Strawberry Milk - Jeonglix

3

When Felix was walking home from the skatepark that evening, he couldn't stop thinking about the boy from the park. He knew he shouldn't have been so interested, he should have forgotten about him after he refused to talk, but he couldn't. Felix hated seeing people sad and when the boy sat on the bench or the swing with that distant, melancholic look on his face, Felix felt an unexplainable urge to make him feel less alone, but it wasn't working.

After unlocking his front door, Felix stopped in the hall to take off his shoes. He caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror and when he tried to view his appearance from a strangers perspective, he couldn't find anything extremely off-putting. People said he had a cute face and his hair was dyed a bright shade of blond. If that wasn't welcoming, Felix didn't know what was. He shook his head and made his way into the kitchen.

"Oh, hey Lix," his mother smiled and closed the fridge door to see Felix walking with a sullen look on his face. He took a seat at the breakfast bar, on one of the elevated, spinning chairs and sighed, letting his head fall onto his hands. His mother, standing around the other side of the counter, put down the cabbage she was holding and ruffled his hair. "What's wrong, sweetie? Did something happen at college?" She asked but Felix shook his head. "Why do you look so dismal then?"

"You go to the same church as that foster family, right?" Felix inquired, his head poking up after the sudden realisation, "isn't the priest the one who fosters them with his wife?"

"Yes, why? What's this about?" She asked, picking up the knife and starting to chop up the cabbage.

"I don't know...there's just this boy who sits in the park every day and he's from that family, I think. I tried to talk to him because he seems lonely but I don't think he likes me very much. He ignores me," Felix admitted, lowering his chin to rest in the palm of his hand.

"I doubt it's anything personal, honey. All of those kids have their problems and it's lovely that you don't want him to be alone but maybe he wants to be," his mother said, smiling at him as she threw all of the cabbage into a bowl and set about cutting up the tomatoes that were resting on the grey-tiled counter. Felix guessed she was making a salad for dinner and he turned his nose up at the thought which didn't go unnoticed. "Hey, don't give me that look. We need to start eating healthier, or your dad does anyway so this is a start," his mother scolded.

"Salad is gross."

She rolled her eyes, "stop complaining. Go up to your room and practice your guitar or something. Dinner will be ready in half an hour."

Felix sighed as he hopped out of his seat. "Fine but salad is still gross," he said, chuckling when he heard his mother mimicking his words behind him.

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Saturday was Felix's favourite day of the week for obvious reasons. There was no college and it was the one day he wasn't overwhelmed with a stupid amount of homework. He was meeting Chan at the skate park and they would likely spend most of the day together, which had become rarer than it used to be after Chan went up to university and got a job. Felix couldn't deny the fact he was excited when Chan told him Minho and Hyunjin both had hangovers so they wouldn't be joining them.

"You're so lucky you don't have to live with them. I was trying to revise for my music exam and then at two in the morning Minho comes home crying over Jisung, surprise, surprise. Then an hour later Hyunjin comes home with this random guy as usual and they were fucking so loudly, oh my god, I wanted to rip my ears off," Chan ranted as he skated around in a circle, Felix giggling at him from where he sat on the top of a ramp, "oh shit, did I just corrupt your innocent, little mind?"

Felix rolled his eyes, "I'm not innocent. Me and Hyunjin are the same age."

Chan chuckled, "yeah but you're like...a baby."