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Chenle was sitting on his bed looking at the quote his soulmate had written on the inside of their wrist
"Normality is a paved road, comfortable to walk, but no flowers grow on it. -Van Gogh"
His soulmate wrote a quote somewhere on his body every day and Chenle always cherished them.
Whoever his soulmate was they always wrote in a messy scrawl that made Chenle happy.
He gazed at the words, wondering what had made his soulmate pick this particular quote to write today.
He couldn't wait until he met his soulmate and could get answers to these questions.
He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't notice Renjun enter the room.
Chenle looked up as Renjun plopped down onto the bed.
He had giant smile on his face and he was bouncing slightly with excitement and trepidation.
Chenle had never seen his brother look this happy.
He sat up straighter to make more room for Renjun.
"what's up?" Chenle asked knowing Renjun had something to tell him.
"So I met my soulmates last week, I'm sorry I haven't told you yet, but I wanted a chance to get to know them first" Renjun said
Chenle couldn't help the small pang of jealousy that seared through him before his happiness for Renjun took over.
"I understand but now you have to tell me all about how it happened" He said pulling the sleeve of his sweater down so he wouldn't be distracted by his soulmate's writing.
Renjun then told him all about how that had come into his work last thursday to get coffee. And how they had been talking over the phone for the remainder of the week, and had even met up again that Saturday for lunch.
"Their names are Jaemin and Jeno and I can't wait for you to meet them" Renjun finished.
Chenle smiled, Renjun had only just met them a week ago but Chenle could tell they were already making him happy.
"I can't wait either." He said softly
Renjun stood up still smiling. "I should probably head to bed. You should too." He said with the stern look of an overprotective brother.
Chenle rolled his eyes and moved to stretch his legs out. "I'll go to bed when I'm tired, just like i always do."
Renjun nodded then rolled his eyes and walked away with a sarcastic "fine be sleep deprived, see if I care."
Chenle rolled over to write to his soulmate.
'My brother met his soulmates today.'
It took a second but he felt the familiar sting that accompanied a message from his soulmate.
'My cousin did too, I can't wait until we meet. It sucks that personal stuff doesn't show up. Or else I'd have just said my name is ....I live in....'
As usual the words that would have let Chenle find his soulmate were smudged and unable to read.
They continued talking like that until Chenle could barely keep his eyes open.
...
Chenle woke up aroung 6 the next day, despite having only a couple hours of sleep, and quickly got ready.
He showered and threw on a t-shirt and hoodie with some skinny jeans before taking a couple of ibuprofen for his ribs and grabbing pop tart.
Luckily his father was still asleep and Renjun had left for work. So he could exit the building without worrying.
He wrote a quick goodmorning on his wrist and then headed to the bus stop.
Around 7:15 he recieved a goodmorning with a smiley face.
A couple minutes later his forearm bared the quote,
"There's plenty of sense in nonsense sometimes, if you're willing to look for it" - Cassandra Clare
He smiled and looked out the window. Feeling hopeful that his day at School would pass quickly
....
When he finally got out of school Chenle got onto another bus and headed to the coffee shop Renjun worked at.
His plan was to grab a coffee and then try to get some homework done while he waited for Renjun's shift to end.
Renjun was preoccupied with a customer when Chenle walked in. So he just set his bag at a table in the corner and waited for him to be done.
After a minute the customer finally moved away from the counter and Chenle could walk up.
"Hey, I have your coffee already being made." Renjun said smiling.
Chenle smiled, relieved that his brother always knew what he wanted.
"Anyway Jeno and Jaemin are probably going to come in after I get off. You cool with staying later?"
Chenle shrugged "Yeeah that's fine, it keeps us away from dad for longer which is always a plus, I need to work on some homework anyway."
Renjun smiled sadly at him setting his cup of coffee on the counter. "I'm sorry, Hopefully when you graduate in a couple months I'll be able to afford a decent appartment." Chenle nodded in agreement then took his coffee and went to sit back down.
He finished most of his homework before he decided he couldn't do any more. Renjun still had 10 minutes left before his shift ended.
Chenle grabbed his pen and started doodling on his arm.
He'd just finished his small cartoon sun when his soulmate added their version of a moon. It was cute and had a wide smile.
Chenle was still looking at the moon when Renjun called him.
"Lele come here"
Chenle looked up and saw Renjun standing beside the counter with 3 guys.
One was a bit taller than Renjun and had dark black hair and the biggest eye smile on his face, he reminded Chenle of a puppy.
The second Had soft pink hair and was holding onto both Renjun and the one with black hair like he was never going to let go again. He was a bit taller than Renjun but still shorter than the guy with black hair.
The third one really drew Chenle's attention. He was tall with orange hair that looked like it needed a touch up. He stood slightly to the side of them and Chenle could tell by his demeanor that he felt awkward.
Chenle quickly stood up and walked over to them, leaving his school stuff at the table.
Renjun was practically bouncing with excitement when he introduced them.
