stray souls

Why?

One of the men gave Felix a cup of tea.

"It's all we have right now unless you'd prefer water or apple juice. Actually, there isn't much apple juice left so maybe not that."

Felix looked up at the man sitting on the end of the bed, smiling. He started to slowly drink the tea. After he finished, Bang Chan looked at him with a serious expression. "What happened? Seungmin found you in the rain and you're injured."

Felix froze. He didn't want to remember that. He tried to move back more but hit the wall.

One of the men, Jisung, stood up. "Maybe we shouldn't crowd him. He looks uncomfortable. Oh, wait." He ran out of the room and came back with some clothes and placed them on the bed. "I think we should give him some time to think. When you're ready, you can change into these and then come to the lounge or call us in here, okay?" Felix nodded hesitantly, and everyone except Seungmin left.

"Can I ask... Why aren't you talking?"
Felix looked at him with confusion and wrote down 'I can talk?' and handed the paper to Seungmin.

"Of course, why wouldn't you?"
Felix hesitated before quietly saying, "When I make him mad, I can't talk without permission."

Seungmin's expression softened,  "who?"

Felix was quiet for a while before asking, "Why did you help me? Wait, no... Why am I still here? Shouldn't you take me somewhere else? I'm just a dirty man."

Seungmin shook his head. "You're not just a 'dirty man.' You're someone who needed help, and I couldn't just leave you out there in the rain. And I wouldn't just send you somewhere else unless I needed to. Like, maybe if you were a criminal, then we'd call the police. If you were dying, we'd get you to the hospital."

Felix nodded. "Thank you," he whispered, his voice barely audible.

Seungmin hummed and smiled. "Are you hungry? I can get something for you."

Felix hesitated for a moment before nodding slowly. "Please?"

Seungmin nodded and stood up, heading out of the room, leaving Felix alone.

Felix sighed and whispered, "They seem nice at least... Maybe... If they would let me... I could stay?"

But would they even want him there.

After a while seungmin came back with some toast an apple and some yogurt.

"I hope this is okay. I don't know what you like, so I just got these."

Felix smiled. "It's okay, I like these," and he started to eat the toast while Seungmin watched.

"When you finish, you can get changed and come to the lounge, or stay here. We won't mind," Seungmin said before standing up and then leaving.

Felix finished his food and slowly changed into the clothes Jisung had brought him.
He then glanced at himself in the mirror.

Gathering his courage, Felix made his way to the lounge where the others were waiting. When he entered, he saw everyone cuddled up on the sofa watching something on the TV. He stood there awkwardly, not knowing what he should do.
He was feeling very nervous.

Seungmin noticed him first and patted the spot next to him on the couch. " come here. We're watching a movie. Do you want to join?"

Felix nodded shyly and carefully made his way to the couch, sitting down hesitantly. "Um, thank you," he murmured softly, feeling a warmth spreading through hhi.

As Felix sat down and relaxed, he couldn't help but feel a sense of belonging among these strangers he didnt understand It was a feeling he hadn't experienced in a long time. He thought he would never feel this way again.

As the movie played, he started getting tired and fell asleep on Seungmin's shoulder.