The moment Eugene arrives at her room, she quickly takes a shower, changes into her comfortable clothes, and lies down on her bed. She stares at the ceiling blankly, unable to process what Felix told her earlier at the hill.
After that very weird question, she just turned speechless, and Felix was just there trying to convince her to forget about what he had said. He wanted her to pretend that it never happened.
Sure, she managed to act like nothing ever happened and talked to him normally as they both returned to their respective rooms. But of course, the moment she got into her room, her mind went back to thinking about his words.
That's... that's not a love confession, right? Eugene furrows her brows as she forces her brain to think about his words properly. She rolls back and forth in her bed, covering her face with both of her palms.
"Is... Felix in love with me?" The girl mutters to herself, her hand slowly slipping off her face.
Just what has she exactly done to make him fall for her? She felt like all she did was just exist; being a good friend to him. Did he catch feelings too easily?
"Legit. Legit." Eugene sits up from her bed, her face getting flushed. "Just... why?!" She screams-whispers, not wanting Felix to hear any of her outbursts next door. She lets herself fall back onto her bed again, eyes blinking multiple times as the thought of Felix, falling in love with her just doesn't make sense.
"Make it make sense Eugene. Make it make sense." The girl tries to force herself to accept the new reality—knowing so well that their friendship dynamic will probably change ever since the sudden confession.
As she thinks about her feelings, her phone suddenly rings, quickly snapping her back to reality. She looks at her screen and sighs when the ID shows her mother's name on it; the last person that she wants to talk to.
Taking a huge breath, she picks it up and then turns on her calm self, "Hello?"
"Eugene, you haven't been talking to me for a while now."
"It's only been a week since I called you." She rolls her eyes, not understanding why her parent is always very demanding about keeping close contact. It would've been fine for her if her parent would stop asking intrusive questions and wanting to know every single thing that she does in her life. The lack of respect for her boundaries makes her very reluctant to engage in a close relationship.
"Other kids would call their parents everyday, so why can't you?" Her mother retorts, and that line itself is enough to make the poor girl sigh in distress.
She wants to straight up just tell her mother that there's no need for them to follow other family's routine because everyone has their own preferences.
But she too knows, that speaking up about her thoughts is a form of rebellion. And it seems obvious that her mother won't take it well at all, and she may start threatening her again just like how she did back then;
Stop paying for her university fees and force her to halt the pursue of her education.
And there's no way Eugene would want that. Her life has been so much better now that she's living 2 hours away from the suburb that her mother is currently living in while handling her business. She has enough privacy by living on her own in the dormitory, surrounded by understanding and supportive people like her ex-neighbour, residential advisor and also, her current neighbour.
She doesn't have a choice but to repress her feelings for now.
Taking the safe route, she apologises, trying to find excuses even though she doesn't want to do it.
"I have been busy with a lot of things. I'm sorry."
"You should have better time management. I hope that doesn't affect your grades either?" The older one asks in an unfriendly tone. Eugene's grip on her phone gets tighter, "My grades are fine so far. How was work?" She tries to divert the topic, not wanting to get lectured.
"Work's okay. You should worry yourself more instead of me." She replies, making the daughter secretly sigh. "I'm fine, don't worry." Eugene tries her best to hold it in, hoping to find a way to quickly end the call since it doesn't even start on a good note.
"There's only 1 year left until you graduate, so make sure that your GPA is perfect. You need it to guarantee you to have a good career and succeed in life."
Eugene hates it every time her mother starts talking about such things—her definition of 'succeeding in life' is clearly different from her parent. But she has trouble speaking up for herself, knowing very well that she will end up being lectured and shut down as usual.
This is going to be a longggg call... She thinks, sighing deeply and not even able to recall the number of times she has sighed in this call alone. Before she can reply, she hears a knock on the door. Her eyes instantly brighten, knowing that this can be the golden chance for her to escape.
"Uh. I think my teammate is here. I'll talk to you later." Eugene says, and the word 'teammate' is good enough for her mother to let her go since academics lie beyond everything.
Her thumb quickly presses the disconnect button and she rushes to the door, opening it up in hopes to see her friend Danielle, so that she can vent out her frustration from the phone call.
Unfortunately for her, it is her pixelated neighbour, standing in front of her in comfortable attire.
"Oh, Felix, uh, hi?" Eugene awkwardly greets him, immediately slapping herself in her mind for talking that way. Felix chuckles for some reason and leans against the door frame with his arms crossed. "Why did you speak like that?"
"Um, because—uh..." She can't find her words; her frustration about her mother is instantly washed away by Felix's presence alone. Her mind, which was previously stressing out from the call, has now shifted to stressing out from talking to the man in front of her.
For some reason, Felix feels like a whole different person in her eyes now. She isn't sure if this is caused by the confession, but one thing is for sure—she does feel a little more nervous in front of him since she doesn't know how she should act.
"I'm just teasing you." Felix's deep voice calms her after noticing her nervousness, "I was wondering if you want to grab the free food in our communal hall? Chris texted me that they're giving away free crackers and lollies since we're all going to be busy with our upcoming assignments."
Eugene blinks for a moment before smiling a little.
"... Sure. Let's go."
She puts on her sandals and goes out with Felix, thankful that he is able to stop her conversation with her mother without intention and takes things off her mind while she goes for a short break at the communal hall.
"... Thanks for this, Felix." She mutters, only to receive a chuckle from him. "For asking you to come to the communal hall with me?"
"That and... well, you saved me from my psychopath mother." Eugene's shoulders finally relax, and she sees him nodding from the corner of her eyes. "You're welcome I guess..." He replies in a quiet tone, still keeping his gaze on her.
"I just want you to know that I'm here for you, okay? Don't hesitate to rely on me."
His voice sounds gentler on the last few words, and that makes her feel warm and fuzzy inside.
"I'll keep that in mind."
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Author's Note: HELLO GUYS, here's a short update because the previous chapter was very... long and uh... overwhelming (?)
I HOPE YOU GUYS STILL ENJOYED IT REGARDLESS and I will update another chapter sometime later tonight! :3
Stay tuned!
- Howley
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PIXELATED | Lee Felix
FanfictionA story of two university students who started off being terrified of each other due to their pixelated faces, but came to develop a bond that could never be replaced. "I think the universe wanted to teach us the true meaning of seeing beyond appea...
