firefly | zhong chenle

CH16

"He knew, loving someone, meant a lot of things"

-

"I don't have anything I want to say to you" Arin scoffed, turning away from him in which Chenle gently tugged her back by the wrist.

"Sorry" Chenle blurted, a mixture of genuine regret and coldness in his tone, as if he wanted to apologise but still didn't want to show his vulnerability. Arin didn't say anything, her eyes shooting downwards at the floor.

"I know you were just worried. Sorry. I shouldn't have reacted the way I reacted" Chenle apologised again, his grip around her wrist tightening.

Arin let a small and subtle smile peak through "Finally you had some sense knocked into you" She punched his arm playfully as Chenle distanced himself.

"We have a checkout round to go to. Hurry up" Chenle ushered her, the corners of his lips lifted up in slight joy. Checkout rounds were essentially the name made up by these firefighters to go around specific areas to check the fire safety and give fire precautions to the people living in that area. They run these once a week to lessen the chance of a fire starting.

"Why do I have to go" Arin groaned whilst Chenles hands were on her shoulders, pushing her out the door.

"We're not paying you to sit there and do nothing" Chenle wheeled her towards the trucks. When they entered the trucks, everyone was already in there and it seemed as though the crowd stopped dead when they saw Chenle and Arin together.

"Truck's leaving in 2 minutes. Stop dawdling" Renjun urged. Arin laughed sheepishly, taking a seat at the very back to hide the flush that was rising to her cheeks. Before Chenle could follow her, he was pulled down in the seat beside Jisung.

"Chenle" Jisung nudged him "Is there something going on between you and Arin"

Chenle exhaled softly, forgetting completely about Jisung's crush. Suddenly, he felt guilty for taking up much of her time with him. But one's heart doesn't lie. He thought he would always be willing to sacrifice anything for his teammates, but he now knew it wasn't as easy as he thought.

"No" Chenle choked down the mucus in his throat.

"Good" Jisung folded his arms over, leaning back "I thought you like developed a crush or something. But now that I think about it, with how much you and Arin fight, I doubt it"

"Yeah" Chenle mumbled, glancing out the window.

"Later when we get there, help me out. When we go in groups, put me and Arin in a duo" Jisung exclaimed quietly, grabbing Chenles arm "Please, Captain"

"You're too inexperienced. You can't go alone with her" Chenle was quick to reject, hiding his annoyance behind his words.

"Oh please. It's checkout rounds and god knows how many times I've done this before. I'll be fine, have some faith Captain" Jisung whined, where Chenle simply didn't know what to do anymore.

"I'll take your silence as a yes" Jisung squealed "Renjun said we're checking out a neighbourhood that's pretty far away from our station, so we'll be on the road for a while. Now, I'm going to sleep don't you dare wake me up" Just like that, Jisung turned his body and went straight to sleep, with his head against the window and mouth wide opened.

Chenle sighed, glancing at the rear view mirror that was like a metre away from him. He saw the girl asleep, her head dropping down whenever the car turned or Renjun stepped on the breaks. His eyes then fell on Jisung, who was next to him. He knew he should have told Jisung from the very beginning that he also developed a crush on Arin, but his stubborn ass refused to believe in the fact that he could fall so easily for some girl that turned up to the station one day.

He knew, loving someone, meant a lot of things. Happiness, dependence, warmth, but it also meant pain, suffering, grief. He just couldn't let someone he loved suffer because of him. Knowing his job, his girlfriend would have to wait in agony for his return not knowing whether he's dead or still alive. His girlfriend wouldn't even be able to see him half the time.

But, hearts were a magical thing. You couldn't control it.

Thus, Chenle stood up and slid into the seat beside Arin when everyone had fallen asleep. He lifted his fist to his mouth, coughing awkwardly as he shuffled closer to the girl. As her head was about to smash against the window, Chenle reached his arm over, cushioning her head against the glass with his hand. Chenles eyes were glued in front of him, too scared that he'd make a mistake if he looked at her. The moment he felt the weight of her head fall against his shoulder, he couldn't help but glance at her. The yellow glow of the setting sun painted a beautiful mirage of orange and gold, her hair a caramel brown against the sunlight. He could almost count each and every eyelash as his gaze fell naturally upon before figure. Like a butterfly, his heart bloomed with something, crawling out of its cocoon to turn into something truly elegant.

His fingers scraped against her skin to move a stray hair away from her face, tucking it gently behind her ear. At the contact, she shuffled slightly, her head slotting into his neck more comfortably. Chenle fluttered his eyes shut for a brief second, his body frozen in place, terrified that one move and she'd wake up.

He was about to lean his own head against hers in an attempt to also take a nap but was abruptly stopped when he heard a voice call out to him.

"Chenle, what are you doing back there?" It was Jisung. The younger boy was stood up in the bus isle, holding onto the seat backs besides him as his eyebrows were furrowed in confusion. Chenle's jaw tensed, eyes dancing around at every corner but Jisung's eyes.

"I was getting something. From the back. Here. Yeah" Chenle covered up his broken words with his stone cold expression. Because of their conversation, Arin had always woken up, rubbing her eyes and lifting her head. However, to her surprise, the first thing she saw wasn't the interior of the bus but the rough skin of a man. She had thought she was hallucinating for a second.

"And this..." Jisung pointed to Arin and Chenle, smiling small to the Arin who was barely processing what was even happening.

"I was taking a seat here to sort out my bag and she just fell asleep on me" Chenle made up an excuse, explaining himself quite poorly but Jisung seemed to be believe him regardless.

"Oh okay" Jisung nodded slowly. Chenle stood up, pushing past Jisung, who began a conversation with Arin, and sitting himself back in his seat. From a distance, he could hear the two speaking with enthusiasm.

"Fuck" And Chenle pounded his fist at his heart. He didn't know why it all hurt so much.