winter flower ; zhong chenle

five

"will you go to the dance with me?"

"yes."

it had been a week since jaemin asked areum to the dance. they had been hanging out one on one and it was going great. they both really liked each other. anyone with eyes could tell, it was obvious.

donghyuck didn't mind his sister and best friend hanging out. it seemed to be going well, and it made both of them happy.

the group were standing in the hall at the lee line's lockers when someone entered the school and gasped, "zhong chenle?"

"bei chunhua..."

the two hugged and chunhua kissed chenle's cheek. they began talking amongst themselves before the group interfered, "i would hate to break up this beautiful moment but chenle? would you like to introduce us?" areum said, feeling a little annoyed with the affectionate pairing.

chenle turned to his friends, throwing an arm around chunhua's shoulder, the same way he does with areum. areum felt a pang of jealousy but jaemin threw an arm around her, and she felt better.

"chunhua these guys are haechan, renjun, jeno, yangyang, and jaemin. and this one is my best friend jisung, and," he turned to areum with a sweet smile, "this is my other best friend, lee areum. oh, and this is my friend chunhua."

chunhua gave the boys a sweet smile but when she looked at areum, all she saw was competition. chenle didn't smile at her the way he smiled at areum. he didn't say her full name nor did he say her name as sweetly as he said areum's. he didn't look at her nearly the way chenle looked at areum.

chunhua gave areum the fakest smile she could muster and turned back to chenle, "chennie, you said areum was really pretty but she isn't nearly as pretty as you said." everyone was taken aback, areum, in particular, felt offended.

"um, excuse me?" areum asked as polite as she could and chunhua gave her a smirk before walking away, dragging chenle with her. "okay did anyone else see the way she faked a smile at areum noona?" jisung asked and renjun added, "or how she just indirectly called areum ugly."
"that bitch." jaemin mumbled, laying his cheek on areum's head but areum was boiling. how could her best friend let some random girl talk so badly about her.

subconsciously, areum curled her fists into bawls and donghyuck laughed as he noticed, "easy, girl. maybe she was joking." donghyuck continued laughing but immediately stop when he noticed the deathly glare his sister was giving him. "i'm kidding, i'm kidding. i'll go beat her up." areum rolled he eyes at her brother and walked away. "nice job, oppa." jeno said sarcastically, hitting hyuck in the head.

once areum got to her first period, she had finally calmed down. jisung had an arm around her shoulder and was telling her about how cool some game was, calming the girl down. but as they were approaching their tables, areum's anger quickly came back.

"ya, that's my seat." chunhua smirked, "well, it's mine now." areum looked at chenle, and chenle nodded, knowing to correct the girl. "no, reum's right. this is her seat. there's a seat over by jeongin right there." he smiled, showing the new girl the only empty seat in the class.

she was about to yell but she looked up to see the whole class looking at her. nobody, including the teacher, dared to separate chenle, areum, and jisung. they were good individually but amazing together and everyone knew that.

chunhua reluctantly got up, glaring at areum, and went to her new seat. areum took her seat and chenle threw an arm around her, "you're not mad, are you?" "hmm, why would i be mad? oh, are you talking about when your little "girlfriend" indirectly called me, your best friend, ugly? no! why would i be mad, zhong chenle?"

chenle frowned and hugged her, "i'm sorry. i'll talk to her after class and make her apologize. please don't be mad at me." areum looked at chenle's pleading eyes and gave in, resting her head on his shoulder. "fine but if she does or says one more thing-" "she won't. i promise."