Dark to Baby: A Changjin Story

Chapter 8

Math class took forever in Hyunjin's opinion.

He kept looking at the clock and willing away the minutes, but it never worked. All he wanted to do was find Felix and give him a hug, but he couldn't just walk out of class.

Hyunjin watched the clock as Felix's sad face flashed before his eyes again. He felt guilty, but also couldn't stop the flow of questions he wanted to ask.

'Why does he have bruises on his face?'

'Did I hurt him when I pinched him?'

'Was that considered a breakdown?'

'Was he crying right now?'

Dang, he just wanted to hug him.

Hyunjin tapped his pencil on his desk as the last few minutes of class came to an end. He ignored the teacher's protests as he packed up his materials prematurely and just waited for the bell to ring.

"Brrrrrring!" And Hyunjin was up and running.

He weaved through the mass of loud students in the hallway and eventually made it out the door and to the bus in record time. He got on and went to the same seat from this morning. He flung his backpack onto the seat, but continued to stand so he could see when Felix was about to get on.

After a couple of minutes, Changbin waltzed up to the bus and then stopped by the door like he was waiting for someone. Chan, who looked extremely worn out, appeared by Changbin's side with a clingy Felix in tow.

The two caretakers spoke for a second, but it seemed like Changbin was aware of what happened, so their conversation didn't last long.

The last step was transfering Felix.

From what Hyunjin could see, Chan was speaking softly to Felix, probably trying to convince him to go to Changbin on his own. However, Felix's grip appeared to tighten on Chan's shirt.

Changbin began rubbing Felix's back, also talking to him.

All of a sudden, Felix faced Changbin with tears in his eyes all over again, but that's not what took Hyunjin's breath away. The makeup was all gone...and were those all bruises?

There was a large dark blue mark on each of his cheeks, and many small marks littered his neck. His nose seemed swollen as well, but that might have been from crying.

Hyunjin plopped down in his seat, not wanting to see anymore. For about ten minutes, Hyunjin sat there with his thoughts and felt very out of place.

Everyone was already on the bus, but it took them a while to calm Felix down. Eventually, Changbin's head came into view, followed by Felix's. They were holding hands as Felix rubbed his eyes with a small fist. Changbin carefully guided them to the seat across from Hyunjin, allowing Felix to sit on his lap.

For once the younger didn't pull out his phone and instead nuzzled his face into Changbin's neck. Changbin's eyes held deep wells of concern as he wrapped his arms tightly around the fragile boy.

Hyunjin watched guiltily until Changbin noticed and sent him a terrifying glare. His heart rate quickened as he snapped his head in the other direction.

Taking deep breaths, Hyunjin tried to calm his heart while surviving a tense ten minute silence. He didn't dare look back at Changbin for fear that he would be yelled at, but he really wanted to apologize.

Just as he was going to turn around, Changbin began talking sweetly to Felix, so he stayed put and listened.

"Baby?"