ADOMANIA || zhong chenle

chapter 59

that night, as daiyu was laying in her bed, she couldn't seem to get chenle out of her mind.

though she had tried her best to keep calm and not let any of those things she had felt on the balcony show during the time they had spent there (and also during the walk back to her dorm), she couldn't wrap her head around why she was feeling that way.

it was as if she was really only now seeing him as a boy, and not just a nuisance or a mere acquaintance.

she had admitted that he was handsome multiple times, but she never actually considered him as a potential romantic interest.

to her, chenle had always been off limits, since she thought that there was something between him and her friend.

now that she knew that that wasn't the case, she was starting to reconsider that.

still, daiyu didn't feel like it would be okay to like him.

'it's not like i do or something— i'm just thinking about what would be if it were to happen.'

she tried calming herself down.

'besides, he might already like someone else, now that he's over hye.'

and then, the terrifying thought of him having a girlfriend popped up in her mind.

what actually was terrifying wasn't the thought of him having one, but the fact that it bothered her so much.

'he's my friend, i should be happy for him.' was one of the many things she was thinking.

'i didn't feel this way when he liked hyewon though.'

she glanced over to yua's bed, to check if she was still awake.

which she wasn't.

no, she seemed to be sound asleep, her sleeping face facing daiyu.

'i should sleep too.'

though she didn't exactly know what time it was, it was definitely something after 2 am, and if she wanted to get to classes in time the next day, she'd be better off sleeping now.

'i shouldn't even be thinking about all of this too much anyway. it's not like i actually like him.'

but she wasn't sure if that was actually the truth anymore.

__________________________________

the truth was, that daiyu thought that what she was suspecting to be a slight crush that she was developing for chenle would fade away in a day or two.

she had firmly believed that at least by the next time he got on her nerves, she'd be completely over it.

surely, it had just been a spur-of-the-moment kind of thing — something that she had imagined just because of the way he had acted (and looked) that night.

now you might have forgotten this already, but that night had been a thursday.

it was thuesday now, and daiyu was stressing out.

the lesson she just got out of had been an art class.

the worst art class she had ever attended.

the subject was one she shared with hyewon and jieun, and even though she wasn't particularly good at it, it was always fun with those two.

but now simply try to imagine the shock on her face when by the time the bell rang and the whole class was seated, another teacher walked in, his whole class in tow.

and not just any class.

no, you guessed it; chenle's art class.

believe me when i tell you that daiyu wanted nothing but to hide under her table.

as much as she had tried avoiding chenle to make sure her 'feelings could savely fade away', she had grown to accept that that was impossible.

(avoiding him, not her feelings fading)

yet now he was appearing in a class that she was supposed to enjoy and stay calm in?

but of course, it gets even better.

the teachers led them all outside and told them that they thought it would be fun to run a little pottery-workshop that lesson.

apparently, due to lack of space and the mess they ended up making, it was smarter to do that outside.

chenle and his friend — who daiyu learned was called sungchan — wanted to sit beside daiyu and her friends by their spot on the basketball field they were working on.

and who was daiyu to forbid them to do that?

exactly.

so with chenle sitting to her right, she did her best to act normal, while also trying to get the clay in her hands to mold into a pretty bowl (she failed).

the boy seemed to notice her struggle and offered to lend her a hand, since his own work was almost perfect.

"need some help?"

but she quickly shook her head, not wanting to interact with him more than necessary.

he would probably think she did out of pride anyways.

"okay, no. let me help you, i promise i won't ruin it."

without waiting for her approval, he scooted a little closer to where she was sitting and placed his hands on her smaller ones that were working on the clay.

she flinched the slightest bit at the contact, feeling that same feeling she usually got when one of haeun's attacks hit her during training — as if electric currents were flowing through her whole body.

"what are you doing?" she hissed, glancing around to make sure nobody was looking.

the last thing she wanted was for jieun and hyewon to see them. a glance at her face would be enough for them to figure out what was going on, that, she was sure of.

"helping."

with chenle guiding her fingers, she finally managed to get the clay into the shape she wanted, though it still looked a bit shabby, probably due to her lack of focus.

"thanks."

at least she still had her manners, i guess.

"no problem."

but it wouldn't be daiyu and chenle if none of them ended up doing something dumb, would it?

because chenle dunked his hand into the bowl of dirty water next to them, moistening the dry clay stuck to his hand.

with that, he smeared a streak of gray-ish brown clay on her cheek,  standing up to run away before she could take revenge.

"hey! you just wait, you little- don't run away! coward!"

__________________________________

daiyu might as well just be slightly emotionally retarded