'twenty-three
posters in bright hues made it impossible to forget about the upcoming school formal, and it aggravated mark. he couldn't turn a corner inside his school without being flashed with spontaneous reminders of the "five dollar up-front pay" and the "discount for two".
he dug through his locker, frustrated as he couldn't find his books, before jeno approached him.
"what do you want?" he sighed, making the latter raise his hands in surrender.
"good morning to you too," jeno chuckled, leaning closer. "word has it that shin jiyeon is planning to ask you to the formal."
"i'm not in the mood to talk about this," mark muttered, closing his locker and walking in the opposite direction as jeno tailed him.
"that's not even the best part!" he exclaimed, stopping him. "kim hina wants to ask you out too! mark, this is the showdown of the century, and you're the cause!"
he didn't reply; he wished he wasn't involved in such superficial things. it irked him, knowing he had no choice. he only had eyes for one person, and it wasn't either girl who was supposedly "fighting" for him.
"also, sunny boy wanted to talk to you," jeno quickly added, smiling satisfactorily as mark finally looked over at him.
"when?"
"i don't know, go find him later," he shrugged, but mark took that as his cue to escape the big-mouthed boy as he searched through the crowds of bodies for the distinguishable tan skin.
he spotted haechan, but it was the wrong time—in fact, he was possibly too late. and he knew he didn't deserve to, but a horrible feeling of jealousy washed over his restless soul as he watched renjun ask haechan out to the formal "as friends".
that's how it always began, in mark's eyes. as friends.
he watched as haechan kept a stoic expression, and he gained hope for a split second, but the younger boy simply laughed and jumped onto his friend with a definitive nod.
mark could only stand there, jaw clenched in some twisted envy, as he watched the boy he wanted give all his attention to another man. he stood there for god knows how long, watching haechan giggle, mind completely blank and unaware of how he could have appeared to passer-bys. he analysed every inch of the younger boy.
and of course haechan knew. he had to be blind not to.
so despite the hall being filled with buzzing chatter, silence seemed to fall only upon two boys;
as haechan locked eyes with mark from across the corridor, he finally realised that the love of his life couldn't have possibly been someone who had hurt him this many times, so for the first time, he looked away, leaving the latter speechless, guilty, and craving what he couldn't have.
mark felt a piece of him break—not physically, nor mentally. he didn't know what it was, but he knew something wasn't complete inside him. there was something missing, a lost puzzle piece refusing to finish his whole.
his body just refused to tell him that it was haechan.
YOU ARE READING
flipped :: markhyuck
Fanfictionafter years of being avoided by mark, haechan realised he could have been wrong about the love of his life; but mark realised he could have been wrong about the latter, too. [2019]
