Beautiful Time ~ NCT Dream (0T7) {Nomin, Markhyuck, Chensung}

Chapter 63: The way we used to be

Chenle had ran away.

It was a simple thing to do.

But it was also something, that could change a lot.
And it did.

It had created misunderstandings. Bad misunderstandings.

Chenle thought that Jisung didn't love him.

And Jisung thought that Chenle didn't love him.

They were both wrong but they didn't knew.
And that was one problem, that turned into a whole mess.

The preparations for NCT Dream's next comeback began.
The first one without Mark.

It took SM almost a whole year to give the fans a Dream comeback.

But at least the comeback would be one of the best of NCT's history.
Even though it was sadly without Mark.

It still were a few months till their comeback but the album recording and dance practices already started.

And it was in one of these dance practices, where the two youngest saw each other again for the first time after their kiss.

They tried to pretend that everything was normal. They greeted each other and helped each other with the choreography.
They also tried to treat each other normally because of the fact that they weren't mad at each other but both were just. Hurt.

And the most important thing was that no other Dreamie was allowed to know. Because if one person knew, everyone of them would know.
And then they would make it their job to solve their problem.
And let's be honest, they both didn't really want anyone to know the reason of their problem. Even less, when the two babies thought the problem was unrequited love.

Jisung wanted to solve the problem. Just like Chenle. But it seemed like Jisung was the braver one.

When Chenle was about to take his water out of his bag, he heard his favourite voice.

"Chenle-ah", Jisung asked so softly, that Chenle thought his voice could be compared to clouds.

But Chenle also panicked.

"Let's just forget it", the older one said in a rushed voice.

"What?", Jisung asked confused.

"Let's just forget it, Jisung-ah." Chenle forced a smile. "Best friends forever, right?"

"Right", Jisung said with furrowed brows.
He knew that Chenle only wanted for them to not be distant. Chenle didn't love him, he had to accept this, so it was nice of him to still offer him friendship. But still, Jisung couldn't do anything against the hurting feeling in his chest. Or more in his heart.

If only he knew that Chenle offered it because he thought that if Jisung didn't love him he would be less devastated, if he could still have Jisung as his friend.

If only they knew that they loved each other.

Comeback came and so did changes.

The manager thought it would be time for a new dorm.
So they moved.

They moved to a bigger dorm with three bedrooms, so the members had more space.

Nonetheless two members had to share a room.
In the end it was Jaemin and Jisung.
Jaemin because he had a room all for himself last year. (And the fact that Jaemin would end up most of the nights in Jeno's room anyways was something the manager didn't need to know.)
And Jisung because he was the youngest.

So Jeno and Renjun had a room for themselves since Haechan and Mark still lived at the 127 dorm and Chenle still lived with his family.

But when Chenle came back for the promotions he would mostly sleep in Renjun's room, because it had more space than the room two persons were already sharing and also because you could never know, what could happen at night in Jeno's room.

So Jisung and Chenle were officialy no longer roommates.
A thing that seperated them even more.

Chenle felt it.

Jisung was becoming even more distant.

At first they did a pretty well job to keep their friendship. Even if there was a little awkardness in the air.

But Chenle just felt that Jisung was distancing himself even more.

Sometimes Chenle joined them for lunch.
And normally Jisung would tell about what happened in school.

But Jisung stopped talking about school.
Stopped talking about Heejin and everything else related to school.

Chenle became curious. He asked Jisung one day, if maybe he and Heejin weren't friends anymore.
But Jisung said that they still were friends and quickly changed the topic.

That was weird.
And the fact that Jisung was always a bad liar made Chenle think that the whole thing seemed suspicious.

Maybe Heejin and Jisung weren't friends anymore. But more than that.

Chenle's heart broke yet again.

In Chenle's eyes Jisung always was affected by Heejin. They had a really close relationship. So, maybe after all the time, Jisung found out that he loved Heejin. Chenle wouldn't be surprised about it, he always saw that coming.

And after their kiss. God, his lips were so soft. I want to feel them again. Damn it, Chenle, focus. The look on Jisung's face just proved to Chenle that Jisung would never love him.

Maybe he should start to let Jisung finally go and let him be happy with Heejin.

Maybe that was the best thing to do.

But Chenle also wanted to be sure and for Jisung to be honest with him.
So they needed to talk.
And this was what Chenle did: He had a conversation with Jisung.

Chenle sat down with Jisung on Jaemin's bed. The older wasn't at home and since he had the bottom bunk it was easier.

"So what do you want to talk about?", Jisung asked nervously.
He was afraid that Chenle changed his mind and now wanted to talk about the kiss. To reject him for once and all.

"I just need you to know something.", Chenle calmly whispered.

"Yeah?", Jisung gulped.

"I want you to know that it is okay for who ever you will decide one day. I mean in your love live. I mean-", Chenle took a deep breath. "I mean it is okay, who ever you will fall for one day. No matter if it is a boy or a girl.", Chenle also needed to make sure that Jisung knew that. That he was also allowed to like boys.
Their kiss last time had a reason. Jisung was questioning himself. And maybe Jisung was gay and just not in love with Chenle and Chenle had to accept that. So he at least wanted to comfort Jisung and tell him that it would be okay. Because it was.

"Okay?", Jisung was slightly confused.

"I- I just wanted to tell you. But I also want to ask you to be honest with me. If you ever fall in love with someone, please tell me and don't keep it a secret from me. We are best friends without secrets, right?", Chenle held out his pinky and Jisung put his own around it, not really happy.

There it was again. Best friend. "Right", Jisung answered again.

But deep down Jisung was even more hurt than before. Because for him Chenle's words had a completely differnet cause.
Jisung thought that Chenle's words meant as much as "you can love anyone but me."

The younger didn't know that the chinese boy only told him that because he needed to know, if there was more to Jisung keeping things from him.
If Jisung maybe was in a relationship with Heejin.

Because Chenle knew one thing for sure. Jisung had a secret.
And in that case, he was even right.

Jisung really had a secret.

A secret, which was a ticking time bomb as long as it was a secret.

Because don't forget: secrets and misunderstandings can be a dangerous combination.