ＳＴＲＡＮＧＥＲＳ

스물하나

hyunjin's alarm went off, waking him up from his rather peaceful sleep.

quickly putting on some comfortable yet elegant clothes, he made his way downstairs.

he wasn't exactly the hungriest now, so he took an apple for breakfast, and after happily eating it while scrolling trough Instagram, he made his way into the downstairs bathroom, brushing his teeth and his hair, and when he was ready to go, he threw a jacket on, before putting on his shoes and leaving his house, walking toward his car, staring it and driving to the gallery.

honestly, it did feel a little weird not to leave with felix by his side. over the few months he was staying here for already, he got kinda used to seeing the younger's face every day.

ignoring any thoughts about felix, hyunjin drove to the gallery, convincing himself that today is going to be a good day.

as he was in his office, looking at a new paintings that were available to buy, he got to thinking.

felix was always very careful when it came to food, and his battle with it seemed like it would never stop.
as hyunjin looked back on the words he told felix in the heat of the moment, he realized that he could have done a different approach, or be nicer about it.
he wasn't completely being fair.

sighing, he leaned against his chair, his head falling down.
he decided he's going to buy some delicious yet healthy dinner for felix and apologize.

suddenly, there was a knock on the door.

"come in!"
hyunjin yelled.

the door opened and han walked inside.
"yo hyunjin there are some paintings in the storage that i need your opinion about."

"more specifically?"
hyunjin asked.

"well, I looked at all of the paintings we have in there for the new exhibition we're going to be having soon. I picked the best ones, and the ones that match each other and would look very well together, but I need your final opinion."
han said.

hyunjin nodded, getting up from his chair.
"okay, let's go look at it, shall we?"

•~•

"I wouldn't put this one with the rest of them."
han admitted.
"it ruins the entire vibe of all of the paintings because it has darker shades."

hyunjin nodded.
"I agree. it's a nice painting tho. maybe we could put it in the main hall when you come inside?"

"that's a good idea."
han nodded.
"maybe we could also change the red painting for some blue painting vibes, you know? I think the colors would match perfectly."

"I like that. try to find some nice blue painting we have here."
hyunjin said, looking around.

"I already thought about it, so I looked around and I found some."
han said, climbing the latter and taking four middle sized paintings, before going down and laying them on the table with the rest.
"I'm not sure which one to choose tho."

hyunjin looked at them, analyzing which ones are the best.
"the one in the middle doesn't fit at all, we could put it in the second hall, but definitely not with the rest. I think the most perfect one to pair with the purple one would be this one."
he said, pointing at one of the blue paintings.
"it just gives me similar vibes, and the colors are perfect for each other."

"totally agree."
han nodded.
"so what should we do with the rest?"

"leave them here. they are pretty and go well with the theme of the exhibition. maybe we will find a place where we can put them."
hyunjin said.

"mhm, okay."
han said.
"and do you agree with the paintings I put together? you never told me your verdict."

"I like it. but I would switch these two."
hyunjin said, pointing at two paintings.

"why?"
han furrowed his eyebrows.

"it gives it more life, more color."
hyunjin said, slowly walking away.
"oh, right, I wanted to ask you about something."

"mhm. what do you need?"
han asked.

"you know the restaurant around here right?"
hyunjin said, stopping in his tracks.

han nodded.
"I'd like to think so."

"I need a restaurant with healthy foods. good but healthy. somewhere where people go when they don't want to eat nasty fried stuff."
hyunjin said.

"well, there is one around the block. should I send you the address?"
han said.

"that would be amazing. thank you!"
hyunjin said, leaving the storage room afterwards.

•~•

hyunjin was about to open the door of his house, when he realized it was locked.

huh, that's weird.
felix should be home, why it is locked?
he's possibly just sleeping and didn't want to leave the front door unlocked just like that.

taking out his keys, hyunjin unlocked the door and walked inside.
"felix? I'm home!"
he yelled.

taking off his shoes and his jacket, he made his way towards the kitchen, putting the bought dinner on the counter, before walking upstairs.

hyunjin knocked on the door of Felix's room, but when he got no answer, he knocked again.
maybe he was really just sleeping.

after a quick thought, he decided to open the door. but his eyes widened when he saw Felix's room empty, without felix. his stuff was still there tho.

hyunjin closed the door of the room.
"felix!"
he yelled, as he stared to look around.

he walked trough every part of his house, looking for the younger, his eyes growing teary without him even realizing.

"no, no, no, no."
hyunjin kept repeating to himself, as he walked into his atelier, the only place in this house where he didn't look in yet.
unfortunately, felix wasn't here.

refusing to believe that, hyunjin looked trough the entire house again, his breathing overly fast.

but felix wasn't there.
he disappeared.

hyunjin opened the door of the upstairs bathroom again, looking inside, even tho he knew felix wasn't there.
and that was when the reality fell on top of him.
felix was gone.
he left.
again.

falling to his knees, hyunjin reached for the necklace that had meant so much to him, holding it tightly, letting the tears escape his eyes.

and he ended up passing out from the exhaustion.