The Zhong household was…not quite what Huang Renjun had expected, to say the least. 

“And finally, this is my bedroom,” Chenle had said once he opened the door to reveal a room that was about as large as Renjun’s own living room - the largest room in his apartment. “I know it might be overwhelming but-“

“Chenle, is that a chandelier?” He asked, pointing to the obvious light ornament that was right above the younger’s bed and scanned the rest of the room. There was a nice and shiny wooden desk that had an overhead shelf - polished - next to a full length mirror. Next to Chenle’s bed was a door that had Renjun wondering where it led and got him asking the younger. 

“Oh that? That’s my walk in wardrobe,” Chenle answered absentmindedly, toeing off his shoes and plopping down on his bed, completely oblivious Renjun’s shock at the mention of a walk in wardrobe. “Come on, I wanna cuddle!”

“Coming, coming,” He muttered, chuckling while shaking his head and climbing on the bed after taking off his shoes. “I missed you.”

“I missed you too, ge,” Chenle replied, kissing his hair after and Renjun found himself snuggling closer to the younger male. “You’re only here for a few days, right?”

“Yeah, sadly,” He answered, remembering the stack of work that was awaiting him in his own apartment and silently prayed that Jaemin and Jeno had taken the liberty of taking care of Jem once more. “I’m sorry-“

“Don’t apologise for things that aren’t your fault.” He heard Chenle whisper and hugged him tighter, relishing the moment that they were in for he didn’t know when it could happen again. 

“Hey, Renjun-ge,” Chenle started, tapping his lower back and Renjun hummed to show he was listening as his eyelids grew heavy. “I want to be a dolphin, ge.”

Observations of rich people #88: They think of the weirdest things.

“You already are one, Le.”

~ ~ ~

“Ge, Father wants to have a family dinner together.”

Renjun groaned, blindly swatting at the hand that was poking his face.

“Oh my god, I love you but Father can be scary, ge!”

Sighing in frustration, Renjun slowly opened his eyes to see the worried stare of his younger boyfriend, the other huffing out in relief before pulling him into an upright sitting position.

“So why does your dad want to have dinner?” He asked, eyeing the clock on the wall and realising the time. “It’s nine at night.”

“He just got back from work,” Chenle answered, scrambling to grab a comb on his desk and coming back to fix his hair. “You have crazy bed head.”

“Your bed is comfy,” He replied, pouting when Chenle prevented him from lying back down. “So why do I need to join your family dinner?”

“Uh…because you’re part of the family?” Chenle answered, reply coming out more as a question than anything else. “Anyway, we have to go down. Yiyang-jie says that everything’s set up and Father doesn’t like to wait.”

Before he knew it, Renjun was sleepily holding Chenle’s hand and standing in front of a table that had Chenle’s father, Chenle’s stepmother and Kun sitting, three seats free. At the head of the table was where Chenle’s father sat, his stepmother to his right and Kun next to her. 

“I know we have gotten off on the wrong foot but it’s nice to meet you, Huang Renjun,” Chenle’s father greeted, his eyes surprisingly warm as Chenle’s stepmother smiled in content. “I hope we can overcome out differences. You don’t need to be so nervous.”

“It…It’s nice to meet you too,” He greeted politely, gripping Chenle’s hand tight as they sat down opposite Chenle’s stepmother and Kun with Renjun finding comfort in sun’s small smile. 

“Minghao, could you bring the meals now, please?” He heard Chenle’s stepmother ask the butler who nodded and soon came back with four dishes on a tray, leaving Renjun stunned at the manners being used between master and butler. “Is there something wrong, Renjun?” Flinching and snapping out of his questioning trance, Renjun sat up noticeably straighter and shook his head.

“No, there’s nothing wrong, ma’am,” He replied as politely as he could, suddenly nervous since these were his boyfriend’s parents, regardless of their differences. 

“Are you sure? You’re awfully tense,” Chenle’s stepmother replied, worry and concern written all over her face as he shook his head once more, not even realising that the butler had begun to serve him. 

“Ah, thank you,” He muttered once all the food was on his plate and he felt a warm and comforting hand on his knee, a warm smile being presented to him when he glanced at his younger boyfriend.

“So, how was the company, Father?” He heard Chenle ask as Kun motioned that it was alright for him to eat and he did, pacing himself to match everyone else. 

“I heard about what happened with Zixin.” He froze when he heard his own father’s name, nearly choking on his food but saving himself last minute with a gulp of water. “I truly am sorry about what happened and I’ll talk to him later about it.”

“Don’t bother,” He coughed out, trying his best to seem half as proper as everyone else present at the table. “He wouldn’t listen anyway.”

“I think you’re underestimating him,” Chenle’s stepmother piped up, her eyebrow rising. “After all, this man here has enough power to grant you freedom from school and work for a few days just to see your boyfriend.”

“Don’t tell him that!” He heard Chenle’s father protest and Renjun ran the sentence through his head once more. Chenle’s father being the one to organise me coming here? Didn’t Hina and Jeno do that? 

“It’s true though,” Kun told him over the bickering parents, smiling softly at him over his cup of water. “Father wanted to apologise but he’s never been good with words so he just bought you a ticket, talked to your manager and university organiser.”

“No way…” He mumbled, shaking his head and blinking rapidly in hopes that the amused look would leaven sun’s face. “Did you know about this?” He asked Chenle who nodded and shrugged his shoulders.

“Everyone knew about it. Hina-noona and Jeno-hyung too,” Chenle informed him, stuffing some more food in his mouth and Renjun felt his eyebrows furrowing as he processed the new piece of information.

Throughout the course of dinner, Renjun was kept occupied by his thoughts and questions that came from Chenle’s parents - the questions targeting his aspirations for the future and his personality rather than his social class, something that he was mildly grateful for even when he landed back in Korea.

~ ~ ~

“How was it?!” Jaemin asked him the minute the younger saw him, having ran straight to him when he had escaped the mass of people who were also on his flight back. “How was China?!”

“Uh…like how it was meant to be?” He answered, chuckling at Jaemin’s whine of disapproval before Donghyuck walked up to him and forcibly ripped jaemin off before engulfing Renjun in a hug.

“Welcome back,” His best friend greeted and Renjun relished the hug, glad to have finally be with people who he had spent a lifetime with. “How was meeting the parents?”

“Weird,” He answered, shaking his head and turning to the crowd. “They thought that it was odd ‘work time’ was actually called a ‘shift’.”

“You’re actually kidding, right?” Jeno asked him, disbelief over his face as Renjun shook his head. “Man, are all rich people this dumb?”

“Babe, what does that say about you?” Jaemin shot back in amusement as Jeno rolled his eyes and pinched Jaemin’s side in retaliation. Seeing the interaction immediately made Renjun remember the cuddles he had exchanged with Chenle and found himself missing the younger. It wasn’t long before his phone started vibrating and he excused himself from the group to pick it up, smiling once he saw the ‘Actually My Lele <3’ contact displayed on the screen.

“Its only been a few hours and you’re already calling me,” He said in greeting and could practically hear the younger rolling his eyes over the phone. 

“Does this classify me as a bad boyfriend then? Calling to make sure you landed alright?” He heard Chenle scoff on the other line. “Ungrateful for everything, I swear. I’m going to break up with you.”

“Hmmm, yeah right,” He replied, amusement lacing his tone as his heart warmed at Chenle being worried for him. “But I got back alright. All safe and sound!” Even hearing Chenle’s chuckle made him mi