PIXELATED | Lee Felix

End

"Whoa."

"Pretty cool, aren't we?"

Eugene gives a nod of approval, grinning widely at the video of the recital from Felix's phone. In the end, none of the other students were allowed to witness the performance, considering that Hyunjin's team was the only one to get special consideration which pushed their dates further.

But the girl is already satisfied with seeing the performance clearly from the phone. Everyone looked incredibly good, and she could feel the amount of passion and hard work put into this routine.

She is glad that they managed to work things out with each other.

"Hyunjin ended up taking the cast off but still danced with one hand, huh."

"Yeah." Felix turns off his phone and leans against the bench. "He isn't supposed to strain his hand too much after all. But at least with the cast-off, he can still make a couple of small freestyle moves here and there, making it look like it's part of the choreography."

Eugene chuckles, "As expected from Hyunjin. I wish I could go congratulate the other 2 members for their success."

"We can hold a festive dinner to celebrate the end of semester break if you'd like." The male smiles, already imagining the joy of eating KBQQ with them all while drinking soju to celebrate all the hard work they have done throughout the term.

The semester did not begin too well for him, and it was pretty crappy up to the middle of it. But bumping into each other on that one rainy really did, change everything for the better.

And somehow, they seemingly kept getting entangled with each other all the time, because of the one weird phenomenon that they were the only ones experiencing.

"You know, Eugene. It got me thinking." Felix says, his eyes wandering around the beautifully shaped clouds above the two of them. "We still do not know why we experienced that pixelated phenomenon, even until today."

"Ah. Right." She gets reminded of it, and then follows Felix to admire the skies above her with her body relaxing on the bench. It was indeed a weird experience, given that none of their friends had experienced such a phenomenon at all.

Now that she thinks about it, the whole journey up till today feels like a fantasy movie. She knows very well that no one would've believed in them if they ever told their story. 

"It was weird, wasn't it? How would you tell others if they ask how we got together?" She asks, realizing the complications they went through just to be together. Felix hums at her question, his head tilting to the side as he gives it a thought.

"Maybe I'd tell them that we bumped into each other by chance, and then ended up being neighbors in our residential building." The male shrugs, and then grins, "Sounds like a soulmate scenario hey?"

"Oh yeah, I can imagine everyone talking about how we're 'bounded by fate' or whatnot." She jokingly rolls her eyes, "But I have to agree that it'll be the best way to explain. I doubt people will understand a single thing about the phenomenon since it isn't something that can be explained by logic."

"Thanks, I didn't know that it couldn't be explained by logic, Eugene." He teases with a hint of sarcasm, only to earn a light slap on his shoulders and a small 'geez' for making fun of her.

"Or... maybe it had something to do with me making a wish at a shooting star in that one particular cliff. Who knows?" She chuckles, closing her eyes to enjoy the cool breeze in the quiet, calming university garden. "Either way, I'm grateful that it happened."

"Whoever thought it was a good idea to curse us with that pixelated phenomenon really wanted us to go through a challenge first huh."

"Shush Felix. Don't call it a curse!" She nudges his ribs with her elbow while still closing her eyes, yet she can feel the male flinching at her sudden action—making her smirk uncontrollably.

"Okay okay! Let me rephrase that. It was a BLESSING that we both went through the pixelated phenomenon." He emphasizes it dramatically before he calms down a little, and a light chuckle comes out of him.

"But I think... the universe always had a plan for us," Felix speaks in a gentle, melancholic tone, his voice carrying a soft hint of nostalgia.

Hearing his words, Eugene turns to face him. She reaches out for his golden strands, playing with his hair gently as she speaks,

"I think so too. Perhaps the universe wanted to teach us the true meaning of seeing beyond appearances." 

Felix turns his head to face her, a gentle smile on his lips at her words. As her hand retracts away from his face, he quickly moves in to cup her face with one of his hands, their faces now only a few inches apart.

"And to think that you are beautiful in and out." His thumb caresses her cheek softly, as he pauses for a moment to admire each of her facial features with a gentle expression.

After a few seconds of silence, he finally speaks with a soft smile. 

"I think it is not an exaggeration for me to say that I love every single part about you, Eugene."

Her face flushes red upon hearing his words, and she feels a fluttering sensation in her heart. She smiles sheepishly at him, feeling happy to hear how much she means to him.

"I would say the same to you, Lix." She replies with a playful tone and a teasing pout.

Felix chuckles lightly at her expression before his face turns into a smug, "So? When are we getting married?"

Eugene gives him a side eye in response before breaking into laughter. 

"You wanna time skip our lives? Let's at least graduate from this university together first!"

"Bet."

END.