• Chapter 42 •
Chenle stretched his arms high up into the air. He smiled.
"Come on~ attack me~"
With a frown, Cho-a turned to Jisung who stood next to the two. He was their only spectator and also the one supposed to keep an eye on them. Yet, he wasn't even paying attention. His eyes were glued to his phone screen instead.
"Jisung," Cho-a called at which he looked up quickly.
"Oh, sorry. Haechan is texting me. What's the matter?" His eyes fell back down onto the screen but at least he was listening to her.
A couple of days ago, after meeting Young-hee, Cho-a and Haechan had let Jisung in on the plan. He was more than doubtful but thought about it for a bit ere he approved.
So then, Haechan and Taemin left to socialize with random people they didn't necessarily want to socialize with.
"How are they doing?" Cho-a asked an absent-minded Jisung. "I didn't talk to them since they left."
"They are-" he began quickly and stopped equally fast. "Bonding? Yeah."
Which sounded worrying but she took it without questioning it. They had Jisung to look out for them after all so there was no need for her to butt in.
Impatiently, Chenle put his hand on Cho-a's head and turned it so it faced her again. They locked eyes, the boy's gaze intense and judging but the girl was merely surprised.
"We are working here, can you stop looking at Jisung?"
Cho-a hesitated. Chenle was right but also, "he's nice to look at."
Jisung grinned. "I get that a lot-"
"Shut up," Chenle and Cho-a retorted simultaneously. Jisung rolled his eyes, looked back at his phone.
"Look, all I'm asking is that you ram your nails into my neck and take my powers," he said as if it was no big deal. Cho-a just grimaced.
She had considered him the normal one - up until now.
"I don't even know how," she replied casually.
"You did it before."
Cho-a nodded, looked away with her bottom lip pushed out thoughtfully.
"Yeah, but that was a in the heat of the moment kinda thing. I don't know what I did." She shrugged. "I was just upset."
Upset?
"So..." he began. The way his voice trailed off and a soft smirk drew over his lips were alarming. "What do I have to do to make you angry?"
It didn't take her even a second to shake her head. "You can't."
"Wh-" he paused. "What do you mean?"
"Well, we are friends and I know you are on my side. I know you wouldn't hurt anyone I care for and you wouldn't mean any insults you might say to me so there's no use in getting angry at you."
Chenle frowned. "You think too highly of me."
But that wasn't it. She just had gotten used to him and she had gotten to know him. He wasn't a big evil man taking souls. He was a kind boy, funny and charming.
How could she get angry enough at him to act rashly like that?
How could he make up an insult convincing enough to push past his friendly-
"So that must be why Renjun doesn't want you to practice."
Cho-a's eyes snapped up to look at Chenle. He looked down at the girl with a cold, judging expression.
"What?" It took her off guard.
"I thought he was just being overprotective for no reason but if you are too lazy to even try properly then I really can't blame him for thinking you wouldn't be able to do it."
His voice was low and cold but he talked swiftly and smoothly. Just as if it had been running through his mind for a while. Like he had been wondering about this.
Like he meant it.
Cho-a brushed it off with a disheartened laugh. "It's not that I am not trying, I am just-"
Chenle nodded dismissively. He pushed his hands into the pockets of his trousers.
"I thought you were better than this, that's all. After protecting Jaemin and Jeno I really thought..." His voice trailed off. He scrunched his nose, looked away as if she wasn't even worth being looked at. "This is really disappointing. You are really disappointing."
The stars were staring down at them. Chenle inhaled sharply through closed teeth, the ice-cold air rushed down into his lungs as his words echoed in her head.
"You won't be of any help to us so it would be better if you just stayed away so you won't get in our way."
"I can help!" Cho-a argued, completely lost in the seemingly endless chain of words Chenle was uttering. What threw her off wasn't just how sincere he sounded. It was more that he... he was right.
Wasn't he?
She wasn't helpful at all.
"You will just be a burden," he said through a sigh, eyes tumbling down to meet the girl's. "And next time, don't be delusional and run after a random grim reaper if you have no way to protect yourself."
He looked to his side and at Jisung who froze at the sight of the older one's cold gaze.
"Should we just stop?" Chenle asked. He sounded bored. All of a sudden he sounded so bored. "Dumb of me to even try to help someone like her."
Cho-a tore her eyes off him to catch a glimpse at Jisung. It was probably for reassurance. It was so he could smile at her and she would be reminded that Chenle wasn't being serious.
But Jisung didn't look at her. His eyes were stuck on Chenle.
He wasn't sure whether to play along or stop him and once he managed to rip himself out of his thoughts and looked at Cho-a, she was no longer looking at him.
From where he stood he saw her eyes and the way she grew smaller under Chenle's glare.
She seemed distraught.
"Chenle it's not funny," she pushed out quietly.
"Because I am not joking." He took a step towards her. Before her, he stood tall. As he was so close, his voice got quieter. "It's not worth it."
Cho-a stayed silent.
"You won't ever be able to help anyone like this. At this point, you are practically useless-"
"Chenle!" Jisung warned but got just a disinterested glimpse from the older one. He pushed out a short, shallow laugh before looking back at the girl. He stepped closer to her yet again.
She took a step back.
"You aren't waiting for Jisung to stick up for you, are you? Like you waited for Taemin to help you out? Like you provoked Young-hee and then let us handle your mess?"
He had a brow raised expectantly. He didn't think she would say anything back to him, he just wanted her to feel like he was awaiting a response - even though he knew she had nothing to say.
"What a waste," he huffed in annoyance. "At this point, you are getting people in danger just because you are unable to do anything useful despite being that mystic, powerful person everyone tries to make you out to be."
Her eyes were empty.
She stopped moving back or reacting at all.
She was quiet. Dead silent as she listened to all the things he was right about.
