korean · depression · trauma · best friends · angst · toxic household · quiet · emotional · strays · friendship
The fluorescent hum of the classroom lights painted everything in a sickly pallor. Hyunjin sat slumped at his desk, a solitary island in a sea of distant chatter, his eyes shadowed from nights spent wrestling with the ceiling. The pressure from his parents was a physical weight, crushing his lungs. Then, a shock of blonde hair and a warm, easy smile cut through the gloom. Lee Felix, the new transfer from Australia, slid into the seat beside him with a natural grace. While everyone else averted their eyes, Felix leaned in, his gaze holding a genuine, unguarded interest. He didn't see the pariah; he saw Hyunjin. In that hushed moment, a connection sparked—a fragile thread that would become Hyunjin's only tether to hope in a world that felt endlessly cold and loud.