Muted // Felix-centric

Chapter 40

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The date with Olivia was only a week ago. Felix hasn't heard anything more from her or his dad. He would have been more surprised if he had heard from his dad. But he has to admit that he was worried about Olivia. His dad's reaction wasn't exactly the most reassuring and even if Felix is sure that his dad would never touch Olivia, it hardly reassures him. After all, Felix thought his entire childhood that his father would never touch, hit or betray him and yet he did all of this. Felix tried to go to the park, hoping to see Olivia again, but she never showed up.

He was also at his house. However, he just stood on the opposite street and watched the house. He saw Janice go in and out of the house several times, but never his father or Olivia. The more days go by, the more he worries and of course his mates notice. Felix visits the speech therapist as agreed and is making good progress according to Dr. Lee, but still doesn't speak a word to them, even though one of his exercises is to talk to close friends and family. The boys can't explain the circumstances, as Felix had never said anything about the meeting with Olivia and this worries the boys.

But it also makes them suspicious, as they have built their relationship on loyalty and trust from the beginning. And Felix shows no trust at all, while the others trust him to open up when he's ready. But as with Felix, the more days go by, the more they lose patience. They have all tried to talk to Felix, but he just dismisses them all with a smile. Slowly it not only worries them more, but also annoys them. They have only just gained Felix as an official partner and now he is closing himself off again. And because of this, they approached the only person in Felix's life who could help the boy now, even if it hurt.

"Good afternoon Mrs. Lee," Minho greeted Felix's mother at the door. "Please, call me Miyeon," she says with a friendly smile and Minho nods and lets her in. "Mom wait!" calls a little girl who comes running in behind Miyeon. "I'm sorry, but Sungjin is busy with work and I couldn't find a nanny," Miyeon apologizes for her daughter's unannounced presence. "That's all right. Jeongin and Jisung would certainly be happy to look after your daughter," says Minho and the two boys stand there with a broad smile and nod. "Thank you very much. You see Rachel. They'd love to play with you," Miyeon says to her daughter and Rachel immediately beams and runs to them. Jeongin and Jisung accompany Rachel into the living room while Minho explains everything to Miyeon.

"We don't know what else we can do. Every day he leaves the house in the morning and comes home late in the afternoon in a depressed mood. He doesn't talk to us and hasn't explained what's going on," says Minho and Miyeon just nods attentively. "His speech therapist has assured us that Felix is ready to talk again and that he seems to be doing so with him, but he hasn't said a word to us or anyone else," continues Minho, which really surprises Miyeon. Miyeon knows her son to be an open and very talkative child. But then again, the last time she saw him was when he was seven. "I'll talk to him. Maybe I'll have more luck," she says and Minho is very grateful to her. "Thank you very much. We know how difficult things are between you two at the moment, but I can feel that Felix trusts you. More than us....," says Minho, getting quieter and quieter at the end of the sentence.

Miyeon can easily interpret and understand the boy's sad look. She doesn't know much about the relationship between the boys, but she could see the true love shining in Felix's eyes when they talked about it. "I'll talk to him about it and explain how you feel about it. Felix needs to understand that he is no longer alone and that he can and should ask for help," she assures Minho and the boy smiles at her gratefully. "I'll show you the room," says Minho and takes Miyeon to Felix's room door. "It won't be easy to talk to him since he just ignores us most of the time, but we ask you to... help him," Hyunjin suddenly pleads with her, who has been standing outside Felix's room door all morning. Another new habit they've picked up since Felix closed himself off again. They always wait outside his door when he's home, just in case he needs them...