FOR THE FUTURE ⋮ nohyuck/markhyuck/markhyuckno

Chapter Seven

Sitting in a lecture, listening to other students singing, Donghyuck found himself on his phone, leaving notes on a note app.

First of all, he wrote the deadline that had to be on November around the 6th day. Then he added the first suspect and why he could be Daddy. The similarity in appearance was the first point. The second one was Impossible, he's straight in bold. Donghyuck wondered if he missed something more. But he let it be as he knew that sooner or later, he would either have to cross Mark out of the list or add something more.

There were no other suspects yet, Donghyuck realized. That was nothing to celebrate as he still had many days until November. Though the less was left, the better Donghyuck realized that Noram might be an actual accident, a one-night stand.

Apart from a short list of suspects, there was another thing that was annoying Donghyuck, but he had to stay on track if he didn't want to distort the future if he hadn't done that already without knowing! Anyway, he was aware he needed to avoid missing any obvious time someone asked to have sex with him. If he does, Noram won't be born and Donghyuck didn't want to ruin the future, especially when he knew that the Future Donghyuck loved the boy.

When he was finally free from lectures and picked up Noram from the playground, a weird and partly intelligent idea popped into his head. What if he did a DNA test right now? Take Noram's hair or something and see who was the other father.

He knew that it would bring trouble, however. Noram didn't exist in this world. He didn't have a birth certificate and had no data about him. What would a DNA test even show?

Donghyuck chose not to mess his head with these and did what he needed to do the most—go on grocery shopping. Having a kid living with him made Donghyuck realize how easy it was when he used to live alone. Noram wasn't only loud, but he was also eating a lot. That was understandable, as he grew each day, but now Donghyuck started to believe that the Future Donghyuck sent his kid to the past to feed him well.

"B-Brother," Noram pulled on Donghyuck's sleeve, "Daddy's here."

Donghyuck looked where Noram was pointing and didn't feel surprised seeing Mark looking at diet shakes. As a sports guy, he sure had to visit those areas.

"Don't call him like that, especially when we're in public," Donghyuck scolded. "And we still don't know if that's true. Maybe we're wrong."

Donghyuck thought that he did well, kicking sense in Noram's brain. However, in just a split second, the kid let go of the student's sleeve and ran toward Mark.

Donghyuck froze out of panic! Instead of chasing after the kid, he watched how Noram screamed and scared Mark with his loud voice. Feeling embarrassed for both of them, Donghyuck turned his back on the scene. If Noram just called Mark Daddy, let that kid experience the awkwardness himself. Donghyuck wasn't ready to be there and claim the kid for his actions.

So, the student pretended he didn't see the kid disappearing and continued staring at the vegetables. Maybe for too long, as he didn't actually intend to buy any of that. He caught himself trying to eavesdrop on the conversation between the two.

"What's that?" he heard Noram's loud voice, which, Donghyuck noticed, came out when he was excited.

"I-It's a drink for my diet," Mark mumbled. "What are you doing here?"

"How does it taste?" Noram went on, ignoring the older's question.

"Tasty and sweet..."

"Does it taste the same as a milkshake?"

"Kinda..." Mark awkwardly laughed.

The two went silent and after a few seconds, Donghyuck heard Mark approaching.