Today was Mark's lucky day because, for once, he was not late. He walked into the elevator, and there was no Donghyuck in sight. Suddenly, the boy came running through the doors.
Mark smiled at himself until he realized this was the third floor. He thought Donghyuck lived on the fifth floor. Then he remembered yesterday morning, which wouldn't have happened if he didn't live on the third floor. Gosh, it was way too early in the morning for Mark to be having this brain mesh.
"Good morning, Donghyuck. We're not late today, huh?"
Donghyuck shyly nodded and looked up at Mark with tinted cheeks. He seemed to be quite the introvert.
"How are you this morning?" Mark asked, trying to get some conversation out of the boy.
"It was good. How about yours?" he said in what sounded close to a whisper. Cute.
"I think it's better now. I'm looking forward to the rest of the day," he said in truth. Seeing Donghyuck brightened his morning. Making a new friend made him excited.
The elevator dinged, and the two stepped off. They were about to part ways at the front door of the apartment complex, but Mark wanted to say one last thing before running off. "Have a nice day, Donghyuck!" After waving goodbye, he ran off to the bus stop.
Mark sat in his usual seat behind the driver because nobody seemed to want that seat. The whole way to school, he tried to think of various topics to bring up with Donghyuck. Not only that, but he thought of ways to ask for his phone number. He wanted to get to know him more.
The boy was cut from his thoughts when the bus stopped. As soon as his foot stepped in the cement, he heard his friend's voice.
"Mark! Why are you so smiley this morning?" Johnny asked, immediately starting to walk alongside his friend.
"Why? You don't want me to be happy?" The younger boy replied with a scoff. This was met by a laugh and Johnny throwing his arm over Mark's shoulder.
"No, I'm just curious."
"To answer your question, I think I made another friend. His name is Donghyuck."
"Donghyuck? Wait, as in Lee Donghyuck?"
"Dude, I don't know his surname, but he's about the same height as me. Oh, and he has fluffy brown hair.
"How the fuck did you become friends with him?"
"Yo, what is it about this guy? Is he the son of some kind of really rich CEO?" If he was, I doubt he'd be living in those apartments, Mark thought.
"I mean, he's pretty well known because he's gay. A lot of people don't like him, but you saw his face. He has visuals and on top of that, he has his own little fan club."
They were already at their lockers which were conveniently right next to each other. "How do you know so much about him anyway?"
"Bro, he goes to our school. Practically everyone knows him. How can I not?"
Mark stood there in shock. He didn't know the elevator boy went to his school.
"Wait, you didn't know that? Dude, he's in my math class."
"When's your math class?"
"First period. why?"
"Let me walk you there."
Mark's sudden determined aura made Johnny laugh. It was seriously funny. They collected the things they needed and started walking to math. "You're seriously weird," Johnny said.
Mark shrugged. He might be weird, but he just wanted to catch a glimpse of the boy. He couldn't believe he attended their school without seeing it with his own eyes.
"Here it is. This is my class." Mark nodded and observed the faces of the people. Dang, no Donghyuck. "Let me lead you the way to my desk, Mr. Lee," Johnny said formally as if Mark was his boss or something. Once at his desk, Johnny decided to introduce his friend to his deskmate. "Mark, this is Doyoung."
"Oh, Mark! It's nice to finally meet the friend Johnny won't shut up about. It's like he talks about you more than his own girlfriend," Doyoung said as he jokingly rolled his eyes.
"This is what we call true bromance," Johnny said as he wiped a fake tear away from his eye.
"Haha, nice to meet you too, Doyoung."
"Well, that's it for introductions. Mark, you should get going to class 'cause you don't wanna be late," Johnny said.
"Yeah, i'm heading out. Bye, guys," he said as he waved and headed for the door. It was a shame he couldn't see Donghyuck. It really was.
As he walked out the door, he bumped into someone. "Oh, sorry. Wait, Mark?" The boy seemed confudent in his speech until he got to the second part where he noticed that the person he bumped into was actually Mark.
"Oh. Hey, Donghyuck. Um, I'm sorry for bumping into you," he said as he swiftly walked away.
Mark didn't know why he acted so nervously, but he did know that the guy standing behind Donghyuck looked scary. And if there was one thing about Mark, it was that he was pretty intimidated by random people.
