Off Key

#28

Seungmin was pacing back and forth in his room. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. You got this... just tell him.

Seungmin walked out of his room to see his dad sitting on the couch, scrolling through his phone. "Hey, dad," Seungmin said, nervously. "Oh hey, Seungmin, what do you need?" Mr. Kim asked, giving his son, his full attention.

"Well, I just wanted to-" "Before you continue, I wanted to ask, have you already packed?" Mr. Kim asked, cutting Seungmin off. "Oh, I forgot. I'll pack tonight." Seungmin said. Mr. Kim nodded his head and let Seungmin continue.

"Oh, right, well, I wanted to tell you that I'm in a... band," Seungmin said, twisting the ends of his shirt. Mr. Kim stared blankly at his son and soon a smile appeared on his face. "That's great! It just won't get in the way of your studies, right?" Mr. Kim asked.

Seungmin blinked in shock. "Uh, no, it's not in the way," Seungmin said, still in shock. "That's good then. You should invite them over some time. How many are in the band?" Seungmin smiled. He was not expecting his dad to be this interested. "Yeah, that'd be fun. Including me, there's 8." Seungmin said as he sat on the couch.

"Do you wanna hear one of our songs?" Seungmin asked, hesitantly. "Sure! Play it." Mr. Kim said enthusiastically. "Okay, I'll play our top song, Hello Stranger."

After listening to the song, Mr. Kim already knew the lyrics. "Seungmin, why didn't you tell me you sing?" Mr. Kim asked once the song was over. "It just never occurred to me," Seungmin said, smiling. "Do you like it?" He asked. "It's incredible, you're singing reminds me of your mom." Mr. Kim said, laughing, thinking about the past.

"She'd always sing to you whenever you were fussy and you'd always fall asleep to the sound of her voice." Mr. Kim said thinking. "What's the group called?" Mr. Kim asked, realizing he never asked. "Oh, it's Stray Kids. I have to introduce them to you, one day."

~~~

Felix was curled up in a blanket, waiting for Changbin to come from downstairs.

"Okay, here's your tea," Changbin said, entering the room, and passing the mug to Felix. "Thanks," Felix said as he reached for the mug. Changbin sat down on the corner of the bed, facing Felix.

"Are you okay?" Changbin asked, worried. "I'm okay, I'm just surprised I forgot," Felix said as he took a sip from his tea. "Do you want to talk about it? We don't have to if you don't want to." Changbin said.

"No, I can talk about it," Felix said as he sat his mug on the table next to his bed. Changbin gave Felix his full attention.

"I was born in Australia and loved my life there. I was young, so I don't remember much of Australia or my parents." Felix sighed, "Both of my parents were brutally murdered, and I found them." Changbin reached for Felix's hand and squeezed it.

Felix squeezed back and continued, "I don't remember finding them, but everyone said I called the police. After that, I was in the orphanage for a couple of months because none of my other family members wanted me. But then my mom and dad came to Australia with Minho and Chaeryeong and adopted me."

"It was awkward at first since I had to move to a whole new country and I had to learn Korean because my parents taught me English even though they were Korean and I was living with a new mom and dad and with two siblings but we all got close quickly." Felix smiled at the thought.

"In the beginning, I would cry because I missed my birth parents but over time, I mourned their deaths. My parents thought it'd be nice for me to remember my birth parents when I'm grown up so they found out the day they died and we go out to eat every month on the 7th."