" Guys this is my younger brother Chenle, Chenle this is Jeno, this is Jaemin," he pointed to the one with black hair and the soft pink hair respectively. They both smiled at Chenle quickly before looking back at Renjun like he was their world.
"And that's Jeno's cousin, Jisung." Renjun finished pointing to the the cute boy with orange hair.
Jisung gave Chenle a small wave before blushing and looking down.
Chenle couldn't shake the feeling that he knew Jisung somehow. But he ignored it turning to look at his brother again.
"Why don't Jisung and I head over to the mall to hang out and give you guys some time alone." Chenle offered. He could tell Jisung was feeling awkward and, if he was being honest, he wanted some alone time with the boy. Maybe he could figure out how he knew him.
"As long as it's fine with Jisung I don't care" Renjun said.
Jisung looked up at Chenle, obviously relieved, and nodded.
"Ok let's meet back here later, Renjun can text me." Chenle quickly threw all his school stuff into his bag then grabbed Jisung's hand and they walked out of the building.
The mall was only a couple minutes away so they hopped onto a bus. Chenle looked over at Jisung when they'd sat down. "I feel like I know you from somewhere, have we met before?" He inquired.
Jisung shook his head. "I don't think so." Chenle sighed and looked down to where Jisung had unconsciously rolled up the sleeve on his right arm.
There, right at the top of his wrist, was the sun Chenle had drawn alongside the moon of his soulmate who, apparently, was Jisung.
Jisung noticed his staring and quickly rolled his sleeve back down.
Chenle quickly pulled up the sleeve of his hoodie to show Jisung. "Holy shit. How weird is this" he said. Jisung grabbed Chenle's wrist and ran his fingers over the drawings. Chenle watched with wonder.
That must have been why jisung had felt so familiar. This was his soulmate, the person who Chenle had shared everything with since he turned 16 and this began.
Jisung's face broke into a giant smile and he set Chenle's arm down and pulled him into a hug. "I can't believe I've finally found you" he whispered into Chenle's hair.
They sat like that, talking about all the things they hadn't been able to talk about before, until they reached their stop and got off the bus.
While they walked around the mall they continued talking and Chenle learned that Jisung's mother had sent him here to live with Jeno so that he could finish high school and have a better choice for colleges.
Chenle had know the basics of this, but it felt different now that he knew where Jisung was moving from, Busan, and that he was moving here to Seoul. He enjoyed listening to Jisung's voice, although Jisung needed some prompting every once in a while to keep talking.
Chenle opened up more about his and Renjuns move from China when he was 8 and the struggle to have to learn a whole new language at such a young age.
They didn't talk about his father, or the things Chenle and his brother were suffering through. Chenle didn't want to let his father ruin his day, the lingering ache in his ribs was reminder enough.
...
They met back up at the coffee shop around 8:30, to give Renjun and Chenle plenty of time to get home.
While in Renjun's car Chenle told him all about his evening with Jisung and how the boy was his soulmate. Renjun listened the whole drive home. Only stopping when they got to the road their house was on.
He then parked the car off to the side of the road and looked over at Chenle. "Jaemin has offered to come let us stay with him." Chenle was dumbfounded.
"He has his own apartment and it's got plenty of room. It's just for a little bit. Just to get us away from dad." Renjun looked at him with pleading eyes .
Chenle had no choice but to agree.
...
The plan was made. That friday their father was going to be away for a "work assignment" which was just him getting paid to go to a fancy hotel and get drunk while staying sober enough to attend a couple lectures.
While he was away for the weekend Jeno, Jaemin, and Jisung would come over and help them move their stuff out and into Jaemins appartment. Their father would have no idea where they had gone other than a note Renjun would leave saying that they had decided to move out.
Since Chenle was already 19, the legal age of independence in Korea, their father couldn't do anything about it.
...
Chenle and Renjun had begun secretly packing up their belonings in the days leading to their father's departure. So that when the time came to begin moving their stuff out they only had a few things left.
They'd taken only what they owned and left him with everything else.
Consequently they were able to get everything to Jaemin's appartment in one trip.
Once it was done Chenle felt like a weight had been lifted off his chest, he hadn't realized how much anxiety he had been living with until he no longer had to worry.
He looked over at Jisung who was right beside him and smiled, moving to pull him into a hug which Jisung quickly reciprocated.
They had grown closer over the past week, and Chenle didn't think he could ever handle it if anything happened to Jisung.
Jaemin had given Chenle the guest room to live in as Renjun would be moving into his room.
Jisung helped Chenle move his boxes into the room and begin unpacking. Which took longer than chenle would have expected it to as Jisung wanted to look at everything as they unpacked it.
They got most it done that day, leaving only a couple knickknacks that chenle didn't have a place for yet. Chenle sat in front of the bed and rested his head against it, taking in a deep breath.
Jisung came and sat next to him holding onto Chenle's hand.
"You don't have to go back there." he whispered to Chenle, who moved to rest his head on Jisung's shoulder.
"I know." He said. It may have taken a while, but Chenle was finally free, he never had to suffer through that again. Anything else that happened he could handle, because now he had Jisung.