ADOMANIA || zhong chenle

chapter 22

it wasn't until monday after the incident that daiyu realised how much she actually liked training days.

all of her classmates were there using their powers and wearing them out while giving their best, striving to be just that; the best.

everyone in NSOE had a similar goal — if not the same.

though daiyu wasn't so sure about hers. she had always wanted to take on her fathers post after graduating, but now that he had gotten fired, she didn't know if she was still fit for that.

and with how much she liked combatting, she might get bored of sitting in an office doing paperwork for the government. no matter how secret and thrilling the content of the paperwork may be.

so there the girl sat, leaning against a bench on the side of the training grounds, where her friends were sparring.

oh, how she wished she could be there too.

but instead, daiyu was stuck with the damn cast around her wrist, sitting there cross-legged, humming off-tune because of how bored she was.

despite not training, she had put on the school's sport uniform and tied up her long, dark hair in a tight bun.

the school could've just let her stay in her room to study or something, but no, she obviously had to attend anyway.

yua had almost beat up the trainer when she heard that, if it wasn't for haeun holding her back by the arms.

a loud whistling sound was heard, indicating that the students would now be taking a break.

daiyu remained slumped agains the bench, waiting for one of her friends to come talk to her.

that's when she felt someone grab her shoulders from behind and give them a good shake.

she let out a small shriek, flinching heavily.

"what the fuck!"

next to her, a figure stepped over the bench to be on the same side as her.

the person was laughing at her reaction.

and it wasn't a foreign laugh to her, just that she had never heard it sound like that.

zhong chenle's laughter would usually be mocking and scornful when talking to her.

but that laugh she had just heard sounded genuine, friendly, and also a whole lot louder than usual.

"sorry. i didn't think you would get that scared."

with her usable arm, daiyu hit his leg, as that was the only part of his body she could reach from her sitting position.

"asshole."

i really hope he knows i'm joking.

the last thing daiyu wanted right now was to ruin their unspoken agreement of peace over a childish insult.

not when things were finally looking good for them.

and luckily, chenle wasn't that much of a pressed person. instead he just laughed again and sat down on the bench.

"must be pretty hard, seeing everyone train while having to sit here."

how right he is.

daiyu hummed, a frown making its way to her face.

"i mean, it's probably not like you would've been any more productive without the broken wrist, but still."

this guy...

she head-butted him to the leg that was right next to her head, but quickly realised that it was pointless, as something like an invisible force was holding her back.

that invisible force being nothing other than air.

"ugh, fuck you and your shifting."

"without my godly reflexes, my shifting would have done nothing anyway. you think good reflexes are attractive, right?"

now where did he get that from?

daiyu's ears were turning red, though she wasn't sure if it was from embarrassment or anger.

she clearly remembered that one conversation she had with hyewon and seon-ok about that topic once, though only the latter was aware of the fact that daiyu was talking about mark lee.

he couldn't possibly have heard that back then, it happened ages ago.

really, it was over half a year ago.

even though daiyu didn't dare to look at the chinese boy next to her, she just knew that he was wearing a massive, teasing grin on his face.

"i overheard some of your friends talking about that once. hyewon was telling the other one, the pretty one from year four."

she was glad that chenle wasn't looking at her, or else he might have seen the tremendous eye-roll she reacted with.

he must be the kind to eavesdrop on his crush to find out things about them because he doesn't have the balls to talk to them.

"just- shut up. that was a long time ago."

"okay, but do you still find it hot?"

with a sly grin, he leaned down to be face-to-face with her.

a rather narrow face-to-face, in daiyu's opinion.

"zhong chenle i swear if you don't-"

he laughed again, and once more, it was that real laugh. it had a really weird effect on daiyu, and she couldn't quite say she liked it. the effect, not the laugh.

his smile is really pretty too.

she kind of hated herself for even letting those kind of thoughts enter her mind, but what could she do — it was the truth anyway.

their little scene was swiftly interrupted by the trainer whistling again.

"gotta go. see you around, daiyu!"

the boy exclaimed, jumping up from his seat and walking back to the training field — backwards, to wave at the girl he was leaving behind.

waving back, daiyu shook her head in disbelief.

did i really just have a normal, civilised conversation with zhong chenle?

what she had always thought to be impossible had finally happened, and she could really not be any more happy with the result.

'wow,' she told herself. 'to think you didn't even really know who the dude was a few months ago.'

__________________________________

funfact abt me; i was raised bilingually, and english is neither of the languages

(as you can tell lol)