Felix jabbed at the pork belly on the grill, pretending he was fully invested in the food and not in the fact that Hyunjin was sitting as far away as physically possible. He had chosen that seat on purpose, sliding into it before anyone else could claim it. If Hyunjin noticed, he didn’t show it. Or maybe he did, he was hiding in that huge grey hoodie, head tucked down, sleeves covering half his hands like he was trying to vanish.

Everyone else chatted over the sizzling grill, but Felix only heard the soft clink of Hyunjin’s chopsticks. It was a familiar sound, one he shouldn’t still be so tuned into after a breakup. A breakup over something “small,” according to everyone else. But having your boyfriend forget your anniversary two years in a row wasn’t small. Not to Felix.

He wrapped a piece of meat with unnecessary force, shoved it into his mouth, and kept his eyes fixed on the grill. He could feel Hyunjin staring. He hated that he could.

A chair scraped somewhere behind him. Felix didn’t look, he refused to, but he felt the presence settle right beside him anyway. Hyunjin. Even covered head to toe in that hoodie, Felix knew the way he moved, the soft shift of fabric, the hesitant breathing.

“Felix,” Hyunjin said quietly.

Felix kept his eyes on the lettuce. “What.”

Something appeared in his peripheral vision. a small, slightly crushed box held out in Hyunjin’s sleeve-covered hand.

Felix froze. He recognized it immediately. The anniversary gift. The one Hyunjin said he “forgot.”

Felix exhaled sharply. “Why now?”

Hyunjin’s voice cracked, just a little. “Because you’re too far for me to say I’m sorry.”

Felix finally looked up, and seeing Hyunjin’s eyes, soft, anxious, pleading from under the hood, knocked the wind out of him. He hated how much it affected him.

“i'm not forgiving you that easily." Felix muttered as he took the box. “i'm still really mad.”