Heart's Promise

Chapter 4

"Was chemistry that interesting?" Joe was shaken out of his reverie by Jin's voice. He raised an eyebrow at Joe.

"What?" Joe blinked.

"You're smiling ear to ear." Jin commented. "Do you like chemistry that much?"

"It's nothing." Joe shrugged as he made his way upstairs. He didn't even want to think about what Jin would do if he ever found out. Not that he could keep this hidden forever, but he had no clue as to how he could broach this subject.

Once in his room, Joe's thoughts returned to the morning and his smile returned to his face. He lay down on his bed and sighed to himself. Taking out his phone, he stared at the pictures he had taken of Mark, secretly. His face was half hidden in most of these pictures, his soft floppy hair falling across his face. Joe had the urge to scream into his pillow; up until that point he had believed that it was an exaggeration. Opening his texts, he began to tell his friends about his first date.

Joe tried his best to not be a clingy boyfriend, but he couldn't help it. Ever since he started texting Mark, he could hardly keep himself from sending him messages every two minutes. On the other hand, Mark's face lit up every time he received a text from Joe. He was not an expressive person, yet it was clear that liked Joe.

"What are you so happy about?" Ren asked Mark, dropping his bag on the floor and falling on the chair next to Mark. "We have the assignment to complete."

"I did my part." Mark shrugged, not taking his eyes off the phone.

Ren looked at him, eyebrows furrowed. He moved quietly and snatched Mark's phone from his hand.

"Hey! Give it back!" Mark lunged after Ren who held the phone out of his reach.

"Is that a picture of Joe?" Ren asked just as Mark snatched his phone back. He turned around to face Mark. "What's going on?"

"Can you keep it quiet?" Mark hissed, bumping his shoulder against Ren's.

"Sure, but what's going on?" Ren leaned in, lowering his voice.

"Nothing is going on." Mark said. His voice had a slight tremor which gave him away.

"Yeah right, you were staring at a picture of Joe and smiling, and it's nothing?" Ren asked, his voice bordering on sarcasm. Mark looked up at him not knowing what to say.

"Fine, we went on a date last week." Mark sighed.

"You did what?" Ren's voice had gone up again at the last word and Mark shushed him urgently, looking around to make sure Jin was not anywhere near.

"I'm sorry, but you did what?" Ren repeated. "You went on a date? With Joe? What were you thinking? What do you think Jin is going to do if he finds out?"

"You think I don't know?" Mark asked. "That's why I'm telling you to keep quiet about this."

"When did this happen?" Ren asked. "Also, how did this happen?"

"Well, one day, Joe came up to me and said he liked me." Mark began. "He wanted to go on a date. And I said yes."

"Why?" Ren asked, confusion evident on his face.

"What do you mean why?" Mark asked, exasperated. "Why would you agree to go on a date with someone?"

"Because you like them?" Ren ventured. "So you really do like him?"

"I do." Mark sighed again. "I really do."

"Well, this is going to blow up soon." Ren sighed with Mark. "Jin is going to bust a blood vessel when he comes to know."