that boy | hwang hyunjin | ✔

Chapter 23

Completely out of breath, I stumble towards the front door of my trusted neighbor. I ran all the way from school just to get here as quickly as possible. There's a lot of things I need to do right now and there's only one person that can help me.

I ring the doorbell, suppressing the urge to do it again and again. If I thought that I wouldn't freak out about this, I was wrong. Because I'm definitely freaking out right now. The places where Hyunjin's body came in contact with mine are basically burning. This isn't good. This is definitely not good.

I place my hand on my knees and bend over, desperately trying to catch my breath. My lungs are burning and my throat is sore. But I just needed to get here as soon as possible. Things are getting out of hand and I simply don't understand it any longer.

With a click, the navy blue front door opens and Felix raises his eyebrows as soon as his eyes find my hunched over figure. He just looks at me with a confused expression and I don't mind him for a moment.

"Damn, Chaelin. What happened?"

"Gotta talk," I mutter before I push myself between the boy and the door frame and enter my friend's house on my own invitation. Felix suspiciously observes every movement I make as I take off my coat and shoes in a hurry and am about to dash upstairs, to his room.

He makes a face but then he follows me to his room, the confusion written in his eyes.

"So, I think you spoke with Hyunjin?" he guesses as he sits next to me on his bed.

I take a deep breath before I talk. My heart is still pounding like crazy. Guess my condition is really lame and not worth much. So I frantically nod my head, confirming what he just said.

Felix looks actually a bit surprised. The way his eyes widened a little -just a little, but I noticed- tells me that he probably didn't expect me to actually do it. He probably thought that I was going to ignore the boy for the rest of our lives and that he really had to pick a side between me and Hyunjin.

"We did," I reply. "I told him everything. Why I always act like I do, what happened when I was young and I also told him that I don't hate him and that was basically it." But that's not everything that happened. There was more.

"I'm surprised," Felix admits. "But well done, Chae." He lightly pats my shoulder with a content expression. He probably thinks that everything is solved for now but another problem just arose when the firs was solved.

"Actually," I slowly say, and I see Felix' smile faltering. He probably expects something really bad. This isn't necessarily bad but it's confusing and it made me into a mess.

"When I told him about the past I uh... started crying." I lightly scratch the back of my neck as I tell him this. The heat instantly rushes to my face when I only think about it. "Hyunjin uh... he hugged me."

Felix coughs loudly, nearly choking himself. This time, his eyes widen until they're like two saucers as they stare at me. He actually looks like he wants to scream. "W-W-What? How did that happen? Is he still alive? Are you okay?"

A weird feeling tingles in the depths of my stomach as I think about everything.

"I think I'm okay," I mutter. "I just don't know what to feel. I'm confused, should I be angry? upset?" I look down at my feet and Felix next to me sighs.

Suddenly, the orange-haired boy is all serious. "Think about it, Chae. How did you feel when he hugged you? How do you feel now that you think about it? What did you do when he hugged you?"

Ignoring the embarrassment that comes with it, I try to travel back to the moment he did that. I was shaking, a crying mess. He decided to comfort me instead of just leaving me here. It kind of worked, his arms around me didn't feel as alarming as I thought it would. It was warm and he actually helped me to relax.

"I tried to break free at first," I begin. "But he wouldn't let go. And I think I just gave up and then I actually felt better and I even relaxed."

The corners of Felix' mouth curl up into a wide grin. "I knew it."

"You know what?" I frown. Usually when Felix is smiling like that, it means that he's up to no good.

But his mad grin soon turns into a genuine smile as he explains. "From the very first day he got here, I had a feeling he might be the boy that will break down your walls and melt your frozen heart. No joke, Chaelin. I trusted him and I think I picked the right one."

"Don't get ahead of things, Yongbokkie," I sigh, lightly ruffling his bright orange hair.

"I won't," Felix states, even ignoring that I called him by his hated Korean name. "I just think it's a good sign that he got to hug you without ending up dead and you actually felt better after it."

And that's one thing I can't deny. I really felt better after and now that the confusion is slowly dissipating I'm kind of glad he did it, instead of just standing there and watching me cry.

"So does this mean we can walk around school with the three of us together without daily problems?"

I'm not entirely sure. Maybe we were both too caught up in the moment. Maybe everything will be gone tomorrow. But I nod, I just couldn't say no to Felix' hopeful eyes.

"That's awesome," Felix laughs, obviously relieved. It must've been hard for him, being stuck between his two friends that don't mingle well. I know he'd ultimately pick my side in the end but along with a lot of guilt for leaving Hyunjin behind. I didn't want to get to that point, either.

"Yeah, I bet he understands now why I want to keep him at a distance and he might even listen."

The idea sounds like a blessing. Imagine the three of us hanging around together, all satisfied. Hyunjin and I won't talk much but accept each other's presence. Hyunjin and Felix are happily chatting away about boy stuff and me and Felix still have our time together. It would work out so well; no trouble, no drama and no hate.

"Might be," Felix shrugs. Then he bends over and reaches for his laptop. "Now that you've finally stopped freaking out, can we watch a movie or something?"

I nod, the idea of a movie night is very appealing. It feels like it's been a while and it's true; we usually do one every few days.

"I already picked a movie," my best friend states, opening his laptop. The screen lights up immediately, Netflix ready to run.

Then he shifts backward, resting his back against the wall and pulling me with him. I giggle involuntarily as he tickles my sides, telling me to relax.

"I'm glad you're on better terms, Chae," Felix says. "But banish him from your mind for a moment and relax, will ya?"

Trying to nod is hard when you're being attacked. I'm shaking, wheezing as Felix continues to tickle me until I squeek out a troubled yes and he's satisfied.

"Great, now you're more like your old self," Felix laughs as his attack finally subsides. Then he carefully grabs his laptop again, placing it on his lap and gesturing me to sit next to him again.

There, displayed on the screen, is Felix' favorite movie, real steel. Even though I've seen that movie plenty of times already, I say nothing.

That boy deserves a nice day to his wishes for once, amidst all these days of drama.

--

I suck at writing filler chapters

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