ADOMANIA || zhong chenle

chapter 69

chenle watched as daiyu took the phone out of her pocket and read the message.

her face immediately turned pale.

"pumpkin? everything alright?"

the nurse — who had just walked into the room — seemed interested too. daiyu turned her phone around for both of them to read the message

xxx xxx xx xx

meet me by the bridge tonight at ten pm
don't be late

"what the fuck..." chenle mumbled.

"you really have no idea who it could be from?"

the nurse frowned too, finding the whole thing to be quite suspicious.

"nope. should i tell them they got the wrong number?"

"hell no."

'she's got zero survival instincts for real.'

"and don't even think about going." he added, as if he had read her mind.

"why not? it could be important."

even though she did think that the whole thing was rather fishy, the message sparked curiousity in her.

"are you insane? what if it's the blood shifters? you and i both know what happened the last time you met one of those on the street."

his gaze was firm, stoney. he really didn't want her to go.

"how do we even know what bridge?" eunji butted in, and that made the two chinese teens shut up.

she had a point.

"wait- there's really only one bridge around here. it's on the way to town. they must mean that one."

"you're not going."

"and you're not going to decide shit for me."

it was almost ironic how all of their arguments were caused by him not wanting her to do something.

to their luck, the purple-eyes nurse was there to stop them that time.

"okay kids, let's calm down for a second."

both of them deadpanned at hearing what the woman had referred to them to, as if she was more than five years older.

"i agree with chenle, it's dangerous. however, i do think that if it turns out to be a blood shifter, it would be a great chance to catch a hold of them."

she was met with no reaction, making her groan.

"if people at school are notified, we can get some zorion to come down here or something."

"zorion?" chenle raised his brows. "imagine if it ends up being a prank and the zorion came here just for that."

"yeah... you do have a point."

but daiyu had an idea.

"listen, this is what we'll do. i'll go there, alone, because that's what they want. chenle can follow me, but at a distance and trying to stay unnoticed. if anything happens, he can give you a call for back-up and come help me."

chenle desperately wanted to disagree. his gut was telling him that this all was a trap, and the girl he cared so much for was walking right into it.

but on the other hand, he wanted it all to be over. he wanted her to be carefree (not that she wasn't) and not have to feel like there were a bunch of murderers behind her.

besides, there was no stopping her now anyways. chenle knew that she would break out of school to make it to the bridge in time if she had to.

"alright. let's do that."

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daiyu had gone back to her dorm to take a quick shower and start imagining all kinds of scenarios she would possibly face that night.

a part of her was really excited, thrilled for an opportunity to use her powers in an actual fight that wasn't on the NSOE training grounds (assuming the worst).

half an hour earlier than she had agreed on with chenle, daiyu threw on a jacket and slipped into her most comfortable shoes (can't risk being uncomfy when running away from a murderer).

"oh? you're here already?"

once she reached the school-entrance, she hadn't counted with chenle being there already as well.

"could say the same about you."

she didn't reply, and instead linked her arm with his, starting to walk out of the school, politely greeting the guards on the way out.

"i'm nervous, i guess." chenle stated, too embarrassed to look at the girl next to him.

"mhm. you don't have to be though. we'll be fine."

he gulped as he felt her lean her head on his shoulder as they kept walking.

'she sure is being affectionate today.'

"chenle?"

"hm?"

"i think this is where you should start falling behind. they might see you if you don't"

nodding, the boy snapped out of his daze.

"oh, yeah. be careful up there, pumpkin."

before leaving, daiyu pressed a quick kiss to the boy's cheek, catching the both of them by surprise.

their eyes met again, and her face turned a deep shade of red.

so she turned right back around, waving to him as she started heading toward the bridge.

chenle's eyes didn't leave her figure for a single instant, still paralysed from her kiss.

once the distance between them was big enough, he too started walking, making sure to act like a normal passerby.

and for the first five minutes, nothing happened.

there was no sign of anyone who could've possibly sent the message to daiyu.

the girl was leaning against the bridge's railing, picking on the skin around her nails.

she was visibly getting bored.

those five minutes eventually turned into ten, and ended up in half an hour, when chenle decided to call her.

"hello?"

"we're giving up, right? it's been half an hour."

"yeah, i guess."

he rose from the bench he was sitting on and started walking towards her.

"it was probably just some middle schoolers pranking random numbers or something."

the two or them were leaning against the metal railing now, looking down to the river beneath them.

"middle schoolers indeed."

someone spoke from behind them, but the voice was way too deep to belong to a middle schooler.

'we're done for.'

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yeah, you are

so i'm obviously a lot of chapters ahead lol but i'm kinda sad rn bc i'm literally writing the last few chapters of adomania 🫠