Lovely Nights || Zhong Chenle

49

I was in the kitchen making myself a snack before bed. My phone beeped, lighting up a notification from Sarang. She had messaged me asking if I would be returning to classes soon. We had a Chemistry and Math exam on Friday and was worried that I would miss it and not be able to make it up.

I sighed an slid my phone into the pocket of my sweatpants. I knew she meant well but the last thing I cared about was some stupid exam.

After searching through the mostly empty cupboards, I settled for peanut butter and crackers. I spun the top off the Jar, using a spoon to spread the peanut butter onto the crackers. My throat became dry after taking too big of a bite causing me to cough. I managed to pour myself a cup of water to sooth the dryness.

Before I could make myself another cracker sandwich, a light knock on the front door caught my attention. It was late in the evening so I could only assume that it was Chenle waiting for me to open up.

As I had guessed, Chenle was standing at my front door holding a plastic bag.

He smiled and leaned in to greet me with a kiss on my lips but I pulled back.

"Is something wrong?" His smiled faded into a frown.

"Peanut butter." I awkwardly smiled and wiped the corner of my lip that had a bit of leftover. "I don't want to kill my boyfriend just yet."

"Y-Yet...?" He nervously repeated causing me to let out a small laugh.

"Let that be a warning Zhong Chenle." I raised and eyebrow.

He laughed and placed a soft kiss on my forehead instead.

"What's all this?"

I asked as he began to place the items that were inside the plastic bag onto the dining room table.

"I thought you might be hungry? Looks like I thought right." He said while judgmentally staring at the broken pieces of crackers covered in peanut buttered.

Feeling a bit embarrassed by the mess, I swept the crumbs into the palms of my hands to throw away.

I was rinsing my hands clean when I suddenly felt his hands snake around my waist.

I giggled and bit my lip, a shy smile taking over. "I'm tempted to kiss your lips." I warned him.

He let out a defeated laugh and let go, setting up the table to eat. I took a seat next to him and watched as he served two bowls of tofu stew, also setting out a variety of side dishes.

"Woah." My mouth watered at the delicious smell. "Your mom made all of this?"

"Mom?" Chenle frowned. "I made this."

I blankly stared at him before letting out a disbelieving laugh.

"I'm serious." He whined. "I spent almost two hours in the kitchen following different recipes online."

"Wait you're not lying?" I studied his face to catch his bluff but was surprised to see he was telling the truth.

"Here take a bite." He said excitedly as he fed me a spoonful of stew.

I grabbed my chopsticks, taking sample bites of every dish. I was pleasantly surprised at how delicious everything was.

"When did you become such an amazing chef?" My eyes widened, enjoying every bite of food.

"What do you mean when?" He proudly smirked. "I've always been."

"So are we going to forget about the time you made those awful brownies in year two of middle school that caused the entire class to get sick?"

"Yah!" He was quick to defend himself. "I told you it wasn't my fault that happened. How was I supposed to know the milk was expired?"

"Oh I don't know..." I sarcastically responded. "Maybe the expiration date written in bold black letters or the disgusting smell."

"I had a cold, my sense of smell clearly wasn't working on that day."

"You are such an idiot." I teased him.

"Heyyy." He whined.

"But you're my idiot." I smiled innocently.

"You're lucky I love you." He flicked my forehead.

I listened carefully as Chenle caught me up on everything that has happened at school over the last few days that I missed.

"You should have seen her face, she was so embarrassed."

"Yah! I can't believe you two just walked in on them kissing!" I laughed, shaking my head in disbelief. "And I can't believe she didn't tell me. I swear when I see her-"

"No, no, no." Chenle stopped me before I could say anything else. "Yangyang made Jisung and I swear that we wouldn't tell no one."

I puffed my cheeks and crossed my arms still in disbelief that Yangyang and Sarang had kissed but she still hadn't told me.

"Okay." I sighed. "I won't say anything." I grinned mischievously. "....for now."

"You know..." Chenle tried to casually change the conversation. "Everyone at school misses you."

"Define every one? You and the others don't count." I said referring to the boys. Even then I was certain Jaemin hated me just like everyone else at school did.

"I'm worried about you, you've already missed over a week of school."

I scoffed and rolled my eyes.

"You sound just like Jungwoo." I muttered.

Chenle placed his hand over mine.

"Baby we just want what's best for you and right now you aren't-"

I pushed his hand away from me and stood up.

"Thank you for dinner but I'm full now, can you please leave."

"Y/N I just want to talk to you."

"No." I responded in a stern voice. "I asked you to leave so please leave." I reiterated. "I want to be alone."

He nodded and did as I asked, locking the front door behind him before he left.

When he was gone I couldn't hold in my tears any longer. I broke down, the weight of my body falling against the dark living room wall.

Jungwoo, Sarang, Chenle....

Neither of them understood.

All the whispers, all the stares. To be 'the girl who murdered her brother'.

They could never understand.

It's not that I didn't want to go back to school, it's that I couldn't. Whenever I so much as think of walking down that school corridor, I could feel myself begin to suffocate. My body filling with panic as hundreds of eyes stare into my guilty conscious. A new fear had begun growing inside me. A fear of people looking at me and seeing that I was the monster they said I was because deep down I knew the truth.

A fear that someone was watching me because how else could someone know the truth?

I was trying hard to control my breathing that had become irregular when my cellphone began to ring.

"H-Hello?"

I trued to fight back my tears as I answered without reading the caller ID.

"Y/N-ah, I've sent you over 20 messages, I kn-......h-hey are you crying?"

It was Jaemin.

"No?" I held my breath, trying to suppress any sound that would give away that I was in fact crying. "I just woke up from a nap, what's up?"

"Y/N.....

.....I know who did it."

________________
________________

Woah it's been a while since I've updated twice in one day....