THE LITTLE COPY ⋮ markhyuck

Chapter 𝟮𝟴

Donghyuck pretended not to notice how Mark turned at him during the reading time. Quite often. He just tried to read a goddamn magazine and ignore the teacher, but it was obvious that Mark had other plans.

Perhaps, he thought that Donghyuck was missing his signs, so he got braver to the point he put his hand on top of the coffee table and slid it closer to the younger's magazine. With the tips of his fingers, he touched the top corner of the page, finally gaining Donghyuck's attention.

"What?" the latter mouthed, lifting his eyes and instantly meeting Mark's intense stare.

Dongchan patiently read the book, not noticing that his teacher paid more attention to Papa than him. Well, unlike him, Papa was well aware, and he didn't like it. Mark's hand got closer to his, and it seemed like he wanted to touch Donghyuck. Not thinking much, the latter moved his hand away, and, faking another reaction rather than showing his actual thoughts and feelings, he glanced at the clock and gasped.

Donghyuck got up and headed to the kitchen, escaping the nightmare in the living room this way. He pulled out cups and checked his fridge to plan what to serve. Before he could think of something, Mark also came into the kitchen, surprising the apartment owner—it wasn't a break time yet.

Holding onto the wall, Mark looked over his shoulder, "Keep reading. I hear you from here." Then as if contradicting his own words, he stepped further into the kitchen, making it way harder to hear Dongchan.

"Do you want to drink something else?" Donghyuck asked, stopping with a bag of coffee. "I know which coffee you like, but maybe you want tea today?"

"Coffee, as always," Mark smiled, coming closer.

Donghyuck turned away, suddenly feeling uneasy. The teacher stood so dangerously close to him that such proximity made the younger nervous as it had been a while since they were so close like this.

Nearly three weeks had passed since their usual plans got interrupted because Haewon appeared in their lives and Mark once refused Donghyuck's offer, and such an offer was never requested by the younger again. He was hurt for being rejected and soon mad at Mark for sticking his nose into his family business, even when he was right. He didn't want anything to do with the teacher apart from his educational purposes. Donghyuck was kind of thankful to Haewon, otherwise, he would've not known that Mark was deeply affected by his feelings. They still would've slept together for weeks and made the situation even worse, caging Mark into his romantic feelings and delusion for something that was impossible to happen.

The teacher remained silent for quite a while. Donghyuck didn't talk to him as he thought Mark was listening to Dongchan from another room. That's why he dwelled on time on turning on the electric kettle. He just lined up four cups, knowing damn well that Mark noticed the number but didn't point it out. Well, it seemed like he didn't like to talk about Haewon.

Donghyuck turned on the electric kettle after he heard his son yelling that he finished. He expected Mark to leave, but Teacher Lee just said, "Great, now go and take a break." Papa heard his son rising from the floor and rushing to find Nyx. Just as the electric kettle sound occurred in the kitchen and blocked everything that happened in other rooms, Mark spoke again.

"Do you want to return to what we had before?"

Donghyuck kind of expected such a question. What Mark did back in the living room was the same subtle flirting both did weeks ago. It was obvious that he flirted. He wanted to touch Donghyuck.

Since the younger didn't answer right away, instead, he opened the freezer to take out ice cubes, Mark took the opportunity to talk more.

"It seems like it's been a month since we last did it. But it had only been about three weeks, though weekends aren't the same anymore."