𝑅𝑒𝒹 𝒮𝓉𝓇𝒾𝓃𝑔𝓈-ᴄʜᴇɴʟᴇ

Crush Culture~39

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Would you love me less?
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Chenle, Taeyong, Jaemin, Jaemin, Renjun, Jisung, Haechan, and Jeno all stood in a imperfect circle, tossing around random ideas and such, but Chenle was unusually silent.

Eyes glued on the hallway, the boy drifted into oblivion as he subconsciously chewed on the inside of his cheek, exhaling numerous somber huffs.

"If we interfere their event here, then we could..."

Words sailed through his ears, some escaping out of the other, but most didn't register to him as his mind traveled miles away, yet he couldn't control his focus. He was trying desperately to keep his thoughts fixed on the issue, but he constantly found his mind slipping away from the topic at hand, leaving him zoning out.

"How would we get in?"
"Uh, there's a..."
"Would that work?"
"We need..."
"Chenle?"

Chenle distantly hummed at the sound of his name, not even bothering to glance towards the speaker's voice as he found himself lost within the maze of his thoughts.

"Chenle?" The voice repeated, slightly more stern as they poked Chenle's shoulder.

Startled out of his mind, the boy, slightly wide-eyed, shifted his attention to Taeyong beside him. Taeyong's relaxed expression held no emotion, but his eyes trailed over Chenle judgmentally, yet Chenle could've cared less about his scrutiny.

"You seem quite out of it," Taeyong pointed out, and Chenle's lips pursed together.

Unsure of what to say, the boy stared at the mafia leader as he awaited further judgement of his slightly distant mind.

"What's distracting you?" Taeyong deadpanned, eyes narrowing slightly.

Pursing his lips together, Chenle sighed through his nostrils as he uncomfortably glanced around, rubbing the nape if his neck as he shifted on his feet.

"Honestly?" Chenle grumbled, and Taeyong nodded, prompting him to continue. "Fucking soulmate bond."

Taeyong let out a quiet 'ah' of understanding, and Chenle's eyes, for the millionth time, twitched towards the hallway.

"Are they here?" Taeyong asked, and, after Chenle had confirmed that his soulmate was in the premises, Taeyong followed Chenle's gaze- seeing the hallway.

Trying to shake her from his head, Chenle forced his eyes back onto Taeyong, determined to stay focused. Unintentionally, obviously finding the task slightly challenging, Taeyong sighed, and he lazily propped himself against a nearby wall- eyes still on Chenle.

"Call her over, it might help," Taeyong prompted, his unbothered eyes unwaveringly fixed on the boy.

Pressing his lips together in doubt, Chenle's shifted awkwardly on his feet, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"It's not good for her to overhear, she's not in the gang," Chenle countered, yet Taeyong merely shrugged.

"If she's your soulmate, I'm sure she's smart. If she is smart, she knows that if she tells the enemy our plans, we will most likely torture her, and possibly kill the both of you- it's a risk, I'm not saying we'll actually kill you," Taeyong assured, yet Chenle didn't mind either way.

Taeyong sighed in thought, leaning his head against the wall he supported himself on.

"If she goes to the cops, if you're put in jail, she has to spend quite a lot of her time in your prison due to the whole timer on life going on. Besides, who wants their loved one in jail? But if she did, she would become an enemy to NCT, which has the same effect as option number one," He continued.

Chenle observantly absorbed the older's words, his cold eyes almost solidly sticking to him.

"If she try's to blackmail us, well, her threats would lead to either option, so really, she's kind of stuck. She has no leverage, enough brain, no power, and most definitely doesn't have the guts to do something that risky, most don't," Taeyong finished, shrugging passively.

Eyes falling to the floor, Chenle nodded in understanding, continuing to gnaw on the inside of his cheeks.

"Besides, I want to meet her," The leader muttered, the ghost of a smile illuminating Taeyong's cheeks, "So call her out."

"But-"

"Nope, you're letting me meet her, and that's an order," Taeyong quipped, his mood evidently rising.

Lips parted as if he was about to bark out a retort, he froze mid-action before sighing heavily, sluggishly turning to face the hallway.

"Rin?" He called, his voice sounding distant to the girl.

Rin had been playing a game Jisung had hacked into her phone when she heard the echo of Chenle's voice, making her almost immediately jump up in surprise. She hadn't expected him to need her presence- ever, not just this moment.

Speeding out of her room, she practically flew down the barely familiar hallway that stretched between the soulmates finding herself in the middle of a high-stress conversation about some sort of party-crashing plan.

Slightly taken aback by the gang acting so serious- except for Haechan, who was pretty much doing nothing and goofing off- Rin slowed her pace, nearly coming to a stop.

She began to quicken her pace again when she saw Taeyong, and in all honesty, he looked preset intimidating; that eyebrow slit? Red hair? Numerous ear piercings? Strangely aesthetic rose scar? Ominous, goosebump-rising stare? It all screamed bad boy to Rin, and sent her slightly off edge.

Hastily drifting towards Chenle, her eyes flickered between the two, and it seemed to her as if the two had broken off from the rest of the group and started their own little thing, since they were slightly more distanced from the rest of Dream.

"Uhm, what's up?" She awkwardly uttered, stomach churning with anxiety.

The older boy sighed in excruciation, eyes twitching to Taeyong as if affirming that Taeyong actually wanted to meet the girl, which he genuinely did.

"Right... Taeyong, Rin," Chenle mumbled, gesturing with his finger at the two, "Rin, Taeyong."

Taeyong stuck his hand out for Rin, and Rin stared at it a moment before taking it, accepting his firm handshake.

"Lovely to meet you, but I can't say I've heard much about you," Taeyong admitted, and Rin uncomfortably smiled, "Chenle tends to leave certain details out, you see."