Starlight | Nomin

10

             "What've you been doing with Jaemin?"

The question rings in Jeno's mind like a thousand bells.

Mark sounded quite hostile, and his breath is hot against Jeno's neck.

Instead of acting on impulse and hitting Mark or whoever it was to speak to him with such a tone, Jeno scoffs and his hand slips off of the doorknob. "What's it to you?" He asks in return, not wanting to give Mark the satisfaction of an answer.

And as if it was a couple weeks ago where the two were fighting in the restrooms, this time, Jeno actually takes initiative and turns around to grab Mark by the shoulders and flips them around to push him up against the door forcefully.

He then backs up and crosses his arms over his chest with an eyebrow raised, looking Mark directly in the eyes. "Does it bother you I'm hanging out with your little 'Nana Bear?'" Jeno asks mockingly, "because last time I checked, you didn't even like Jaemin."

The older of the two scoffs, turning his head to the side so he didn't have to look at Jeno's face. "Funny you say that because I was so sure it was you who didn't like Jaemin." He shakes his head and rolls his eyes before continuing, "just a couple weeks ago you were talking about beating him up in front of his house and—"

"Oh please, don't act like you're innocent here, Minhyung. You did the same fucking shit!" Jeno cuts Mark off, raising his voice with every word that left his mouth. "Just because you made amends with Jaemin before I did doesn't make you any better than me."

"Make amends?" Mark finally turns his head back to look at Jeno, "I didn't just 'make amends'. I didn't just start treating him better without doing anything. Unlike you, I apologized to him. Even apologized to him for your shitty behavior."

A moment of silence is shared between them before Mark decides to cut it, "I've actually been trying. I go to his baking club meetings and I walk him home after school whenever you're not bullying me into going somewhere. You had one good experience with him and now all of a sudden you're acting like this? You have a strong sense of entitlement, don't you Jeno?"

"Entitlement?"

"Don't act like you didn't hear me."

"Just because you beat me to this doesn't mean—"

Jeno is cut off by a thunderous laugh emitting from Mark as if he just cracked the best joke he had ever heard. This pissed Jeno off a lot more than he already was, balling his fists up until he could tell his knuckles were white. Why the hell was Mark acting like this? Maybe it was him with the sense of entitlement.

"No, no, no. I didn't beat you to ANYTHING." Mark interrupts his own laughter, staring off his tangent. "If I'm not wrong here, I assume you've always had some sort of rivalry with me? Because I didn't beat you to anything. I just started treating someone like an actual human being instead of a punching bag like you do. You're treating gaining Jaemin's friendship and trust like a competition."

Mark moves away from the door, closer to Jeno and stops once there's only about an inch between them. "What're you gonna do once you do gain that? Throw him out? Just to tell me you won?" He asks tauntingly. "Well, Jeno Lee, if we are going to be treating this like a competition, then I'm proud to say,"

Leaning up to Jeno, Mark hovers his lips right over his ear and whispers a small, "I've already won."

And in a split second, Mark was already limping down the hallway, leaving Jeno stunned for a second time.

A competition? Who the hell was treating this like a competition? It was Mark, right? Not him? After all, he was the one who brought the idea up in the first place.