Across the World - NCT Chenle

Chapter 32

"Wait, let me get this straight. You were just 'talking'?" Ningning asks.

"Yes. We'd just FaceTimed Mia and I needed to talk some things through." I reiterate.

With a devilish smirk, Herin butts in. "Well, at least it mans a change from your normal activities."

"Seriously, why does no one bloody believe either of us?" I sigh in frustration.

"Because it's very hard to when you both like each other and spent a night in the same room. You're seriously telling us that you didn't kiss?" Hina questions.

"Yes, I'm sure. Anyway, this isn't what we should be worrying about. We should be worrying about our schedules for the next two months or so with stuff like our mv and practices with me being in a whole other country," I remind them.

Today is hectic, to say the least. My three weeks are up and despite the incident being almost a week ago, everyone has refused to let it go. This is frustrating me to no end considering the fact that I need to know my schedule as we fly home tomorrow.

So far, we have recorded the song and we're just practing the routine over and over again. Later, there will be some more recordings once we have had even more time but this is just for the sake of helping us learn it. However, none of the instructors that'll come back with us know the routine meaning I'll struggle, particularly since they have to help the others work on the NCT Dream comeback in May.

They'll be busy filming an mv, learning the choreography and lyrics with a much tougher deadline than me. On the other hand, this is my debut. It needs to be perfect. And so it's because of the lack of appropriate tutoring that me and the rest of the staffing body from England have been called in for a meeting. We seem to spend a lot of time with Lee Soo Man these days.

Manager's Lee and Kim, Instructors Kang, Wu and Seohyun as well as my two new ones, Minsung and Sangil, and I all file into one of the meeting room as we wait for Lee Soo Man. However, there is another absence that stands out to me. My uncle.

"Where's my uncle?" I whisper to Manager Kim.
"He'll be here soon." Manager Kim reassures though offers no explanation.

Nor does my uncle when he bursts through the door, obviously delayed by something. His rushed manner and scruffy - in comparison to normal - demeanour seem to stand out, hinting at something though I'm not entirely sure what. Hastily, he settles down, grabbing a notebook from his bag and putting his phone away.

"Why didn't you stay at the dorms last night?" I question, increasing the tension in the room by tenfold as all eyes dart between my uncle and I.

"What gave you that impression?" He replies, trying to pull my bluff.

"The fact that you didn't come to work this morning with everyone else and turned up five, ten minutes late" I absentmindedly state.

"I just stayed over at a friend's." he explains. Liar. He's so easy to read and I can tell that that is what everyone is thinking, if they don't already know.

Our attention is quickly taken away however as the door bursts open once again, this time with Mr Lee shuffling through it. "Sorry to keep you waiting, let's get this meeting started since we have a lot to discuss." He grins, taking his place at the head of the table so he looks down towards us all.

"Ok, so you're all the key members of the team out in England, with the exception of Minsung and Sangil. Raven, I believed that you should be here since it revolves around you a lot more than any of the others." he begins, nodding towards me.

"Now as you know, things are always subjects to change short notice."

"Oh god, don't tell me that you're scrapping the programme or I'm not allowed to go back." I blurt aloud without thinking.