𝙨𝙤𝙡𝙞𝙡𝙤𝙦𝙪𝙮 | chensung

Ch.4

"Chinhae is a shy boy, who needs to learn to love himself in order to love other people. And Jichan? He's a bit of a player. He doesn't want to be tied down by a partner and he certainly never expected his one-and-only to be a boy." Renjun clapped his hands once to silence the murmurs behind him before continuing. "The closer they get, the more Jichan realises how badly Chinhae would be treated if others knew he was gay."

"And that's where I come in," another actor announced, biting the tip of his pen. "I convince Jichan to take the scholarship abroad. And then I plan to steal Chinhae's heart."

"As always, Donghyuck, you've done your research."

Donghyuck nodded conceitedly and snickered at Renjun, who seemed reluctant in complimenting him. The two were renowned bickerers. They had never truly gotten along. "Yes, well, I just make an effort. That's all."

Chenle was sitting in the front row, waiting for everything to start. He was scanning his script nervously and was fairly confident in his lines, but he was going to read off it anyway in case pressure made him forget something. Jisung was standing behind Renjun to look over his shoulder. "And Donghyuck's character is Daejoon, yes?"

Renjun nodded and stood up, turning to inspect the actors sitting in the theatre. "Our Jichan and Daejoon are here, so where are our other characters? Chinahe? Where is Chinhae's actor?"

"H-here!" Chenle called and put up his hand.

"You aren't a baby, Zhong. Put your hand down."

He dropped his arm in embarrassment and sunk into the seat, and into his jacket. He looked at the stage, which was empty apart from Donghyuck, who was perched at the edge and swinging his legs gently. Jisung was beside Renjun and the other actors were grouped together in the audience with Chenle. He wished Jaemin was there because he had no one to talk to. Instead, he over-read his lines.

"Okay, I think we're ready to run Act One."

Chenle looked up and glanced at the group of people moving towards the stage. Chinhae opened the play, so he needed to go on as well. He stood up and clasped his script. They only had two hours of practice today and he knew that the production team would try to juice as much energy from them as they could. If he remembered correctly, they had a good long while until the actual day.

"And Chenle?" The director called. "Don't be too nervous. You look like you're about to shit yourself."

He nodded and felt a bit more colour come to his face. Jisung, although he barely knew the guy, was giving him a thumbs-up. He really appreciated it, but it only made his heart beat even faster. "I'll try."

They all got into place. "Action."

The girl opposite Chenle turned to him, playing the role of his mother. "Chinhae, please make the most of your new school." She placed her hands on his shoulders and he nodded.

"I will. D-don't worry ab-bout me, because I'll be just fine."

"He's shy, but not that shy!" Renjun exclaimed, having no concept that the stutter was real and not staged. "He doesn't stutter around his own mother."

Chenle turned red and nodded, feeling his hair fall over his eyes. He preferred it that way, since he wouldn't have to look directly at the girl. "I'll be just fine," he murmured with great difficulty. "And besides, I don't enjoy living on the e-edge. I'll stay as f-far away from trouble as I can."

"Oh, sweetheart," she cooed, putting on the fakest smile he had ever seen. "My colleague's son goes to school here, so please be friendly to him. His name is Daejoon."