PIXELATED | Lee Felix

Chapter 10

It's finally the weekend, yet it's the time when all their assignments are due. Being someone who likes to start her assignment weeks before it's due, Eugene manages to submit it on Friday.

She finally gets to enjoy her relaxing Saturday after grinding so hard on all of her papers. One thing that bugs her, however, is that she hasn't heard Felix playing games at all. Not even before 11 P.M., which is his free time before the noise curfew they agreed on.

Is he okay? Eugene leans against her chair as she sips her chamomile tea, watching the greyish skies outside the dormitory. It looks gloomy for a start of her freedom, and probably not a good vibe for those who are still grinding. The weather is literally inviting them to ditch their work and relax under their blankets while mindlessly scrolling TikTok.

Felix's quietness throughout these 3 days had been bothering her, but she knew she was not close enough to check up on him.

So, she tries her best not to think about her neighbour by distracting herself with a good cup of tea and her favourite book to read.

But her distraction didn't last long.

Finally, after 3 days of silence, she could hear the male's distressful groan from the other side of the room, accompanied by inaudible cusses.

"God. Is he really okay?" She talks to herself, not sure if she really should check on him. Once again, she's still thinking about the proximity between them. Just because they decided to start a new a couple of days ago, that doesn't automatically give her the right or motivation to visit her neighbour out of concern.

Eugene still doesn't know how low they have lowered their barricades for—if Felix is comfortable enough to let her in, or even look for him out of the blue.

But the muffled noises from the other side didn't stop. Anyone who sits in Eugene's position could tell; that the neighbour is extremely distressed.

That was a sign for the girl to finally get out of her comfortable position and go to knock on her neighbour's room next door. Whether he's going to welcome her or not—that shall be something to be considered later.

Eugene knocks on the door, soon, greeted by the pixelated man wrapped in his comfortable hoodie. His body is slouching more than usual, his hair is once again, dishevelled. Probably from ruffling it too much like how he it was a couple of days ago, except that this time, it was out of stress from his workload—not his losing game streak.

Even though she can't see what expression he is currently making, she knows that he's probably looking like a zombie.

"Oh, it's you." He doesn't seem surprised at her presence. "Are you here to complain about my noise again?"

"No no!" Eugene quickly denies it, feeling rather guilty when he brought it up. "Well, I heard you still, but that isn't the problem. I'm visiting because I'm... uh, concerned."

"What? Why." This time he changes his posture and stands up straight, leaning against the door frame. She really can't tell if he's curious, annoyed, or just neutral due to his pixelated face. But that was not the reaction Eugene was expecting.

And now, she doesn't know how to answer him. Should she just be honest about it, and tell him that she's worried? But what if he finds it weird, and just generally, too fast in terms of their friendship progress?

"I'm waiting." His deep voice startles her from her thoughts.

"Demanding much?" She blurts out and then curses herself internally for replying like that.

"Yeah no shit because I'm currently grinding my assignment? My due date's tomorrow night and I'm only 70% through." Felix replies in annoyance, "So say your complaint quickly before I actually close the door."

"It's not a complaint!" She gets frustrated that she is currently being misunderstood. She wants him to know that every single interaction with him doesn't have to be something negative but guess that things wouldn't just go as smoothly as she thought if Felix is the type to crack under pressure and stress.

"I just wanted to make sure you're alright. But I guess you look fine." Eugene shrugs her shoulders, hoping that Felix doesn't feel weirded out by her concern.

"Ha? You're checking on me?" He looks shocked when he flinches on the spot, but once again, she can't tell if it's a good or bad kind of shock because of the pixelated facial expressions.

"Well, I can't have you cussing all the time! It's making me uncomfortable because I can hear it next door." Eugene speaks again in a defensive tone but instantly regrets every single word that she uttered. Why?! That wasn't what I wanted to say! She slowly gets mad at her own impulsivity.

"Oh. So, it is a complaint indeed." He sighs, "Fine. I'll keep my tone down."

Shit. This isn't it! Eugene panics as the male is already on his way to closing the door of his room. But she can't move from her spot until the last second, quickly slipping her hand into the small gap within the door to stop Felix from closing it fully.

Obviously, that became one of the dumbest decisions that Eugene has ever made in her whole life.

"Oi--why the fuck would you do that?!" Felix yells, immediately opening the door again only to find Eugene squatting on the ground, hanging her head low while holding her fingers that got caught in the gap.

"Ugh." Eugene winces in pain, unable to reply to Felix's question at the moment since the force that Felix used on the door was pretty harsh--definitely motivated by the accumulated stress.

But it was still her fault that she decided to stop him last minute.

Felix ruffles his hair in annoyance and squats down to match her level. "You dumbass, you could've just pushed the door instead of trying to get in between, no? For someone who's a try-hard in university, I never thought you would make such a dangerously stupid move."

"Is that how you're going to comfort your neighbour?" She retorts, still holding her hand in pain.

Felix doesn't say anything, but his hand reaches for hers, pulling her into his room forcefully. He grabs her shoulders and makes her sit on his bed, "Wait here. Don't do anything stupid."

The male then leaves the girl for a bit while he goes to the toilet to rummage some items for first aid. On the other hand, Eugene blanks out by the sudden change in events.

She is inside Felix's room.

A room that looks well-decorated for someone like Felix.

She takes her time to admire the fairy lights hung around his bedframe and the cute plushies organised very neatly on top of the bed. When she expects his PC set up to be black and boring, it's actually touched up with a customised keyboard, cute stickers on the monitor, anime figurines on the shelf—you name it.

So he's a weeb and a gamer. For weird reasons, the vibe of his room somehow impresses her so much that she starts to forget about her pain. She just keeps on looking at the space with so much focus, her head moving at various angles to observe every inch of the room,

To the extent that she doesn't even realise the owner of the room watching her from a distance, whose expression softens when he sees her appreciating the effort he has put in.  

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Author's Note: GUYSSS OMG TWICE CAME TO MELBY LMAO I mean honestly I'm not a huge fan of TWICE but it's been a while since we had a K-POP Concert here and I kept on seeing ONCEs dressing up so beautifully for the concert like LKJSDHFLKJSD SLAY

Maybe I should dress up as well if SKZ ever comes here next year HAHAHA

Have a wonderful weekend! 

- Howley.