DESTINED. wsn ✓

thirty five

quick a/n: this is already part 40 and i'm just like 3/4 finished. soo... u can expect this to be longer than seeking for you for those that read it. i'm sorry i stretched this story so far. it's just i love exploring individual characters and... yeah i got carried away i guess. tell me if you're not a fan of long, LONG stories (because i, myself, couldn't read stories with more than 70 parts) and i'll try to stop myself from writing too much the next time around. but i promise — we're getting there!

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"oh my god, not another one." hongjoong muttered to himself when hyunjin and wooyoung brought felix back to the warehouse. felix and hyunjin were now catching up in the dining area while the other five boys just sat around the area in the middle of the ground floor.

"how did you guys even find him? i thought he went back to australia." hongjoong said. no one knew about felix except for hongjoong and wooyoung, so the others were pretty confused when hyunjin brought the boy back with the biggest smile on his face. since hongjoong and hyunjin went to the same school for a small period of time, hongjoong recognised the boy when he stepped foot into the warehouse.

wooyoung shrugged. his head was on san's lap and the elder's fingers were threading through wooyoung's soft hair. the two had been closer than ever since san came and honestly, everyone was just glad to see the couple back together and happy.

"he was following us. i don't know where he came from. but when we tackled him in the alley, he removed his mask and stuff and hyunjin hyung recognised him as felix ssi. it happened so... quickly." wooyoung explained, a frown forming on his face, "are you thinking what i'm thinking?"

seonghwa hummed, "yeah. well, sort of. i mean, it is weird that felix ssi just popped out of nowhere. plus, why did he have to follow hyunjin? i have my own suspicions against him, but that might be because i don't know him well. what do you think, joongie?"

hongjoong's eyes lifted off the ground when seonghwa called him and he sighed, shaking his head, "i don't know him that well either. i only knew that he was hyunjin's soulmate and best friend. that's it. he was, however, very popular because of his bubbly personality. so i guess he wouldn't be one to be suspected...? i don't know what i'm talking about, i'm sorry. i guess it's reasonable to hold some suspicions against him for now until we know him well enough."

yeosang nodded, "i agree. we couldn't really trust anyone nowadays and i'm very, very sceptical about his intentions. so i say we do what hongjoong hyung said."

"okay." wooyoung said softly, looking up at san, "what about you?"

san shrugged, "i don't know either of them well. but i'll hold my suspicions for now. like yeosang hyung said: you could never trust anyone nowadays."

"hey, guys!" hyunjin yelled from the dining area, making all five boys perk up from their sitting position. hyunjin waved them over and they did so reluctantly, not sure why hyunjin needed them over there.

"come on, guys, it's not that bad. anyways, let me introduce you. this is lee felix, my soulmate. he's from australia and he was an exchange student in the high school joong and i were at. felix, this is hongjoong, i'm sure you recognised him from before; seonghwa, hongjoong's boyfie; yeosang, san's best friend; san, wooyoung's soulmate and wooyoung, my best friend!" hyunjin introduced them one by one. the boys had waved or grinned at felix once their name was called and hyunjin was honestly glad they're doing this for him.

wooyoung smiled and took a step forward, reaching his hand out for felix to shake, "i've heard about you before. it's nice to see hyunjin hyung smiling and not because of my stupidity. it's nice to meet you, felix ssi."

felix smiled and shook wooyoung's hand, "it's nice to meet you too, wooyoung ssi. i hope i'm not a huge burden being here."

hongjoong sighed. he shook his head and mustered up a small grin, "no, no, not at all. it's fine, we have more than enough rooms here anyway. just a quick question: are you going to stay here? or are you going to go back to australia in due time?"

"i'm probably going to stay here for a while." felix replied, looking around at the warehouse, "it's been a while since i've been in korea and i'd really love to spend every bit of my time left here."

hyunjin frowned, "time left?"

felix looked over at hyunjin, a sad smile on his lips. he then looked at the others, "could you, um-"

"oh! yeah, sure. come on, guys, let's go." seonghwa said, sending a grin felix's way before pushing everyone out of the dining hall.

once they're all out, felix turned to hyunjin, who was already worried sick. "lix, are you sick? are you dying? what's happening?"

felix's eyes brimmed with tears. he sniffed and tried to wipe them away, but failed to do so. hyunjin frowned, "you know you can tell me anything, right?"

"yeah," felix nodded. he sighed and leaned against the dining table, "i-um-i have fatal familial insomnia. it's like this disease that runs in the family and it only gets to the male. and i get insomnia that's so bad it's fatal. i'm dying because i'm not getting enough sleep. i went back to australia because my dad - he passed away while i was here. my original exchange period was four months but i had to cut it short in order to go to his funeral and all those stuff. and then, my mom brought me to the doctor's and although i wasn't diagnosed then, they said i have an 80% chance of getting it.

"i've had insomnia on and off every few weeks so i didn't really pay attention to it. but it's only after a full month of sleepless nights that i told my mom i had to go to the doctors and see what's wrong. so, four months ago, i was diagnosed with fatal familial insomnia. the doctors told me a patient with fatal familial insomnia, or stupid dying insomnia like my younger sister likes to say, has seven to eighteen months to live. so i asked my mom if i could go back to busan to at least see you before i die."

felix drew in a deep breath before continuing, "i honestly don't know when i'll die. when i'll just develop dementia, drop into a coma, and die. i don't know. and that's why i wanted to at least properly see you before i die."

hyunjin was speechless. it's funny because four years ago, it was felix who was speechless after hyunjin's long speech and now it's the other way around. oh, how the tables have turned.

"oh, lix." hyunjin went over and engulfed the smaller in a warm hug, letting the tears that were trapped within felix's eyes fall freely, "it's going to be alright. just think of it like sleeping. you'll finally get some rest. it's okay."

but except it wasn't. it wasn't okay that felix was dying. it wasn't okay that felix just suddenly reappeared in hyunjin's life, completed his soul again, just to have his heart broken at the news. it wasn't okay that the two just didn't seem like they'll have their own happy ending.

hyunjin pulled away from the hug and tried his best to wipe away felix's tears, which was hard because it just kept on flowing. hyunjin brushed some of felix's hair back and placed a soft but lingering kiss on felix's forehead, making the younger's heart flutter and his insides turn into mush.

"we're going to be okay, lix."

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a/n: i'm sorry i just needed my monthly dose of beautiful angst. idk if it's cocky to say this but i personally love my angsts. ok off to next chapter and more woosan-

a/n 2: hey guys! i'm not usually one to talk about streaming but please please please, if you have time, please stream ateez's kingdom performance. mnet (hate that snake) specified that we only have til 2/5 00:00 kst (or something like that) to stream and we're currently at 1.7million view. if that seems a lot to you, skz has 3.1million and btob has 1.8million. also, i was streaming last night and we were at 1.5million. so we only gained 0.2million in 8 hours. if you're not free and/or not feeling like streaming, that's totally fine! but i'm just saying, i like notice new things every time i watch it and it's just a fun experience for me. i'll try my best to stream tonight since i'll have my phone with me but just stream if you can! 

yeah, that's all from me. have a great day / afternoon / evening / night!