Felix backed away slightly, unsure of what was going on.

“Felix, I said run!” Changbin shouted pushing Felix towards a dark alleyway behind the parking-lot.

Felix wanted to ask why Changbin had suddenly become so worried, but he felt like it wasn’t the right time to do so. He realized it had something to do with the police cars, but his mind was too confused to make the connections. Changbin suddenly grabbed Felix’s wrist and dragged him along the alleyway as he ran ahead. Felix barely managed not to stumble a few times. The sirens stopped as soon as the cars pulled up in the parking lot, but the swirling blue and red lights were still visible in the distance. A deep, raspy voice shouted after them, telling them to stop. Felix turned his head and noticed two figures chasing them. The officers were still about 30 feet away, and they weren’t as fast as Felix and Changbin, so they couldn’t keep up with the two boys. As they were running, Felix heard one of the cops mention something about shooting. His heart stopped and adrenaline filled his bloodstream. He already said his prayers and thought about his parents and his sisters back at home. He was pretty sure that he was going to die that day. Just as they passed by a few pipes, a loud bang was heard. Fortunately, the bullet missed them, crashing into the pipes.

Changbin cursed under his breath and suddenly stopped, turning around to face the officers. He placed one hand over Felix’s mouth and pulled a gun from under his shirt, pointing it at Felix’s temple. The blonde froze and grabbed Changbin’s arm, trying to set himself free.

“Shhh…” Changbin whispered, sending shivers down Felix’s spine. “I’m not going to hurt you.” he comforted him before pecking the top of his head.

The cops soon caught up with them.

“Any step closer and I shoot.” the brunette growled.

“There’s no need for violence, sir…” one of the cops informed him while the other one tried pointing his gun at Changbin without him noticing.

“Put your gun down.” he demanded, loading the gun before pressing it even harder against Felix’s head.

The officer followed Changbin’s commands and placed his gun on the concrete.

“Now walk away.” Changbin demanded coldly, staring straight into the man’s eyes.

Both of the cops stepped away slowly, but Changbin noticed one of them reaching out into his pocket for a small radio station. He quickly pointed the gun towards the man and pulled the trigger, sending a bullet straight into the guy’s hand. Even though the officer was shouting from the pain, Changbin could hear the sound of another car pulling up at the end of the alleyway. He took the opportunity to turn around and make a dash towards the car, pushing Felix into the back seat before hopping inside as well.

“Thanks for showing up, Hyunjin…” Changbin thanked the driver, panting from all of the effort.

At a closer inspection, Felix realized that the man Changbin was talking to was his roommate that he’d met the other day.

“I just saved your life, you better be grateful. Plus, the tracking device was my idea. Now you better do my laundry for the next three months.” Hyunjin joked.

“You wish!” Changbin chuckled, turning towards Felix to check on him. “You okay?” Changbin asked, fixing the blonde’s hair.

Felix was too shocked to answer. He just stared at Changbin with wide eyes, not able to comprehend all the things that happened.

“Earth to Felix, hello? Are you there?” Changbin asked, waving his hand in front of Felix’s face.

“What happened?” Felix shuttered, snapping back into reality.

“Don’t think too much about it.”

“Don’t think about it?! We almost got shot!”

“You’re overreacting. We’re fine.” Changbin rolled his eyes.

“Fine isn’t the word I would use to describe my current situation.” Felix contradicted him. “Explain yourself now!”

“Can’t we discuss this at home?” the brunette suggested.

“I’m not coming home with you…” Felix smirked, looking away. “Hyunjin, stop the car!” he ordered in a very confident tone.

Hyunjin did as he was told. He didn’t like Felix that much anyway, so him leaving would just be a bonus. Felix opened the door and stepped outside.

“What? Hold up, where are you going?” Changbin asked, just as he was about to get out of the car.

“You don’t need to know.” Felix said coldly, slamming the door shut before walking away.