Right?
Wasn't he?
"Don't you think it's kinda arrogant to let people take the bullet for you?" he asked. A rhetorical question, obviously. But she knew her answer if she would have had to give one.
Yes.
It was.
"What if someone dies because of you?"
The tiniest bit of movement. Cho-a's eyes widened just a little more. Her lips parted as the bit of air she held inside her lungs flushed out.
She looked down, buried her gaze in the ground underneath.
However, it wasn't only her who reacted to this - it was Jisung too. He looked at the older in shock, took a step towards him.
"Chenle you--"
"Right." Her voice was dreary. Empty. It was soft though. So fragile-sounding, in fact, that it almost felt unreasonable for Jisung to stop talking because of it.
And that tone - it didn't suit her. Jisung had heard it before though.
"There's something that has been on my mind for a while." Her tone was so soft, it seemed to flow away alongside the soft breeze that passed over the two. "Renjun said it a few times when we were younger."
"I can't let others do that for me," she mumbled. Chenle frowned, moved back the tiniest bit at her odd behaviour.
His plan was to make her angry but right now she just seemed sad. He didn't want that.
"I am still wondering if he was right," her voice got smaller as she talked.
"So I should at least try harder," she decided.
Her gaze slowly wandered up, brushing over the figure of the boy that stood still in front of her and when, eventually, they locked eyes, Chenle couldn't hold back his amazement.
He let out a deep ohh as he gazed at her eyes.
"Jisung, are you seeing this?" he asked and the other nodded wordlessly.
He too had his eyes on hers. Their deep, warm brown had switched with what looked like polished silver. As if they were reflecting the light from the stars and moon above, it shone brightly.
It wasn't the typical stormy grey. It was pretty and pure and the boys watched in wonder.
"It's different from ours," Jisung noted.
"Yeah, it's-"
Cho-a interrupted them when her expression went blank and she reached forward wordlessly.
"Let me try properly now," she said simply. Her voice was still as empty as it had been, her eyes shone livelily but they didn't move much. She was there in front of the boys but her mind was somewhere else.
Her fingertips glid over his throat before they stopped at the back of his neck. Not a second passed ere she pressed down, nails digging fine slits into his skin.
Chenle ripped his eyes wide open. He reached back and put his hand on top of hers. Yet, he didn't try to take it away.
He inhaled sharply, threw his head back. "Fuck-"
Jisung hesitated. "Does it hurt...?" he asked carefully at which Chenle let out a pain-filled groan.
"What does it look like, genius?!" he spat.
Jisung put his hands up in surrender. "Just asking." He averted his gaze from the boy to Cho-a who seemed zoned out. Lost. He put a hand on her shoulder. "Cho-a?"
At which she dug her nails deeper into Chenle's neck.
So Chenle kicked Jisung.
And Jisung put his hands up again.
"What?"
"You're making it worse," he urged, then focused back on the girl. She was looking in his direction.
She wasn't looking at him though.
"Cho-a, that's enough," Chenle said. He didn't kow what she was feeling or even what he himself was feeling but he could see the way her eyes tried to keep their focus desperately.
Jisung watched as she took a shallow breath and another after that, watched her legs get wobbly. It might not have been her first time doing it but it seemed to be tough on her.
He took a step backwards and held an arm out just behind the girl's back before looking at the other boy.
"Chenle just push her away," he ordered and the older reacted quickly.
He took a big step back, pulled her hand away from him and pushed it down. She stumbled back but got caught quickly by Jisung, whereas Chenle had no trouble supporting himself.
It took her a second to reorientate herself but once she did, she looked at Chenle with wide eyes. She made a fist in an attempt to hide her blood-stained nails in her palm.
"Sorry," she muttered but Chenle dismissed it. Instead, he stepped closer to inspect her eyes yet again.
"It's really pretty," he mumbled. "I like it." His approval followed a second in which soft brown washed over the shining silver before it swallowed it up entirely and her eyes were back to their usual, deep brown.
When all was faded and the three stood next to each other in silence, Chenle suddenly frowned.
He took a big step forward, threw his arms around the girl.
"I'm really sorry! I didn't mean any of that, you know?" he cleared up as if she didn't know. "I love you, don't be angry at me."
His voice was full of urgency. High-pitched and loud, Cho-a cringed at the sudden attack of her eardrums. However, she quickly recovered and put her arms around him.
"Love you too," she said through a quiet yet heartfelt chuckle.
"I mean it," he urged.
"Yeah, me too." She squeezed him gently, then pushed herself away from him. She was hesitant to ask, especially upon seeing the faint lines of blood that drew over his neck.
She couldn't not ask, though.
"How do you feel?"
She didn't expect the boy to grin right away. He looked absolutely ecstatic. Fascinated.
"I feel so weird," he said in satisfaction, then frowned right after and put his hand on his neck. "That really hurts though."
"Sorry," Cho-a apologized quickly but Chenle shook his head. His smile turned warm.
"You did well," he praised her but sighed right after. "You are worried because you think you will hurt me but you only think you will hurt me because you don't know how to use your powers."
Cho-a frowned. Maybe he was right.
"So what?" she asked at which Chenle leaned closer until there were only a few centimetres of air left to separate their faces.
"So," he whispered, "you're dumb."
"I'm not! And why even!?"
But Chenle had already passed her and started walking back towards Jisung's house. Baffled, she turned to the boy that was left there with her who looked at her cautiously.
He hesitated before carefully asking,
"What?"
"I'm not dumb," she stated at which Jisung nodded.
"You're an idiot though."
"Are you--"
He pushed against her back gently and smiled.
"Let's go home."
• Silver •
This chapter is kinda long sorry ✋🏻
But I enjoyed writing it so I hope it's also enjoyable to read~
Okay bye bye ☆