Rings and Hugs and So Much More

12.

Hyunjin's PoV

"He... he called me!" Felix shouted in the middle of us peacefully having lunch at Chan's dorm room. 

"Who is he? That random human we prank called last night?" Jisung asked with his mouth full of food. 

"No... CHARLES DID! From Australia. Remember the guy I dated back in high school?" Felix said excitedly and I stared at my food.

Of course, Charles gets you all excited. You still dream of that jerk.

"Why did he call, out of all people?" Chan asked, annoyed. In all honesty, Chan has every right to be annoyed - after Felix and Charles broke up, Chan had to mentally stabilize Felix for two damn months. 

"And why are you so excited, Lix-hyung? Didn't you get over him?" Jeongin asked, confused at Felix's reaction.

I tsked, garnering attention from Seungmin, who was sitting beside me. I mouthed 'later' and he gave me a thumbs up.

"Just because I got over him doesn't mean I hate him. He is still a good friend of mine - we even follow each other on Instagram," Felix replied with a happy grin. Looking around the table, I realised nobody was particularly excited about this revelation. 

"What?! Why do you all look  so glum? Hyunjin, why do you look like you are about to punch a wall?" Felix asked obliviously.

"Yongbok-ah, Charlshit is your ex. We don't like him. Why, might you ask? Because he is a rotten human from inside. You are forgetting how he gaslighted you into almost joining a drug chain," Minho-hyung calmly explained. Changbin snickered at the nickname given to that abominable former boyfriend of our lovely Lix.

"He didn't gaslight me, hyung - I was depressed and he offered me a way out of it. He was trying to help-"

"Drugs isn't the way out of depression! Its momentary happiness which makes you addicted to those substances and without realising, you are destroying your mental health even more," Chan snapped. 

"He was going to feed you marijuana for heavens sake, Lix!" Changbin shouted.

Felix looked down, embarrassed when faced by the harsh truth of his ex's personality. This situation was cyclic, this is the third time we have to remind Felix that Charles is a piece of shit.

Jisung was glaring at Changbin for shouting at his (almost) twin. "Hey Felix, lets finish our lunch and visit an ice-cream parlour. I'll pay. Jeongin, wanna tag along?"

Jeongin glanced around the table, noticing how it would be safer for him to leave with the 'sunshine twins'. He muttered a 'sure' and resumed eating.

ʚ♡ɞ

"Who's helping me kill Charleshit?" I asked angrily once the ice-cream trio left.

Chan, Changbin and Minho-hyung raised their hands. 

"Only helping with the planning, not the execution. Someone needs to be innocent to bail y'all out," Seungmin justified. Makes sense, I guess.

"That asshole has some nerve to contact our little happy-pill after what he has done," Changbin exclaimed, flexing his biceps (probably trying to prove how he would be an excellent asset to plan with his punches).

"I know right. He literally still haunts Lix's dreams," I replied sulkily.

"How do you know that? Lix's told you about it or..." Chan tried to guess.

"Sleep-talking."

Chan replied with an 'ah'. 

Minho was staring into some distant land. "Do you think human blood can be used for storing spices like pig blood?" he asked.

"Nah. His blood would taste bad anyways," Seungmin replied.

The conversation ended there with me, Chan and Changbin sharing a concerned look. We may have just awakened the psychopaths of our team.

ʚ♡ɞ

Ever since that lunch on Saturday, we have been noticing every little change in Felix's behaviour. He seems to be distancing himself from us. I tried not to think about it as I got ready early in the morning.

It was a Friday and I was on my way to my ballet class. Along with hip-hop dancing, I had chosen to also learn ballet as an extra dance class. Nakamura Kazuha is the star of our class and she is 'unofficially' chosen to be Giselle in our year-end ballet performance. The girls are instructed by Miss Mina Myoi and we, the boys, are trained by Mr Kim Jong-in.

We will be most probably assessed today to decide our roles. While being the Duke Albrecht of Silesia would be lovely, I don't want the ballet performance clash with the our group performances - Chan is preparing an amazing annual performance for our evaluation. Our university directors, Park Jinyoung and Bang Si-hyuk, are rumoured to be personally attending the show to assess us.

Chan is way too calm for the performance - if I was the leader, I would be freaking out just by hearing it (P.S. don't make me the leader of anything - I can't organise shit for life).

When I reached the dance room, I realised that it seemed a bit different today - more elegant, I would say. The grey curtains hiding the floor-length windows were changed to beige and lace curtains, there was a flower vase and a vintage lamp neatly kept in one of the corners of the room and Miss Myoi's presence was the cherry on top. For once, even Mr Kim looked elegant instead of hip-hop.

At 8:00 am, all the students together wished the two teachers and bowed. 

Ms Myoi started off the class and spoke, "Good morning, class. I think we all know why we have gathered here. It is for the role finalisation for our year end performance. As you all know, we will be performing 'Giselle' and it's a dance overflowing with emotions of love, guilt and passion. Today, we will be doing a part from Act 2 where Giselle and Duke Albrecht dance till the break of dawn."

Mr Kim continues, "I believe you all know the gist of the dance as we had done it just before the session break. However, Ms Myoi and I will redemonstrate it for you benefit. Yeosang-ssi, put the music on so that we can demonstrate."

Yeosang obediently put the music composed by Adolphe Adam and our teachers set to work. We students moved back to the corners, leaving the centre for the performers. I ended up sitting between Felix and Yoo Ji-min, or Karina (as she prefers it). I gave her a smile and she returned it. Felix, however, looked somewhere far away.

Our teachers danced gracefully, each bounce and each twirl filled with elegance. Their expressions overwhelmed the crowd (or just a handful of girls). The muscles in my body remembered each step and I melted into the tragic love story of Giselle and the Duke.

⋆｡ﾟ☁︎｡⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡⋆

A/N

Those who are interested to know more about the story of 'Giselle' can refer to this link:

https://northernballet.com/giselle/giselle-story