+ + Something Sweeter ++ - Chanlix

++ 8 ++

The tall windows of Something Sweet had raindrops small and large racing down them, trying to be the first to soak onto the ledge at the very bottom. And the note Felix had left in the window was still stuck to the inside. It had been read by a few people, one of those being Felix's mother.

She was far from happy with Felix, for running away and particularly without warning. He always tried to get away from her, she thought he just hated to hear the harsh truth. She believed her toxic words were nothing but a painfully harsh truth. Even if many of her accusations towards him were built on lies she'd slowly and possibly unintentionally put together over the years, using real things and situations and blending them in the false statements she spat out against him. It made them more believable, and as he couldn't remember the true situations that happened to him growing up, he believed them.

She kept going back, to see if he had come back. She kept thinking of him, trying to understand why he hated her so much. She's only ever tried to help him learn from his mistakes and become a better person, find a girlfriend and live a life she wants him to live. Maybe he's not the one who needs to learn from their mistakes.

She had sat down on the bench near Something Sweet many a time, waiting to see if he had returned yet. Including that very day, it had been two weeks since her son had disappeared without a trace and she was honestly starting to fear. She loved her son, she just couldn't see that she was doing that in all the wrong ways. She couldn't understand why all three of her children seemed to despise her.

She sat down on the old, wooden bench and somebody sat down beside her. Somebody she recognised but couldn't quite put a name to. Until she remembered where she knew him from, and remembered the way Felix so desperately said his name.

Chris.

"Hello." He said calmly, he had arrived back in Korea very soon after leaving his apartment in London and when coming back to the shop they caught sight of the woman. Chris told Felix to head through the back door into the shop and allow him to speak to her.

"Hello." She repeated, her voice ridden with a slight unconscious tang. "Can I help you?"

"Yeah, you can." He replied, so simply spoken and blank faced as he changed his focus from her to the wet concrete beneath them every few moments.

"Well, tell me why you're here then? Or tell me where my son is?" She voiced, her tone from before becoming more sour with each word she spoke.

However, Chris remained calm. "He went into the shop, through the back door. But he doesn't want to talk to you right now."

"Why doesn't he want to talk to me? I'm his mother."

Chris had to withhold a scoff and an eye roll, finding how oblivious she was to her own actions shocking. "You seriously don't understand what you've done?"

"No." She replied, ever so simply with such a change in tone from her previous words. A realisation hitting her that she may have done something wrong. "What have I done?"

"You hurt him. And I believe you've hurt your daughters as well but I can't speak for them. But I can speak for my fiance and I can tell you right now that you have made him feel unwanted, unloved and uncared for through your actions and your words." Chris was firm as he spoke, ensuring he sunk the truth deep into the woman's soul.

And it worked, she was in awe that she had made him feel that way. The truth did in fact dawn upon her as Chris spoke. The truth that just maybe she had been doing this parenting thing wrong the whole entire time. "I didn't... what?"

"Ms. Lee, how would you feel if Felix died? If you lost him for good?" Chris asked, smoothly changing subjects ever so slightly and asking her an important question. They both seemed to be realising stuff about her that day.

"Well I'd feel sad, lost, broken even. He's my son." She replied, no sign of callous intention in her voice anymore. "Why are you asking me this?"

Chris paused, it hurt him to recall the feelings of fear he felt and still feels for Felix's life and mental health. "He came all the way to London to meet me, months after I had left for a job he insisted I took, and told me all the horrible things you had screamed at him. He then told me he was so hurt and so out of control with himself that he had a suicide attempt. Ms. Lee, everything you said to him, about him and even about me - so I've heard, hurt him that much he felt like he wasn't worthy of living anymore." Chris quickly coughed away a sob, even just speaking those words brought him pain and fear.

And the woman, she was speechless. She couldn't even believe she had done that and to her own son. She was angry at herself in ways she had never felt anger before. Tears brimmed her eyes, dripping down her own slightly freckled cheeks as she began to sob. She couldn't speak, she was that overwhelmed with emotion.

The crisp sound of a bell dinging and a door creaking slightly as it opened peaked Chris' attention, his head perking up to see Felix walking somewhat slowly towards them. The expression on the freckled man's face changing into one that was unreadable the moment he noticed his mother was crying.

"Is everything okay? Mum? Why are you crying?" Felix asked, trying to mentally gather any information for what had just happened from the scene before him but he wasn't successful.

"I believe, that maybe part of this comes down to misunderstandings." Chris spoke, looking between the son and his mother. He hesitated as he carefully placed a gentle hand onto the woman's shoulder.

He then began to speak, trying to find the right way to articulate his words. "There's no way that the things that have been said and done can be forgiven, but I do think maybe it never came from a place of hate or bad intentions. I think that your mum, Felix, was only ever trying to help you. Even if she was trying to teach you to be a way you weren't, nobody had educated her that there was nothing wrong with the way you are and so she just carried on that way. And she couldn't find the right way to react or express these opinions and emotions, when it came to you or your sisters. I think she does love you Felix and I know the last thing she meant to do was hurt you. Even if that doesn't excuse the fact that she did. Am I correct, Lina?"

Lina nodded, making it very clear that she agreed with what Chris said. "Felix, I'm so so so sorry. I never meant to nor did I realise I had hurt you and certainly not to the extent of making you feel like you wanted to die. I do love you, you're my son. And I love your sisters too, I'd do anything to be able to even just have a meal with you three. And even whoever else you wished to bring along." She spoke, glancing slightly over to Chris as the last words left her lips. "I didn't understand that two men could truly love eachother without there being something else to it, like a lie or a joke to it. I didn't want you to either be the victim to that or even the perpetrator. But I think, no, I know that that is far from the case. At the very least, for you two."

A smile, small and sweet, drifted over Chris' features as Felix's mother spoke those last few words.

"Mum, I can't forgive you for what you did and how you made me feel. And I know Liv and Rach won't be able to either. But I can move on and I believe they can to. And if you are willing to work to change, I'm willing to give you a second chance." Felix explained, stepping closer ever so slightly as he watched his mother wipe her tears away from her cheeks and eyes.

"Would that second chance include an invite to your wedding?" Lina displayed a slight smile on her face, looking up at her son.

Felix looked over at Chris who merely shrugged a little before the freckled boy felt tears fill his eyes and a smile of his own paint his face. "Yeah." He spoke, pulling her up into a tight hug. She hugged him equally as lovingly back. So wildly grateful that she was being given the chance to learn and improve. She truly never meant nor realised how much she hurt her children, as surprising as that may seem. She loved them and now she's gonna love them for them.

SOME