Dark to Baby: A Changjin Story

Chapter 41

43 missed calls, 22 texts: Felix. 15 memes, 24 gifs, 2 calls: Jeongin. 3 calls, 2 texts: Random unknown number. 13 follow requests, 5 dms, lots of likes: Scary girls on Instagram. General: Your photos have exceeded your storage limit.

Hyunjin wasn't surprised by his phone content for the week. The two people that talked to him had talked to him, and the only thing missing was a few texts from his mom.

He sat in his living room, thankful for the distraction of reading through all the messages and listening to all the voicemails. It cut through the bitterness of having to interact with people on a Saturday morning. 

However, he had forgotten why Felix had sent him so many messages and called so many times. The gleeful smile Hyunjin wore soon fell when he saw when the texts were sent. They weren't that bad, just sad inquiries about Hyunjin's whereabouts, but then it was time for the voicemails.

43 times. He had tried 43 times to reach Hyunjin. He had wailed 43 times into the phone in a desperate attempt to find his friend, the boy becoming more hysterical with each call. He had called so much that the last one was just thirty seconds of sobbing and Changbin's voice mumbling comforting words. He hadn't sent anything after 9 pm, and Hyunjin recalled how worn Changbin's face was the next day. That must have been a hard night.

Hyunjin wiped the pooling tears from his eyes and tapped on Jeongin's chat to clear his mind. Memes always brought up Hyunjin's mood even if Jeongin had a weird sense of humor, and not surprisingly, Hyunjin only really laughed at about 3 of the 15 dumb things Jeongin had sent him. It was better than nothing though. However, he didn't need the meme Jeongin had made of his face, nor did he need the cheesy gifs sent at 1 am on Thursday that indicated that Jeongin actually missed him. Those were weirder than his sense of humor.

After resolving to tease Jeongin endlessly, Hyunjin moved on to Instagram. Not that it's worth mentioning. Hyunjin could care less about the likes on his posts from three years ago and all the follow requests from girls at school. Chan was amongst those follow requests though, which made Hyunjin glad he had checked before automatically deleting them.

The next step was telling his friends that he was alive and capable of communicating with them.

He started with Jeongin because that would be less emotional. They didn't talk for long, just enough time for Jeongin to confirm that Hyunjin was indeed grounded and laugh at him mercilessly. Hyunjin tried to keep up with the teasing, but gave up and ended the conversation when it became obvious he was losing.

He moved on to Felix, learning once again how gracious the boy was despite all the anguish Hyunjin had put him through. Felix's capital letters and sweet, celebratory emojis calmed Hyunjin, bringing back the daze that always fell over him when he spoke to Felix. A small smile played on his lips as Felix told him about what he was doing and how much fun he was having at Chan's house. 

Hyunjin was well into the conversation when the green on his thumb caught his attention. A wild leaf curled around the edge, beckoning him to view the rest of the design. Hyunjin slowly peeled his thumb off the device followed by the rest of his hand until his palm met the light. There were the numbers he had religiously avoided touching the past 24 hours. Sure he could have written them down, but what was the fun in that?

He stared at the vines and bolded numbers, his vision blurring the images, distorting them, making them grow and overtake his body the way his thoughts of Changbin had overtaken his brain for the past few weeks.

Hyunjin gently closed his fingers over the numbers, a wistful smile on his face as he remembered the shy look in Changbin's eyes. There was something so endearing about the expression. Something so real.