always ↬ leading me on || l.dh • h.rj • z.cl

·twenty five·

Chenle, Renjun and Chenle's parents were all gathered in the grand dining hall, the two young boys swarmed in blankets as their supper was being served to them.

"It's been going on for a couple of weeks now, started from somewhere in Canada I think, they had to stop all the airlines over there. They're calling it Storm Tuan, it's a red alert and it only just hit South Korea. We were worried that you were stuck in the winds when they started picking up," Mr. Zhong explained calmly while sipping his earl grey tea. Mrs. Zhong was still fretting over the two — mostly Chenle, but she wouldn't stop nagging about how they should be more aware about dangerous things like this.

"Oh my," Chenle's mother gasped, everyone else in the room gave her a questioning look, Mr. Zhong raising an expecting eyebrow at her as she covered her mouth with her hand, "I just realised, but they have to go to school as well. There's no way on this terrible Earth, I'd ever let my Chenle go anywhere in this storm. Renjun too, you boys will have to skip school for a few days, I'm sorry."

Renjun groaned in displeasure, head dropping against the table as Chenle beamed happily.

"But my exams-" he cut himself off with a sneeze which made Mrs. Zhong shoot him a look before steadily saying, "no, Renjun, you will not go to school. Look at you, you're already coming up with something!"

The woman then proceeded to exit the room to make arrangements for the days they'd miss, telling a butler to watch over Renjun and bring him some medicine.

Mr. Zhong patted the eldest Chinese boy's head, which was still rested on the table, and stood to make his way to his study. Clapping a hand on Chenle's shoulder on the way out and telling him to make sure that they both stay warm.

As both of his parents left the room, the blonde boy turned to look at his friend with gleaming eyes, "gege, we can spend more time together now!"

"But. I. Want. To. Go. To. School." Renjun dramatised, banging his forehead lightly against the table with each word.

"Renjun ge, you're so boring," Chenle whined, dragging the boy to his feet and down a set of stairs to the theatre room.

‣‣

Two weeks had passed when the storm had finally let up.

(Well, actually the storm had stopped about nine days ago, but Chenle's mother only deemed it safe for them to go to school now, so for them, this was when the storm had finally ended.)

Chenle and Renjun were going back today and Renjun couldn't have been happier. He'd woken up at 5am in the morning to get ready, smile dancing on his face prettily throughout it all — he'd even managed to wake up Chenle nicely, the bucket of cold water he'd usually douse the younger in nowhere to be found.

He'd skipped down the stairs in pure rapture, hugged and kissed everyone (including all 739 members of staff in the Zhong mansion) except for Chenle and ran out of the house with a content sigh leaving his lips.

Chenle rushed down a minute later, still rubbing at his sleepy eyes, his attitude was a complete 180 from Renjun's, he seemed upset going back to school and Mr. Zhong had tried to ask about it, albeit a little too late because Chenle was out the door as fast as he came, chasing after his black haired friend.

"Gege!" He panted as he finally reached the shorter boy, pouting as he slung an arm around his shoulder, "why didn't I get hugs and kisses like everyone else?"

"Because you weren't downstairs."

"You went up for the clothes maids though? Could have given them to me then," the blonde huffed.

Renjun shook his head and snorted, holding the younger's hand from where it was dangling off his shoulder and turning his head, placing a few soft pecks on his lips. Then he faced forward once more and continued walking like nothing happened.

Chenle would have frozen in his spot from the shock, but the ravenette had an arm wound around his waist to keep him moving - although it didn't stop him from turning cherry red.

‣‣

When the duo had reached the school gates, they were moderately surprised with the sight that was waiting for them.

There was a large crowd around the middle of the campus entrance, students squealing loudly and shooting heart-eyes towards whoever was in the middle.

Renjun had assumed that it was Donghyuck and his friends — and he wasn't wrong — but it seemed that Jeno and Jaemin weren't the only two with him.

"Minhyung-ssi! We missed you so much."

"Jisung oppa, we love you, we were so worried, how are you? Have you eat-"

"Those two are Mark Lee and Park Jisung, they complete the circle of Donghyuck's best friends," Chenle whispered in his ear, as Renjun stood awkwardly waiting for the crowd to disperse, after all, they were blocking the whole entrance.

"They went abroad to Mark's hometown in Canada for SM's Music & Dance Exchange Program, they were supposed to come back a while ago. I guess the storm held them back," he supplied, eyes never leaving their figures as he spoke.

At that moment, Jaemin had seemingly spotted the two from his current situation of being flocked by a bunch of star-struck teens and waved with a bright smile on his face as he (with the help of Jeno's warning glares at the students who surrounded him) managed to escape the crowd and run up to them.

"Junnie!" he said excitedly, jumping a little as he bounded his way over, "and... Chonle?" his voice faded a little as he turned towards the blonde to reconfirm his name.

"Chenle." The Chinese corrected, appreciative smile on his face. Renjun observed the two with a slight feeling of proudness, it was nice to see Jaemin trying to make an effort to include Chenle and not ignore him like they had done before. To be completely honest, it was nice to just see Jaemin in general, because even though Renjun still held resentment towards him, he couldn't deny that he missed his pretty face.

He really shouldn't have, but he couldn't help it, there were a lot of things about Jaemin that were admirable, from his deep voice to his long eyelashes; he seemed to have the best personality out of the three as well — kind in most situations. This was the first the brunet had actually spoken to them since their time in the infirmary, whatever made him turn back all those times in the canteen, seemingly forgotten as he held onto both of their hands tightly.

"I wanna introduce you to our other friends, okay?" he grinned brightly. Renjun assumed that by 'our' he meant his, Donghyuck's and Jeno's.

Renjun assumed; Renjun didn't know the future after all.