Ice Cream | Changlix

two

It was quiet at the small store and the worker behind the counter was dozing off, her hand on a coffee, head nodding forward. There was no one else among the few aisles as Felix rubbed at his eyes, sleepy but hungry and determined to get food. The brightness of the fluorescent lights helped to keep him alert as he wandered to the ramen aisle, searching for his favorite flavor. He was finding it hard to ignore the prickling of the skin on the back of his neck, almost as if someone had taken their fingernail and barely trailed it across the top of his spine.

It took a moment but Felix found his favorite flavor, the red packaging a familiar sight. Felix nearly smiled when he saw it. He hadn't eaten for twelve hours; he didn't know how he was still alive.

He reached for it. Just as his fingers wrapped around it, the bell above the door tinged, signaling that it had opened. Felix froze, glancing up and standing on the tips of his toes to see over the top shelf and the colorful packaging of chips. His heart lodged into his throat.

Dark clothing, a mask pulled over his face, head cast down. If it weren't for the way the stranger walked Felix wouldn't have recognized him.

Felix grabbed the ramen off of the shelf and made his way towards the back of the store. He was going to take the long way to the front counter in an attempt to avoid the person who just walked in but—but—

Should he follow Minho's advice? Should he be friendly towards him? Most everything in Felix was telling him to be wary of the stranger but on the other hand he was rather curious. What was his name? Where did he come from? Did he just not like his face or was he trying to hide?

None of it made any sense but then again Felix suspected he was overthinking everything, that he had let his mind off of its leash and now it was running rampant.

It didn't matter. He wasn't thinking right at the moment; he shouldn't meet the stranger when he was like this. He would ask him questions later when he came to the Creamy Banana.

Felix turned the corner with a renewed sense of determination and direction—

And walked right into someone. He registered slight warmth, a firm body before the sound of glass shattering pierced the silent early morning air.

"I'm sorry." The words were instinctual to Felix as he stumbled back. The person he had run into had his head bent down, hands drawn in close to him, and he was wearing all black. Exactly like the stranger.

Felix crouched down, heart caught in his throat. "I'll clean this up and pay for it. Go get another."

The tart, tangy yet sweet scent of lemonade was filling his nose as he reached for the glass, his hand shaking slightly. Why was he so nervous?

A hand grabbed his wrist—the stranger's, but it was oddly cold, a detail Felix later realized after playing the scene in his head a thousand times was likely due to the lemonade—and pulled up.

"Don't touch it." The strangers voice was deep, but not as deep as his, and his hand was soft. "You could get hurt."

"Oh—"

"I don't feel like making someone clean blood up too."

"Oh." Felix's voice was quiet. Why did the fact that that was the reason he didn't want Felix to cut himself disappoint him? The stranger was right though; it would inconvenience the worker who was already appearing dead tired.

"I'll get the employee." The stranger said. He looked up, and his dark brown eyes met Felix's from under the black hat, peeking out above the mask. "Do not touch it."

The command in his voice and the steely look in his eyes—which Felix had not seen before, in fact he hadn't seen the stranger's eyes before at all—was enough to shock Felix into stillness. The stranger turned and went towards the counter, leaving Felix standing there with the surprise still resonating through his bones.