What if...? || Markhyuck

-62-

[april 2021]

[hunter]

A week has passed since our visit to Tony Esposito. Mark fell into a disturbing mode of doing weird things, as if he had to keep hands occupied with something. I didn't want to associate it with this memorable interrogation but I guess I had to. An unanswered question, however, was why it affected him so much.

Today I started day with the message See you in 20 minutes, we're going to the garden center. I thought it was a joke but after an hour I was pushing cart with bags of soil, some strange seedlings and brown wood chips to put around plants. I decided not to comment. I had nothing better to do anyway.

Haechan's house was the next stop. I assumed Mark would ask for help in planting these flowers at the house next door, which belonged to Mark's mother. I quietly deluded myself that this would allow me to return to my apartment. We stood silently on the threshold of Hyuck, who, after two bells, opened the door, wrapped only in a towel around waist. There was still water dripping from his hair, so we probably got him out of the shower. I wouldn't care about opening door in his place.

"Minhyung?" he asked in surprise, as if I wasn't right there at all.

"What, were you expecting someone else?" Mark asked mockingly, getting a roll of eyes in response.

"Don't be ridiculous," he snorted dismissively, looking at me. "What are you doing here?" asked, raising eyebrows. I shrugged, so he looked at Mark.

"Will you let us in?" black-haired asked, ignoring Haechan's question. Boy only sighed heavily, unclinging the handle.

"Sure," he muttered as stepped inside. Mark followed him without hesitation but I couldn't. I felt like I was stuck to the ground and unable to move forward. Before my eyes I had a badly scarred brunet's back, which didn't match sunny disposition he presented on a daily basis. I don't really think all these wounds were from sitting in the basement spying on people on cameras. Such serious injuries didn't spread across skin from the duties to which he was now assigned. "Be right back" I heard Haechan's calm voice when I finally managed to enter the corridor. Brunet was just going up the stairs and one look behind him made me realize that, unfortunately, his wounded back wasn't my imagination.

Meanwhile, Mark didn't play with unnecessary courtesies related to respecting someone else's space and acted almost at home. When I entered the kitchen, the kettle was boiling water and he was pouring coffee into a mug . Lee freely operated available cabinets, so he probably visited Hyuck quite often. Donghyuck's house has a nice interior, cozy. It was easy for me to relax here.

"What happened to him?" I asked uncertainly after a moment of silence. I screwed up enough courage to do so while Haechan was upstairs.

"You mean his back?" Mark asked right away, without much thought. Apparently it was more obvious than I thought that a similar point would be raised by me.

"Yes," confirmed as I sat down at the table.

"Not your business," Lee replied, pouring boiling water over the cup. 

So another sensitive puzzle for me.

~ * ~

[donghyuck]