Venom & Oblivion

Chapter 17

The following day, Mark was nowhere to be found on the campus, and Jinyoung assumed Mark just needed some time alone for himself.

He did not take Mark's absence as a big issue as he would have done the same if something like that had happened to him.

However, three more days passed; Mark did not appear and nothing was heard of him. Asking Jong and Seung about Mark was out of options and even they did not seem to have any idea.

On the fourth day of Mark's absence, Jinyoung was determined to go to Mark's place and see what was happening to him.

After the class, he took the bus to the district where Mark's place was. He had been to Mark's house only once but the address was vivid in his mind.

Soon after, he found himself in front of a modern white house, which looked quite familiar to him but not too much.

The moment he reached for the doorbell, however, the doubts rushed in. What if Mark did not want to see him? He might not want to see anyone. Or was Mark even here? He could be somewhere else.

Nonetheless, he rang the doorbell, silently bracing himself to meet Mark's frustrated look. The door was opened at the second ring and the familiar good-looking woman appeared in the doorway.

"Oh, hello," she greeted Jinyoung, running her eyes over him curiously, "Are you that friend of Mark's, who was here once?"

"Yes, that's me," Jinyoung smiled, "Hm, I came here to see Mark. Is he home?"

"He is. Come in."

She led him to the living-room, which he noticed looked lifeless and gave him an uneasy feeling. The whole house was quiet and looked bare and deserted although all the furniture was in their place and as organised as ever.

"He's in his room," she said, "Do you want me to call him or want to go and meet him there?"

"I'll go to him," Jinyoung paused, "I'm sorry to hear the news. I can't imagine how you must be feeling now. It surely will take time to get over this grief.

She nodded and sighed quietly; her features were still handsome, as they ever were, but her figure looked weak and tired. This must be all because of stress and agony, Jinyoung observed.

"Everything was in chaos a couple of days ago. We tried to cope with all of this. But it feels empty here without him. Mark, he suffered more than me," she paused, blinking her tears away, "This made me feel guilty about having been the cause of the conflicts between them, when he was still alive. Worse, he must have wanted me to look after Mark but I think now it's all impossible. You know your friend, once he sets a decision, he is never going to waver from it for any reason."

Jinyoung tried to understand her words but most of them, he could not make out, "Sorry, but what do you mean? Is there any other problem?"

"Oh, you don't know it? Then just go to him and he'll tell you. And please make him understand that what he's decided is all just unnecessary. He doesn't listen to me but I hope you'll be able to persuade him somehow."

Jinyoung felt more confused about every word, and at last, he promised her, although he had no idea for what it was, and headed for Mark's room upstairs.

As he had expected, the door of the room was locked and he had to knock at it a couple of times before it was opened quite roughly and Mark's annoyed face welcomed him. But his expression turned to surprise once he saw it was Jinyoung.

"What're you doing here?" His eyes ran over Jinyoung's clothes and bag, "Did you come from the university?"

"You can say so. Can I come in or do I need to leave here at once?"

Mark held the door open to let Jinyoung in, and then closed the door behind.

With a quick glance at the inside of the room, Jinyoung could say, nothing much had changed since the first time he had been here. But the mess in the middle of the room, with the piles of clothes and pieces of luggage, took him by shock.

"What are they? What're you doing?"

Mark stood beside him and looked at his own mess, "Obviously, clothes and luggage."

"I mean, what're you doing with them? Don't tell me that you're packing."

"I absolutely am."

Jinyoung turned to look at Mark, both in confusion and disbelief, "Packing. But packing for what?"

Mark was silent for a while and made his way to the stacks of clothes to continue the work of placing them inside the luggage.

"Mark, what do you m-"

"I'm leaving here," Mark said, shortly.

"What? Leaving this house or leaving what?" asked Jinyoung, feeling the panic taking over him.

"Korea," Mark said, "I'm leaving this country and everything behind. I'm going back home."

"LA?"

Mark nodded and looked at Jinyoung, who was at a loss for words, "My father is dead now and I've no reason to remain here. My relatives are there and they want me to come back as well."

"But this is your home too. Why now? Besides what about the college? You'll have to drop out of it. Can't you at least complete your degree here? Why all of a sudden?"

"You know, there are a lot of colleges there, where I could get a degree just the same."

"That's not what I mean! Why don't you want to continue studying here? You're already adapted to this place."

Mark stopped his work of packing and looked up at Jinyoung, "I can't live here anymore. I don't want to. Here is full of pain and I'm going to leave it as soon as possible."

Mark's words trapped Jinyoung and the thoughts rushed in.

"Is it because of me? You're leaving just because of that?"

Mark looked away and continued packing his things, as the silence took over the place. Jinyoung sat down on the floor and watched Mark's actions absently.

He tried to find some more words to convince Mark to remain here, but his mind was in a blur and hsi heart was beating fast with pain. Mark was not going to change his decision and for the first time, Jinyoung felt they were going to be apart for real. He could not do anything about that; it was hurt to try to accept the fact that Mark was really going to leave him or this country.

"When? At least let me see you off and say goodbye," Jinyoung said, his voice cracking.

"Next week. On Saturday, at 4pm," Mark said.

Jinyoung counted the days and found it was only a matter of eight days before Mark was leaving.

"Isn't it too fast? You could at least live here for another month."

"And do what? Even a week is too long and I've already booked the flight."

"So everything's fixed then," Jinyoung said quietly.

He watched Mark's actions and looked at his features for a long time, absorbing everything of Mark in his mind so that he could turn to these memories again, when Mark was no longer here.