you can stay | changlix ✔︎

two

~seo changbin~

"you don't need anybody." i stared in the mirror and repeated the words over and over until they had no meaning at all.

i just couldn't forget his face. the way he had a constellation of freckles, the way his blond hair fell so perfectly, the way he smiled after hearing my name. i hadn't experienced that feeling of being noticed for who knows how long.

it's been a few days since the encounter, and i couldn't help myself from looking at his house through my bedroom window. sometimes i'd even see the boy dancing in his own room and he looked so happy. i wanted that. the arguments with my parents, the dance parties in my room, the obnoxious family dinners, i wanted the life of a normal kid.

but i was stuck in this house for the rest of eternity, well at least until i died. i thought about death a lot, it seemed meant for someone like me. i killed everything i touched, so why doesn't the world get rid of me?

"hey! changbin!" i shook my head, startled. but then there he was, across the street with his window opened. i smiled, and gave him a wave. "open your window!"

i couldn't. it was too much of a risk. i tried to avoid eye contact and picked up the nearest book. as i pretended to read the pages, i could hear felix's laughter building up.

"your book's upside down idiot! just open the window and talk to me, i'm not that scary!"

i couldn't help but sigh, i couldn't just tell anyone what was going on with me. especially not this soon. so i resulted to the most socially awkward solution i could think of. i held up my pointer finger, signaling i needed a minute, and felix nodded.

i quickly went to the opposite side of my room, and took my small whiteboard off my wall. i made my way back to the window and displayed my phone number to felix. he smiled, and took out his phone from his back pocket.

i faked a smile back, and quickly closed my curtains between us. i didn't fall for people, and people didn't fall for me. what was i thinking? this could go so terribly wrong. i could hurt him, not just emotionally.

unknown number
hi it's your hot neighbor
are you flirting with me ;)

changbin
felix? um hi and that
wasn't my intention

felix
ah too bad

changbin
did you want me to?

felix
no i don't want the
cute next door neighbor to
flirt with me :|

changbin
sorry?
read

changbin
call me
delivered

~lee felix~

well he's probably not interested, which sucks. but i guess i can't force feelings after a week or so. the cute ones never like me back...idiots. i rolled my eyes, and climbed onto the top bunk of my bed. was i going to call him? of course i was. i'm a sucker for emo boys.

i pressed the call button, and listened to the ringing in my ear. i was already impatient, and now that i actually wanted to talk to this boy i was ten times more impatient. i wondered what his voice sounded like, and if he was as emotionless as he seemed through text.

"hello?" changbin's voice echoed into my ear, and i felt some type of way. his voice was soft and sweet, not anything like i had expected. but it was definitely a nice surprise.

"h-hi."

"what happened? you're not as confident as you were behind the screen?"

"no no no, your voice is just so nice. like it made my heart race a little bit."

he chuckled and then i heard him sigh a bit. "just a little, huh? too bad."

"your voice makes you sound like a good kisser." i smirked because i could only imagine changbin's face right now. he obviously didn't have much experience in the flirting department.

i waited for his response, but as of right now he was just breathing into the phone. "i, uh, i don't know what to say. i wouldn't know if i was a good kisser."

"is there anyone i could ask?"

"n-no..."

"you've never kissed anyone? never!"

"i can't."

his voice suddenly became dark and stern. he had some sort of secret, but it was too personal for him to tell me yet. i was still a stranger to him. we weren't friends in his eyes. i had no choice but to respect that though, it was up to him to share his life.

"i'm sorry if i overstepped."

"no it's okay. i don't expect you to understand. i'm sorry, my doctor is here. i need to go."

and yet again, before i could even say a goodbye he hung up. this seemed to be a common scenario between us.

i walked over to my window, peeking through my curtains. a man in an all white hazmat suit walked into the front door of changbin's house. he carried a metal briefcase and not a single part of him was uncovered. within just a minute, every window of the house was covered in some way.

that was the first person i had seen enter or leave the house. changbin was all alone. his parents never came home or left for work. he never went to school or picked up groceries. there were no cars in his driveway, not even a bike. he never left that house, never even opened a window.

now a doctor wearing a hazmat suit visits him? what was going on? was he sick, like the flu? that wouldn't explain anything. you don't barricade yourself away for the flu. you don't get isolated for any illness. something very bad was happening, i could feel it.

i mean it made sense about the whole kissing thing now. no nineteen year old boy has gone their whole life without any physical contact. it's simply impossible. but changbin never left the house, he didn't necessarily have the choice to go around with his friends. he was alone.

i'd find out what was going on. i'd change it. i wanted to bring some sort of light into his life because it was easy to tell it just wasn't there.