soliloquy ↬ chensung

Ch.25

"You guys must've worked this out by now, right?" Renjun sighed and tapped his pen against the desk. The main three actors stood before him on the stage and Renjun's desk by the front row was swarmed by Jeno and Jaemin, who were keeping tabs on the director's notes on their friends.

Donghyuck glanced at Jisung with a knowing smile and nodded, speaking for the three of them. "Of course we have. Right Sungie?"

The youngest forced a tight-lipped courtesy smile and turned to Chenle, who really wasn't bothered by the kiss much either way. He didn't like Donghyuck in that way so at this stage, he wasn't even fretting about it. "Yup."

"Great," Renjun yawned and waved his hand over the stage, the other one covering his mouth as he displayed his tonsils. "Okay, we'll run the last scene, and then I guess..."

Jeno and and Jaemin eagerly watched over his shoulder as he checked his notes, bodies leaning forward in anticipation.

"And then I guess we're finished the play," he smiled in relief and stayed quiet for a moment as the rest of the crew, including the side characters, rejoiced at the news.

Jisung turned to Chenle with a wide grin and a victory pump of the arm. "And then it's opening night!" He breathed, hand finding its way to the Chinese boy's shoulder and giving it a gentle, excited and nervous squeeze.

The energy radiated through Chenle's body, and for a boy who had once been averse to presentations, public speaking and the alike, he also remarkably found his heart rate speed up with excitement. "It's been so long that I almost forgot there was a performance at the end of this." His cheeks turned red in happiness rather than embarrassment.

Renjun tapped his pen loudly against the desk again to regain their attention. "Ladies and gentlemen, do you know what this means?" He received a bunch of blank stares. Of course they knew it meant there was a performance soon, but that wasn't what he was referring to. "No more after school punishment work after opening night. We're free!" He threw his arms up in the air dramatically and laughed a laugh that the entire group had never heard from him before. It was utterly joyous.

"Oh no," Donghyuck feigned sadness and wiped his eyes. "I was beginning to enjoy it. What a shame."

Jaemin waved to Chenle from behind Renjun and gave him a proud thumbs-up that expressed a lot. It was saying 'Well done Bestie, even though it started out as a punishment for checking if Jisung was in the cast, you've done phenomenally well.'

Chenle almost gave him a gleeful returning gesture but the pink-haired boy was dragged aside by Jeno, who was animatedly telling him something. He smiled to himself as his friend clearly dropped his happy demeanour just to make Jeno think he wasn't interested in what he was saying. "Such a jerk," he murmured under his breath and turned to Jisung with laughing eyes.

"Opening night is in..." the taller boy tilted his head in thought, "two weeks? Until then, I guess it's all rehearsals and last-minute costume collections."

The older boy nodded enthusiastically.

They chatted a bit more before Renjun clapped his hands loudly, halting all banter. "The principal was speaking with me last month about something."

"And?" Donghyuck leaned forward, crouching down on the stage to meet the director's height.

"How do you guys feel about a party to celebrate 'Across the World'?"

There was a very strong and vicious 'yes' from everyone, who were already losing their thoughts to what outfit to wear.

"Perfect, because I accepted without asking any of you. So now you know," he clapped again and gave the boy crouching down a wave of the hands to stand back up. "Okay, so we're good to get to practice now? There will be no party if this play never ends, and by god, it felt like it never would for a while there."