toxic | nct dream

33. body language

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Xia knew it was bad when she heard the melancholic notes coming from the first floor of the penthouse. That only ever meant one thing; Chenle was upset.

About what? Well, she had her suspicions, but there was only one way to find out.

She approached the piano slowly as to not startle the man. Listening to the music carefully, waiting for a pause.

It wasn't long before there was an off-note followed by a low grumble and the scratching of a pencil.

Now, she thought.

"Hey," the girl said softly, resting her crossed arms on the smooth black surface of the piano.

He only hummed in response, too focused on marking the note he messed up on.

"You know, it's not that late. Maybe you can call up some of the guys for a quick pick up game?"

He hummed again.

"I'm working on this." He said as if it wasn't obvious and continued playing the same piece.

Old habits truly died hard.

After knowing someone for almost twenty years, you start to pick up on a lot of their habits, and this was definitely the case with Xia and Chenle.

When something good happened, when he succeeded at something, he celebrated by playing basketball. An activity that brought him both joy and satisfaction.

When something bad happened, when he failed, he reverted back to his early piano lesson days; practicing until he got it 'right', just as his instructor taught him.

Even to the detriment of his health and wellbeing.

A success-at-all-costs mindset that Xia didn't buy into nor completely understood.

However, she understood that that was how Chenle was and he was unlikely to change. If he was dead set on taking care of her, then she would do the same.

After all, they were getting married.

"You already played this song perfectly three times in a row. The only reason you're messing up now is because you're stressing yourself out and overthinking it."

"Not perfect," he corrected. "A piece is only perfect if it's played with the adequate amount of emotion, and right now there's not enough emotion."

"I'd say there's too much," she said under her breath. He gave her an unamused look and continued moving his fingers across the keys.

"Was it that bad?" Xia finally asked, the question lingering in the air and casted a dark cloud across the spacious room.

Tension thickening.

Chenle hesitated a second before pressing the next sequence of keys.

"You don't want to know." He shook his head.

She reached down and grabbed his hand, preventing him from playing another note.

He stared at the diamond ring on her finger, then up into her eyes. If he couldn't talk to her, who could he talk to?

A sigh escaped his lips.

"He yelled at me in front of a room full of investors," he admitted. "I made a stupid mistake with some files and... I don't know. I guess I just thought that things would be different now — you know — now that I'm an adult, but I still feel like a little kid when I'm around him."

"I know the feeling," Xia mumbled.

"I don't understand why he would... push for me to take this position if he didn't think I could handle it," his eyes narrowed in confusion.

She gave it some thought.

"Well, it wasn't because you're so kind and caring towards his daughter. I can tell you that much," the girl replied bitterly.

Chenle turned his hand around to hold hers properly, thumb rubbing the back of it soothingly. A sympathetic look on his face.

With a small tug on their intertwined hands, he urged her to get closer.

"He has his reasons and we have our own. For being here, for committing to... this," she was now staring down at him — bodies inches apart — with those uncertain wide eyes that he adored so much.

"Don't we?"

He nodded in agreement. "Yeah," a soft smile on his face.

Her free hand went to caress his cheek.

"Lele, if anyone can handle this, it's you. You've always done your best in everything and it has always led to good results."

The praise gave him a lightness in his chest, causing him to sit up straight.

'You're the man' speeches were his love language. Consider it a characteristic stemming from his perceived status or just him as a man.

"You know, 'you're smart —most of the time — and sometimes you're talented'. And..." she couldn't contain the laughter that escaped her lips when he pulled her flush against his sat figure, fingers tickling her sides.

"Using my words, are we? What, you can't come up with your own?"

"Lele stop!"

Her hands grasped onto his shoulders, making their way down his arms in an attempt to remove them. His amused laughter mixing with hers.

Finally he stopped, the two panting from the moment of excitement.

Xia felt his warm breath on her skin. Her tank top being pulled down with one of the thin straps falling off her shoulder after all the commotion, revealing a significant portion of her chest.

A deep, heart-beating, eye-fluttering sensation overtook her as she let out a shaky breath.

It wasn't like she'd never been this exposed in front of him before, but every time still felt like the first.

He drew his face closer, placing an intimate kiss in between her breasts. Then a second. Then a third.

She let out a sigh just as he looked up at her, seeing if his sensual affection was giving its desired effect.

By the way her teeth captured her bottom lip and her fingers began to comb through his hair, he knew he was doing it right.

Chenle didn't always have the right words to express how he felt, but he was pretty damn fluent in body language.

For Xia, gratitude never felt so good.

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cont.