Zhong Chenle
Monday, January 25, 5:30 pm ~reality

"How was school today?" Chenle looked at his mother with a smile as he munched on his dinner.

"It was great! We got our tests back today in math and I got an A!" He said excitedly. His parents smiled proudly.

"I knew you had it in you!" His father said before eating a forkful of food.

"Chenle, your father and I were looking into new houses and we were thinking that we might move soon. We wanted to try to move back to China so that you can spend a large portion of your last school years in your home.." Chenle looked at his mother.

"That's right." his father continued. "We've spent quite a decent amount of years here and so we figured that you would be alright with that." Chenle's expression changed to a smile.

"That would be awesome!" He said excitedly. His parents exchanged a glance and looked back at their son.

"What about your friends here? Aren't you worried about leaving them?" The spoonful of food that was going to Chenle's mouth froze as his whole body tensed.

Friends.

He loved people. But he couldn't help the fact that for whatever reason, people didn't love him.

'You're too loud' they would say.

'You're only here because of your money.'

'Your culture is weird.'

Or the worst one was when they said nothing.

They made him think they liked his company until he eventually realized they were just using him for money.

"Is there something wrong Chenle?"

Chenle had always told his parents he had lots of friends. He didn't want his parents to worry about him or feel like they had to move back to China because of him.

"No! I was just thinking about how I can tell them.." He said, picking his words carefully. "I think I'm full. May I be excused?" He asked them. His mother looked concerned.

"You may." She said, watching carefully as her son stood and carried his plate to the sink before heading quickly to the stairs and disappearing into his room.

"Strange.."

When Chenle entered his room he let out a slow sigh of relief and left his light off.

He went straight to his bed and flopped onto it, letting out a satisfied sigh as he did. He turned over and saw on the bed was his old dark gray tabby cat.

"Mochi!" He said excitedly. He reached out and pulled the cat towards himself so that he could cuddle with the small feline, who barely seemed phased by all of this.

Chenle yawned.

He was so tired.

He closed his eyes gently and felt the familiar pull of sleep come to him.
But something about this pull was stronger...

Not like the normal nights he fell asleep.

But when he tried to open his eyes, shout to warn his parents, move to get up, it was too late.

He was falling.

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