The live had just ended.

The room was still lit in that soft studio glow, a faint hum from the equipment lingering in the silence. Felix stood up first, stretching his arms with a tired sigh. Hyunjin, as always, reached over to ruffle his hair — the same way he always had since they were trainees.

But Felix flinched.

Not visibly dramatic, not theatrical — just a small, quick step back. But Hyunjin noticed it like a slap to the face.

“Hey,” he said softly, his hand still hanging awkwardly mid-air, “You okay?”

Felix didn’t look up. He was busy pretending to fix the mic stand, avoiding the tension he could feel starting to suffocate the room.

“I’m fine,” he muttered, voice low.

Hyunjin stepped closer. “You sure? You barely looked at me the whole live. And when I tried to—” he paused, lips pressed tight, “—you moved away.”

“Hyunjin,” Felix said, finally turning to look at him, “Please don’t touch me like that anymore. Not on lives. Not off camera either.”

The air thinned. Hyunjin blinked, as if trying to compute what he just heard. He laughed nervously, but it came out wrong.

“Wait—what? Are you serious?”

Felix nodded once, slowly. “I just… need space. Okay?”

“But why?” Hyunjin asked, stepping forward again, desperation seeping into his voice. “Did I do something wrong? Did someone say something to you? Is this about rumors?”

“No.” Felix’s tone was sharper than he intended. He looked down, ran a hand through his hair. “It’s not about the fans. It’s not about the rumors. It’s just… me.”

Silence.

Felix wasn’t cold, but his distance was like a wall now — and Hyunjin could feel it like a physical barrier.

“I don’t understand,” Hyunjin said, quieter now. “You used to lean into it. Into me. You used to smile when I touched you. What changed?”

Felix looked up, eyes glassy but firm. “I started to feel too much. And I knew you didn’t.”

Hyunjin stared.

Felix gave a small, sad smile. “You touch everyone like that. You don’t mean anything by it. But it meant something to me. And that’s why I need you to stop.”

The silence that followed was deafening.

Hyunjin didn’t move. Didn’t speak.

And Felix walked past him, quietly slipping out the door — leaving Hyunjin standing there in the soft studio glow, surrounded by the kind of silence that finally made him realize:

He’d broken something he hadn’t even known was fragile.