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Will never give my all again
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A harsh, cold breeze caused Chenle to pull his thin hoodie closer to his body, walking to Rin's house despite the vicious churning of his intestines.
A gun was tucked in his waistband, per usual, but he had placed it there purely upon instinct; he wasn't planning on getting into a gunfight tonight.
Mind spiraling into entropy, Chenle stared at the sidewalk as he wandered closer to the girl's home, lost in his thoughts, yet he was devoid of what to say, and where to start.
Even with Iseul, he had never confessed; she had taken the time out of her day to tell Chenle how she felt about him, even if it was a blatant lie.
What was there to say? 'Hey, sorry I almost killed you and made your life a living Hell; go out with me?'
Chenle sighed, kicking a rock as he continued to trudge through the dark night.
The fear of rejection made his shoulders slump and his fingers fiddle endlessly, unease sending a wave of nervousness down his spine.
He wondered if he should go back; Chenle decided it would be so much easier to deal with a sadistic, romanticist Taeyong than to figure out how to explain his complex feeling towards Rin.
Furthermore, Chenle, despite knowing that Rin wouldn't do anything harmful, kept having pessimistic thoughts about it all; would she be like Iseul? Kind, then bloodthirsty?
Chenle shook the thought from his head, knowing that he wouldn't be able to go through with the confession if he continued to think of Iseul.
For what felt like an eternity, Chenle felt like he was walking on eggshells- desperate to please Iseul, even after she had died.
Yet somehow, the threat that her ghost imposed in the past was outshined by the promise of seraphic memories in the future, and Chenle felt... free.
As if the city itself was alive, a soft humming drifted through Chenle's ears, and the repetitive sounds of cars whizzing by filled the air, along with the soft scurrying of stray animals that hid within the night, probably searching for food.
Chenle's path was illuminated by the soft glow of streetlights and the silver moonlight that spilled over him, outlining Chenle with a silhouette of mercury.
Buildings shrouded in shadows surrounded him like a towering army of sturdy creatures, and alleyways consumed by darkness scrutinized him from the corners of his eyes, worsening Chenle's uneasy stomach.
Feeling watched, Chenle could've sworn he heard footsteps behind him, and he whirled around, searching for the source of them, but he saw no one; the sidewalk was deserted, only occupied by himself, and a small stray kitten that stumbled out of a nearby alleyway.
Walking backwards, Chenle narrowed his eyes at the empty road that accompanied him, knowing something was off, yet he couldn't find anything out of the ordinary.
Wind gliding across his skin, Chenle's head was on a swivel, scanning the secluded street for a person, yet no one was visible, and the second pair of footsteps had ceased, causing tremors of unease to crawl up his spine.
Pursing his lips together, Chenle hesitantly began to face the direction he was walking, assuming that he had imagined it.
Stuffing his hands in his pockets, Chenle eyes wandered around his surroundings as he sauntered towards the girl's house, on edge.
As he passed a buss stop, Chenle saw movement coming from another alleyway, and he halted in place, trying to peer through the darkness of the night.
Chenle wasn't dumb enough to enter a place where couldn't see for a potential fight, so he stayed under the illumination of streetlights- eyes seeking for a person.
The rhythmic tapping of sprinting footsteps resurfaced, but from behind, running from what Chenle assumed was the street.
Reacting quickly, Chenle whipped around once again as a scrawny, hooded figure dashed towards him, only a step away from reaching Chenle.
He was as slim as a stick, and his baggy clothes barely clung to his small body as he moved quickly, yet he was much smaller than Chenle, which gave the gang leader an advantage.
Chenle couldn't see the boy's face, as it was hidden by a black hood and medical mask, but Chenle knew what he was there to do; within the kid's hand was a silver knife- rapidly approaching Chenle's abdomen.
Familiar with the situation, Chenle hastily grabbed the smaller's wrist as the stranger's arm outstretched to stab the boy, yanking it to the side, and watched as he stumbled past Chenle, carried by his redirected momentum.
"Can we do this later? Like, tomorrow?" Chenle bargained with a sigh. "I'm kinda doing something."
Once the hooded boy regained his balance, he stumbled around, facing Chenle yet again.
"What? Going to see your beloved Rinnie?" The boy taunted, and Chenle assumed the boy was around 15, judging by his small form and high voice.
Chenle narrowed his eyes at the younger, jaw clenching as he shot a heart-stopping glare at the stranger.
In his right hand, his boney, pale fingers tightened around the black leather handle of his knife, ready to thrust it into Chenle's flesh given the chance.
"She lives around here, doesn't she?" He continued, voice slightly muffled by the mask upon his face.
The unidentifiable teenager raised brandished his weapon teasingly, rotating it within his grasp under the streetlight, and the silver, sharp blade of the knife flashed malevolently with reflected light, seemingly glowing with malice.
"What if Rin and her lovely father went missing?" He uttered, tilting his head innocently.
Chenle clenched his hands into a tight fist, becoming overly aware of the gun strapped to his side as he glowered at the boy, feeling his chest stir with rage at the boy's threats.
"What if you did?" Chenle muttered darkly.
Ooh tea