Chapter 26

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"I-,"

Chenle froze as he heard the three words leave Jisung's lips.

They were everything he had wanted to hear from the younger male ever since they had started dating, and everything he had wanted desperately to be able to tell him in return.

They had said those words to each other before, but they had never held the same importance. When they had been best friends and nothing more, they would always end their calls with teasing 'I love you's' that never meant anything to either one of them. But since their relationship had changed, both had been too shy and nervous to bring it up.

"I'm sorry- I shouldn't have- I know it's too soon- You're not even comfortable with our relationship being public yet. I mean- I really shouldn't be forcing you. You don't even have to say it back, really. I don't- I'll wait for you- It's just that I needed to tell you because I do love you and it's true and- Please don't freak out-."

"I love you too," Chenle said, and it was Jisung's turn to freeze in shock.

The world around them was still for a few long moments. Even the wind had stopped blowing, and the soft chattering from the students who had been leaving the school stopped at that exact moment, as though the entire world had frozen and belonged only to Jisung and Chenle. They were the center of the world, and it all revolved around them.

It felt like an ending scene from a romantic movie, or a confession scene from a drama. It was more dramatic than Chenle could ever have imagined it being.

He used to think such scenes were always over-exaggerated, there was no way such a simple sentence could have such a strong meaning behind it or cause such a reaction when spoken aloud, but he understood everything now that he had Jisung by his side, to join him in the adventure that was their ever-growing relationship.

"You do?" Jisung asked, his voice filled with both hope and disbelief.

"Why do you sound so surprised?" Chenle asked with a minuscule smile, "I am dating you, you know."

Jisung's smile only grew uncontrollably wider. Chenle had never felt such euphoria as he did seeing Jisung so happy. It was like every one of his emotions was heightened now that Jisung was sharing them alongside him.

They watched the stars materialise one by one in the sky until there were thousands of small lights shining down on them. The stars winked down at the couple, as though they were sending them a message, telling the two males that the universe was proud of them for having gotten together and confessed their feelings.

There had been moments when Chenle believed everything in his life was going wrong; things were changing, people were leaving, but everything that had led up to that moment underneath the stars was worth it, because the final destination was by Jisung's side, and that was a place Chenle never wanted to leave.

- 🐥 & 🐬 -

The first time Jisung had met Chenle, it had been at a park. It was so long ago, and many things had changed since then. Jisung had changed, and so had Chenle. They had grown as people, their personalities had changed, their appearances had changed as they aged, even their feelings for each other had changed, growing from a beautiful friendship to an even lovelier relationship.

The one thing that had never changed throughout all their years of living was the park where they had met.

Even after so many years, Jisung could still spot the playground where he and Chenle had run around every day after school, the bench where they would sit and do their homework in middle school when the weather was warm, and the dents in the ground where food trucks would park during the summertime.

"Why are we here?" Chenle asked Jisung as the younger stopped in the middle of the park, looking around the familiar place.

"This was where we met for the first time," Jisung said, suddenly feeling shy.

"It is."

"This park is where I met the most important person in my life," Jisung said, grabbing a hold of his boyfriend's hand, "I never would have imagined that the boy who dragged me away from my mom to play with me would end up being the only person to stick by my side all these years. You were always there for me."

"And I always will be," Chenle replied.

He looked a little confused at the sudden confession, a cute pout on his lips, and Jisung wanted to kiss the expression off his face. So he did, because he had the privilege of being the only person in the world who could.

"Chenle," Jisung said when they parted.

His boyfriend was giving him all of his attention, waiting for Jisung to speak whatever was on his mind. Jisung was immensely grateful for his boyfriend, for how patient Chenle had always been with him and continued to be.

"Stay with me forever, okay?" He finally dared to say.

"Forever is a long time," Chenle said, and Jisung tightened his hold on the older's hand, "But I want to spend it with you. Don't worry Jisung. I love you, and only you, and I'll love you forever."

Jisung pulled Chenle into an unexpected kiss, making the older male gasp against his lips. They fell into the rhythm of kissing quickly, naturally. Because for Jisung, kissing Chenle was as natural as breathing. It was comfortable but still managed to bring him a new level of joy every time, as though it was the first-ever kiss they were sharing.

Park Jisung was absolutely, totally and completely, irrevocably in love with his best friend Zhong Chenle.

It wasn't a new or shocking realisation, in fact, Jisung had been enamoured with Chenle ever since meeting the older boy as children. There was not a single person who could compare to Chenle in Jisung's expert opinion, there was just something about him that made him special and different from the rest.

What he never expected was that Chenle would ever return his feelings. He couldn't think of a single moment in his life when he had felt happier. Maybe there would be bumps in the road and obstacles in their relationship, but Jisung strongly believed that as long as he had Chenle by his side, everything would be alright.

- 🐥 & 🐬 -

𝐼𝑡'𝑠? 𝐹𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦? 𝐷𝑜𝑛𝑒? 𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡?
𝑆𝑜 𝑦𝑒𝑎ℎ, 𝑖𝑡'𝑠 𝑑𝑜𝑛𝑒.
𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑟.
𝐼 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑏𝑒 𝑝𝑢𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑛 𝑒𝑝𝑖𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑢𝑒 𝑠𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑠𝑛'𝑡 𝑡𝑒𝑐ℎ𝑛𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑛𝑑, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑙𝑙.
𝐼𝑡'𝑠 𝑐𝑟𝑎𝑧𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑓𝑎𝑟.
𝐼 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑡𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠.

𝑀𝑦 𝐸𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 | 𝐶ℎ𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑢𝑛𝑔Donde viven las historias. Descúbrelo ahora