Enemies - Zhong Chenle

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"Jaerin?"

Chenle's voice echoed through the empty student council room. There was no response, neither did he hear sniffing. He slowly closed the door, walking aimlessly around the compound. It was currently ten minutes to six and the girl was nowhere to be found. He had checked the entire building, from the top to the bottom, every classroom, the library, the offices, the cafeteria, the toilet - of course knocking outside and calling Jaerin's name.

Where's she? Where haven't I checked?

Chenle roamed around, his feet bringing him to the field behind the building where the students will be having their annually sport day on the coming Saturday. He sighed, placing his and Jaerin's bag on a bench next to the main entrance of the stadium and started searching for her in the area. He could hear distant sniffs, but he couldn't pinpoint where it came from.

"Jaerin?"

"Jaerin, where are you?"

The sniffs were muffled right after he called out, which further toughened his search for the girl, but one thing for sure was the girl was certainly hiding near the area. Chenle scanned the benches and chairs, then the tents. Deciding that Jaerin could be hiding at one of the stores for them to keep the equipment, he took the bags and headed to the indoor of the stadium.

He knocked on the specific door, the room that kept the Dreams', the girls, who went with the name Aespa after debating for long, and Jaerin's equipment. The school had specially given them the room after Taeyong and Jaehyun graduated to share to keep their chosen equipment since they were in the school team and more professional equipment were used.

Chenle could recognize her voice and hearing her trying to muffle her cries broke his heart. It wasn't a normal cry session people would have, she sound terrified and panicked, and Chenle was afraid that she might be having a panic attack if she continued. Finding the key to the store room, he pushed it into the hole and opened the door, revealing the room and a tear filled girl sitting on one of the small couches his friends left there so they could rest there in between practices.

Jaerin glanced up, seeing that Chenle had already found her hiding in the store room and moved away, backing up further into the room on the couches. The boy didn't know why she was crying or being cautious of him, but he placed down both of their bags on the nearest couch to him and sat there.

"Jaerin?"

He tried calling the girl softly to avoid scaring her more than she was. He could see the fear in her eyes whenever he shifted or a loud noise sounded, so he stopped and allow her to continue while he watched, worried.

Jaerin however, felt vulnerable as she didn't expect him to find her and seeing her in this state. She couldn't care much about the sworn enemy thing, she just wanted to calm down and have someone to comfort her right now.

"Could you...stop...staring at me?"

Chenle averted his eyes from her face and glanced towards the couch beside her, not wanting to lose sight of her in case she fainted or something. He saw Jaerin releasing her legs from her arms after holding it for so long, and glanced back up at her.

Jaerin's breath wasn't as stable as it should be as she held onto her shirt above her heart, trying to calm down. The boy hesitated, but still got up without alarming her and walked towards her, kneeling down in front of her.

"Breathe, slowly." He guided, but Jaerin couldn't take her mind off the man she saw at the gates for the past few hours of hiding and crying here, causing her to panic again.

"Breathe, Jaerin."

Unable to follow what he said, Jaerin wrapped her arms around Chenle's neck and pulled him towards her, her head burying into his neck as her eyes pooled again. Chenle was stunned at the sudden actions, his hands on either side of her thighs to prevent himself from crashing onto the girl's body and squishing her at the force.

His shirt was wet due to Jaerin's tears, and he shifted a bit and sat beside her, finding a more comfortable position to hug her back. His hands patted her head and her back, soothing the girl as her cries softened at the feeling of being secured by the arms wrapping around her, leaning into his warmth.

"Sorry."

The soft whisper of the girl was almost inaudible if it was not for her to whisper beside Chenle's ear.

Chenle hummed in confusion, not understanding why she was apologising.

"Sorry for letting you see me in this state, please forget this after we exit the room, keep it to yourself. I'll beat you up if I heard it from a third person."

Jaerin threatened even though she was still in a bad mood.

Chenle chuckled lightly, causing his body to vibrate and send the vibration over Jaerin who frowned. She retraced one arm from his neck and hit his chest.

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing," Chenle continued chuckling a bit. "You are too short to win a fight against me."

"I'm not, I can beat you up if I want."

Jaerin hit his chest again, backing away so that she was face to face with Chenle and gave him an irritated look. Chenle had his hands beside Jaerin, supporting her so she wouldn't fall off the couch.

I just finished a performance, and it's really fun! Me and my friends got to dance randomly at the empty area while we waited. They are planning to dance other songs for another upcoming event and I hope it won't crash with my activities

Maybe another update very soon!