It's A Fine Line

36: Since When?!

Jungkook did not like Mark. Not one bit.

It's not that he was rude or impolite to him. But I knew Jungkook and I could very well see he didn't like Mark at all.

The reason? I didn't know.

Mark wasn't a fake nice person. He genuinely showed interest when people were talking. He was never rude. He was thoughtful and sweet. He was...likeable.

But apparently not to Jungkook. Because when Jungkook returned smiles, it never reached his eyes. He seemed irritable most of the time but remained polite. And any excuse for us to be away from Mark he'd take it.

Also Jungkook was being a lot more affectionate than usual. He hugged me more and touched my hands randomly. He'd tuck away loose strands of my hair without hesitation and his arm would randomly find it's way around me.

None of it I minded. But I didn't understand it either.

It's not like he was behaving like my boyfriend but his actions were definitely extra friendly. More so than normal. And I didn't know what offset it.

I didn't want it to stop. But I would've liked to know what started it.

If I wanted to be a little ridiculous I might've assumed Jungkook was jealous of me being friendly with Mark.

But aside from there being no need for him to be jealous since Mark and I were only friends and only ever would be friends, there also was no reason for him to feel jealous.

That's why I wasn't going to be ridiculous and make stupid assumptions.

Speaking of stupid assumptions, Hae soo is convinced that Mark likes me as more than a friend. Her reasoning being that his tendency to want to spend time with me was showing a certain kind of clinginess.

Now, Hae soo is my closest friend. I valued her opinion. I trusted her intuition. And most of all I'm glad that she moved schools and could spend more time with me.

However this time she was definitely wrong.

Nobody has ever liked me romantically. The insecurities I have related to that I would not be delving in to.

But anyway, of all people my childhood friend wasn't going to suddenly like me in that way. We were just friends. This wasn't some movie.

She was being ridiculous.

Sure, Mark did spend a lot of time with me. Be it during lunch, during classes we shared or during any free periods.

But I was the only person he was familiar with in the school. What else did anyone expect.
He was still getting accustomed to his new surroundings and the new people so ofcourse he'd cling on to the one person he knew.

Even with me trying to get him to be friends with Jungkook and Hae soo they were still getting to know him and he was getting to know them. And anyway Jungkook didn't like him but at least he didn't know that yet.

Once Mark was in his element, comfortable with his classmates and making other friends he wouldn't be as "clingy" anymore. I knew that for certain.

Even so, he and I were friends and I'd fulfil and respect my friendship with him. Like I do for all my friendships.

It was the beginning of lunch when I was by my locker, grabbing a few textbooks for my next lesson and the book I had to return to the library.

I didn't read it yet. Well I didn't read the whole thing yet. I only read the ending which I meant to do before I took the book but forgot to since the book itself was highly recommended. I remembered yesterday and glanced through the last two pages and it was not a good ending.
So I would never be reading that book. Ever.
I wouldn't even look at the cover again.