LOWKEY

11

The next day, Mark mounted himself with four class records, monitoring the students' overall performances for the past few weeks.

The preliminaries started not too long, but because he handled a foreign language, it's no surprise that some lacked even the basics.

Mark isn't the one to judge though; he knew the English language is complicated when it isn't your first language, so he tends to give many considerations when it comes to quizzes.

One female student caught his attention. She always excels, though, as Mark knew. His eyes were glued to her name as sets of perfect scores were recorded on the grid.

Shin Eula. How much more can she do to amaze the man?

In fact, Mark already knew that she would top the class the moment he saw her sitting on the back. Her presence still shines even though she hides behind many bodies, and the man won't deny that she's a natural intellectual.

He found himself smiling. What more can Shin Eula do for this messed-up life he has?

Though he saw another student above hers, Sets of high scores also accentuated her name, and Mark remembered the literary fair.

Ki Hayoung.

He didn't remember anything about her writing whenever he'd give the class some papers about poems and random stories.

He was curious, though, so he took out the bunch of papers he shoved on his laptop case and searched for Hayoung and Eula's.

Mark's face lit up when the two wrote a poem about a topic similar to one another, which made it easier for him to compare the two.

The difference is that Hayoung's has much more depth and tends to add flowery words, while Eula focuses on emotions.

Somehow, he forgot about Hayoung and focused more on Eula.

Their poem is about love. One is puppy love, and the other is regretful love.

A sad exhale escaped Mark's lips when he was struck word by word. Word by word, it was him.

Mark reorganized the papers and rolled them all with a rubber band.

He never thought his night would start just then—a sleepless night.

Why are the words so heavy in his heart? His chest was ripped off by her hateful paper, which crumpled his heart.

Why? He never felt something like that before.

To him, she's just a variable to cover his sinful life. To him, she's just an escape whenever he feels bad.

So, what happened now?

Easy. She can't hold it anymore. All the pent-up emotions—she can't handle it anymore—she finally spoke up.

And Mark finally understood her.

For every time that I broke down
There was a fake smile to cover the frown
I hid behind lies when things got tough
Forced myself to think it was enough

My tears were masked by the rain
Unseen by all, alone with my pain
Each night was a cover to hide my cries
To keep from showing all these lies