(also i want to clear up the fact that yes chenle can feel emotions but he cannot convey them as much as normal people. for example, if someone feels sad they would cry, if chenle feels sad, he wouldn't be able to do anything and would just sit there with a bottle up emotion. idk if this is actually alexithymia but it makes my writing easier so yeah)
"can a sinner become a saint?"
. . .
'you no-good disrespectful ungrateful careless prick?' chenle read as he traveled up the elevator along with kun, lucas, winwin and renjun (a/n we stan china line)
"did someone have the audacity to graffiti a gangs base?" renjun crossed his arm over and yawned
"anyone has the audacity to do anything" lucas yawned, swishing his coffee cup like a wine glass
"but why chenle out of all people?" winwin took a sip out of his coffee cup
"random pick i guess" kun glanced at the marking on chenle's tray
"it's hyejin" chenle deadpanned, but he couldn't help but internally laugh at how childish she was. they left the elevator and sat down in the recreation room where most of the members spent time when they either didn't have work or arrived before taeyong
"hyejin? where did she even stay yesterday?" winwin sat down next to yuta, but immediately moved when he sensed yuta coming around to hug him
"she left" chenle stated, grabbing a seat next to jisung
"she left??" jisung almost jumped out of his seat
"with all that information?" mark butted into the conversation, his jaw dropped to the floor
"and not finishing the key cards?" johnny has just entered the group, sitting down and joining in with the gossip
"she read the member profiles as well!" winwin exclaimed
"who read the member profiles?"
all their heads turned to a lean figure who just entered the room with a threatening essence. the room grew silent, their heart stuffed in their throats
"n-no one" winwin gulped
"no one?" taeyong began taking slow steps towards winwin
"hyejin" chenle gained eye contact with taeyong
"chenle can you be any less honest-" haechan whispered through clenched teeth
"shut it donghyuck" taeyong slammed the table without breaking his gaze from chenle
"i was the one who gave winwin permission to give the member profiles to hyejin. winwin just followed what i said" chenle stood up, 20 pairs of eyes boring into him
"and you listened to him winwin?" taeyong looked at the now wanted to go bury himself in a hole winwin
"i-i...just thought that-that, hyejin..." winwin stuttered
"taeyong, we should find her now. no one knows her well enough to claim that she won't expose all of our information. she knows the way into our base, it's too much of a risk to let her go. plus, she's the only person that knows of our gang and can help us with the key cards" ten stood up, placing his coffee cup down and saving winwin and chenle from getting their heads cut off
"ten's right. ten, trace her location. jungwoo and taeil come with me" taeyong handed out instructions as he walked around the room
the pupils that were called out by taeyong followed up to the elevator, haechan jittery with excitement. all of a sudden, all of them halted at a voice called from behind the group
"can i come" it came out as more of a statement than a question, but chenle always got what he wanted. if he didn't, he'll fight till his lungs gave up, even if it meant giving up everything.
"you're not needed" taeyong didn't even look back at chenle, his eyes set on the elevator
"let me come and i won't ever touch a gun unless on your command" chenle took a step forward "let me come with you"
this was a good deal, seeing as chenle never obeyed taeyong. if taeyong had control over chenle, then that means everything will go more smoothly then it usually would
"gear chenle up with an earpiece" and taeyong left along with a shocked jungwoo and taeil while ten jumped out of his seat and snapped open a case, picking up an earpiece that was slotted into a hole with the initials CL written beneath it
"all connected chenle, you're good to go" ten gave him an ok gesture before chenle headed downstairs and found the 6 other members were already in the van with winwin in the drivers seat and taeyong in shotgun
"chenle why did you even-" taeil began but was cut off by the static effects radiating into their earpieces
'i got her. 133-7, Yongsandong 4(sa)-ga, Yongsan-gu'
"we're on the way" winwin stepped on the engine and the car was riding on the road to the house of joo hyejin
. . .
"who the hell is calling me at 6 in the god damn morning" she groaned, rolling over her bed and picked up her phone without even looking at the ID.
"mhm?" she was too tired to even talk to whoever this prick was
"a black van is going to be at your house in 45 minutes, be prepared and im sorry, but you're going have to come back to base and finish your work off"
"mhm" her eyes snapped open "what?"
