ψ ᴄʜᴏꜱᴇɴ × ᴍᴀʀᴋ ᴛᴜᴀɴ ψ

^38

"If you can't do your job right, you know what'll happen to your parents." One said stern-fully. "Yes sir." The lowly voice replied, his head down all the time. "Go." He chased.

After his quiet exit, he leaned against the wall next to the office door. Sighing heavily as thoughts filled his head. "Get it together Felix, Mom and Dad are counting on you. You can't let anything bad happen to them!" He slid down the cold wall, head on his knees as he resists the urge to cry but the tears seemed to be threatening to pour out.

After a good five minutes or so, he sat up and continued with his mission with those thoughts at the back of his head, making sure they won't interfere with his job. "Hey!" Felix turned around to see the familiar boy who shares the same age as him. "Sup Mark." They both did their little handshake they came up with.

"Where are you going, bro?" Fifteen-year-old Mark asked, seeing as how Felix is heading towards the far end of the HQ. "Shooting arena, wanna join?" He invited and got an eager nod in reply.

Targets here and there shot in the head and body as the both of them occupied the whole room that day. With their protective headphones on and stably shooting the targets ahead of them. Felix in one hand looks like he was firing the bullet a bit too harshly and Mark had noticed as well.

"Pause!" Mark yelled out to the system to shut down the targets from running around mechanically. "Yo bro, what's up? You look upset." Mark approached but got lightly pushed away. "I'm fine dude." Felix bluntly replied. "Resume fire." He yelled out to the system and the targets continued to roam. "You sure you're fine? Whatever it is, your bro got your back." Mark yelled through the sound of gunfire Felix was firing, then going back to his spot and continued to aim for the moving targets.

Felix sighed, his body covered in sweat as his plain white shirt sticker onto his solid six-pack, running his hand through the sweat and switching on the breezy fan to cool himself.

"Fuck." He cursed out as he laid his head back against the wall. "Mom...Dad..." He cried out sadly, throwing the damp towel across the room with frustration that boiled up in him. "Felix?!" A stern yet familiar voice yelled out from the hallway behind him. He sighed but brought himself together and replied lackadaisically.

"Felix!" Her voice brought him out of his daze, clearing his throat and turning to face back to the girl who has been calling out his name for the past five minutes or so. "Y-Yes Areum?" He stuttered.

"What were you thinking it about? You were so silent all of a sudden." Areum asked in her usual calm yet worried tone. Her pitch was loud enough to snap him out of that nightmare. "Y-Yeah I'm fine, let me just grab a glass of water first and I'll be right back." He stuttered as he slowly made his way into the kitchen, head felt as if a bunch of hands was kneading onto his forehead with a great amount of force.

He began to chug down glasses of water, trying to calm himself down. "If the world was ending you'd come over right?" "Right" A voice that replayed in his mind broke out. "M-Minah?"

"Hahaha! Try to catch up Lixie~" Her laughter rang through the air. "Okayy okay ahahaha you win! Stop tickling meeeee~" "M-Minah!"

"Hey Lix, do you think one day, you'll finally call me yours for the rest of my life?" "Hoho, look at you thinking of our future. Of course my darling~"

"Stopppp you're going too fast Lixie~~" "Oh loosen up will you?" "Shit- watch out-"

"MINAH!!!" Felix screamed, feelings as if his lungs had just stopped working, panting heavily as one of his hands supported himself on the counter and the other to the floor as he fell on his knees. "F-Felix?!" Areum yelled out from behind him but all he could hear was the loud ringing sounds of the sirens that approached him that day. Areum slowly knelt down while her hands were finding her way around till she felt a familiar pair of hands, shaking on the ground.

Flinching at the sudden touch but slowly started to calm down seeing as how Areum's soft hands caressed his once trembling ones. He looked up at her and couldn't help but break into a smile. "Whatever happened, just know it'll be alright. Okay, Lixie?" She reassured. Felix nodded, carefully bringing her into his embrace without making her panic from not being able to see whatever is happening. A small sigh left Areum's mouth, as she hesitantly hugged back and soon got comfortable with it.

"Thank you..." Felix managed a smile, and although Areum could not see it, she knew he was smiling at her. "Don't thank me. Now let's get you cleaned up!" She suggested, slowly pulling Felix up and making their way back into the living room.

"Getting comfy I see?" The both of them looked back at the sound of the familiar voice. "Mark! You're home~~!" Areum stated excitedly, opening her arms for her expected hug. Mark leaned in for that hug but also eyed Felix at the corner, unexpected to him, he didn't look so threatened, instead he looked happy.

"Is my Areum bored~?" Mark cooed. She chuckled at his attempt on aegyo (acting cute). "Not at all, I have Lix after all, right Lixie?" She turned to where she assumed he sat from earlier. He hummed in response, no disagreements there, just a strong aura coming from the person next to Areum.

"Areum~you hungry? Let's eat out today!" Mark had his hopes high, praying she'd say yes. Instead, her eyebrows shot up, hands covering her mouth in surprise. "Really?! Yess please!!" Her face brightening up with bubbliness as she slowly made her way over to Mark, wrapping her arms around his arms. "Let's bring Felix along alright? He's been through a lot just recently." Areum whispered into Mark's ear.

Mark didn't say anything, simply humming a response to hide the fact that he wished it was him and Areum thing. "Hey, Felix? Can I talk to you for a sec? Areum darling, you can wait in the car, we'll be right there. Mark had his demonic blood-red eyes staring into Felix's, which also made his eye colour change to the similor crimson red. Areum nodded as Yugyeom that came down just in time led her to the car in the parking lot.  

thanks to those who have been waiting for this updateeeeee, trust me when I say I will be posting more chapters since midyears are finally over and Covid restrictions have tightened so I'd rarely leave the house TT

~nakamotochew <3