Intricate: Our Bittersweet Love | MARKNOMINHYUCK(bxbxbxb)

Chapter 26

C H A P T E R 26: Mark comes home

-----Jaemin-----

"Do you believe in soulmates?" I remember asking Renjun.

"No." He answered.

He frowns, taking a moment before answering. "The world is made where the ideal is for a man and a woman to be together, have sex, and have kids. It's a cycle. But the world is improving and changing. If god or whatever had made soulmates then that would have meant that ideally, he made a man for a woman and ideally that would have never changed. However, nowadays men can love men and women can love women, sometimes people can decide to not have a gender or have both, and sometimes, people love more than one person. I believe that you get to decide who I guess your "soulmate" is but I would rather describe as my true love or something like that." He shrugged after saying all of that.

Back then, in freshmen year, when I just had some silly crushes, I wholeheartedly agreed with him. Because it was true. How can people actually be made for someone when the world had changed so much. He was right. Maybe I was made for a woman but I knew I would never love one.

I agree with everything he said. He said I got to decide who my soulmate is, in my case, soulmates.

The thing is that what they say about soulmates is that they are the perfect fit for another individual, that they are another piece of a person, someone you feel complete with and that they are connected. I strongly feel this way about Donghyuck, Mark-Hyung, and Jeno. I do. I really do.

I had never felt any doubts regarding them since we made our relationship official but now it was like, 'what is going on? What is going to happen? Will we be okay?'

I don't like this.

-----Donghyuck-----

After weeks, the four of us will finally be in one room. Together. It made me feel a new type of giddiness and happiness at the simple thought.

It was something I need, something perhaps all of us needed at this moment.

I wanted so badly to lay my head on Mark's chest and feel his breathing under me. I had a feeling that just like that, worries could be erased from me for at least a couple of minutes, maybe even days.

"Where will we go eat?" I ask the guys on our way to the train station. For once, I had volunteered to drive. Yeah, yeah, I know. Shocking.

"I've been craving fish cake and tteokbokki," Jaemin responds from the back seat with a wide smile.

I glance at Jeno, expecting his response but none came. He looks distant. He looked out of his window but into nowhere. Through the rear mirror, I catch Jaemin's eyes which were confused, sad, and worried.

All four of us had been thinking about the same thing the last couple of weeks, as much as we pretended to ignore it. Jeno was definitely the one to have it worst. He talks less, hugs us just as much. It's sad to think that after moving forward so much, little by little he was distancing himself just like when we just came together. Frankly, I hoped that Mark being here would solve something. I still wasn't sure what I hoped that would be.

I stop the car in a parking space at the station. Just as Jeno was reaching to unbuckle his seatbelt, I catch his hand. His eyes go to mine and his face is expressionless, just like it was months before. A sense of anxiousness crawled in me at the thought. I love the current Jeno, the one that lets us in and smiles and tells us that he loves us. I never wanted old Jeno back, not when that meant that he was distant and kept all his feelings to himself.

I cup his cheek with my hands and put my lips on his. For a second or two, I stay like that before separating. I smile at him softly, wanting to say so much but not knowing how. For reassurance, I give him one more peck and laugh in content at the smile that he gives me.

He turns to look at Jaemin, who was smiling in the back seat and reaches out to kiss him. He presses his forehead against the others' for a second and my heart melts at the sight.

"Okay," I sigh, "We should get going or the train will arrive before we're there."

I was usually the playful one. The one that wasn't really taken seriously because of how much I played around. These days, I found myself being more mature and serious. Maybe it was because of the situation. Maybe, finally, I had decided to grow up.

-----Mark-----

It was a happy sight when the first thing I saw when I got out of the train where the three faces I desperately wanted to see. It hadn't even been a month, but it had felt like forever the time I was away from them.

With a wide grin, I rush towards them and embrace them all at once.

"I missed you guys," I tell them quietly, for only them to hear.

"We missed you too," Jeno was the one to respond.

I detach myself from them, keeping them at arm's length and smiling like crazy.

"You look psychotic," Donghyuck says with a disgusted expression, teasingly.

I roll my eyes at him. "Just tell me you missed me and that you love me and let's head home."

"I missed you. A little," we all knew that was a lie. "And I guess that I love you," he says nonchalantly, looking away. I could see him biting his cheek to keep himself from smiling.

I step closer to him, my face right in front of him, my nose brushing his. "Oh, you guess?" I whisper.

He turns red, keeping eye contact. "Maybe I missed you. A lot. And I love you. A lot, too." He smiles cheekily.

"That's better," I reply, my voice back to normal. I peck his lips before turning to the youngest. "How about you?"

Before I could think much, his lips were on mine. "I missed you plenty and I love you just as much," he grins playfully.

I couldn't wait to get home.

A/N: Don't judge me, it's almost 2 AM.