𝘽𝙇𝘼𝙉𝙆 | 𝙇𝙀𝙀 𝙁𝙀𝙇𝙄𝙓

4

"Good morning!

- Ah, good morning. Can we get, uh... Two iced cappuccinos please? Regular?

- Sure," we both watched the cashier tapping on the screen in front of her. "10 397 won, please."

Felix handed her the money, we thanked her and we waited for our beverages on the side.

"You're getting better at this, congrats.

- Thanks to you," He flashed me his usual cheerful smile, which I returned.

It had already been two months, and still no members in view. I had to admit though that we did not search as much as we would have liked, but we both agreed that mastering Felix's Korean would be important before finding them, especially for Lee Know, Changbin and Jeongin. Although they knew basic English as Felix told me, their conversations would not last long with the language barrier.

So we had been studying in this café for a while now and we had made it a habit of coming to practice speaking, writing and reading. I helped him with stuff he didn't understand, but most of the time I just read a book I brought with myself. I liked it though, it gave me a reason to go out and I enjoyed Felix's company.

When we got our order, we sat at a table near the window and I took an old notebook out of my backpack. I opened it at the first page before showing it to him.

"This is new stuff, I feel you're ready to learn more than just basic sentences. It's time for advanced grammar!"

He let out an unamused "yay" and started reading the book, but he stopped halfway to take out his usual notebook and a pen to write down some important stuff to retain. I watched him do so for a while, but then I felt I was being creepy so I just took out my own book to read.

I got to know a lot about Felix in the last two months we'd known each other. Of course there were some stuff I was already aware of - thanks to my Stay self - but his life was truly crazy and interesting. He also asked a lot about mine and I was happy to tell him all the stuff I did in the past.

We both had a lot in common too. It felt like we were always friends when we hung out and we always had fun no matter what we did. It'd been really stressful for both of us here, but we found comfort in each other, it be temporary or not.

I did miss the other members and I know Felix missed them too, way more than I did for sure. I'd seen him cry a few times before and it truly hurt to see him so distressed. I promised him we would find them no matter what, and I stood by it. I wouldn't let anyone down.

"Gab? You good?"

I shook my head to get out of my thoughts and I finally looked at Felix, who was looking at me with wonder.

"Oh, yeah. I was just thinking.

- Wanna talk about it?" He closed the two books and he crossed his arms on the table, showing me I had all his attention.

"It's nothing, really. I was just thinking about the others."

He nodded and slowly looked down. He seemed to be thinking about something to say.

"I've been thinking about something recently," I saw hesitation on his face before he continued. "You know, in this reality. Stray Kids aren't idols. That made me wonder what they could be doing right now and I remembered when the boys and I had conversations about what we'd do if we had a different career path.

- And?" I asked, not really knowing where this was going.

"I remember that Han said that no matter which life he'd lead, he'd always do something around music... Producing or something. So what if I tried looking for him while looking for a job? He might actually be a producer here."

To be honest, I didn't understand a single thing he said, apart from "Han,"  "producer" and "looking for a job." I made a confused face and Felix sighed.

"I'm sorry, I don't really know how to explain my thought process," He laid his head on top of his arms. "In short, I'm gonna start looking for Jisung using music."

"Oh," I raised my brows while nodding. "Do you know where to start looking?"

He sat back up, now crossing his arms over his chest.

"Absolutely not, but I guess I'll do some research starting this weekend, I still need to study this," he pointed the notebooks.

"You can borrow my book if you want to continue noting at home.

- Thanks, I was getting incredibly bored," he chuckled.

We talked a little more and then we said our goodbyes. Felix told me to text him when I get back home and I promised him to, as usual. I liked how caring he was with me and I was more than grateful for it.

After I did text him, I jumped on my bed and immediately closed my eyes, thinking back to our studying session. I remembered how depressed our mood turned when I said I was thinking about the members and it made me feel bad for Felix, I didn't mean to make us feel that way. Maybe I should apologize later when I see him, or maybe I'll just text him.

Not right now though, because I was way too tired.