[Chapter 9]

How does one calm someone who is panicking? That was the question Chenle kept asking himself. Yes, her cries have died down, but not completely. He could hear the gunmen now on the streets, reeking havoc with their bullets. He would much rather not engage in combat with Gayeon around. And so, he was desperately trying to fish for some ideas.

The male hated doing it, but he didn’t have much of a choice. How did he used to calm down Hana back then? Maybe those methods would work on Gayeon too. He could feel her grab fistfuls of his hoodie as she continued to muffle her sobs into him. “Shhh...it’s okay, they won’t find you...” His voice remained ever so soft and soothing as he spoke. He was disgusted by his own sweet talks, but he was desperate; he couldn’t risk potentially putting her- them in more danger. “Yeon, just calm down for me...”

In the girl’s ears, it was probably the most soothing and calming voice she has, by far, ever heard- which was quite ironic knowing how he actually is like. Trying to control her breathing and mind, she pulled away a little to exhale and inhale, still resting her forehead on his chest. He must have caught onto her attempt to calm down because he continued rubbing circles on her back once again. Once she brought her crying to a halt, she went back to hugging him tighter, resting her cheek against his chest as they continued to wait it out.

He was surprised that his simple words managed to be effective on her. He had often used them on Hana whenever similar events occurred back then. She and Hana were quite the opposite, so it surprised him how he managed to stop her from crying too. Hana was always a rather shy and peaceful person while Gayeon was very short-tempered, ready to fight back with her words. However, they both had one thing in common; they were both the same when chaos and danger strikes them.

Unfortunately, Chenle couldn’t contact Jisung immediately during the chaos. Otherwise, he’d ask for help right now. The male had realized midway that he ripped out his earpiece moments before and had dropped it when people began scrambling onto the street. To make things worse, his phone was left back at the hotel while Gayeon had dropped her phone while getting nearly trampled on the streets. So, as much as he wanted Jisung to lend him a hand and communicate with Lucas right now, he couldn’t.

Chenle decided it was best to wait things out until the men were gone. He couldn’t just risk it for the already terrified girl. The more he pondered on it, the more convinced he was that they were most likely after himself or Gayeon, or both. It was too