Prince's Choice - Zhong Chenle

Fifteen

Jeno was sent to bring Chenle his lunch today since he was prohibited from leaving his room.

When Jeno knocked on the door, Chenle's head immediately snapped in that direction.

"Come in! Please!" Chenle shouts. Jeno tilts his head in confusion, but enters the room regardless.

"Hey Chenle, I brought you some-"

"Jeno! I'm so happy you're here! I haven't seen anyone in months."

"Chenle, you've only been grounded for two days. And didn't your brother bring you lunch yesterday?"

"Nevermind that! Tell me, tell me what the outside world is like." Chenle begs, his eyes twitching a bit. He was so strongly resisting the urge to chew on his fingernails.

Jeno sighs and then chuckles a bit. "Well you didn't hear it from me, but today King Peng is supposed to be out of the castle for a bit."

"You mean, I can leave my room!"

"No! The guards are still here, you would get into so much trouble and-"

"So what you mean is, I can leave my room if I don't get caught!"

"Chenle-" Jeno stops and takes a deep breath in. "You know what, there's no point. Do whatever you want."

"Yay! We're going to have so much fun!"

"Woah, woah, woah, we're? As much as I'd love to, I was planning on hanging out with Youngie today."

"With Youngie? Can I join?"

"Nope. It's already enough that you're trying to leave your room, let alone the castle."

"Aww, but I don't want to be alone." Chenle suddenly gasp. "I have an idea! How about you bring her here!"

"No way! If anyone found out, do you know how much trouble SHE could get into."

"Come on please? She said she's always wanted to see the inside of a castle."

"I already sa- wait, when did she say that?"

Chenle realized he'd never brought up the fact that him and Youngie spent time together at the park to Jeno. I mean, that was the reason he was grounded in the first place.

"Oh, yeah... we- we hung out together the other day."

"Alone?"

"D- Does it even matter? Bring her here, please. I promise it'll just be for today and I won't cause any trouble. I'll even stay in my room for the rest of the week!"

"Well, I can't play video games with the grounded prince... fine." Jeno caves in.

"Thank you!" Chenle shrills as he runs up to hug Jeno. "You won't regret this!"

"Yeah, yeah. How do I sneak her in anyways?"

"If you go to the grand kitchen, the 7th cabinet to the right with the salt shaker sitting on top of it has a tunnel. If you crawl straight and take the second left you'll end up directly outside."

"I- I'm not even going to ask." Jeno sighs again.

"I have sneak outs hidden everywhere! Behind paintings, under carpets, how do you think I'm always outside?"

Jeno ignored the younger boys... interesting explanation, and set off to retrieve Youngie.

Jeno kicks open the cabinet, Youngie not far behind him so that they could get back into the castle.

Jeno finds himself stuck at the doorway before he could get in though. He puts his arms out and pulls as hard as he can, trying to squirm out of the tiny opening.

He delivers the finally blow and throws himself onto the ground. He laid on the his back with his eyes closed, quickly opening them and to his surprise, meeting eyes with Chenle.

"How long have you been here?" Jeno ask, happy to be out of the tiny crawl space.

"Doesn't matter, where's Youngie?"

Just then, the shorter girl fully pulls her self out of the cabinet, faceplanting on the ground right next to Jeno.

"I'm okay." She says, her words muffled due to her face being on the floor.