❝ with your one smile
with your one gesture
the spring comes ❞
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clustering around her old appartements coffee table, her and jeno leant close to each other to examine the one photo that seemed to have the whole reality weigh down on it. jisung was supposed to come, but he had been completely out of it lately, not even taking a glance at any of the clues she had found.
she was digging in a place she wasn't meant to, yet curiosity seemed to always strike at her soul. their goal was to find inho and put him behind bars, but now, she was digging into the whole backstory of starship and why inho came to be the leader.
everyone else seemed to be helping for their very own reasons, majority of them curious to see why hansol did what he did.
"i'm telling you, hansol 100% had a sister. you heard inho in the hospital, and chenle already told you hansol had a sister that he shot dead!" hyejin slammed her hand down, pencil almost snapping under the pressure
"but this picture explains otherwise! if that's hansol in the picture, there's no way in hell he had a sister. chenle and jisung could be lying! i mean, how would they have known that that was hansol sister! not his girlfriend or something!" jeno rebutted, frantically pointing at the rip in the page
"but that's the thing. you don't even know if that's hansol in the picture! what if it's inho!" hyejin argued, the rest of the nct members blocking their ears
"does that look like inho to you?!" jeno three his hands up, exhausted
"i mean it's a childhood photo, glow ups are a thing you know!"
"either way that's hansol in the photo"
"do you not realise that if that is in fact hansol in the photo, hansol worked for starship while being in nct!"
the whole room seemed to stop
"come with me" chenle abruptly bolted up, taking her by the wrist and leaving the room with a head full of questions.
"what- let go of me" they struggled along the path, until they reached chenle's room, his grip so tight there was no way of escape.
as soon as the rooms door swung open, chenle released his grip and her arm swung away.
"please stop digging in a place you're not meant to" chenle breathed, taking everything it takes to maintain himself from lashing out
"no, i'm digging in a place you're afraid to" she shot right back.
"hansols dead, there's nothing else to it. we shot him because he sold our keycards elsewhere. the story isn't that complicated" chenle tried to get that knowledge through her head, but some pieces never line up in a lie
"that girl that inho was talking about in the hospital, you said that was inhos girlfriend, and also hansol sister. so what right do you have to tell me that story isn't as complicated as it seems!"
chenle realised he caught himself in his own lie. he didn't know her memory was that good.
"now what i don't understand is the fact you shot her...and that's it? is that all there is to it? you may be as empty as the air, but you wouldn't kill someone just because they were the shield! and...and hansol. he worked for starship while he was in nct, but then why the hell is the photo in starship van when hansols dead?"
"please just stop!" chenles voice reverted off the walls, stopping her dead in her tracks.
"this story doesn't belong to you so stop flipping the pages so aimlessly. drop it"
he was right. this story isn't hers. she's dug deep enough, perhaps too far. she was beginning to become the protagonist in a story that wasn't hers.
she breathed "okay"
"i need to go" chenle ran a hand through his hair, walking towards the door with his hand on the handle "dont leave the house"
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"you can't hide it anymore" chenle placed down his cup, jisung scoffing.
"i have to" jisung replied "i need to protect her"
"stop with the her her her nonsense" chenle sighed, leaning back and exhaling distraughtly "don't you realise if you keep this up, inhos not going to stop"
"if inho knows she's still alive, he's going to pester her and do what he did to her years ago. he'll hurt her" jisung stood up, pushing his chair in
"if hyejin gets hurt because of the lies you get me to spill, i won't ever forgive you"
"we all have something of ours to protect. i just need to protect what i have left of my childhood"
"listen to reality. we don't know if she's dead or alive"
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"chenle?" hyejin walked around the tiny apartment, weaving past many male bodies who seemed to be both brushing their teeth and doing file work
"excuse me- oh sorry" she pushed several people away "move dimwit"
"jisung?" she advanced the younger boy situated on the dinner table, staring off blankly. when his eyes switched up to hyejin's, he stood up and left with multiple files under his arm
"uh great cool" walking around to renjun on her tiny computer with ten right behind him.
