next door || nct. chensung

[ 19 ]

[ chenle pov ]

the idea of sicheng ge being gay just shocked me honestly. i wanted to help him, remembering the words he told me 'yes i do. very much' when i asked him if he still loved mr yuta. then i remembered vividly what donghyuck said too. he was a photographer before. maybe that's how he met ge. after thinking of different theories i had about their relationship, i decided to ask jisung.

i left the house and walked a few steps more to reach jisung's. jisung didn't have work today, only ge. a fortunate coincidence that ge isn't here i guess.

i knocked on the wooden door and waited for a while. as there was no reply, i knocked again, only to see jisung with bed hair and still in pyjamas.

"oh lele, sorry i took so long i was still asleep," he said with that smile i fell for.

"sorry for disturbing you. i just wanted to talk," i explained. he let me in and i sat down on the floor. he nodded, using his fingers as a comb to straighten his hair, and said, "i'll go wash up first, go get a drink if you want." he left, and i stood up to grab a cup of water. after a few minutes, he came back with a towel wrapped around his neck. we sat down side-by-side as he started, "go ahead lele." then, i remembered what i was there for again.

"oh yeah, did you know ge had a boyfriend before?" i asked. he nodded slowly, "well, i kind of guessed it?" he said uncertainly. "sometimes when we go to work, there's this blonde male that passes by. when sicheng hyung sees him, tears started forming. he gets fidgety and careless, he once forgot to pay the taxi driver. i asked him if he was alright the first few times, then he says he's fine. it keeps happening so i just decided to give him some space." i straightened from my slouching position and turned to jisung.

"was that guy around 1.70m and like in his 20s? and did he wear like really nice clothes and dresses slightly more casually on fridays? and he always wears these white vans all the time? and does he-" i bombarded jisung with questions. but, he cut me off, "woah, slow down there chenle. one at a time." he lifted up my cup for me to drink. i took two mouthfuls only to see him laughing at me, "slowly, don't choke." i slowly drank a few more mouthfuls and put it down. i started again, "so? how did he look like?"

"well, yeah he's kind of tall and looks around 22 years old. he wears casual clothes on fridays, yes. and wears vans. but, how do you know how he looks like?" jisung asked.

"he's an art teacher in school." i say slowly. i lean back against the wall.

"but, why do you ask, lele?" jisung asked. i explained everything to him, about them being exes and our move here. he made different comments at each part like 'i'm so sorry to hear that' at the part of the break up, or like 'he must've been through a lot' at the part where we moved.

"and i don't know what to do, because he still loves him. and mr yuta's my teacher, so i don't know if it's appropriate for me to be involved in a way. and i'm just so stressed for sicheng ge. i just hate seeing him go through so much. i'm just so- ugh." chenle said quickly. each words just escaping his mouth as his cute hand gestures match his expression. i put my hand on his and said, "it's okay chenle. don't be so stressed, i know sicheng hyung must've been through a lot. but, do you know if he wants to get back with mr yuta? or whoever he is."

then, it became silent. i drank some water again to calm myself down. hopefully the water doesn't pass the digestive system too fast. i shook my head to jisung's question. "so don't worry too much, okay? i hate seeing hyung like this too, but for now, let's just see what happens, okay? who knows, maybe one of them is planning to meet the other already. if it's meant to be, it's meant to be, if it's not, it's not." i looked up at him, surprised, "since when were you so deep and all that shit." and we just laughed together.