Kids In The Dark || 2Jae

Chapter | 20 |

Mark's POV

"Can we talk?" Jinyoung mumbles into my hair, pulling me in closer to his embrace.

"Mmhmm." I answer lazily. It was Saturday morning and I didn't feel like waking up yet so I stayed in bed with my favorite person in the whole world. Jinyoung.

"It's about your necklace." I tense under his arm and he notices, pulling me around to face him. "You always wear it under your clothing. What is it?"

To be honest, I completely forgot about the thing. I never take it off and it's been with me since last year. "It was a present."

He nods in understanding and hesitantly hovers his hand over my chest. "Can I see it?" I nod as well and he pulls it out, admiring the ring at the end. "Do you like it?" I give him a weird look. "I mean- of course since you're wearing it but if it was a present you could be wearing it out of politeness so I... Just wanted to know..."

"Yeah I like it." He looks up immediately to find my smile. "I wore it because I got it from this guy... And I don't know... It gave me hope I guess." He's still looking at me intently, as if hanging on every word. "But if you don't like it I could-"

"No!" His shout shocked me, especially since I just woke up. "I mean... Keep it... Since you like it." His killer smile appears again, but this one is more sincere, compassionate.

"Ok." I return the smile, grateful that he's so forgiving. "Why do you ask?"

His nose snuggles into mine, planting a little kiss on the tip. "Just asking." I nod, snuggling into the crook of his neck, fully intending on staying there a while. "I have another question."

I sigh, thinking I might not get my cuddle time. "Yes?"

"Why are you so perfect?"

I laugh, pushing him away a little. "You're too cheesy." He doesn't allow the seperation, pulling me back in. "Now I have a question."

"Shoot."

"Do you... Like me?" He doesn't move, I'm semi-grateful because he doesn't see how red I am but I also think that not doing anything might be a bad sign. "It's cause I told you I did... And you didn't really say it back so..."

Carefully he pulls away, thumb brushing across my cheek while looking straight into my eyes. "Of course I like you. How could I not?" The blush creeps up into my cheeks, especially when he starts kissing me like that. "Sometimes, I wonder how blind you could be."

"What?" I can not believe my ears.

"I just can't believe how you could ask that question after all I've done for you."

"Wait what?" Everything he says has me more and more confused.

"Ever since the beginning..." He looks off into the distance, as if he were in that specific point in time.

"Wait. Could you just... Back up? What do you mean?"

He bites his lip, sitting up on his bed. "I like you."

"Yeah...?"

"And I've liked you for the longest time." I sit up to reach his eye level. "I know that you started to like me ever since we met but I've liked since before then. Actually... That's why we met in the first place... I stayed after school to walk you home." He chuckles a little, avoiding my gaze. "And I really liked hanging out with you that I-I started to fall for you." He makes the effort to look up and see if I wanted to say anything. But I'm speechless. "So I tried to think of ways to improve myself, to make me seem like a better man for you." He smiles, taking my hand in his. "I already had the grades so I was thinking of trying out for the team because everyone likes guys who do sports." Shit was he right. "I practiced hours a day just to have a shot of getting on the team. For you. And when I got on, I made a whole lot more friends so I looked less nerdy in your eyes. I wanted to be... I wanted to be better so you could feel the same way I did. Or uh do."

I laugh a little at his stutter. "But I-"

"Wait. Let me finish." I pretend to zip up my mouth. "Last year, I worked in the main office. Did you know that?"

"Yeah."

"Well, see... I heard you were having a bad day and I also kinda heard it was your birthday... I didn't believe it at first because usually people are big on birthdays. So I checked your file and made sure. Now I know that sounds creepy but I didn't mean any harm." His hands find their way way to my shoulders. "And once I found out, I... Got you a present." He looks down blushing, pulling me in for a hug. "And I'm glad you like it."

"Th-this is from you?" He nods into my shoulder. "I- I-... How do I even top that for your birthday?" He pulls back, laughing. 

"I'm sure you'll think of something." He plants a kiss on my lips, slow but full of passion. I lean in, pushing on his body until we're completely horizontal.

"Can we go back to sleep now?" I ask after I pull away.

"Haha yeah." My head rests on his chest, the steady heartbeat lulling me back to sleep.

How many of you think this will be over soon?