wander [ hyunlix ]

42

Felix awoke to the hushed sounds of chatter coming from the halls, a faint yet persistent disturbance to his deep sleep.

He'd always been a light sleeper, and today, he cursed that fact as he came to, blinking his eyes open to the darkness of their bedroom. A glance at the clock told Felix that it was still the early hours of the morning, even the sun itself not waking for a good while.

As he shifted in bed to sit up, the clicking sound of pens jostling together caught his attention, and he glanced down to see multiple left on the mattress, abandoned next to a book that sat between him and the boy next to him.

Felix bit back the smallest of smiles. Hyunjin laid cuddled under the sheets, completely out, with the blanket clutched in his hands. The sight of the books and pens strewn about in between the two made the blonde quietly laugh, and at once, suspecting something, he glanced down at his own hands.

Small ink markings of "hi" and hearts drawn everywhere were there, as per usual. This menace. Felix made a mental note to start hiding the pens from his boyfriend at night.

Once again, the faintest sound of voices down the hall grabbed Felix's attention, and now he remembered why exactly he'd woken up at such an ungodly hour.

He wasn't going to be able to fall asleep again soon anyway. Felix carefully climbed out of bed, figuring that he might as well go investigate whatever was happening. The cold air bit at his arms as he stood, so he quickly grabbed one of Hyunjin's sweatshirts from the side table and pulled it over himself as he padded across the room.

The sound of the door slowly creaking open and closed made him feel as if he were sneaking out—a feeling only exacerbated by the darkness of the hallway as he stepped into it. The voices got louder, as well, as he crept down towards their origin.

It didn't take long for him to reach them.

"But what are we going to do?" a girl's hushed voice rang out amongst other whispers. Felix lingered at the doorframe of the main area, still just barely out of right.

"I just—" anxious, almost heavy footsteps seemed to pace back and forth. "I didn't think it would be so soon! How can I hide them now? How can I..."

Felix would recognize Sookyung's stressed voice anywhere. Sensing just from her tone that something was amiss, Felix stepped into the main space, taking in the sight of nearly ten girls gathered in the dark, huddled together as if holding a seance of some sort.

"Oh, god—" One of them seemed to react immediately to Felix's entrance, and in unison, everyone else looked up.

The feeling of the entire room's gazes boring into him almost made his skin crawl. "Um... sorry to interrupt," Felix's voice felt too loud as it came out of him. "I just... heard you guys talking and wondered what was going on. I'll go back—"

"No!" Sookyung blurted out, then winced at her own volume. "No! Felix, don't... don't go back," she hurried over and took the boy's wrist in both of her hands.

As she tugged him to join the rest of the group, their gazes stayed on him. He couldn't exactly identify what the emotion clouding their eyes was, all he could tell was that it wasn't pleasant.

"You have to tell him," a familiar voice whispered, and Felix squinted to make out Yoojung's features in the darkness. The smaller girl's eyes darted between Sookyung and Felix, as if anticipating every coming moment.