Strawberry Milk - Jeonglix

23

The weeks passing by without Jeongin were tedious for Felix. Exams were stressful but he couldn't imagine what Jeongin was going through, especially when he told Felix things got harder for him around this time, zoning out and forgetting a lot of things. Felix wished he could check on him, but they never crossed paths in college. He was relieved Hyunjin started turning up more though. He had college friends besides Hyunjin, but he wasn't as close to them.

He spent his lunchtimes in the library, cramming for the exams he thought would kill him. Hyunjin sat across from him, a textbook open as he briefly scanned the words, but for the most part, he'd given up trying. Occasionally, Felix would see Seungmin in the library, but they'd always ignore each other. He never saw Jeongin with him.

When exams ended, Felix was most excited about seeing Jeongin again. He went to the skate park with Chan, Minho and Hyunjin the first weekend after them, but Felix noticed Chan and Minho stayed away from each other, only talking to make sly remarks. To make things worse, Jeongin didn't turn up to the park that day. Nor the day after that. Or the one that followed. A whole week elapsed without Felix seeing Jeongin. The weather was perfect and summer was starting, but Felix's world felt dim.

"I'm going to his house," Felix decided on Saturday, sliding down the half-pipe he'd been standing at the top of.

Chan, sitting on the bench next to Hyunjin, asked, "whose? Jeongin's?"

"Yeah, It's been over a month since I've seen him. Why isn't he here?"

"Seungmin said he wasn't doing too good recently, Lix. I'm sure it's nothing to worry about but yeah...he said he needs a bit of space, even from Seungmin. I'm sure it's nothing personal."

"Why were you talking to Seungmin?" Felix frowned.

"Oh, I wasn't, we um...well-"

"He's fucking him," Minho interjected from where he stood on top of a nearby ramp, watching the conversation unfold with a cigarette in his hand. "Cute looking boy, curly brown hair, wears a cross necklace?" He asked and Felix nodded, "yeah, they're fucking."

"You're what!?" Felix gasped.

"I'm going to kill you," Chan mumbled, shooting daggers in Minho's direction. The latter merely grinned, riding his skateboard down the ramp and making his way over to the half-pipes, losing interest now that he'd caused his chaos.

"So it's true?"

"Well, no, we're not 'fucking,' we're..."

"Screwing," Hyunjin offered.

Chan scoffed, "that's the same thing, but yeah, whatever. I guess we're doing those things."

Felix looked horrified, "but he's like...innocent! He goes to church and wears that cross necklace all the time. What the hell, Chan?"

"He is not innocent," Chan mumbled, but Felix didn't want to hear anymore, clamping his hands over his ears and humming a tune. "You're the innocent one, Lix," he stood up, removing Felix's hands from over his ears. "Now, do you want me to tell you what Seungmin told me or what?"

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Felix tried to visit Jeongin a few times over the course of the week, but something always prevented him.

The first roadblock was Seungmin. Felix went to Jeongin's house on Monday, knowing he had therapy that day. He hoped to see an angel leaving the house, but instead, he was met with a demon.

"What are you doing here?" the demon asked, stopping on the inside of his gate. Felix wanted to run away, but Seungmin was talking to him before he could. "He's at therapy. You're not going to find him here."

"Oh, he's already gone?" Felix asked, scratching the back of his neck.

"Yeah," Seungmin nodded, pushing open the gate and joining Felix on the pavement, "and he doesn't want to see anyone at the moment, so please don't bother him."

"I know but...I haven't seen him in ages."

"There's a reason for that," Seungmin rolled his eyes, "now I have to be somewhere so please stop loitering outside my house and go away."

Felix scoffed, shaking his head and picking up his skateboard. He couldn't help but wonder what Chan saw in him as he made his way home.

The second time Felix tried to see Jeongin, he ran into his mother. He didn't recognise her at first, remaining by the front gate as she walked down the pavement. He waited for her to pass by but when she stopped in front of him, realisation hit him like a truck. "Excuse me, what are you doing in front of my house?" She asked.

"O-oh," Felix plastered a smile on his face, noticing she'd been shopping from the two full bags in her hands, "sorry, I was just um, looking for someone?"

"Yes? Who would that be?"

Felix could see where Seungmin learned to be so intimidating. "J-Jeongin?"

"I've seen you before. Where do I know you from?" She inquired, brow furrowed.

"Sometimes I go to the same church as you... My mother is Mei?"

"Oh, yes!" She realised, forcing a smile onto her face, her disposition towards Felix changing. "Lovely to see you, dear, but I'm afraid you won't be able to see Jeongin today. We don't let many people into our house as the children we care for are vulnerable and need extra care. You'll have to wait to see Jeongin at a later date."

"Oh, yeah, ok," Felix nodded, not willing to tell her he'd already stepped foot in her house twice, "h-have a nice day."

"You too, dear," Rose smiled and Felix opened the gate for her to pass through with the bags.

Every time Felix tried to visit Jeongin after that, the front garden was full of children playing in the summer sun and he gave up

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I was listening to music from 2004-ish while editing for some reason??? But there were some bopppps that year-ish, like Yeah!, This Love, Toxic, Mr BrigHTSIDE, AmeriCAN IDIOT, bREAKING THE HABIT and Numb by Linkin Park, My Immortal by Evanescene that makes me feel more emotion than any other song... Just Lose It and Like Toy Soldiers by Eminem. Damn. Sorry, this had no purpose, I just realllllyyy love music, so question of the chapter:

What's your favourite early 2000's song? Or just a good one? I honestly can't pick. I like Eminem and bands like Linkin Park a lot though, so probably something by them. Was also raised on R&B so a lot of that is good...UGH, I LOVE SO MUCH MUSIC DHSDFBHFDBHSF.