Different: A Markson Story

Chapter 12: Apologies

The next day was the evaluation practice. Here the trainees would be evaluated on their progress and also evaluated to see if the concept they had been practicing fits their image and would be a perfect match for them to debut with.

"Mark you look like hell. Did you even sleep last night? Did you eat?" Yugyeom asked the older. 

He had the hood of his sweatshirt up, the bags under his eyes were designer, making a deep and dark imprint on his face. He looked moody and extremely cranky and was chugging an energy drink. "I'm fine Yugy," he stated. 

Jaebum stepped in front of his friend. "No, he's not. He pulled an all-nighter practicing for today." Jackson, who was at the back of the line, looked up at JB's statement. He looked at the clearly exhausted, exasperated and sleep-deprived Mark. 

He looked down in guilt. "Why do I feel so bad? I care about him and I don't even know why," he asked himself. 

"I'm fine guys," Mark reiterated, pushing past his friends to enter the practice room. 

"Are you okay Jackson? You look like something's bothering you." Jackson re-entered reality after zoning out about Mark, to see a confused Bambam staring at him. 

"I'm fine Bambam." Jackson and Mark said this, but the other members knew it wasn't "fine".

"As you know, you're evaluation is today. Begin," the instructor bluntly demanded. The seven boys began dancing the routine. All of them did their best to dance the moves powerfully and they all did...well almost all of them. Jackson found himself pulling a Mark and glancing over at the older Taiwanese male often during the practice. Mark gave him no attention, but Jackson's eyes seemed glued to Mark. If you watched Jackson dance you could tell something else was on his mind and he definitely wasn't full the off the same determination and focus that you normally would see. No matter how much the younger tried his mind was filled with Mark.

Mark, on the other hand, did his best to focus, but his all-nighter was definitely catching up to him. His body just wouldn't move like he asked it too, his moves were sloppy, he had no energy to expend. Not even the energy drink he had moments before could help him. Mark kept trying but failed. His eyes began to scan the mirror, seeing how the other members were doing. All of them were doing just fine except for one. Mark noticed Jackson was definitely unfocused and much sloppier today. Once he made eye contact with the younger male there was definitely nothing Mark could do to save himself. He tried to move his right foot in front of his left and spin. Mid-motion Mark tripped himself up and fell to the ground. The other members all gasped. "KEEP DANCING!" The instructor called out.

The other members continued to dance but Mark had no energy to even get up before he realized the routine was over, and he was still on the ground. The instructor walked directly up to the older male, anger written all over his face. Mark looked down in shame, but also in anger because he was angry at himself. 

"I'm sorr--" he attempted to say. The instructor cut him off.

 "Mark Tuan I can't even put into words how much of a disappointment you are! How did you even become a trainee here!? You are the worst one here! I should report you to the boss. You're never focused, always failing at practices and--"

"Give him one more chance," a raspy voice called out. Mark looked up and saw all the members staring at Jackson in shock. You were never supposed to interrupt an instructor as they were speaking. 

"And why should I Jackson? This is the 2nd time an incident like this has happened." 

"Exactly so give him one more chance. Three strikes and then you're out, remember? I'll help him." 

"Why should I let you? This isn't baseball. You've been training him and look at what just happened." 

"Jackson its fi--" Mark attempted to interject. 

"No Mark!" Jackson cried out to the older. Mark looked at him in shock, but also in concern. Jackson turned to face the instructor and bowed. 

"Instructor last time I worked with Mark I was a complete idiot and messed things up. It's my fault he's such a mess this morning. I apologize. Please allow me to correct my mistakes and help him. He'll be a completely different person when I work with him after this. Trust me. One more time and Mark will be a home run."

 The instructor paced back and forth thinking. "Fine. But this is the last chance you get. Both of you. Jackson do not make me regret this decision." Jackson bowed deeply as did Mark. 

"The rest of you did well. We'll be rolling with this concept for your debut. You're all dismissed. Jackson will stay behind to work with Mark. That's all." 

They all thanked the instructor and bowed. Jackson ran up to Mark giving him a shoulder to lean on and helped him up. "I'm sorry," he muttered much to the surprise of the older. The tone of his voice was so empathetic, so caring, and so genuine. Was this really the same lazy, impractical, mean Jackson that Mark had known? 

"Forgive me," Jackson said. "I'm really sorry Mark."

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Hello my loves! I'm finally back after the stress of finals (which I aced by the way)! I'm so happy to be back and updating this story. I know you guys have been waiting patiently so I worked hard to make sure this chapter was really good. I hope you enjoy it! The Markson relationship is finally starting to change for the better :) Thanks for your patient and support!