wander [ hyunlix ]

39

The car ride back was eerily silent.

Grey skies blocked the early morning sunrise, the overcast and dreary tone seeping into the moods of the car's inhabitants. Jisung spent most of his time staring at the boy driving the car, strangely untalkative for the situation.

"How long until...?" Jisung began to question, but was quickly shushed by a gentle hand on his knee.

He looked up to see Minho giving a subtle shake of the head, before sparing a glance towards Chan in the driver seat.

Without music playing, everything felt unbearably awkward. Neither in the back even dared to ask for it, cursed by this strange feeling in the air.

That morning, the three had enjoyed a rather nice breakfast—courtesy of Jeongin's grandmother—and everything had been going swimmingly. That was, if you asked Jisung or Minho.

Chan, on the other hand, seemed to suddenly be as eager to leave as possible. Not lingering a moment after their meal, he'd ushered his two friends to gather their things and get out the door.

Minho had noticed the eldest no longer saying much to Jeongin, but let his better judgement chalk it up to some unseen worry about this or that which he wasn't keen on sharing yet.

Yet a whole hour into their drive home, the lack of conversation was beginning to get to them.

Feeling a sort of weird pressure to do so, the two in the back began to exchange texts back and forth despite them sitting next to each other.

'Do you think he's okay?'

'No idea. He's been like this since this morning.'

'You think Jeongin did something to him?'

'Lmao what could Jeongin even do?'

'True.'

'I guess he's tired.'

"Jisung," Chan's voice made the two in the backseat look up instantly, startled as if they'd been caught gossiping.

"Yeah?" Jisung replied, voice wary.

"Do you have Felix's parents' phone number?"

"I do..." the boy replied hesitantly. "Why?"

"Can you like—" Chan took a hand off the wheel to run it through his hair. "Call them? Or text?"

"Um, yeah, but why?" Jisung repeated.

"To tell them?" the eldest's voice came out frustrated. "That Felix is fine?"

Jisung stared at him for a moment.
"Huh?"

"That Felix is—" Chan sighed. "Can you just call them?"

Minho perked up. "What about Felix?"

"Were you guys listening at all this morning?"

Jisung and Minho sent each other a guilty look. Truthfully, they'd spent all of the early morning hours playing footsie under the table, being distracted poking at each other's hands and the like... not that it mattered now.