Strawberry Milk - Jeonglix

40

It was the last day of summer before college started for Jeongin. A month had been wasted without Felix and Jeongin seeing each other and Felix was regretful despite it being out of his hands. It had been a week since the two saw each other again and everyday, Felix got up earlier than usual to meet Jeongin in the park. Their last day together was no different. Felix got on his skateboard at an hour he hadn't seen over the last month without Jeongin. He usually headed straight for the park, but this time he went to the shop first, picking up their usual cartons of milk and an assortment of snacks, most of them being chocolate and strawberry flavour.

The park was empty when Felix arrived there. Empty besides one boy on the swing set. His hands were wrapped around the metal handles and his long, black hair fell in his eyes. The early morning sun illuminated his face. Felix was glad to see a small smile lingering on. As he kicked at a few of the stones on the floor, he didn't notice Felix picking up his skateboard and sneaking around the back of him.

"Hey, sweetie."

Jeongin looked up as a pair of arms wrapped around his waist. He giggled, watching as Felix moved in front of him and dug around in the plastic bag. "Here!" Felix said upon finding what he was searching for. He held out the carton of strawberry milk.

Jeongin smiled and took it from his hand. "Thank you."

"No problem," Felix smiled back, moving over to the empty swing beside Jeongin and taking the chocolate milk out of the bag. He placed the bag on the floor and Jeongin noticed it was still full of items.

"What's in there?" He asked.

"Snacks," Felix said, pulling the straw away from his carton and piercing it through the foil, "I'm taking you on a picnic."

"Really?"

"Hmm, on second thought, no. The food is all for me," he decided. Jeongin rolled his eyes and ripped the straw off his carton. That's when an idea popped into Felix's head. "How about we swap our cartons today?"

"Why?" Jeongin asked with a chuckle.

"I don't know, to try something new?"

"Ok, sure," Jeongin nodded, holding it out for Felix to take. They exchanged cartons and both of them took a sip. Jeongin couldn't resist the temptation to be sarcastic after tasting it. "Wow, this tastes like chocolate milk. What a surprise!"

Felix grinned, "and this tastes like strawberry milk! Who would have thought?"

The two laughed amongst themselves as some kids started to enter the park. All three of them were no older than ten years old and their mothers followed close behind. Felix had grown used to the suspicious stares that hanging around Jeongin and the park earned him, but he still let out a sigh. "We're just drinking milk. Leave us alone," he murmured under his breath as the closest mother to them sat on the bench and didn't look away from them Jeongin giggled. He'd been doing that a lot recently. Felix would never get sick of hearing that sound. "Ok, that's enough judgement for the day," Felix claimed, standing up and walking over to his skateboard he'd left a few feet away. He kicked down one end of it and caught it in his hand when it flew up. "Ready for the best day of your summer, my love?"

Jeongin stood up and slipped his hand into Felix's free one after he'd moved his skateboard under his arm. He held the plastic bag in the same hand as his carton of strawberry milk. "Actually the best days of my summer were the ones I spent in a psychiatric hospital."

"Woah, when did you get so sarcastic?" Felix asked as they passed by the ladies on the bench. Their eyes lingered on Felix and Jeongin's connected hands, a whisper passing among them. Neither Felix nor Jeongin paid them any attention.