Mirror | Changlix

19. books

"So... how have you been?" Felix asked carefully.

"Great. No, really. Leaving Korea was the best thing that could happen to me." Chan leaned against his chair.

"It's been so long. You left when you were thirteen." Felix eyed him.

Chan glanced at him. "Of course, seven years is a long time."

"..."

"..."

Suffocating silence fell over their table. They both avoided mentioning the heavy events from their childhood.

Chan broke the silence as the first one.

"And what about you? How have you been? Apart from... well... with what happened with Jisung."

Felix bit his lip. The conflict between them started growing after Chan left so of course, he wouldn't know about it.

"Just don't tell him about me anything else is fine." Called out Hyunjin.

Felix blinked. He forgot about Hyunjin again.

"Um, yeah. I'm fine. It was okay... but I missed you."

'When you left, I feel like the Jisung I knew left too. I ended up all alone without friends again.' Felix wanted to add.

"...yeah, I'm sorry to disappear so suddenly." Replied Chan.

"When I came back, I somehow expected things to be just like the old times. But all three of us has changed so much and things will never be the same." Sadness could be heard in his voice.

"Yeah, tell me about it." Sighed Felix.

Two of them stared at the wall in front of them as if they saw the pictures of their memories displayed on it.

"Now I wanna know, what happened between you three, to be honest." Hyunjin called out again.

"Oh shut up, it's none of your business."

"How dare you talk to me like that."

"..."

'Hyunjin sure loves to stir up drama.' Felix thought.

"Yeah, by the way, Chan."

"Yes?"

"Why did you come back?"

Chan grinned. "Aren't you happy to see me?"

Felix pouted. "What? No, it's just that you're old now, what are you doing here, in high school, shouldn't you be in college now?"

"Haha silly, of course, I'm in college, but I'm doing my internship here."

Felix glanced at the pile of books about teaching.

"You... wanna be a teacher?"

"Yeah, I'm majoring in English and Korean."

"Ohh... That's actually cool." Felix thought about it. He forgot how kind and intelligent was Chan.

"You'll be a great teacher." He added and smiled brightly at him.

"Thanks, that means a lot to me." Chan smiled back at him.

After chatting for a little bit more, Felix remembered why he came back to the library in the first place.

"Oh right, Chan, I'll have to go now. I still need to find a book."

"Okay, see you around then." Chan took one of the books from his pile.

"Yeah, see you... professor." Felix snickered.

"Oh, don't flatter me." Chan rolled his eyes. "I'm not even sure I'll pass this semester."

"Haha, good luck." Felix waved to him as he disappeared within the long hallways of the library.

"I thought you were never gonna shut up." Said Hyunjin tiredly.

"Well, what can I say. I just like to talk." Replied Felix.

They entered the same aisle they visited the last time.

"Okay so, somewhere here we should find something about you."

"You sound so sure."

"I am trying to be hopeful, okay? And you're not helping." Felix walked around bookshelves and randomly read some titles.

"..."

"You don't know how to search for books." Commented Hyunjin after a while.

"..."

"..."

"...maybe I don't." Finally admitted Felix.

"You hadn't been reading books and it shows." Sighed Hyunjin.

"Okay, so like at least we can find the book we found last time?" Felix smiled hopefully.

"Do what you want, dumbass. I'm not helping you."

"You're the ass here. Asshole."

"But at least I'm not dumb."

'Damn, he's right.' Felix looked at his hands. 'Maybe I really am dumb.'

"Come on, let's go. I'm tired of seeing you on the verge of a breakdown." Hyunjin rolled his eyes and walked to the hallway where they were last time.

Felix kept complaining the whole time about how unfair life is.

Hyunjin scanned the bookshelves and quickly found the book they saw last time, ignoring Felix's whining the whole time.

But just as he was about to take it, someone reached for it at the same moment.

Their fingers touched and he quickly retracted his hand and glared at the newcomer.

Hyunjin's glare quickly switched to Felix's surprised expression because the person standing next to him was the last one who'd he expect to meet there.

a/n
An update? After eight months?? More likely than you'd think :D