𝑀𝑦 𝐸𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 | 𝐶ℎ𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑢𝑛𝑔

Chapter 14

He decided to make it his mission to discover what was bothering his best friend, no matter what it took and no matter how long he would have to try before finding the answer.

- 🐥 & 🐬 -

It took him a few days, but Chenle finally decided to open up to Jisung about what was bothering him.

It all started in the form of a phone call at 3:00 am in the morning, and though it wasn't unusual for either of them to stay awake that late, they typically only did so when they were together, whether that was because they were doing homework, playing video games, or had simply lost track of time while talking. So being woken up from a restless half-sleep by the familiar ringtone he saved only for Chenle was strange, and honestly scared Jisung more than he wished to admit.

Jisung rolled over on his bed, reaching his arm out from underneath the warmth of his blankets to grab his ringing phone. Seeing Chenle's name pop up on the screen as he had expected, he answered the call immediately.

"I need you," Were the words spoken into the phone the minute the line connected.

They were only three words spoken in a broken voice, but those words were all Jisung needed to practically catapult out of bed. He grabbed a hoodie that he had abandoned on the floor of his bedroom the night before and rushed out of the house, so worried about Chenle that he failed to remember to tell his parents that he was leaving.

He was halfway to Chenle's house when he realised that a) he had no idea where he was supposed to be heading since the line had disconnected after Jisung had heard Chenle's message, and b) he had forgotten to warn his parents of his leaving.

He decided that the latter was something that could be dealt with later, once he was sure Chenle was alright, but as for the former, he had to ask the older male.

He checked his phone, and he could swear he had never felt more grateful than he did at that moment to see a text from Chenle, one that simply read, 'I'm at the park'.

He rushed to the park without waiting a second longer. But even though Jisung was running as fast as he could, the rest of the world around him felt like it was moving in slow motion. It was like a dramatic scene from a romantic movie, where the protagonist had to get to their love interest before something awful happened.

But he wasn't in a romantic movie, it was just Jisung's life. It was Chenle's life as well, and with every step that Jisung took, another second of wasted time passed. It was another second where Jisung wasn't by Chenle's side, couldn't help him, and had no idea what he was doing or how he was feeling.

The run to the park felt like it had taken much too long, but when he finally arrived at the location he saw Chenle on his knees in the damp grass.

"Lele," Jisung said, "Are you okay? Are you crying?"

He ran to Chenle's side when he heard soft, broken sobs escaping past the other's lips. Whatever it was, it was hurting Chenle more than his breakup with Haeun, more than the bullying at school, more than all the insane rumours about him, and Jisung knew it was serious.

"It's my fault," Chenle whispered.

Jisung wasn't sure if the comment was something Chenle had meant to say aloud, it didn't seem like it since he didn't raise his head to look at Jisung. In fact, he hadn't had any reaction to hearing Jisung's voice at all, as though the younger wasn't even there.

"What are you talking about?" Jisung tried to ask him, "Chenle, I need you to talk to me, please. I need to know what's going on."

"They're fighting again," Chenle answered him, but his voice seemed so far away it made Jisung wonder if Chenle had yet to realise that he was even there, "This time it's worse. It's always getting worse. But this time he blamed me. He said it was my fault, all of this is happening, everything is going wrong. It's because of me. It's my fault! Can't you see, it's always my fault!"

Chenle was shaking by the time he had finished speaking, rocking back and forth on his knees, his jeans getting wet from the ground since it had rained earlier that day and the grass hadn't yet had the time to dry.

"Who, Chenle?" Jisung begged, "Tell me who you're talking about."

"My parents," He said quietly, "They- they were fighting and I got in the way and he got angry and told me to leave the house. I have nowhere to go now. I can't go back. They don't want me anymore."

"You always have somewhere to go, Lele," Jisung said, wrapping his best friend in his arms in what he hoped was a comforting gesture. It was sadly also one that was starting to become commonplace between them. "As long as I'm here, and I'll always be here for you, you will always have somewhere to go."

"You promise?"

"Of course I promise."

- 🐥 & 🐬 -

𝐼𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑟𝑎𝑚𝑎 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒'𝑠 𝑛𝑜 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝐻𝑎𝑒𝑢𝑛, 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛.
𝑅𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑜𝑚 𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛: 𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡'𝑠 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑓𝑎𝑣𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑒 𝑛𝑒𝑤 𝑁𝐶𝑇 2020 𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑝?
𝑂𝑟 𝑖𝑡 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑏𝑒 𝑎𝑛 𝑜𝑙𝑑 𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑝 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑏𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑏𝑎𝑐𝑘.