"i'm sorry but we can't let you loose just yet hyejin. you know too much and it's dangerous to have you out by yourself with all that knowledge. it's better for you to be under our surveillance for the time being"
"you just want the key cards fixed don't you"
"well yes, but-"
"it's 6 in the morning could you please like go capture me at 1 in the afternoon k thanks, bye" she ended the call and threw her phone across the room, falling straight back to sleep as she dug her face into her pillow.
it was silent for a few minutes, only the deep snores could be heard until a loud knock on her door made her fall off her bed, still half asleep
the knocks didn't stop, much to her dismay but she was still stuck in her dream to be bothered to even lift a finger.
"is she dead" jungwoo asked, scratching the back of his neck
"what do we do?" taeil laughed nervously, knocking again
"should we just bust in?" jungwoo glanced at the wooden door
"just bash it down"
as soon as jungwoo and taeil were taking a few steps back in preparation, the front door opened revealing a messy haired and still in pyjamas hyejin
"don't you dare break down my door or i'm telling this whole world about your little gang" she threatened, her eyes barely even open
"hyejin!" jungwoo jumped up enthusiastically, relieved that she opened the door so that he wouldn't have to get a beating from taeyong
"so here's the thing, we haven't established a stable trust relationship as of now so unfortunately, we can't let you out into the open world just yet" taeil explained, fiddling with his fingers as he refused to look her in the eye
"what, am i a dog now?" she scoffed untying a massive knot in her hair. she had slept in a bun and that was one of the worse mistakes she had ever chosen to do in her life, well except for fixing chenle's car that is
"no...but we just really need you to come with us back to the base" jungwoo flashed a smile, not earning one back
"but i thought we havent established a stable trust relationship so why the hell would i get in a car with a bunch of crazy strangers with guns that could shoot my brains out like right now" she cocked her head to the side, satisfied with her clever answer
"you know chenle right? like you guys have a stable trust relationship" taeil was now pulling out the last of his cards to win this conversation
"no. we have more of a stable hate relationship" she only smiled in return
"well that's still a relationship." taeil rebutted "just cmon, we can't stand outside your front door for too long that's weird"
"i like weird"
"i dont, now could you please just get in the car" taeil was this close to losing it with this girl, he didn't how chenle tolerated it. hyejin groaned and taeil and jungwoo managed to drag her into the van that could fit way more people than it looked.
winwin was in the drivers seat, taeyong in shotgun. haechan and jaehyun in the two seats behind winwin and jungwoo and taeil clambering into the two seats behind haechan and jaehyun, leaving hyejin to go and sit next to chenle. she could have sat behind chenle but she was half asleep and her head was filled with nothing but complaints
chenle raised his eyebrow at her choice of fashion and her eyes that were probably closed again at this point, her head resting against the car seat
"did you guys actually capture her?" winwin asked from the front, stepping on the engine and exiting the apartment building
"no, we persuaded her...kind of" taeil replied, yawning
"we were going to bash her door down" jungwoo admitted, earning a slap from taeil.
"you should of" haechan looked back at the droopy-eyed two
taeyong has requested them all to arrive at the base extra early today to close off the cube case and start focusing on the starship case, so everyone had arrived at 5:00 in the morning. everyone was as tired as heck and a 40 minute car ride only made them sleepier than ever, including hyejin
her head rocked from side to side, occasionally waking up to some jerky movement of the car but falling asleep again a minute later. chenle wasn't tired, he never got tired so he just watched as her head was basically spinning 360 degrees while she was fast asleep. it looked uncomfortable but he didn't quite know what to do
he was even contemplating giving up his shoulder at this point
he rolled his eyes, cursing under his breath and repeating prayers that she wasn't awake and that no one saw this because this chenle wasn't definitely not the chenle who refused to pay money
he reached out his arm around her neck, then gently pushed her head towards his shoulder, where it fell comfortably there. he retracted his arm and let it lay next to his side.
his heart pounded at an incredulous speed, though he didn't know what words to describe this. he had never learnt this emotion and it was scaring him.
foreign things had a way of getting to him more than death ever did
because he knew what death was like
it was his favourite word after all
winwin glanced through the rear view mirror, smiling to himself at the stone like structure named chenle and the girl with a light smile on her face, her head fitting so comfortably with his neck. taeyong realised winwins change of focus and also looked through the mirror, spotting the two that looked a little too close to be mere acquaintances
though it could all be a coincidence, and so taeyong thought
"they look good together don't they?" winwin smiled to himself, directing his concentration back at the road
"i never thought i'd ever see this" taeyong couldn't help but also join in with the smiles
"did anyone?" winwin looked at taeyong for a brief second, turning back to the road when their eyes had shared the same message
he had found his antidote