"Doubt kills more dreams than failure ever will."
"Hwara! Wake up!" voices yell in the girl's ear, causing the girl to snap her eyes open in annoyance.
"Renjun let me sleep," Hwara mumbles, pushing her face back into her pillow.
Renjun rolls his eyes at the girl before nodding at Chenle, who immediately clears his throat. Renjun then proceeds to cover his ears tightly, bracing himself. "WAKE UP!"
Hwara yelps at the piercing sound of Chenle's dolphin scream right next to her ear, immediately sitting up before glaring at Chenle. "You're dead."
Chenle immediately runs out of the room, causing Hwara to stand up to chase after him. But, her injuries stop her. "Renjun chase him down."
Renjun rolls his eyes again, walking out of Hwara's room. Hwara immediately walks over to Jisung's room, walking into his room without knocking. Jisung, who's just packing some extra clothes, snaps his eyes to Hwara.
"Jisung! Can you help me beat up Chenle?"
"Why?"
"He dolphin screamed in my ear. I didn't get much sleep either," Hwara says, pouting.
Although Hwara has become much more expressive, she herself doesn't actually know that. In her mind, she thinks she still looks and feels indifferent.
He doesn't actually want to go fight Chenle—he's pretty lazy right now. But, seeing Hwara pout makes him go against his mind. "Fine, follow me."
Both of them run all the way down to the first floor of NCT's main base—well, Hwara's trying to run—where they see Chenle hide behind the counter. Before Jisung has the chance to go after him, Hwara pulls Jisung backward.
"Carry me on your shoulders. That way I can fight."
Jisung's eyes widen as he stares at the girl, not believing what she just said. "I-I what?"
"Hurry up, Sung. Please?"
Quietly muttering nonsense, Jisung kneels down to carry her, quickly holding her legs so she doesn't fall. He then stands back up, his cheeks tinted light pink.
They walk over to where Chenle is, quickly pulling him out of his hiding spot. The boy's eyes widen as he sees Hwara on top of Jisung's shoulders before outright cackling.
"You two look so weird!"
"Chenle, shut up," Jisung mumbles.
Hwara, not really understanding what's going on once again, lightly pushes the boy backward. "Let's fight."
"I-" Chenle sighs before walking over to Renjun. Soon, Renjun's on top of Chenle's shoulders and Hwara's on top of Jisung's, all four of them ready to fight. Well, Renjun and Jisung are kind of annoyed.
"3."
"2."
"1."
"Go!"
Hwara and Renjun end up catfighting, which almost causes Chenle to stumble and fall over multiple times. Jisung, in the end, ends up tripping and falling but not before stopping Hwara's fall. Using himself.
"Ow!"
Jisung opens his eyes to see Hwara's face barely two inches away from his own, causing his eyes to widen at the situation as his face turns red. Hwara slowly opens her eyes after, only to find them facing Jisung exactly.
Chenle and Renjun watch the two, secretly taking a picture without the flash and not saying anything. They silently snicker at the two before turning to silently walk away.
The little world the two soulmates are in is burst when Yangyang walks into the mansion, yelling when he sees Hwara and Jisung on the floor outside of the kitchen.
"AH!"
The outburst causes the two to snap out of it, separating from each other immediately.
"Wait a minute. Ah, this isn't it. Ah, just wait. Let me explain."
Chenle and Renjun look at each other after hearing Jisung rant before they yell out loud.
"Jaemin!"
"W-W-W-Wait. Oh my god, just—"
To his bad luck, Jaemin walks down the stairs.
"Jaemin! Hwara was on top of Jisung—wait that came out wrong," Yangyang yells, causing Jaemin's eyes to widen.
"What the hell happened?"
Jisung and Hwara look at each other before standing up, running out of the living room to different places in the house. They did not want to hear a conversation over a misunderstanding.
"I—"
Renjun shakes his head.
"Let them be. They're soulmates."
***
A couple of hours later, Hwara starts packing up again to move back into the Dream base. Jisung's going to drive her back after he finishes up his talk with Taeyong. As she finishes packing, her mind starts to think.
For the first time, her mind is starting to care about the unanswered questions. She feels like she doesn't know anything. It's frustrating to her. How the hell do I know Lee Taejin? Where did I meet Jisung before if I could see my soulmate mark before I became eighteen? What did I go through in my past? Why did I know Yoon Minseok personally in my memories? Who's Choi Jina?
All of these questions swirl through her head with many more, and it starts to hurt her brain. She feels like her memories are just giving her more questions, not answers.
Meanwhile, Jisung continues to talk with Taeyong about one person—Choi Jina.
"So, you're telling me that Choi Jina came to save Hwara, not kill her?"
Jisung nods his head, confused himself with the entire ordeal. "Chenle's information is never wrong, so I'm confused about her true motives."
Taeyong nods his head. It certainly is confusing. Chenle and his informant team only get their information from the most trustworthy people in the business—although it does come at a hefty price. If that information is wrong, then... "What if the information wasn't wrong, but the original informer?"
Jisung looks at the elder in confusion, not catching on to what Taeyong is saying. "What do you mean?"
Taeyong stands up straight, looking up from his files to Jisung. "What if Choi Jina purposely told people she wanted to kill Hwara so that she could hide her real motives?"
Jisung thinks about it. From what he remembers, Choi Jina was shocked and enraged that Yoon Minseok tried killing Hwara. It seemed as though she knew Hwara for a long time and was close to her. If she knew Hwara, then maybe Sungchan and Jaehyun know who she is too.
"When did Jaehyun join the gang again? Did he ever meet Choi Jina?"
Taeyong shakes his head. "Jaehyun joined a month after Jieun died—you said that was Yoon Minseok too?"
Jisung nods his head. He didn't want to talk about Jieun. "Then, what if Sungchan or Jaehyun recognize her?"
Taeyong nods his head. "That's a good idea. I'll let you know what happens. Now, go drive Hwara to the Dream base."
Jisung nods his head, exiting the meeting room and heading up to the floor with their rooms. Choi Jina. He hated her for so long. Four years. He spent four years hating this girl for the death of his older sister Park Jieun, the hospitalized condition of his mother, and the disappearance of his dad. In the end, he found out it was Yoon Minseok who killed his sister over his crazy obsession with his soulmate Jina.
He doesn't know how he's supposed to feel about Jina. Hell, they kicked her out of NCT because of everything and put her on their top-hit list. Knowing now that the true murderer of his sister is finally dead, it puts his thoughts to peace.
Jisung knocks on Hwara's door, who just yells out. "Come in!"
The boy walks inside Hwara's room, watching as she zips up her bag and slings it on.
"Need any help?"
"Could you hand me my leg boot?" Hwara asks. Jisung immediately picks up the heavy boot cast before handing it to her.
Both of them walk downstairs, heading into the garage and getting into Jisung's car. They drive away from NCT's main base, turning on their own music like they always do.
"Sung, do you think we could get something to eat first?"
Jisung sighs. This girl eats a lot, but he doesn't mind much. He's just sleepy, that's all. An idea pops into his head, and he smiles.
"Let's go to my favorite place, Love."
A/N: wow i can't believe it took me three days to get this chapter out. i hate that school started again because i cant crunch out chapters like i did over break. stupid school.
also, i got the season greetings for dream and idk way but looking at the photo frame and desk calendar just makes me happy lmfaooo
anyway, love yall <3
cya in the next one :)