Strawberry Milk - Jeonglix

8

Felix planned to go around to Chan, Minho and Hyunjin's house that Monday evening so Chan could help him work on his lyric writing. The three shared a small, semi-detached house and combining the money from Chan's job and Minho's dance classes (plus occasional money from odd jobs Hyunjin picked up) they could just about afford the rent every month.

It was around seven when Felix and Chan finished working on the lyrics and Hyunjin suggested they should play video games together. They all ended up in the living-room with Chan and Felix on the sofa while Hyunjin and Minho sat on the floor in front of them. It was only Hyunjin and Felix who were properly playing the video game though and Felix won every round. Chan was too busy doing his university course work to participate and Minho kept staring at his phone screen too often to notice if anyone on-screen was around to shoot or attack his character. Everyone knew he was hoping to see a call or a message from Jisung, but it never arrived.

It was later than usual when Felix walked home, gone ten and dark outside. Chan had offered to drive him home but Felix said he'd be fine on his skateboard, the journey only being ten minutes long. It had taken some convincing but Chan finally let him go on his own.

Felix didn't put his headphones in on his way home as he knew he had to be alert but he wasn't wary anyway. He lived on the outskirts of a city but it was on the nicer side, meaning his chances of getting attacked or mugged were low, especially on a skateboard. Despite not having music, Felix felt lost in his own world as he passed by the park, almost missing a distinctive sound until he got closer and it got louder. Felix stopped his skateboard on the road in between the park and skatepark. It was hard to see much, but he could hear just fine and what he heard was the sound of crying. It was quiet and muffled, almost as if the person didn't want anyone to hear them but Felix soon spotted them sitting on top of a beam that was part of a mini assault course, cross-legged and sobbing into their hands. It was Jeongin.

Felix wasted no time picking up his skateboard and rushing into the park, causing Jeongin's head to snap in his direction due to the banging gate. If Jeongin was phased by Felix's presence, it was only for a second before he started crying into his hands again.

"J-Jeongin?" Felix asked, taking a cautious step forward but he kept crying with no response. He sounded so pained. "Jeongin?" he said again, taking another step forward. When he still didn't get a response, Felix joined him on the beam, sitting down and gnawing at his bottom lip. "Why are you crying?"

Jeongin hiccuped once, removing his hands from over his face. He stared at the floor and Felix thought he wasn't going to answer the question until he said...

"I can't remember it."

His voice was smaller than Felix had heard it before. He sounded so fragile and Felix knew he had to be careful with what he said and did.

"I can't remember it and I never will."

"What do you mean? What can't you remember?" Felix asked.

Jeongin moved his hands up to cover his face, the black sleeves of his jumper muffling the sounds of his sobs as he started to cry harder than before. Felix was beyond worried now. He wanted a clear answer so he could help Jeongin but he didn't want to force him to say anything if he wasn't comfortable with it. He felt so useless.

"Jeongin?" He asked again, placing a hand on his shoulder, unsure of how he would react to the touch but he accepted it better than Felix feared. Instead of moving away, Jeongin melted into his touch and before Felix knew it, Jeongin's arms wrapped around his torso, his head buried against his neck as the tears rolled down Jeongin's cheeks and landed on Felix's skin.

Felix was surprised at first, but his arms soon secured themselves around Jeongin's shaking body. He brushed his hand up and down Jeongin's back in an attempt to soothe him and he tried the question again, "Jeongin, what can't you remember?"