FOR THE FUTURE ⋮ nohyuck/markhyuck/markhyuckno

Chapter Eight

Donghyuck recalled quite well that he fainted outside the sports center. But as he opened his eyes, he was under a warm blanket, not on the cold sidewalk.

Suddenly remembering that he was with Noram before he lost consciousness, his eyes shot wide open, and he sat up. Looking at his surroundings, he recognized Mark and Jeno's dorm room. In fact, Mark was sitting on his bed, right across Donghyuck, and read something, furrowing his eyebrows. As soon as he noticed that Donghyuck was awake, he jumped out of his bed and ran away.

Confused, Donghyuck pulled all the covers and put his feet on the floor. His head spun, and the boy felt a weird pain in his leg. Even though he struggled to walk and winced in pain, he still forced himself to go to the door, where he saw his shoes. The boy fell as he tried to put them on, and, as if it wasn't enough, Mark returned, slamming the door right into his head.

"Donghyuck!" he shouted in concern. "Where the heck did he go? He was right here a minute ago!"

The brunette wailed, getting the senior's attention.

"Oh my God!" the latter yelled. "Found him!"

Noticing a weird narration from Mark, Donghyuck glanced at him in confusion. Just as he saw Mark locking his phone and throwing it on his bed, everything was clear.

"What are you doing?" Mark said sharply.

Perhaps, he noticed that Donghyuck was trying to wear his shoes as he sighed and crouched to match the younger's eye level.

"You have to get back to bed. It seems like you've sprained your ankle," he said.

Staring at his ankle and realizing why it hurt so bad, Donghyuck started crying. He saw an elastic bandage and freaked out even more.

"Don't worry―it's not that bad. Happened to me a lot. I know how to treat it."

Donghyuck moved a bit which got misunderstood by Mark. The senior pushed his hands under Donghyuck's knees, trying to lift him. He didn't succeed as the brunette clutched one of his arms and put pressure. The boy also looked up, straight Mark in the eyes.

"Where's Noram?" he asked in a voice that had a sense of desperation.

The senior paused a little, then replied, "He's with Jeno."

"W-where's Jeno?"

"Let's get you in bed first," Mark looked away.

"Where are they?"

"They'll come here in a few minutes. Calm down."

Donghyuck couldn't calm down. Not after what happened. He was upset, felt miserable, and disappointed at how things turned out. Because of those stupid baseball players and Noram, everyone will know that Donghyuck had a kid, which was only half the truth―the real Noram wasn't even born yet! This was a total disaster. If these things reached Dean, Donghyuck would be doomed. They'd find out that he and Noram lived together and that one dorm room for sure...

Donghyuck could no longer look at Mark. It was too awkward to be around this guy when he heard all the things others said about him. Wasn't Mark disgusted by him even more? He slouched to become very small and just gave up, letting the senior bring him back to Jeno's bed.

"Lay down and wait for Jeno," Mark said calmly.

He stood there awkwardly, then moved closer to pull the covers on Donghyuck. The latter tried not to move and make eye contact with the senior. If he could, he would've loved to vanish into thin air. It was too much for him to endure.

Donghyuck heard Mark moving around until the senior stopped―perhaps, he went to sit on his bed. Not for long, though. Soon, footsteps drew near the door, and both, Mark and Donghyuck, heard Jeno's voice.