Husbands (Hyunlix)

Season 2 (18)

The visitors are gone. The house is quiet. The walls felt closer tonight.

Too many people had come and gone. Too many "sorry for your loss"s. Too many looks from people who never knew the man but came anyway for image, for politics, for obligation.

And each person starts to carry the loss in their own private way.

Hyunjin is still emotionally lost and Felix is growing quietly suspicious.

The sun rose without permission. Too bright for a house draped in loss.

The living room was still. Too still. As if it was holding its breath.

No clinking dishes. No footsteps. Just the tick of the wall clock and the low hum of the refrigerator.

Hyunjin sat at the edge of the couch, elbows on knees, staring at nothing. He hadn’t changed out of yesterday’s shirt. His eyes were red, skin pale. A mug of untouched tea sat on the table in front of him, long gone cold — like everything else.

His mother hadn’t come out of room yet. Yeji was still asleep upstairs, or pretending. Grief was heavy in every room, tucked into the corners like cobwebs.

And Hyunjin couldn’t shake the words his father had told him.

"Take care of them, after me."

He thought it was just a worried father being dramatic. Now it echoed like a warning.

But he didn’t know what to do.
He wasn’t ready. He wasn't built for this.

Footsteps approached quietly behind him. He didn’t look up.

Felix sat beside him, silent. He didn’t ask him anything. He just placed a hand on his back, slow and steady — his fingers warm against the thin cotton of Hyunjin's shirt.

After a moment, he whispered, "It doesn’t feel real."

Felix nodded. "Grief rarely does."

But in his mind, something sharper moved. Real was the exact word he’d been thinking about since the night it happened.

Felix had barely slept. His instincts — trained, honed, sharpened by years in the shadows — wouldn't rest.

Too sudden. Too clean. Too perfectly timed.

He glanced at Hyunjin who looked broken. Lost.

Hyunjin didn’t see it yet. He was too deep in mourning.

So Felix said nothing, but his mind was already moving. Quietly. Ruthlessly. Carefully.

Felix would protect Hyunjin — even if it meant digging into the past he couldn’t bear to face.

Because someone had planned this.

And he was going to find out who.

••••••••••

Now it was just silence. The kind that crawled up his back and sank into his chest.

Hyunjin sat alone in his room. His fists clenched on his knees. Jaw tight. Eyes burning. He hadn’t cried at the funeral. Couldn’t. His body hadn’t let him.

But now…

Now there was nothing to stop it.

He leaned forward, buried his face in his hands, and finally broke.

No warning. No buildup.

Just a sound — raw, shaking, cracked in half.

A sob tore through his throat. Then another. Then another. Until it wasn't sobbing anymore, it was gasping — like his lungs couldn't remember how to breathe without his father in the world.