RULES. seungjin.

【Ｃｈａｐｔｅｒ ２８】

Seungmin's scream resonated within the cafe loudly, ticking several customers for the second time, but Chenle doesn't so much as flinch.

"I'm sorry," Seungmin chuckles hysterically, "Come again? Did you just... not pay attention to anything I just said?" he then questions demandingly, the disbelief evident in his tone as he looks at Chenle as if he's an alien from a foreign planet (though.. to be honest... that's pretty much Chenle in a nutshell).

"I meant it exactly as I said it. You need to go to your parents," Chenle repeats. Seungmin raises his arms frantically in an attempt of retaliation but Chenle gestures his hands down to calm him down. The former is thankful for that, for who knows what Seungmin could've done in the next few seconds. Break a glass, probably. Seungmin slumps in his seat and raises an eyebrow for his friend to continue.

"Haven't you ever seen those tv shows where the son or daughter of evil ass rich parents overthrow their parents? We're going to do exactly that! But to start that plan, you need to trick your parents into thinking that they have your loyalty and that you're on board with their plans. Gaining their trust means gaining the trust of others in the company. When we advance in this plan with more team players, we'll sort out the workers to see who supports you and who supports your parents. But for now, we need Actor Seungmin to put on a show again," Chenle states, pointing finger guns at him.

Seungmin merely blinks. Chenle always seems to know exactly what he's doing, with no flaws in his ideas. At this moment, they are sending Seungmin into a frenzy. The plan seems absolutely psycho at first, but soon he realizes that it is his best shot.

This is the first step, and most would regard the first step as the easiest when it comes to any type of plan, but to Seungmin, this first step would be the largest fucking step he would ever take.

"God, that's going to be so complicated. As much as my parents can be narrow-minded, they are far from dumb. I'll have to abide by their rules as slowly as I can if I don't want them to catch me in my act," Seungmin mutters, scratching his neck simultaneously as his mind concocts ways of appearing as the 'ideal son' that his parents always wanted without seeming suspicious.

"Seungmin, I have faith in you. You definitely inherited the brains in your family, so only you have the ability to outsmart them."

"Yeah, but-"

"Is Actor Seungmin ready?" Chenle presses, leaning into Seungmin's face intimidatingly close.

"Actor Seungmin is ready, but what am I supposed to do-," Seungmin says, being cut off by his phone ringing. He checks the ID to see that Hwall was calling him. He swipes right and picks up his device.

"Hey, Hwall! Can you hold on for a second?"Seungmin asks, gaining a response of approval from Hwall afterward.

"Chenle, are we done eating? Let's pay and head to my car," Seungmin says hastily as he throws some cash onto the table and makes his way to the exit, not sparing Chenle a glance as he jogs out. Chenle follows in a state of confusion. The second that Chenle shuts the passenger door, Seungmin presses the speaker button on his phone.

"Sorry about that, Hwall. I had to leave the cafe real quick. I hope I didn't keep you waiting too long," Seungmin laughs sheepishly.

"No, not at all! It's fine! I just wanted to check in," Hwall responds in his usual soft tone.

"Awww. How cute. I am with my friend Chenle right now. You remember him from when we were younger and I called him that one time only for my parents to make me stop talking to him out of nowhere?"

"Oh...," Hwall ponders before gasping, Seungmin hears a snap from the boy's fingers. "Chinese dolphin boy?" Hwall questions.

Chenle glares at Seungmin's phone half-heartedly while Seungmin lets out a little chuckle. "Yep! That's the one! We were just catching up. What's going on at your end?" Seungmin asks.