firefly | zhong chenle

CH24

"they love—regardless of death and sacrifice, because loving someone is worth it"

-

Chenle woke up the next morning, on the couch, with an absolutely destructive headache. He held his head in his hand, groaning as he tried to drag himself up. It was a blur, everything was a blur yesterday. He remembered going into the dinner room, but had forgotten anything that happened afterwards. It was like there was just a gap in his memory.

Sitting up, he first questioned why he slept on the couch, and then questioned why his things were everywhere. When he placed his palm down against the couch, he felt something hard under his hand. Picking the object up, he began examining it, to find an earring in the shape of a heart, studded with diamonds.

"Huh" He simply looked at it, scavenging through his memory to remember where this earring came from. It was futile as it seemed as though he was knocked in the head at one point and forgot everything.

Sliding it inside his pocket, he freshened up, tidying his hair until he got a phone call from his father.

"Where are you"

"My house"

"I thought you were coming back to my house"

"Had to deal with the Heads phone calls so I came back"

"The employers are all very happy-"

"Did you file the report like you said you would"

There was a pause in his fathers voice "Yes. We put him on probation "

"Okay. Thank you" And Chenle hung up without a single moments of hesitation.

;

You would not believe how fast Arin had ran out of Chenle's house that morning. She just grabbed her bag and bolted out of there. They didn't go any further than simply kissing, but that action in itself caused Arin to be all over the place.

Arin had safely arrived back in the fire station at 5 in the morning without Chenle realising. She clutched her bag in her hand, sneaking in to bump head first into Jeno.

"Arin. You're up" Jeno furrowed his eyebrows, confused

"Yeah I uh, went for a morning run" Arin began pretending to be out of breath, slotting her hands on her waist and bending over in a tired stance.

"Since when have you ever gone on a morning run. You never even turn up to morning training" Jeno laughed like she was joking

"Character development. Yeah" Arin wanted to jump out the window after saying that "Im going to go change clothes. I'll see you at breakfast"

"Okay..." Jeno was sceptical, but let it go when he watched Arin scurry away like she was walking on eggshells.

Before Arin could even take a single breath of relief, the sirens rang, signalling a mission. Cursing out in frustration, Arin stripped off her clothes and changed into her uniform, bolting out the door along with the crowds of other people.

"Unit 1, 2 and 3. Calling all members of units 1, 2, 3. A fire has started in the city. The witness described it as detrimental so please hurry. Head to the middle of Hongdae now"

;

"Detrimental huh" Arin scoffed, her arms crossed over and her weight leant on one leg. She was currently watching Jeno climb up the tree to supposedly save a cat that did not look like they wanted to come down.

Arin felt a tap on her shoulder. Spinning around, she was greeted by the nurse from Unit 1–Yuyi.

"Hey" She smiled, waving ecstatically to her.

"Oh hey. Yuyi, right?" Arin smiled, walking with her back to the trucks as they both took a seat on the floor. With the amount of people and time wasted on an 'detrimental' emergency call of a cat up a tree, there was a lot more that was going to happen after the rescuing of the cat. Fining, punishment, extra checks, negotiating with police etc... it was a hassle when civilians call the firefighters and title this situation as detrimental. Thus, everyone else not involved in those procedures just had to sit around and wait.

"How has it been?" Yuyi asked, passing her a can of coke in which she took with glee. Arin shrugged, snapping the tab off and taking a swig.

"That swig of coke seemed like you have a lot on your mind" Yuyi mentioned, almost as if Arin was transparent "You can tell me anything. Unlike the boys, as a female myself, I guarantee you better advice than all the boys in your unit combined"

"Let me ask you a question" Arin turned to face Yuyi properly "So basically...my friend..."

"Sure. Your friend"

Arin cleared her throat sheepishly, and ranted "She kissed a guy she was interested in when he was drunk. But he's forgotten everything and she ran away the next morning because she's too scared to face him and now she doesn't know what do because does she talk to him? or pretend nothing happened since he doesn't remember anything either?"

"Does the guy like your friend?" Yuyi asked, leaning back on her hands.

"I don't know"

"So neither had confessed is what you're telling me" Yuyi sighed and shook her head in disappointment "I say, one of them confesses and then they start dating and then tell him what happened that night. Easy"

Definitely easier said than done.

"Yuyi" Arin bit her bottom lip "My friend also works at a fire station and-"

"I know you're talking about yourself"

"Okay yes whatever, it's me" Arin stuttered "But you should know better than anyone about the consequences of dating a firefighter. I can't lie and tell you I'm not scared, because in reality, Im terrified. Terrified that one day I'll close my eyes and the next day I'll open them to never see him again. Terrified one day I'll see his name on the news. Terrified that one day I'll lose him"

"Do you think those firefighters are scared of death?" Yuyi pointed at each one of them, dressed in orange uniforms and helmet, bustling around, helping as much as possible

"Who isn't" Arin replied. Death was a heavy word. Because it carried weight like no other word. It was the longest farewell and the slowest goodbye.

"Yet they're still willing to love" Yuyi made eye contact with Arin "They know how dangerous their job is. Gosh, they know it far too well. They write wills every week just in case one day they don't make it back. They know exactly what it's like everyday, preparing for sacrifice. But look at them. They have friends, families, and lovers"

Arin fell completely silent, scratching at the dead skin in her nails in contemplation.

"They love—regardless of death and sacrifice, because loving someone is worth it"