"have you seen chenle?" she tapped them on the shoulder timidly, in which they shook their head disinterested. everyone was either refraining from killing each other at the little space they had, or too busy to think about killing each other.
shaking her head, she stepped out of her bedroom, closing the door behind her only for it to be bashed open by a flailing yuta. she could only reside to exiting her apartment and heading down the elevator
her head was heavy, everything weighing her down with endless thoughts that didn't even concern her. she needed to stop, she wanted to, but somehow her nose kept finding it's way to hints and clues that could reveal the truth behind everything. jisung's attitude has been putting her off, and a sense of guilt seemed to layer itself over her heart. but there was simply nothing she could do to confront him
locking eyes with the van parked outside, she slid out the glass door and towards the black vehicle, spotting winwin leant against the driver seat with his arm out the window.
"sicheng" she yelled from a distance, throwing a bottle of water at him where he caught it without a single glance at her.
"is chenle in there?" she turned a corner and stepped onto the black van, winwin nodding his head in return.
"he's asleep" winwin stood up, nodding to her and getting off the van to stretch. shaking her head lazily, she climbed her way to chenles seat. thankfully, no one else was in the van besides them which gave her enough room to move.
there was sweat beading his forehead, bundling strands of his hair together. she pursed her lips, taking her sleeve and brushing it along the sweat, wiping his forehead clean.
"you worry too much" she grabbed chenle's coat slung over the car arm, leaning over him to place the material over his shoulder. it was a stretch, so her whole body was practically leant over his, her arm reaching to wrap it securely around his shoulders.
her eyes refrained from trailing to his lips in such proximity, and she thought she had maintained herself until a certain force pushed her down, her lips attaching to chenle's.
her eyes widened, the pressure on her head previously had disappeared. winwin wasn't in the van, and he would be the last person who would want to see this. she didn't have time to think while her lips were pressed tightly on his. it felt so familiar, so nice. how it moulded with ease and the hesitance to part; it all felt refreshing. despite how awkwardly she was sat, a wave of nostalgia hit her.
the first day they had kissed, the first day they had argued. the first day they had laughed and the first day they had met. it was all coming back to her and all of sudden, she missed it, dearly.
it was when she felt chenle's lips fold into a smile, where hyejin ripped herself off him, fingers shooting to her lips that had been tainted.
"oh my god" she threw herself off him to avoid straddling him. there was no logical reason why she kissed him accidentally in the first place, there was literally no one on the van.
"holy shit" she cupped her hand over her mouth "i didn't just-"
chenle stirred in his sleep, turning so that his back was to her so he could sneak in a subtle smile. it felt nice, to feel that feeling of having her lips on his again.
"get yourself together hyejin it's not like you haven't kissed him before" she gave herself a hard whack to the head, bolting up and clambering off the van with insane speed she almost tripped.
"it's ok nothing happened nothing happened nothing happened" she threw the main entrance's glass door open "ah shit everything happened"
and the door violently smashed against the frame
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i don't know if you guys actually follow all the backstories and things but if you do, ily, cos i did spend some effort on it.
i sorted out what u guys know so far about inho/hansols backstory cos i know i'm always really confusing when i do backstories and stuff
what you know so far:
- the ripped photo was taken from starships van
- inho had a 'girlfriend' in which he stalked
- that girlfriend is hansol's sister
- chenle claims to have killed both hansol and his sister, but no other nct member was on sight when it happened besides jisung
- if hansol was the visible child in the ripped picture, then that would mean hansol had a connection to starship due to the fact that the picture was found in starships van
- the photo is ripped in a way that allows there to be an unlikely chance of there being another child of the family
- hyejin believes that the old man/owner of the cafe back in season one had a connection to starship
hopefully that clears up things and i would love to hear theories if any of you follow along
if you want to get into the full backstory of jisung, please give 'Deaths Wish' a shot!!