𝑆𝐸𝑉𝐸𝑁 𝐴.𝑀. // 𝙣𝙘𝙩 𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙢

10

jisung froze, how did renjun know his skin was soft. 

the only way renjun would know that jisung's skin was soft was wenyan. 

'tears rolled down the boys face, trying to help his best friend who was bleeding out, but rough hands were pulling him back, the two of them big enough to wear they almost went all the way around jisung's waist. 

"no-no. jingyi-jingyi you're alive, stay with me! please-please, jingyi dont- don't leave me!" jisung yelled grabbing the boys limp hand. 

"your skin is soft, korean boy." wenyan smiled, yanking jisung away from jingyi. ' 

chenle stared at jisung, unsure what to do. he wished so badly to call out to the boy, to comfort him. he cursed xukun for turning him into this. he couldn't hug the boy, but that wasn't jisung's fault. he couldn't talk to the boy, that was xukun's fault. 

if it weren't for all the comments, about how his voice was to high, to hoarse, not worthy to speak for his family. 

xukun wanted to take over the company, but his father chose chenle. 

in the end xukun listened to their fathers advice. 

don't let anyone get in your way. 

when chenle stopped talking, stopped listening, stopped being the spokesman his father wanted. xukun got the heir. to the biggest company in all of china. he didn't care about the heir. he didn't give a damn that xukun took it from him. 

but he sure as hell gave a damn, that xukun took his voice from him. not literally. but xukun had mentally hurt the boy so bad. he couldn't make a noise. well he could. but he wouldn't. 

and at this moment, of the small chick like boy, curled into a ball, sobbing his heart out, as donghyuck and mark tried their best but didn't know what to do, chenle wanted his voice back. 

sobs racked jisung's body. every sob making him fall deeper in the pot hole of memories. jisung hated crying, everytime he cried the memories came back. the memories of when he was "korean boy" when he was "park"

the cocaine addicted, red eyed, messy haired, life of the party. "park." he was fourteen, when he became park. and freshly seventeen when he became "patient at nct mental hospital, park jisung." 

those three years, between park and patient. were like a rollercoaster between heaven and hell. his high throughout the night, bouncing from party to party, enough money in his waist band to feed a family of five. and walking through town the next morning, eyes red, needle marks in his skin, no place to use the money except rent and drugs. 

the cycle continued over and over, until one day, someone found him on the street. xiao dejun. the chinese man was so concerned over jisung, he's the one who put jisung in this place. and although jisung was grateful, he hated xiao dejun with every bone in his body. he would have died, he would have overdosed. if it weren't for xiao dejun.

chenle had been sent to live with one of the zhong's employees after a while. wong kunhang, or 'hendery.' veentually chenle shifted from living with hendery to living with kun. he loved both boys, but kun was like his mom. kun would always tell him how pretty he was, how his smile lit up the room...how he couldn't wait to hear the boy's laugh because it was surely going to be the most angelic sound the boy had ever heard. 

chenle wished he had laughed when he lived with kun. 

he didnt even speak at kun's. 

he wanted to comfort jisung so bad. he wanted to tell the boy that he would be okay a thousand times over, that he would always be here for him. 

'jisung was sitting outside the pub, so many drugs flowing through his bloodstream, he was shocked he wasn't dead yet. 

"hey park! got some mushrooms?" a college student yelled. his name was johnny. 

jisung nodded, not really processing anything but what appeared to be johnny's several heads. ' 

jisung tried so hard to snap out of this, to try and listen to donghyuck and mark's comforting albeit panicked words. to get himself out of this ball, to stand up and comfort renjun. tell him it was okay. that he understood, that wenyan hurt him too and they would survive it together. with the rest of the boys by their sides. 

but here he was, hearing words pass through his ears but it all becoming mush, lanky body squished into the tightest possible ball it could, fifteen away from renjun. and most certainly not survivng with his trauma. 

with all the boys in chaos, no one knew what to do. 

jisung not responding was making donghyuck panic even more. 

donghyuck panicking was making mark anxious because he had never had to deal with this situation sober. 

renjun was still zoning in and out, thrashing in jeno's arms. 

jeno wasn't sure what to do to help renjun, and it made his own brain turn against him. 

jaemin could tell jeno was out of it and had no clue how to help the two boys in front of him. 

and chenle was so worried he didn't even realizing what he was doing. 

what he did. that left the six other boys in almost silence. that made jisung un-roll himself from his ball, made donghyuck pause his panic, same with mark. made renjun and jeno snap out of their minds. made jaemin let out the breath he didn't know he was holding. 

"s-s-sungie~" he said, his voice breaking, it was said softly, barely audible. but jisung heard it. and so did the others. 

zhong chenle said his first word in four years.