COLD ᝰ.ᐟ 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐋𝐈𝐗

[ 10 ]

Five Years Ago

•¤•

Felix watched the casket being engulfed in flames with a morbid expression. The wooden box containing his mother would soon be nothing but a pile of ashes.

Felix stood deathly still, dressed in a simple black suit with Chan right next to him. Chan sniffed and turned away from the furnace. His hand delicately reached for the latter's, intertwining their fingers.

"Let's go home, aye?" he said quietly, giving Felix's hand a little squeeze.

Felix looked up at his boyfriend with puffy red eyes and a small but forced smile. He wiped his tears and nodded.

Once the pair arrived home, Felix insisted on being left alone. Chan knew much good wouldn't come about from it, but he also knew Felix needed some time by himself.

So, with a rather hesitant "Goodbye," Chan left the younger alone.

•¤•

"What is this?"

Felix had spent the last few hours sitting on his lounge room floor, with a mound of tissues, looking through his mother's possessions. He'd reached the final box of stuff. And now, concealed within a manila envelope was a stack of documents.

The words inked into the paper plunged Felix into the depths of confusion.

"Deposit due?"

"$450?"

"$1000?"

"Interest on loan, $145.83?"

"Payment overdue by $2140?"

His face darkened and heart fell into the pits of his stomach as he continued to read the figures off the paper, number after number, page after page. Till what he read added up to at least ten thousand dollars. With trembling hands, Felix continued digging through the box in front of him. There were more and more papers, letters, and notices from people wanting their money back.

His mother had taken thousands of dollars from loan sharks and hadn't bothered to pay any of them back.

"For what?" Felix mumbled to the dust particles he'd disturbed whilst digging.

The bottom of the box revealed the answer. School fees, utility bills, a car, but more than anything, drugs.

The information piled high on top of Felix's already distressed brain, making him panic. His mum had died and left him with all the debt. He sat, zoned out, the papers spread across the carpet around him, his eyes staring into empty space.

A loud ring of the phone from the kitchen startled him from his daze. Reluctantly, he dragged himself to the other room and answered it.

"Hello?"

If anything, Felix presumed it would be another old sod calling to tell him how sorry they were that now both his parents were dead.

But then again, not many people had anything to do with him, so it was probably their landlord. Once his father died, both Felix and his mum withdrew themselves from other people, and others didn't think much of them for that.

"Is this Lee Hyejae?" the caller said.

Felix stood idle, taken aback by the question asked. "Huh?" he ended up blurting out.

"Lee Hyejae, she hasn't paid us for 3 months, I need to speak to her," the man on the other line spoke.

Felix groaned.

He wanted to scream and cry, to tell this guy that she was dead and he shouldn't have to pay for her drug abuse, but he choked back any emotions and heated words.

"She's dead," he said bluntly. "She died 2 days ago."

"Oh well, I'm sorry to hear that." 

Felix knew he wouldn't stop at that by any stretch, yet he still held his breath in hopes he would drop the conversation.

"Who am I speaking to?" the man questioned.

"Uh," the latter hesitated, "Felix." He figured that as long as he didn't use the name on his birth certificate, Yongbok, he'd be okay.

"Well, Felix. I need to speak with my boss about the situation, I'll ring back another time."

Felix ended the call politely, before slamming the phone down on the kitchen bench.

"Shit, shit, shit," he mumbled over and over again.

He leaned against the bench, head between his hands, and tried to collect his thoughts.

"I just won't answer, that's right, I won't answer." 

He knew it would only slow them down, but still, he lulled himself into this false sense of security. It was either that or fear, and anxiety would paralyze him. So he chose the obvious option.

The call came six days later when Chan and Felix were on the couch and had just finished watching a movie together. Now Chan was pitching the idea to move in together.

"Aren't you going to answer that?" Chan asked, pointing his chin towards the kitchen door.

Felix shook his head, "Nah, it's just my landlord."

Chan's brows furrowed, and he opened his mouth to say something else, but he stopped himself. This wasn't his business. When Felix ignored their repeated calls, they decided to pay him a visit. So the next day, on a bright sunny Sydney morning, Felix was awakened by a loud knock on the door.

Oblivious, he trudged out of bed and opened it with a groggy "Mornin' how can I help?"

He quickly regretted it when it struck him who these two suited people were.

"You're her son, aren't you? She mentioned she had one," one of them said, paying close attention to Felix's face. "You look a lot like her."

"Erm, no, I'm not," Felix denied, shaking his head. "I'm just renting this place for a while. I go to the college down the road."

The debt collectors didn't look convinced.

"Look here boy," the taller one growled, grabbing Felix's collar and yanking him out onto the step.

"I'm not her son, you've got the wrong guy," he tried to pry the fingers from his neck, but it only tightened, straining his breathing.

"If you don't get us the money, then we'll have to take matters into our own hands." 

His angry eyes pierced Felix's soul, Felix could've sworn he saw smoke coming out his ears.

He loosened his grip, and Felix fell backwards into the house, trying to steady his breathing.

"You have 3 weeks, boy, you better have the money or there'll be shit to pay."

There was no way Felix could pay back ten grand in three weeks, so if he was going to avoid them, he had to get very far away.