BALANCE || Hyunlix

Chapter 4 - Mr. "Pretty good"

"Really?" Felix beamed. He was relieved to be able to grab onto someone like a tick and follow them to the class, "So can we go together?" he asked Hyunjin.

"I guess so." It took all of Hyunjin's willpower not to roll his eyes and reject him at the moment. Instead, he stepped forward first and led Felix into their classroom. Of course, no one was there yet either. Hyunjin went to his usual spot and sat down. He watched Felix look around the classroom for a moment before choosing the seat next to Hyunjin out of all the available seats. Hyunjin unconsciously clenched his jaw as Felix sat down on the chair next to him. He rather took out his notebook and looked at the notes from the previous class.

Meanwhile, Felix took out a pencil and an empty notebook, nervously drumming the pencil on the desk and biting his lip. They didn't say a word to each other and Felix was relieved when other students started coming into the class, some of them he recognized from yesterday so he started talking to them and the ones he didn't know soon introduced themselves to him. The class started not long after, and Felix soon realized that if he hadn't had any problems with Korean so far, it was because he had only spoken colloquially, but when it came to technical things and professional language, he was in trouble. He should be taking notes properly, but he actually understood every third word. He kept shooting his eyes from the blackboard to his empty notebook in which he was just scribbling and then to Hyunjin's notebook next to it, which was being filled with neat notes. He was starting to worry that he wouldn't be able to handle this program, he's mainly here to study and if every class is going to be like this, he doesn't know what he's going to do.

Even Hyunjin noticed his classmate's reluctance to write anything. Whenever he started to write a note, he quickly scribbled it uncertainly and continued to color the corner of the paper. They both made it through the class, Felix outright endured it and breathed a sigh of relief when he heard the school bell ring. Hyunjin was already packing his things and was about to get up when he noticed how the usual smile had completely disappeared from Felix's face. He sat hunched over, staring at his grubby notebook in front of him, where there were many crossed out words. For a small moment, Hyunjin remembered what it was like for him when he lived in Las Vegas with his parents for a while as a child and felt completely lost there. His English hasn't been the greatest either. And so Hyunjin himself couldn't believe what he's about to do. He was about to help his imaginary rival.

"I'll lend you my notes." He decided firmly and moved his notebook in front of Felix, "It's going to be okay, sometimes even native Koreans don't understand Mr. Yi." He spoke to Felix in a surprisingly encouraging manner. He just looked at him with his big childish eyes and the corners of his mouth began to form again into the previous smile. Hyunjin found himself examining his face and found that his nose and cheeks were covered in freckles. In fact, for a while he didn't even notice that Felix was talking to him.

"Thank you, thank you. I really appreciate it!" Felix spoke quickly, putting his hands together in thanks.

"Um, it's fine." Hyunjin muttered, still a little dazed.

"Do we have another class together?" Felix asked with hope in his voice. Hyunjin again looked at Felix's schedule and informed him with relief that they would not meet each other until after lunch, so he advised him what direction to take for his next classes and left towards his own.

***

At lunch time, Jisung separated himself from his classmates - Chan and his roommate Changbin.

"I have to hurry, because as soon as you walk into the cafeteria, people will be hiding their trays with food in fear that you'll eat them and I want to have a lunch in peace."Jisung was just teasing Changbin, because he liked food. Yes, he ate a lot, but that's because if he wanted to, he could probably crack Jisung's skull between his bicep and a forearm. Changbin chased Jisung for a while so he could punch him in his shoulder and then got back to Chan. Jisung with a sore shoulder went to the spot where he usually meets with Hyunjin. He hadn't seen him since morning, Hyunjin owed him a proper explanation.