her? ⇢ chensung ✔

zweiundsechzig

a new day arose with a heavy thunderstorm, the temperature plummetting in a steep slope that even a p-n junction diode would be jealous of, woke a certain someone up from her sleep.

jolting up from her bed with a sharp but barely audible gasp, bae immediately jumped out of her bed and tried her level best to open the squeaky door with barely enough noise that went deaf for her father's ears, deep asleep much to her relief.

she quietly padded into the dim drawing room, flinching at the flashes of lightning every now and then. approaching the warm and comfy couch she had known for practically her entire life, she climbed into the familiar soft fabric, cuddling up with the worn out yet fuzzy velvet pillows.

before she could even react, a warm hand met hers, although it was definitely not her father's, she could feel a resemblance to her mother's instead.

"i see someone's up too," a quiet, yet broken voice spoke out. "it's too early for you, bae. go back to sleep."

without a single flinch, she grasped chenle's hand, as firmly as her small fingers could do. in her tired trance, she crawled to her aunt's embrace, not wanting to let go. "don't want to..." she whined weakly.

"but you're tired," chenle defended. "i'll take you to your dad, alright?"

"n-no..." bae refused as she lay limp, leaning on him as support. "i want to stay with you instead..."

chenle paused for a moment as he heard that sentence slur out from the 4-year-old. a smile curled his lips as he slipped his hands underneath the child's body, picked her up and placed her on his lap as he wrapped her hands around her small frame.

sleep was kicking in for bae as she closed her eyes, but immediately flinched as the next bout of lightning and thunder struck the earth, a roaring noise coursing through the air.

the sudden noise was far too much for her to handle. she broke down as quite sobs wracked her frame, curling up into a ball as she did. sensing her turmoil, chenle caressed her head, consoling her as he did. "bae, it's nothing, look...it's just a lightning flash, nothing else..."

"b-bad lightning flash...when will it ever end...?" she spoke out in a feeble voice, her phrases fragmented into sniffles. "i-i wish...m-mom was here..."

chenle ceased completely at that last sentence. trying not to break down, he stood calm and unnerved, but she could sense something was gravely wrong.

"...are you alright...? i-is...mom not...coming back...?" bae was in tears as her voice fell into a gradual dimineundo.

"n-no, of course not! didn't your dad tell you, w-wookjin gege's going to come back...! just wait for a little longer...a-alright...?" chenle tried his best to control his stutters as he did not want the child to be devastated to know that her mother is forever out of her reach.

she paused for a moment as she sighed with a wobbling tone, still sniffling. "a-alright..." she spoke out in a solemn voice, agreeing to what he stated. "why...are you awake though...?"

"i like the rain, and this couch. it feels nice to watch the thunderstorm at times," chenle half-lied, as he was also jolted by a particularly loud roar of thunder. "besides, i didn't want to sleep..."

"why not?" the child frowned as she spoke up in a stern voice, all her stutters disappearing instantaneously. "you should sleep, or else you'll be sleepy all day and dad would be disappointed in you!"

chenle snickered internally at her melodramatic precautionary warning as he beamed wholesomely at her. "alright, i'll go to sleep, but only if you do..."

having no choice, bae decided to agree, as she made a mental note to just close her eyes and lay still until he sleeps off so that she can wake up once again.

without wasting anymore time, the two closed their eyes as sleep overtook them, and to no one's surprise, the child fell deep asleep in his arms, followed much closely by himself.

🍂

"how is jisung right now...? is he doing well?"

"hyung...i don't know anymore...i mean, i did know he had a lot of problems, but...i didn't know it was this much..."

jaemin sighed as he feebly spoke out to his hyung on the phone, worried sick for the younger, who was curled up in a troubled, yet deep slumber— and much to their dismay, one of the only times he had slept properly in a month.

jaemin and jeno had tried their level best to console the heartbroken boy, but he showed no signs of ever moving away from chenle. the two made sure jisung never got his hands on anything even remotely sharp, and repeatedly covered for him whenever his mother called him.

it seemed as if his condition only grew worse as time passed on.

"how is chenle doing though...? ten's been asking me whether or not he's fine too many times, you know...."

jaemin hitched his breath as he was suddenly confused with the sudden he/him pronouns for his best friend who is masquerading as a female all this time. "h-hyung, you got-"

"i know chenle's a boy. ten told me everything about him and that he was only pretending for the sake of jisung's mother's wish. ten and i never kept secrets, jaemin."

"h-hyung...there's a small problem though..." jaemin spoke out in a feeble voice as he let out a sigh, "lele's...pregnant by the time they broke up. he's already one month in, and he really didn't want anyone to know about this..."

"h-he's what now?!" ten's voice cried out in an amplitude far too much for jaemin's ears to handle, but thankfully, not enough to wake jisung up from his deep sleep. "why didn't you tell me this sooner, jaemin?!"

"h-hyung, be quiet! sungie's sleeping right now, he hadn't slept well in days!" jaemin whisper-screamed, to which ten calmed down, but his astonishment still lingered in his voice. "jaemin, you could have told me about this before, i would have helped him out..."

"don't worry hyung, lele's in safe hands. he's staying at my cousin's shared apartment, but i don't know if he's ever coming back if he really wanted to hide this from sungie..." jaemin trailed off as he let out a sigh, not even sure if chenle is ever coming back, which might be a decision that would scar jisung for life.

"i really hope he does come back though, we can't let our baby be depressed like this..." ten's voice fell into a diminuendo, melancholy evident in his tone. "anyways, i'll hang up. it's too late, you should go back to sleep. goodnight."

"you too, hyung," jaemin spoke out as he hung up the phone, his attention turning back to the desolate condition of the younger, still sleeping soundly in the last silver of sanity he possessed. sighing, he left the room without saying a word, closing the door as slowly as he could.

but what he did not realize that jisung was listening to everything with complete attention, each word clear as glass to him, the shrapnel-like words cutting into his skin as he did.

a/n: i'm back once again, and as you can see, my writing skills really deteriorated.

i can't even write 1200 words properly anymore 😭😭

anygays, i have no clue when the next update's coming, but i really, really want to finish this shit. boards and revisions are going to take a toll on me next week, so maybe, this fic would be sitting in a hiatus for 3 or 4 months, and that's the worst case scenario.