Deep End | Hyunlix

60

The silence stretched thin between them. The air felt too still, the faint hum of the air conditioner the only sound cutting through the weight of unspoken words.

Felix was the first to move. He stood slowly, rubbing the back of his neck as if to shake the stiffness from sleeping upright all night. "You should eat something," he said, voice steady but cautious. "I can run downstairs, grab some breakfast..."

"Wait." Hyunjin's voice came out sharper than he intended. Felix stopped mid-step, glancing over his shoulder.

Hyunjin's hand had tightened around the blanket in his lap. "How did you find me?" he asked quietly. His gaze didn't leave Felix's back. "How did you even know where I was?"

Felix turned, hesitating. The question hung between them, heavier than either wanted to touch. His jaw worked once before he exhaled and crossed his arms loosely over his chest. "You really want to know?"

Hyunjin nodded. His heartbeat picked up, though he didn't understand why. Maybe he already knew it wouldn't be good.

Felix's voice came slower this time, measured. "My team intercepted Changbin last night. He and a few of his men were unloading weapons at the docks." His eyes flicked briefly to Hyunjin's face, gauging his reaction. "He's the one who told me."

Hyunjin froze. It felt like the air had been sucked out of the room. His fingers went cold, the blanket slipping slightly from his grasp. The weapons. He'd completely forgotten about them, the shipment, the arrangements, the responsibility he'd so easily drowned in alcohol. For a moment, neither spoke. The silence pulsed, thick with realization.

"Did you..." Hyunjin swallowed hard, his voice barely above a whisper. "Did you capture Changbin?"

Felix's expression tightened, the faintest shadow crossing his face. He shook his head once. "No. He got away." Felix hesitated to ask, "why would he tell me where to find you?"

"I-I don't know," he stammered, the lie brittle even as he said it. "He shouldn't know anything."

Felix's expression darkened. "Are you sure about that?" he asked, his voice weary, edged with something that sounded like betrayal.

Hyunjin hesitated. Because no, he wasn't sure. His mind flickered back to the motel, to Changbin showing up unannounced that morning. The questions. The tone. The quiet warning he hadn't taken seriously. How long had he been following me? The thought made his stomach twist. Did he see us together?

If Changbin knew, there was a chance Lee Know did too. And that explained the cold calculation in Lee Know's voice yesterday. The subtle tension in his eyes. Panic prickled up Hyunjin's spine, cold and creeping. If Lee Know knew, then Felix was already in danger just by being here, by caring. His pulse raced.

He looked up at Felix, bewildered, fear flickering behind his eyes. "Felix," he said, his voice barely holding steady. "You shouldn't have come."

Felix's eyes hardened, the warmth from earlier slipping away like a tide retreating from shore. "Shouldn't have come?" he repeated, voice low, disbelieving. "You were passed out in a wrecked studio, Hyunjin. Paint everywhere, broken glass, empty bottles...you could've been dead."

"That's not..." Hyunjin started, but Felix cut him off.

"No, you don't get to do that," Felix snapped, his voice sharper than he intended. "You don't get to vanish, destroy yourself, and then tell me I shouldn't have come."

The words hit hard, echoing between them. Hyunjin flinched, guilt twisting through his gut.

Felix took a step closer, his shoulders tense, his hands flexing at his sides like he needed to hold something still, maybe himself. "You think I was just going to sit there and pretend I didn't know? Pretend I didn't care?"

Hyunjin's voice came out quieter this time, almost pleading. "It's not about that. You being here, it makes things worse. You don't understand the danger you're in..."

"I think I understand more than you give me credit for," Felix shot back. His tone softened slightly, but the edge didn't fade. "Changbin didn't just tell me where to find you. He wanted me to see. He wanted to prove something."

Hyunjin's pulse thundered in his ears. "Prove what?"

"That you're breaking," Felix said flatly. "That whatever you're tied to it's eating you alive."

Hyunjin's chest tightened. His mouth opened, then closed. There was no right answer. No lie that wouldn't crumble the moment Felix looked at him like that, eyes steady, unreadable, but burning underneath.

"You think I don't see it?" Felix continued, quieter now, but every word landed heavy. "You think I didn't notice how scared you looked when I said Changbin's name?"

"Stop," Hyunjin whispered, his composure slipping.

Felix didn't. "He knows about us, doesn't he?"

Hyunjin froze.

"That's why you panicked," Felix said, stepping closer still. "That's why you told me I shouldn't have come. Because if they find out..."

"Stop!" Hyunjin's voice cracked. He pushed himself out of bed too fast, the movement making his head spin, but the panic overrode the pain. "You don't understand, Felix. You can't be here. If they even suspect..."

"Then explain it to me!" Felix's voice broke through the air like thunder. "Because right now I'm standing here trying to figure out why the hell the man I..." He caught himself, jaw locking hard. "...the man I care about is acting like being near him is a death sentence."

Hyunjin's breath hitched. The silence that followed was suffocating.

He looked at Felix, the exhaustion shadowing his eyes, the bruises beneath them, the same worry he'd seen on his face that night before everything fell apart.

Hyunjin's voice dropped to a whisper. "Because it is."

Felix exhaled slowly, dragging a hand through his hair as if grounding himself. After a beat, he moved closer, sitting on the edge of the bed, not too near, but close enough that Hyunjin could feel the weight of his presence.

"Are we going to talk about it?" Felix asked quietly. His tone wasn't harsh, but it carried something heavier, disappointment, concern, maybe both. "About why I found you passed out on the floor of your studio?"

Hyunjin's stomach twisted. He stared down at his hands, fingers knotting in the blanket. The question shouldn't have stung, but it did. The gentleness in Felix's voice only made it worse. He wished Felix would just yell instead of looking at him like that, like he was someone who mattered.

"I don't..." Hyunjin started, then stopped, the words drying up in his throat. What excuse could I give that Felix would believe? That it was stress? Exhaustion? A bad night? None of them would explain the wreckage Felix must have seen. None of them would make him stop worrying.

Hyunjin's mind raced, tangled in a storm of half-formed thoughts. Do I tell him the truth? he asked himself. Or do I make up some lie he'll see right through?

The truth could destroy them both. The lie would only delay it. Neither felt like mercy.

He looked up at Felix, and the words he'd been shaping fell away before they even reached his tongue. Felix sat there, steady and still, waiting. The soft light from the window caught the faint dusting of freckles across his cheeks, the calm brown of his eyes that always seemed to see too much.

Hyunjin's heart hammered against his ribs, drowning out the pulse of fear that clawed at his throat. It shouldn't have been this hard to breathe, but it was.

Felix didn't move. Didn't speak. He simply watched him with that same quiet patience, the kind that both comforted and terrified Hyunjin because it meant he cared. It meant he wasn't leaving.

Hyunjin wanted to speak, to give him something, a piece of the truth, maybe, but the words wouldn't come. His fingers tightened in the sheets instead, knuckles white, and he looked away, afraid that if he held Felix's gaze any longer, everything would come undone.

Felix exhaled softly, the sound barely audible. He didn't press.

He just stayed there, the silence between them stretching out, heavy but unbroken.

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