Charmer // Hyunlix

23 - Want

"What's that?"

Felix jumped and quickly threw the new confession he was looking at back into his locker. He then turned, now coming face-to-face with Hyunjin, who was at school earlier than usual. 

Ah, I'm not prepared to tell him! But now I don't have a choice. 

"Ah, that, um..." Felix paused, rubbing the back of his neck. 

Hyunjin raised an eyebrow at the younger, not liking his behavior. 

Felix noticed the change in the older's face and slowly grabbed the confession note, stating, "It's a confession from someone. I...I had a few of them yesterday too."

Hyunjin gently took the paper out of Felix's hand and read it, his stomach twisting at the schoolgirl's confession. 

"And you didn't tell me?" Hyunjin quietly asked, still staring at the note in his hands. 

"I didn't want to upset you! I could tell that the compliments were making you uncomfortable, and I didn't want to make it worse," Felix admitted. 

Hyunjin wanted to crumple the paper, tear it apart into tiny pieces, light it on fire even...but he just handed it back to Felix. 

"I think I'm more upset with the fact that you wanted to keep it from me," Hyunjin said, surprising himself with his brutal honesty. 

This made Felix's heart drop, and he immediately crumpled the paper, apologizing, "I'm so sorry, Hyunjin! I really just didn't want to upset you!"

Hyunjin looked into the younger's eyes. They were pleading, begging Hyunjin to forgive him. This made the older's heart ache. 

Without a word, Hyunjin pulled Felix into a quick hug, before saying, "It's okay. I appreciate your concern."

Felix sighed in relief, followed by a soft smile. 

After that, the day went on as usual. 

Well, kind of. 

At some point, when Hyunjin was walking by himself to his next class, he passed through the freshman hallway and noticed Jisung at his locker. Suddenly, someone approached him. 

Normally, Hyunjin would continue walking, but for some reason, his body stopped and he watched them from the other side of the corridor, eavesdropping. 

"I just wanted to say congratulations on your relationship! Minho's a good guy. I've had my eyes on him for years," the random schoolboy told Jisung. 

"Oh, well, thank you very much!"

They bowed to each other, and then the schoolboy continued down the hallway. 

Hyunjin was shocked to say the least. He wasn't sure if he had heard everything right, so he approached Jisung, asking, "What was that?"

Jisung closed his locker and raised an eyebrow at the older, asking, "What was what?"

"That interaction with the junior just now. Did he really just congratulate you on your relationship?"

Jisung giggled at his friend, answering, "Yeah! I've had several encounters like that."

"And they've all been positive?"

Jisung's smile that had appeared during his giggle slowly melted off of his face. It was then that he finally understood why Hyunjin was so hesitant to make his relationship with Felix official. 

"Hyunjin, how long are you going to let your fear of the public's reaction get in the way of your relationship with Felix?"

Hyunjin was taken aback by this. He wasn't expecting Jisung to ask him a question in return, let alone the very question that the younger had just asked.