dysthymia | zhong chenle

삼십오

❝ spring has come but it's still winter in my heart ❞

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the trial had concluded there and the second trial was to begin a few weeks after. the judge had yet to shown his leniency although it was quite obvious nct was the underprepared one.

"i'm going to kill that-" taeil cracked his knuckles, about to throw himself off the raised platform before jungwoo pulled him back

"we can talk this out, let's just go back to the green room" jungwoo sighed, leading them all the way back to their starting office. hyejin was lost in her own thoughts, joining them around the table

"chenle was the one who had the evidence box for the past couple days so there couldn't be any way starship stole it...unless it had fallen out or something by the likelihood of that is extremely low. we saw the bullet in the box like yesterday and that time chenle still had it" jungwoo recounted the previous events, furrowing his eyes brows

"chenle has it, chenle has the bullet" hyejin spoke up, eyes glued to the table

"that was what i really didn't want to happen" taeil sighed "for what? why the hell would he hide such an important piece of evidence?"

"i'm sure he has his reasons" she drew a circle on the table with her finger "i trust him, we all have to"

but all of a sudden, she was beginning doubt herself everlasting trust for him

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"is chenle back?" she asked as she entered the base, renjun swivelling around on his seat

"nope" he replied "how did the trial go?"

"unexpected could be used to describe it" she smiled small fo renjun and entered winwin's old office room immediately. he greeted her like he always had, but he noticed a stressed glint in her eye the moment she walked in

"what happened? did the trial not go well?" winwin asked, offering her a bar of chocolate. she took it and basically swallowed it hole

"have you ever doubted your trust on someone you've devoted your whole life to?" hyejin's eyes held a sadness in them, but it wasn't the upset sadness, it was the sadness that occurred when she felt betrayed. that feeling when you felt as if all your truths had finally given up and morphed into lies, or when you could no longer see the glitter in ones eye.

it was a sadness that made you feel like reality had become realistic again

"yeah, plenty of times" winwin chuckled "even with you, and you know how much i trust you"

it was true. winwin and hyejin had gone through everything and anything back at the time they were with stone.

"i mean trust always comes with doubt. that's why so many people are afraid to trust purely because they're afraid that the doubt will bleed into the trust. but that's what trust is all about: trusting the ability to prove a doubt wrong" winwin smiled at her "that's why no matter what, i'll be patient with nct even if they aren't patient with me"

she pulled a smile "then...what about TOP? do we need to extend our period with nct since it seems as though they'll need a couple more trials to win this case."

"we'll do what we said: stick with nct until we can't"

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hyejin had been looking for chenle the whole day, giving up midway through and finding herself walking towards the convenient store. she kicked her feet, the dust creating a mist every step she took. the trial was going to be next week and they didn't have enough time to sort things out.