Red ribbons || Hyunlix

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After entering their room, he slammed the door shut with his leg.

He was fuming.

He gently placed Felix on the bed and tucked the stray strands of hair behind his ear, caressing his cheek softly with the pad of his fingers.

Biting his lip, he leaned down and pecked Felix's lips feeling himself tear up from how angry he was "I love you so much" he whispered against them, his lips brushing against the younger's.

"I'm going to keep you safe, pretty boy. I'll burn every soul if the fire is warming you a little too much"

He ran his finger down Felix's neck, smiling when he saw the hickeys he left last night. He kissed his forehead, flinching when he heard a breathy chuckle.

"Love... is like a porcelain trinket" Zariyah said, leaning against the doorframe, smiling at Hyunjin's sweet words filled with venom. "So fragile and beautiful. I wish I could experience this,"

Hyunjin sniffled while lightening up a cinnamon scented candle and placed it on the nightstand— a habit he picked up from Felix and took a chair, sitting beside the bed and massaging Felix's feet. "I hope you do," he muttered, wiping his cheeks.

Zariyah waltzed towards Hyunjin. "I've heard what happened in the kitchen. Are you okay?" she muttered, taking from her pocket a small bottle.

"Better than never" Hyunjin smiled sarcastically, massaging Felix's other feet as he wiped his cheeks again, groaning when the tears didn't stop. "What are you doing with that?" he nodded towards the night stand. "Use it to wake him up, it's aromatic ammonia spirits"

Hyunjin nodded, pursing his lips. "They sent you here to talk with me, didn't they?"

Zariyah grimaced and shook her head, running her fingers through the male's hair. "I wanted to come here and check on you and Minho stopped me to tell me to that Chan already announced the head of the organisation that Felix is coming with us"

"I'm going to kill him" Hyunjin gritted his teeth, taking a deep breath to calm himself down. It wasn't worth it to get angry.

More tears rolled down his cheeks when Zariyah hugged him, guiding his head to rest against her chest and wrap her hands around Hyunjin's head while playing with his hair.

"Do you love him? Do you love Felix?" she randomly asked, blurting the words out before she could process them.

"I love him too much for my own good," Hyunjin whispered, wrapping his arms around the woman's waist. It felt good to be hugged.

Felix always did it but a hug from Zariyah felt different— more motherly.

Thinking about it, he never experienced a hug from his mother— that he remembered of— or felt such comfort from a woman. Hyunjin broke down in sobs, hugging Zariyah closer.

"I just want him to be happy," he cried quietly, hiding his face against the woman's upper stomach.

His entire body relaxed when he felt Zariyah run her fingers through his hair and caress it, her long nails scratching his scalp satisfyingly. "And he will be. Both of you will be" she whispered, one hand rubbing down Hyunjin's back.

"Both of you didn't deserve this, Hyunjin. You deserve the smiles and dopamine life can give you, the fucking moon and stars. But life is so unpredictable, it throws things at everyone and unfortunately for the ones who crave control like us it can be too much to deal with"

Hyunjin bit his lip, sniffling softly "I know— it's just, I am so fed up with all this shit. I want to be free"

Zariyah grabbed his cheeks and wiped the tears under his eyes, her green eyes wide "And you will be! We'll all be, just hold on for a little longer. Remember what Minseok (Minho's dad) always told us, 'To reach the calm sunny day you need to go through thunder and storms'"

Hyunjin inhaled shakily, nodding his head. "Titties up, Jin. There are more flowers to smell than bees to run away from" she chortled, making Hyunjin smile slightly.

Wiping his face for the last time, she pecked his forehead before sitting on the bed.

"May I know what's the beef between you three? I always wanted to ask, it's pretty obvious the tension between you all" Zariyah asked, rolling on her stomach and looking at Felix's side profile.

Hyunjin sighed, slumping in the chair and running his hands through his hair. "They grew up together and were in a relationship—"

Zariyah hummed, already knowing that info. "A really toxic one. If you haven't knew, Chan is a really good liar and manipulator, he played with Felix's mind for years"

Hearing that, the woman raised her head and looked flabbergasted at Hyunjin. "During Amsalja he filled Felix's brain with bullshit to make him hate me" he looked at Felix, caressing his cheek and smiling softly at how beautiful his boyfriend looked. "When we started living together in this building something inside Felix clicked and he realised that Chan was the problem not me and gave me a chance"

"Bloody hell, Chan always bad-mouthed you and I believed him. He even told me you were the reason Felix started self harming and taking drugs"

"I would never do something like that to Felix. I admit that I did and said some things too but Chan always had some sneaky plan to make Felix suffer"

Sighing, Zariyah looked sadly at Hyunjin "I really didn't expected this, especially from Chan"

Hyunjin scoffed "Only if you knew how he actually is under that nice face"

Zariyah cursed under her breath, looking between Hyunjin and Felix. She remembered how Chan always talked about Felix like he was more precious than diamonds but now it seemed like it was a façade.

Hyunjin played with the crystals on the nightstand. It wasn't awkward talking with Zariyah. It was weird how she jumped from subject to subject but she just gave a really comforting feeling. Like she was an understanding mother.

They sat in comfortable silence, Zariyah drawing random lines with her finger on the mattress while Hyunjin stared blankly at the wall.

Suddenly Zariyah's phone started ringing, startling both of them. She picked up the call and put it on speaker "What?" she said, "Don't give me that attitude Yah" Minho groaned, shuffling being heard in the background "Tomorrow we're flying in Australia, apparently that bastard planned all this before announcing us"

Zariyah and Hyunjin looked at each other before she hummed and ended the call.

"We need to wake him up," she muttered, biting her lip.

Hyunjin sighed, taking the bottle from the nightstand "Open the first drawer and give me a calming drug, he'll need it"

~

I miss the beach so much, especially the salty smell...

I can't wait to go back home next year and burn myself while collecting shells around the beach 😩