THE LITTLE COPY ⋮ markhyuck

Chapter 𝟰𝟯

The night in the bedroom with one bed for everyone was... adventurous. Donghyuck had woken up two times at night as he wanted to go to the bathroom, so he got to see the unusual sights of the bed sharers. First, he noticed that Dongchan took the biggest part of the bed. Donghyuck woke up by the wall with Nyx on his stomach, and he noticed Mark was like this too, backed into a wall, and appeared uncomfortable, but slept soundly. For the second time, Donghyuck woke up with the cat on his head, her tail getting in his mouth and startling him. Pushing that away and scolding Nyx for being like this, Donghyuck noticed that Dongchan was glued to him and rested his head on Papa's stomach. Meanwhile, Mark had the rest of the bed for himself and dominated it with his arms and legs spread. Obviously used to sleep alone.

That especially showed when Donghyuck's alarm went off. Hearing that, Dongchan hid under the covers, and when Mark opened his eyes widely, it appeared that only he and Donghyuck were there. He looked at his lover lovingly and smiled. Mark threw his arm across the bed, intending to touch a little part of Donghyuck. Instead, the blow startled Nyx—the cat hissed and jumped as high as the ceiling. Dongchan lifted his head, but at the same time, Mark pulled his arm away and accidentally hit the kid on the head.

"Papa!" Dongchan whimpered and clung to Donghyuck, causing more panic in Mark.

"G-goodness gracious, I'm sorry! Did I hurt you?" he jumped and looked at the kid in worry.

Donghyuck closed his eyes in exhaustion as he listened to Mark's apologies and Dongchan's cries. Not to mention that Nyx had her fur fluffed out and had an arched back, staring at Mark with suspicion. To stop all that, he patted Dongchan's head and reassured him that Teacher Lee didn't mean it. Then told the kid to go to sleep and slowly left the bed. He took the cat with him, sensing that she was still stiffened. He put her down in the living room and got her food, which he poured into one of Mark's bowls that he rarely used.

Donghyuck ended up in the shower, almost falling asleep as he showered under hot water on a breezy summer morning. Since he spent there more time than usual, he learned recently that the lock on the bathroom door didn't work as Mark barged inside all of a sudden, appearing worried. As soon as he saw that Donghyuck was fine, and not fainted at least, he walked backwards, his face flushing.

The younger remembered clearly that the other times he spent in this apartment, he never felt the need to lock the door. First, they knew there were just two of them there, so if one went to the bathroom, his absence was visible. Two, he didn't get the chance to lock it in during the previous stays because Mark came by and joined the Saving Water program.

That's how he got into the habit.

📚

Haewon was missing that day at work. Donghyuck didn't spot his car in the parking lot, and he couldn't be more relieved. He didn't know if it was for long, but he still cherished it. At least that day, he could relax and stop constantly thinking about how to leave the building.

Because of such an occurrence, his day was going exceptionally well. His stress level went down, and he gave his all to work. Like usual, Donghyuck worked, exchanged a few words with Jaemin, talked on the phone, and worked again. During breaks, he checked the pictures Mark sent him of Dongchan in the playground. Just like he promised, he took his son there and seemingly had a great time. In every photo, Dongchan was widely smiling and looking at the camera, so at Mark—his idol—not because he knew the photos were meant for Papa. But he waved in another two that were obviously for Donghyuck.

One way or another, the sight gave him strength to endure the rest of the hours at work, though it only made him long for the two. Donghyuck couldn't wait until he could see them. He burned with impatience. So, when Mark called him to check how he was doing—it was nearly the end—the younger couldn't help but beg him to get there and bring Dongchan too.