The Third Party // { markson } ✅ COMPLETED ✅

Chapter 6

"What's with the long face?"

Jinyoung asked as he sat across from Mark and placed his tray quietly on top of the table. He settled his bag on his right still not wavering his eyes from Mark's solemn face. He had spotted the older when he was on queue for his food. They usually stayed on the same table and nine times out of ten, Jackson is always beside Mark but finding the former not present, he assumes that Mark's feeling a little bit sad because of it.

"Where's Jackson?" He asked again when Mark didn't answer. And it seemed to be a pretty bad topic to start a conversation after he sees Mark jump a little at the mention of his best friend's name. "Did you two fight?"

"I don't know." Mark mumbled while twirling the fork on the pasta he had bought a while ago but without actually eating it.

Raising an eyebrow, Jinyoung took his food from his tray. "Why? What happened?" He softly asked.

Sighing, Mark let go of his fork and let it fall on the plate, making a clank noise before slumping on his seat. "It wasn't really a fight, I think? I mean, I don't see it that way." He started, making little hand gestures as he explained. "We had just some sort of miscommunication, a misunderstanding. I'm not sure." He ended with a frustrated sigh and propped his elbows on the table while tugging at his hair.

"O-kay." Jinyoung carefully said. "What was it about?"

Mark fidgeted, second thinking whether to tell Jinyoung about it or not. He trusts Jinyoung but sometimes, he feels shy sharing his thoughts about an even more embarrassing stuff. "Jackson refused to eat lunch with me." He murmured, nonetheless.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Jackson refused to eat lunch with me." Mark said with a louder voice enough for only Jinyoung to hear. He didn't want anyone finding about him making a big deal of not having Jackson with him during lunch. It seems pretty childish but for Mark, it meant a whole different thing to him, he just didn't want to admit it outright.

Jinyoung raises an eyebrow at the confession, not knowing how to respond to it. Now he regretted asking the question because he certainly looks like a fish out of the water. He's got nothing to say. Although, he wanted to be frank, he didn't want to offend Mark. So, he opted for the safest question he could think of. "Why did he refuse?"

"Youngji."

Well it was to be expected, Jinyoung thought. Youngji is Jackson's girlfriend and the latter is just doing his job as the boyfriend. What confuses Jinyoung, however, was the hardened expression on Mark's face when he said the name of Jackson's girlfriend. Jinyoung almost felt the displeasure on the tone of the other's voice. Why would Mark act that way? Maybe Mark is just feeling a little bit over the edge sensing at how his bonding time with his best friend is reduced. Jinyoung couldn't blame him though. Mark and Jackson have been the best of friends since forever and it really sucks to have that feeling that your very own best friend actually prefers to be in another person's presence than yours.

But still, something kept on bugging Jinyoung and he doesn't know what it is. He feels like there is something more behind that tone of voice, something with a deeper meaning. Jinyoung tried reading between the lines especially those words that came from Mark. He tried remembering Mark's odd behaviors towards Jackson and Youngji. What was wrong? What was he missing? He felt like he had all the information he needed to decipher Mark's true feelings and yet he has a hard time piecing it together, connecting the dots and making a conclusion. And it is making him restless even though it isn't really his problem in the first place. But as Mark and Jackson's friend, he has the right to worry about the two's relationship.

For one, he noticed how Mark would never approach Youngji or talk to her. Whenever the both of them are inside the same room, they looked like strangers, like they have no mutual friend whatsoever, as if they ignore the presence of the other. Jinyoung didn't feel any tension between the two so he shrugged it off as Mark being his silent and conservative self. Although he disregarded it, the suspicion came all back at once when Mark mentioned her name as if it contains poison. Then came Mark's clinginess to Jackson. Jinyoung's aware about the incident between Mark and Taehyung, and it's understandable that Mark would be feeling scared whenever he's alone, thus seeking protection from Jackson. But what's odd about this is that Mark started becoming more clingy, like a leech, although Jinyoung didn't mean anything bad behind the term. It almost felt like Mark is trying to stop Jackson from hanging out with Youngji.