Changbin didn’t follow him this time. He ed up, and he knew it. There was no going back now; he felt sorry for dragging him into his business. He figured that Felix would probably book the first flight back to Australia and forget that Changbin ever existed. He wasn’t that memorable anyway.

Felix took out his phone and called Chris, but he didn’t answer. He walked around for a few more minutes, unsure of what he wanted to do. He had no money, since he’d left all of his stuff at Changbin’s place. He then texted Chris, asking for his address, but didn’t give him a reason to why he needed it sine he didn’t feel like explaining anything . It didn’t take long before he received an answer. He opened Google Maps and entered the address, following the directions towards a small and quiet neighborhood. He easily found the house; it was a large, modern house with a garage and a small front yard. He walked up to the porch and rang the doorbell, leaning against the door, waiting for somebody to answer it.

As soon as the door opened, Felix lost his balance and collapsed into the house, only to be caught by someone. He looked up and saw Minho staring down at him puzzled and a bit worried. Felix scrambled back up and looked at Minho, apologizing aggressively. Minho laughed and told him that it was alright before he led him into the kitchen and gave him a glass of water.

“Where’s Chris?” Felix asked awkwardly.

“Who?” Minho tilted his head in confusion.

“Um… Chris… The guy you were with in the café…” Felix tried explaining.

“Oh, you mean Chan? He’s upstairs. He’s working on a new song. Do you want to talk to him?”

Felix nodded and followed Minho upstairs. They entered a small, office like room with a only a desk, a chair and a computer set-up inside. Even though he was wearing headphones, Chris heard them step inside, so he took them off and looked at Felix, waiting for the blonde to say something, but he didn’t, so after a minute of awkward silence and staring, Chris finally spoke up.

“So… What’s up?”

“Um… nothing much…” Felix lied. “Just wanted to see you…”

“Well, I was just about to have a snack… Want some pizza?”

“We have pizza?!” Minho shouted before rushing downstairs to the fridge.

“Do you guys live together?” Felix asked once he was alone with Chris.

“Nope.” Chris smiled innocently, going after Minho.

“And what’s with that Chan thing?” Felix questioned, running after him.

“That’s my Korean name. It’s easier to pronounce. You can call me that too.” Chan explained.

Felix quietly followed Chan, contemplating if he should tell Chan anything about what’d happened. He initially wanted to tell him everything, but he realized that Changbin would probably get in trouble if Chan knew about him. He entered the kitchen and noticed Minho stuffing his face with pizza with an empty cardboard box laying in front of him.

“That was the last slice!” Chan complained. “You always eat the food I buy!” he scolded Minho.

Minho finished eating the pizza and pouted, looking down with a sad expression.

“No, don’t do that! Don’t give me the puppy face!” Chan warned him.

Minho totally ignored his warning and looked up again, staring at Chan with sad eyes.

“It’s not working on me! Stop it!”

“I’m sorry…” Minho apologized, walking closer to Chan before giving him a hug.

Felix awed and stared at them with a smile plastered on his face.

“You guys would make such a cute couple…” he affirmed, not realizing that Minho could understand that even if Felix had said it in English.

Minho released him and chuckled cutely, but Chan was too busy sending death glares to Felix.

“I-I don’t think Chan would be interested.” Minho laughed, scratching the back of his head. “Anyway… Do you guys want to play Jenga?” Minho suggested, trying to loosen up the tension.

