next door || nct. chensung

[ 25 ]

[ 3rd person pov ]

"so mr yuta's dating your elder brother?" jaemin asked, as they were all gathered around the coffee table at chenle's place after being trapped in the place they call school, each with uno cards in their hands.

"yeah, don't tell anyone though, you know what'll happen," chenle replied, "renjun, it's your turn now." renjun took out his card and placed it down, "plus four, sorry jeno." jeno grumbled as he stretched out his free left hand to take four cards out of the deck.

"so that senior was right," donghyuck started, "mr yuta was gay." chenle and jisung both nodded as they continued their game. laughter filled the air as the group enjoyed their time together.

"so i'm guessing everything's good now?" jeno asked.

"yeah, everything's good now." jisung smiled.

♣️

>>time skip to few days later, saturday

"chenle, i'm going out for a little bit. why don't you go out with jisung or something?" sicheng suggested as he opened the door, ready to leave.

"will do, bye ge!" chenle waved to sicheng, getting ready to meet jisung. he threw on a t-shirt and a jacket and left for jisung's. he pulled his hand into a tight fist as he knocked on the door. after a few seconds, the door opened with jisung wearing clothes seeming like he was going out as well.

"jisung-ie! seems like you're going somewhere?" chenle asked. jisung stepped outside as he secured his place with his keys locking the door. "i heard sicheng hyung's voice when he was leaving so i got ready. i want to bring you somewhere, is that okay?" chenle smiled and nodded.

the two left, hand in hand, walking to the nearby bus stop to go to the place jisung planned to. the whole journey in the bus was quiet, as jisung was nervous for their arrival in that place.

"we have to get off the next stop and wait for another bus, it's quite far from where we live," jisung explained as the bus came to a stop at one of the bus stops. chenle nodded as they both waited for the bus to pause again at their stop.

they both got off at the next stop and waited for a bus. as the bus numbered 544 came into view, jisung turned to chenle, and said, "let's go." the quiet atmosphere hovering around them caused chenle to be filled with nervousness as well, even though he did not know why.

after a while more, they both alighted the vehicle as instructed by jisung. chenle looked around and saw the words engraved in the two stones at the sides of the entrance. one said 공동묘지 (cemetery), another said 경주, 한국 (gyeongju, south korea). chenle looked at jisung as jisung looked back, the hand that held jisung's wrapped tighter as a gesture of support.

"but i'm not properly dressed for this, ji. is it really alri-" chenle started but got cut off by jisung's reassurance. "it's fine, you're in dark blue and i'm in grey anyways. i'm sure eomma will be more than happy to just see both of us." jisung smiled as he put his hand on chenle's head to ruffle his hair lightly. chenle nodded and smiled back as they both walked in together.

the place was quiet, as they walked to find the gravestone of jisung's mother. only one or two people were around as they passed by the many gravestones of people, some with flowers and some without, which reminded chenle of something.

"that's right! i forgot to bring flowers jisung, should i go get some-" chenle said softly, afraid that his loud voice may be a sign of disrespect. jisung pauses in his steps as he interrupted chenle for the second time, "i told you it's fine, she'll be more than happy to just see us." chenle nodded again, as they both continued walking until jisung turned right to the aisles of gravestones. he stopped until he saw his mother's name that was engraved in the stone. 하서원 (ha seowon). jisung kneeled down, chenle following after, hand on top of their knees.

"eomma, i'm here. chenle is with me too," jisung started. he stretched out his hand to caress the stone, as if a loving gesture to his mother. "you never met him, you were in the hospital when he moved in. but, thanks to him, the grief i went through after your death was much easier to handle. you'll definitely like him and treat him like your son." jisung turned around to look at chenle, tears welling up in his eyes. they both rested, as they went down from their kneeling position to sit properly. chenle's hand found its way to jisung's as the other went to jisung's back as he lightly patted it, showing support to the boy who needed it.

"he was the light in my darkness, he helped through everything. his elder brother even helped me get a proper job. i'm sorry, you had to see me do all those bad stuff just to get money. i promise you, eomma, i'll work hard in this job and make you so proud. and please don't be sorry like before for not giving me an education. eomma, don't be guilty because of that but be happy for me now, okay?" jisung's voice occasionally cracking and tears trickling down from his face to the ground or his legs. he stifled the ugly noises that were about to come out from his mouth as he cried and sniffed, before any contents we call disgusting could come out from his nose. he wiped his tears with his sleeve as he turned around and buried his face in chenle's neck, as he could no longer hold his sadness in. chenle brought both arms around jisung as he held him tightly, as if protecting him from any danger.

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i'll be making a pt.2 of this chapter, if not it'll be too long. pt.2 coming soon!!