna run. I'll talk to you later."

With that, he brushed past the shorter, shuffling down the staircase swiftly and disappearing downstairs. Renjun was left slightly anxious now, gazing at his device left abandoned on the hallway floor. Shit, the screen is cracked, he immediately thought as he sprinted towards it and scooped it into his hands.

The glass was pretty shattered, but the phone still powered on fine, so it wasn't a pressing issue. He groaned, leaning back against the wall and sliding down it.

Cold. The floor was cold.

The longer the young adult stared at the distressed device, the unfamiliar place surrounding him, and let the thoughts of hopelessness start to settle...he sniffled. A weak, desperate sound that a child would usually elicit if in need of their mother.

Renjun wasn't really the type to cry, so he didn't. Instead, the blonde stiffly picked himself up off the hallway floor, dusted down his expensive clothes, and meekly started to trail back towards his room. His heart felt so sore and heavy, the image of his mother's supportive smile making this whole thing worse.

He had to face it. Huang Renjun wanted to go home.

An adventure like this was best taken with a partner or two, and he was all alone. Did he regret denying some friendships here and there for study back in high school?

Yes. Everyday.

But there was no way to reverse the clocks, and what had been done, was done. Crying was pointless, so holding it in and putting on a brave face would have to do.

Once the Chinese boy's door started to appear before him, he didn't even feel all that relieved. Hell, he could've been living next door to a psychopath who wanted to slit his throat and feed him to the darkness, and he had no defences. No lock. No privacy.

The odd sound of giggles somewhere around this floor sent a rush of fear through him. Renjun paused with his hand hovering over the doorknob, his throat constricting painfully as his eyes travelled to the side to find that same guy from the dining area earlier sitting with his back against the far wall. The blindfold was still messily tied around his eyes, an almost drunk look shrouding the exposed features of his face. The laughter....it was strange.

Should I ignore it again? But that weirdo could get into my room...A dilemma had arisen, and quite obviously so. There was no way this strange boy wasn't one of his many neighbours, and it was creeping him out.

"Um....Hello?!" He called, flinching at the volume in his voice and dialling it back a bit. "Uh...What are you doing down there?"

The giggly brunette halted his noises, lulling his head to the side as though it were too heavy for him, and smiling oddly. His tongue traced over his lower lip slowly. "Who's that?"

"I'm-"

"Daddy?"

Oh fuck no! Renjun almost screamed in terror, hurriedly unlocking his door and throwing himself inside, slamming it closed with his body and breathing heavily. I was willing to hear him out, but he's a freak. I can't live here. I can't do it!

The blonde pulled a chair from the small kitchen towards the door and jammed the back under the knob. His eyes were wild and frantic as he pulled his phone out again to call home. He needed to hear his mother's voice to get rid of his rising panic attack.

He was a fool for imagining that living alone was a good idea.

"God-fucking-damnit!" He shrieked, the power bar seeping into red and showing a reminder for him to plug it in. Damn, damn, damn!

Breathe, Renjun, breathe. You can do it. In, out, in, out-

He pulled at his hair, breaking out into pants and clutching his chest. Panicking.

Don't cry, don't cry, he begged himself as he ran to his room, falling onto the bed and burying his face into his pillow. Breathe.

It was so very hard to think straight and to explain why he was getting himself all worked up when his lungs seized with denial and pain. Sometimes, ever since he was a kid, he would fall into these little breakdowns and only his mother had been able to solve them back then. Unfortunately, he didn't believe medicine was worth the money when they occurred so infrequently.

And so, with his stomach heaving and tiring him out, he forced himself to sleep from fatigue. It wasn't a very healthy way to knock oneself out-cold, but that's what he did.

Whispers and mutters sounded from behind his front door, though Renjun didn't notice a thing. He couldn't have possibly heard them over his own breaths.

Late into the night, some ungodly time around the witching hour, a clatter against the ground from behind Renjun's bedroom door drew the boy out of deep sleep and into the lighter stages, but not waking him up.

The front door was silent since it was new, and it was almost impossible to tell that anyone was around with the brand new, polished floors.

A gentle voice whispered something inaudible above the shortest resident, urging him to open his eyes out of a strange sense of fear. His imaginary sixth sense could detect someone hovering near him before any of his real ones could.

Renjun's eyes blearily opened, blinking lengthily a few times to clear the blurriness, and failing for the most part. But as he tried to define and make out what was in front of him, all he could determine was a shadowed silhouette. A boy, most likely, standing by his bed with his long sleeve between his teeth like a bored child.

"Why?" The other murmured quietly, starting to turn and leave. It didn't make any sense to Renjun at all, and his body felt absolutely paralysed in place. What was happening to him here? Who were his strange neighbours?

The clicking of his bedroom door once again shutting sounded across the space. Yet the young adult wasn't relieved.

Actually....he was pretty bloody terrified.

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Okay guys, I just want to say that I'm amazed and thrilled that so many of you flooded into this book so soon. You haven't a clue how much I love you all for it! (100 reads on two chapters? Bruh!)
I have a plan for this story, and hopefully it's to your liking ;)
-lily