Luminous • Jisung

57 • Partners

• Chapter 57 •

Chenle gave her a tight hug, faking a sniffle. 

"You are doing so great," he praised her, patted her back. 

Cho-a laughed. "Only because I have such a great teacher," she retorted. Chenle pushed himself away from her and looked at her, a smile on his lips. 

"That's why I like you so much," he said lowly, put his hands on her cheeks and squeezed them together. "You won me over. Just give me a call if you ever need me to kick Jisung's ass." 

She nodded curtly. "Yessir." 

They sat down, eyes on the empty warehouse they came back to to train. It was plain and a little dirty, but also quiet and private. Besides, being somewhere a little further away from everything else gave her a pleasant feeling. 

The two had worked hard. Control and strength - Cho-a improved a lot. 

She took a deep breath, looked ahead with a smile. "Thank you," she said, turned her head to look at the boy. "I don't think I ever thanked you for putting so much effort into this." 

"No need," he retorted. "I'm enjoying myself, so I'm more than happy to help." 

In the distance, cars were rushing through the streets, echoing quietly. The chatter of people or steps on the dry asphalt or anything close to that was too quiet to even hear. 

Right there, it was just them. 

"By the way, did you talk to Jisung?" Chenle asked. 

Cho-a nodded. "But I was really vague," she noted. "I didn't think it'd be good if I said too much considering what Renjun told him about that time with Jeno and Jaemin." 

He hummed in agreement. "You're probably right." She looked a little nervous though. "What did you tell him?" 

She pushed out an awkward laugh. "I asked if he would be angry if I did something stupid." 

Chenle grinned in amusement. "And what did he say?" 

"He asked if it was dangerous and if I was doing it alone. And after I answered him, he looked like he wanted to kill me," she explained, smile soft on her lips. He really cared for her, he made it evident and it made her happy. 

Simply happy. That was all she needed.

"Sounds about right." He nodded. "Did you tell him that I am helping you?" 

"Nope," she reassured him. "But he'll find out eventually. So get ready." 

Chenle scrunched his nose, inhaled sharply through his teeth. "Can't wait." Then he paused, let his eyes run over the girl briefly. "But at least we're gonna get in trouble together." 

Cho-a nodded. "Right." She put her hand on his shoulder and squeezed it softly. "You and me versus Jisung's anger." 

"And Renjun's," Chenle added. 

She nodded. "Probably Kun's as well." 

He pushed out a shallow breath, narrowed his eyes before he looked at the girl. 
"Maybe this is a dumb idea after all." 

"Most likely," she agreed. "Want to back out?" 

At which Chenle laughed and quickly threw his arm around her shoulders. 
"Of course not." 

Both were smiling, content and carefree as they ignored what lay ahead of them. Even though the day was ending, it felt like tomorrow was far away. 

They let a few minutes pass in near silence as they relaxed, heads leaned against a brick wall that was slowly falling apart. Orange light flooded the door- and windowless rooms. The soft breeze brushed away dirt and small stones, creating merely faint sounds. 

"Cho-a," Chenle called her name after a little while. "Can you tell me why you want to handle it on your own though?" he asked, more curious than worried. 

"I just want to do something to help," she said. It was evident that, upon his question, she seemed a little unsure herself. However, she had already made her decision. "So far it has always been the other way round." 

Chenle seemed a little confused. "Is there anything wrong with that?" 

She couldn't answer that right away. She didn't think that there was anything inherently wrong with it but it just felt odd. 

"It might be dumb," she began, "but I think that between all of you and me, there is a gap. I'm not able to match you and that's okay. But I would feel uncomfortable staying as a damsel in distress forever. So I want to do something." 

Smiling to herself and nodding to herself, she confirmed it eventually. 

"If I can be someone you guys are ready to lean on from time to time, that would make me really happy," she declared. 

Looking at Chenle and his surprised expression she also quickly added that,
"It's also not like I am getting myself involved in other people's matters - they are looking for me too." 

However, the boy stayed silent, didn't react. He let his eyes rest on hers and let those faint sounds come back. His wordless gazing made her a little nervous, a little anxious. 

She was close to saying something when Chenle suddenly started grinning and pulled her in for yet another hug. He hummed contently. 

"Knowing that, I'm really looking forward to getting scolded together," he said quietly before he pushed himself away from her. "You will do great." 

Cho-a smiled right away. "Thank you." But right after that, a question popped up. "Why did you agree to help me even before asking all that?" 

"Because I trust you," he said without hesitation. Which, in return, made her frown. "Don't look at me like that. It's not like you didn't earn it."

"Alright," she agreed, ready to fall back into silence when she thought of something yet again. "Give me your phone." 

He handed it over without question and then watched her as she did what she wanted to do. 

And after that, she did something else. "I'll change that, okay?" she asked only to be polite since she was already doing it anyway. 

Chenle, however, didn't mind. He watched happily as she changed the name of her contact on his phone before she gave it back to him, then took out her own. 

"I'll change it for you too," she muttered as she renamed Chenle's contact, so that now for either of them it was just

Partner in Crime.

• Partners •

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