STORIES BY YOUTH 𝘯𝘤𝘵𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘬

" ᴛʜʀᴇᴇ "

The apartment that Mark lived in always had him thinking that it was too large even for him, it often made him feel lonely. Even though in there he had a studio of his own for when recording disks, sometimes he felt like he had a writer's block just because of the fact he felt lonely.

   He thought at first that when he bought his apartment, that his brother would come to live with him, they would finally be reunited more than ever but Taeyong just had to choose moving to LA for the purposes of getting new job offers.

   A sigh left the male, and nowadays, rarely did he and his brother talk. Often would a message be sent — every other month or so. Mark would simply assume he was busy with his job.

   The boy loosely threw himself onto the couch after coming back from the meeting he had with the person who helped him in selling his albums over computer, whenever he had a meeting via Skype, he would always go to his studio in case they needed him to do something related to his job.

   Silence surrounded him, the faint sound of clock ticking away seconds and minutes, birds flying outside and wind whistling through his window sills all came to him softly and that had been the only thing he liked about living alone.

   The fact that when he needed to relax, nobody would be there to bother him and he would have the opportunity to hear something like the sounds the sounds of apartment and nature outside and inside.

   It felt nice. But then, loneliness would hit again.

    His escape would usually be to go to Jisoo's coffee shop that she owned with Doyoung, where there, he would get most of his inspirations. Often would he also get calls from Jaemin and Yukhei, and in the same place, they'd meet to hang out.

   It was the only remaining members they had of their group from childhood, three other girls had been missing for over seven years. And they never contacted after leaving.

   He wondered why most of the time because he missed them quite often, they were all as close as any other family.

   A knock on the door was heard, then the bell rung and having Mark sit up on the couch, his package finally arrived.

  When opening the door, he saw the usual mail man that would always do the delivery. "Hey, Renjun." He was a young Chinese male, in the university of their town, he was at the top of the language major. "Delivery mail been busy today?" Mark made an attempt at small talk.

"It always is, for some reason." The younger rolled his eyes before handing Mark the paper he needed to sign. "What about you, any new things coming on?"

   Mark shrugs as he does his signature quickly. "Sometimes I have a few things coming on, sometimes I don't." He hands the form to Renjun with a lazy smile. "The perks of living alone, you know."

   Renjun nods as he tips his hat towards Mark. "Well, good to see you, Mark. I'll be seeing you soon I'm guessing?" He smirked. Mark was always — for most part, internet shopping.

   The latter laughs shortly. "Of course, you will." He waved the Chinese boy bye and watched as he went back to the lift before closing the door.

   The package on the floor was rather large, in there, contained the keyboard that he had been looking for for months. It was the keyboard from the same brand that he saw in LA when his brother bought him a ticket to visit, thought they didn't spend much time together.

   It was an old brand, and it was expensive, they were starting to sell out from it. Thank god, he had bought the last one. Probably now one of the few ones in the world.

   Mark felt satisfied with himself as he carried it to the living room and placing it on top of the table, opening it carefully in case anything would be fragile.

And when finally placing his hand on it, he pulled it out and smiled to himself. It was just as he remembered. The tecles were slightly yellow stained, the style intriguing him even more and it was now his.

The male left it at the table and ran for his studio room, scrambling through the papers he had all over his desk looking for his notebook where there he would write most of his lyrics. When finding it, he flipped through pages until getting to the one he had recently started to write a new song and it was going to be his single.

Even if he wasn't widely known for his songs, Mark still got some recognition from them and was happy just to write them. His new song's title had brought a smile to his lips.

Jennie.

The name of his first love and she still is. But he knew how unlucky he was in chances of having her, after all — who would go after their sibling's girlfriend?

______

Whenever Mark would go into his studio, he would stay in there for hours and hours, sometimes days even. Especially if he had just received a new instrument.

He tested out a few of his already written songs and also his new one, it all sounded okay to him so he felt like he could do something with it. It wasn't that he previous keyboard stopped working or even because it was old already, but he eventually needs something new to get more inspiration.

He leans back into his chair, listening to a part of the song he just recorded as a demo. pursuing his lips, he decides he needs to add more to the piece.

Just as he takes off his headphones, he hears his phone ringing and vibrating on the desk. He read the caller ID and smiled slightly when seeing the name 'Jisoo'.

"Hello?" He answers the call and put it on speaker.

"Mark! Hi, are you busy?"

"No, why?" He shuffled things around his desk, trying to have hem more organized.

"Well, I'm right outside your door, with some dinner for you — have you had dinner yet?"

"I didn't even have lunch." He laughs. "So you have some great timing." The female laughs on the other and he ends the call by saying he would be opening the door for her.

Jisoo was still in her working clothes, Mark could differentiate. Whenever she came from work she was dressed a black shirt and black jeans and black shoes, her short hair tied in a small ponytail, it's part of the dress code as she explained to him when he first started working at their coffee shop over two years ago.

The female grins widely and spreads out her arms. "Hey," he also puts his arms around her. "Doyoung's coming by later, he says he's got to finish something in work."

"In Seoul?"

"No, he came back early today, he went to his own office here." They let go of each other and Jisoo picks up the bag she had from the floor. "Now, lets enjoy our meal."