Chan faked a smile and agreed, but just as he was about to follow Minho into the living-room, he punched Felix’s shoulder, making the blonde to stick out his tongue to nag Chan.

~~~

“Kiss the person on your left.” Minho read out the challenge on the small wooden block. “Oh, that would be Chan!” he smiled shyly. “I guess I have to…” he mumbled, sitting closer to Chan.

“Hey! No one asked me if I agree!” Chan panicked, backing away.

“Don’t worry; he can kiss me if you don’t want to.” Felix smirked mischievously, assuring his friend

“Okay then.” Minho happily agreed.

“No!” Chan shouted, grabbing Minho’s sleeve. “I mean, it said the person on his left. I’m on his left…”

Felix shrugged and proudly watched as Minho pecked Chan’s cheek. An awkward silence engulfed the room afterwards, causing Chan to make a terrible decision.

“How do you call a boomerang that doesn’t come back?” he suddenly asked.

“Oh, no, here we go again with the dad jokes…” Felix groaned, burying his face in his hands.

“How?” Minho asked happily.

“A stick.”

Felix sighed in disappointment, but he was extremely surprised to hear Minho burst out laughing. His laugh was interesting to say the least, but Chan seemed to be enjoying the attention.

They spent the rest of the day playing Jenga and chatting. Minho was also the only one laughing at Chan’s increasingly lame dad jokes. They even ordered pizza again and binge watched Dragon Ball Z until Chan fell asleep at around midnight.

“Aren’t you going back to your friend’s place?” Minho asked Felix quietly enough for Chan not to hear.

“We actually… had a fight… I guess…” Felix answered, becoming gloomy in a matter of seconds.

“Looks like more than a fight to me.”

“He had been hiding something from me for a while; that’s all.” Felix explained, his voice cracking.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Minho suggested, wrapping his arm around Felix’s shoulders.

The blonde nodded, so Minho stood up and extended his arm towards Felix to help him stand up as well. They walked into the kitchen, where Felix sat on the counter, carefully watching Minho as he prepared a cup of hot chocolate for Felix.

“How long have you know each other?” Minho asked, turning the stove on to boil some water.

“Just a few days actually.”

“A few days? Then why are you so upset about it?”

“We’ve gotten really close lately.” Felix affirmed, looking away from Minho.

“How close?” the latter pressured him.

“Close enough…”

“Do you like him? It’s okay if you do; I won’t judge.”

“Maybe a little…”

“I see, but what did he do to upset you?”

Felix then proceeded to tell Minho the whole story, but this time he didn’t leave out any of the details. Minho quietly listened to the whole story while he prepared the hot chocolate. Once he was done he handed the cup to Felix and sat on the counter next to the blonde.

“I think you shouldn’t talk to him anymore…” Minho blurted out. “I mean, he seems like trouble… But that’s your choice.”

“I still have to get my stuff from his apartment. And I don’t know what to do…” the blonde sighed.

“You could wait until you see him leave. Then you could tell his roommate you came to pick up your stuff.” Minho suggested.

“I want to give him a chance to explain himself, though; I don’t want to just leave like that... I’m frustrated!” Felix groaned.

“If you feel like giving him a second chance, then you should do it. He seems like a nice guy, despite the lying part.” Minho advised him.

“Won’t I seem desperate if I return tomorrow?”

“What are you? Twelve? You’re just taking your clothes and money back; they are necessary. Now let’s go to bed. It’s already almost 2 AM.” Minho yawned, getting off the counter.

“Can I also ask you a question?” Felix stopped him.

“Sure.”

“Do you have a girlfriend?”

“No, why do you ask?”

“It’s for a friend.” Felix chuckled pointing towards Chan who was still sleeping on the floor. “But don’t tell him you found that out from me!” he warned Minho before running up to the guest bedroom.

Dumbfounded, Minho looked over at Chan and analyzed him for a second, unsure of how to react. He thought Chan was just being friendly this whole time, but after thinking about it for a while he realized that Chan’s behavior wasn’t normal; he’d drop by at his workplace all the time and even when Minho had to serve customers, Chan would wait and watch him until he finished. Sometimes Chan would get too attached, but Minho didn’t mind it at all. Maybe that meant that he also liked Chan… Before coming up with any more crazy conclusions, Minho shook his head before grabbing his coat and shoes and exiting Chan’s house, heading towards his car in the driveway.