Deep End

Epilogue

2 weeks later.

Hyunjin ordered an iced americano and took a seat at a table near the window. He was meeting up with Changbin, but was a little early. Looking out the window, he could see the signs of cooler weather coming. Leaves were changing colour and falling, making the sidewalks a bit slippery but casting a tableau of autumnal beauty that had Hyunjin itching to paint. People wandering past had jackets on, rather than the t-shirts and sundresses he was used to seeing, and watching them clutch at their clothes evoked the feeling of cool breezes teasing the day. Grabbing his phone, he took a quick picture of the scene outside. He'd been in a phase of painting flowers lately, but this scene had his artistic juices flowing.

Checking his messages, he saw a text from Binnie, saying he'd be there in a few minutes, so he placed his phone on the table and looked around the cafe. Directly in front of him, he noticed a boy with round glasses, fluffy brown hair, and tears silently tracking down his cheeks. The boy wasn't full-on crying and he wasn't making a fuss, he was just writing in a notebook with the occasional tear escaping. Hyunjin wondered if he should go find out if the boy was ok, but dismissed the thought when he saw Binnie open the cafe door. He waved to his friend, Binnie acknowledged him and then headed to the counter to order a drink.

Sitting opposite his friend Changbin greeted him with a warm smile, and they joked around for a moment while waiting for their drinks. It had been a few weeks since they'd caught up properly to talk and so much had happened in that time.

Once Hyunjin had his iced americano, he took a sip and decided it was time to broach the subject.

'So, how's he doing?'

Changbin considered the last couple of weeks. 'On the whole, he's better. There are still some ups and downs but he's been seeing the therapist twice a week and he's been prescribed some antidepressants which I think are starting to help. Oh and don't worry, he told me it was fine to tell you guys that. He's a bit embarrassed about the whole situation really. He wants you guys to know, but he's not really up to talking about it himself just yet. And he's really not ready to talk about him and I dating. Not that we are right now, but we might. Soon. Hopefully. Aish, you know what I mean,' Changbin flushed.

Hyunjin giggled at his flustered friend. 'Don't worry, I know what you mean hyung.' He stole a sideways glance at Binnie and smirked. 'Does this mean we all get to say I told you so now? Perhaps you should have listened to us back then and confessed when we told you to. Hmm?'

Changbin's flush deepened and he ducked his head. 'We're not together. Not yet. Lix's therapist says he needs to work on his communication skills first. And umm.. apparently, so do I. I went with him to his last therapist session and she gave me homework too. She gave me homework!'

A full-bodied laugh erupted from Hyunjin. He had the sort of laugh that was infectious, when he put his whole being in it. The crying boy that Hyunjin noticed earlier, lifted his eyes at the sound and smiled as well.

'Sorry hyung, sorry. I shouldn't laugh, I know. None of us are great at communication though. If I'd talked about you know who and I earlier we might have avoided a lot of this. Not to mention Jisung might have snagged Minho a lot earlier,' Hyunjin smiled wryly. 'I should say, none of us are great at communication except perhaps Innie.'

A questioning expression crossed Changbin's face, encouraging his friend to tell the story.

'I was taking some photos for Innie's Instagram on the weekend, out near the jetty.'

'Ah yep, his OOTD's again,' Changbin laughed. 'I can't believe how many followers he has now.'

'Yep,' Hyunjin continued. 'Well there was a girl taking some photos there too. Pretty nice camera set up as well. Anyway... apparently I was doing it all wrong. She asked if she could suggest some better angles and ended up taking over completely. I'm standing there holding her very heavy camera, while Innie's posing his heart out for her.'

'Eventually, they decided they had what they needed and she's giving him all these photo setting changes to make them look really cool. Then our baby Innie straight up asked her to a cafe, saying that I had to get to my appointment and thanked me for taking the time to help him, but he didn't want to make me late.'

'I didn't have any appointment hyung - he basically dismissed me,' Hyunjin huffed. 'He's probably asked her to be his girlfriend by now.'

Changbin stifled a laugh at Jinnie's dramatics.

Hyunjin then flung his arms out wide and exclaimed 'I'm SO single!'.

The laugh finally escaped Changbin's lips and he shook his head at Jinnie. 'I'll have to ask Innie when I get home. He's gaming with Lix right now. As I left, all I could hear was complaints about Innie not healing him.'

A serious look crossed Hyunjin's face. 'Has he realised we're pretty much babysitting him when you can't be there?'

'I don't think so but he's going to realise soon, I'm sure. I don't think he'll mind for a bit though. One of the things he told the therapist was that he felt guilty about basically ghosting his friends. It gives him the chance to catch up with everyone at least.' Changbin lifted his drink and realised he'd finished it already. 'I suppose I should head off while Innie's still there. I've been trying to sneak in a bit of work on Lix's song. You know the one I was telling you guys about? He finished it and it's amazing, but he's not really up to working on it now, given it's about the whole fiasco. Understandable, but I've been doing a bit of production on it for when he is ready. I'll just have to wait, I guess.'

Hyunjin bid his friend a goodbye and sat there for a moment finishing his americano. He zoned out a bit thinking about the whole Felix situation. It was great that Binnie might finally get his happy ever after, but he worried about Felix's mental health. Biting his bottom lip and chewing on it slightly, he considered Felix and what he'd nearly done. He hoped his friend would come out the other side of this stronger. Hyunjin shook his head and focussed, and discovered he'd been staring at the previously crying boy without realising. The boy was looking at him with a curious expression on his face.

Grabbing his near empty cup, Hyunjin dropped into the spare seat at the boy's table. 'Sorry, I didn't mean to stare, I was spacing out a bit. I saw you earlier writing and um, stuff. Are you ok? What are you writing?'

'Just some poetry, it's nothing much. Just getting out some feelings about an ex,' the boy replied.

'Oh I love poetry. I have a book of poems I love to read before I go to sleep.' Hyunjin then flushed, realising he hadn't even introduced himself, so stuck out his hand and said 'Sorry, I didn't mean to be rude, I'm Hyunjin.'

'Seungmin, nice to meet you.'