"Chenle, may I speak with you for a moment?" Jeno asks in a low-key strict and upset tone.

The teenager does not bother to look back at his Papa standing by his bedroom door, "not now, Pang." Eyes set on the blinding lights from his computer screen.

"Lele, just for a moment please." Jeno bites his inner cheek when Chenle ignores him, proceeding to play on his computer with his headphones attached on his head.

"Or else I will turn off the WiFi for the rest of the night." Jeno says, knitting his eyebrows together, his patience slowly running out.

He's had a stressful day at work, and what he came home to did not greet him very well.

He hears Chenle huffing in annoyance, harshly taking off his headphones as he stands up. "Don't be aggressive now, Chenle, I would just like to speak to you." He scolds.

He lets Chenle step out first before closing the door, he quickly inserts another scolding. "Also, I told you to not turn off all your lights when you're on your gadgets. At least leave a dim light on."

Chenle practically stomps downstairs where he assumes is where his Papa will be talking to him about something. And in this case, he was not wrong when Jeno leads him to the kitchen.

"Have you ate your lunch today?" Jeno asks, stopping by the kitchen counter and faces his eldest son.

"I have." Chenle confidently replies. Briefly noticing his lunchbox on the countertop, placed right in the middle between him and his Papa.

"Are you sure?" Jeno tilts his head to the side as Chenle nods lazily, he hums a little before opening Chenle's lunchbox and points at it with a flat look.

"Then explain to me as to why this has not been touched."

"I–" for the first time in a while, Chenle was a little speechless. Trying to come up with any excuse.

Jeno tilts his chin up, waiting for Chenle to say something. And when he finally came up with a story, it didn't matter anymore because Jeno was already upset.

And Chenle knew that. But he unfortunately didn't realize the proper way to solve this.

"One of my friends treated us lunch today, Pa. I could not refuse, especially when it was unexpected."

Jeno pushes his tongue against his inner cheek, "I'm disappointed in you, Lele."

"I don't appreciate you lying to me."

"But that's what happened!" Chenle insists, trying to convince his Papa that he was telling the truth and he shouldn't really be in big trouble for this.

"Is that so?" Jeno takes out his phone from his pocket, "I'm going to ask Yuna or another one of your friends–"

"Yuna wasn't there." Chenle interrupts. Clearing his throat when Jeno looks up from his phone, raising a brow.

"It was another friend, like... Not part of our circle, but a friend..." Chenle licks his dry lips, gulping when Jeno was silent.

"From another group, Yuna doesn't know him. And my other friends aren't that close with him either..."

"Who is this friend of yours?"

"He plays volleyball, Ta..Taek..wang. Taekwang." Jeno blinks, scanning Chenle's facial expressions.

"I helped him with uh, science recently. I'm not really close with him yet but he insisted on buying me lunch."

"You could have told me earlier, Chenle. This is why it is important for you to tell me these things so I would be aware of what goes on." Jeno gives it up at the end.

When Chenle was about to smile, Jeno places a hand on his shoulder. "But consider this as a warning, if you do anything else wrong despite knowing it is and the consequences.... I'll be very upset."

Chenle just nods along as Jeno sends him back upstairs, strings of reminders escaping his lips that will for sure, get ignored by the teenager.

𖢻

"He didn't even apologize." Jeno complains as his hands are all over the place.

"I feel bad for talking about my son like this– but I'm just upset at what he did. And I have a feeling it's not the end, that there will be something much more later on."

He looks up at Jaemin with a deep frown, eyes glassy as he exhales. The elder man takes his shaky hands in his and squeezes them gently.

They had just finished eating dinner, stepping out to sit on a bench and get some fresh air, especially when Jaemin had noticed Jeno's stressed out face.

"You should not feel bad for talking about this. It's not like your talking trash about your son and spreading the word out to everyone. It's just me, right?"

Jeno sheepishly nods, "yeah... I didn't want to bother Lia this week when she is really busy." He says, making Jaemin chuckle.

"Tell me your concerns, love. I want to help too..." Flashing him a soft smile, Jeno purses his lips as he rubs his thumbs on Jaemin's knuckles.

"I'm concerned about my kids, but recently it is Chenle who's... Being the most... Bratty." He winces a little.

"I don't want to sound like a bad parent and having favoritism or–"

"You are not." Jaemin stops him, moving closer till their knees are touching. "Trust me, you are not."

Jeno nods, attempting to reassure himself thanks to Jaemin's words as he takes a deep breath.

"But from what I've seen so far, Jisung's lunchbox is close to empty, if not, actually being empty. And I know when he is full from it because he still has his snacks with him."

"Chenle on the other hand... There's this odd vibe around him, like he's keeping a secret... From me." Jeno trails off a little.

"I would appreciate it if he would talk to me more, maybe let me know if he doesn't like the lunches I prepared for him so I could fix that... I wouldn't mind as long as he could eat and be full."

"But also remain healthy, learn budgeting or saving and being grateful... I just–" Jeno's eyes turn glassy again as his voice cracks.

"I've rarely heard Chenle thanking me and saying sorry to me. I've rarely heard him say these common yet affectionate things to me. And it just feels wrong– it saddens me, Jaemin."

Jaemin had so many things to ramble, so many reassuring words for Jeno to hear.

But for now, as the younger man is crying, he just pulls him in for a hug and whispers sweet nothings in to his ears.

"I will try my best to help out, love. I know it has been slow, but trust me, it is only the beginning and I've been observing a little bit."

"Your concerns are also my concerns, Jeno. I care about you and your children a lot." Kissing Jeno's crown while pulling him closer in his arms.

𖢻

Thoughts??

Do you think Jeno is a bad parent? Should Chenle have apologized or not? Is it a big deal?