Irony of Revenge

Chapter 18

"You really came," Hyebin said, once Mark and Jinyoung got out of Mark's car, which had been halted outside Jieun's house.

"Didn't we say we'd?" Mark said, "Hi, Jieun."

"Hi, how're you?"

Jieun's eyes shifted to Jinyoung and then to his and Mark's interlaced hands.

"We're doing well," Mark replied. "So where're we going tonight?"

"Somewhere we can have a wild celebration. And we need only one car. Let's use mine?" Hyebin said.

"That's fine," Jinyoung said.

They wasted no more time and went straight to Hyebin's car. Hyebin and Jieun were seated at the front and Jinyoung and Mark got to the back seat.

"It's been such a long time since we were together like this," Jieun said, as the car started moving. "Why didn't you contact us at all? We can still remain friends, you know, despite everything that has happened."

"I don't want to say that it'll be easy for us," Jinyoung said. He wondered if her parents already knew about them no longer being together. But he did not want to ask her, lest it made all of them awkward.

They talked about random things along the whole way and everyone seemed to be relaxing and in a good mood. Until they arrived at the designated place. An LGBT bar.

'Shocked' was an understatement for what Mark and Jinyoung felt. They looked incredulously at their exes, who were taking off their seatbelts.

"This is the place?" Mark asked.

"Yeah. Is there any place better, when our purpose is to congratulate a gay couple?" Hyebin said, nonchalantly.

"It's a mess inside, Hyebin. Besides, what if someone recognises me?"

"They won't care. Assuredly, there's no squealing fangirl there. I'm surprised that you have never been to such a place when you belong to this community."

There was no more room for Mark to argue and at last, they headed for the bar, Hyebin and Jieun leading them. Once inside there, at the first glance, they could see the moving bodies of guys against each other and girls making out here and there.

Hyebin and Jieun went straight to a vacant couch at the corner, which was near the dance floor. They were served drinks there. On the dance floor, some males were almost naked, with nothing on their upper bodies and just shorts on the lower parts. They were trying to look seductive and flirting with other guys.

Mark pulled Jinyoung closer out of possessiveness. He was not here to see his boyfriend watching the swaying, almost bare bodies of the males. But Jinyoung looked uncomfortable, not knowing where to set his eyes on.

"Hey, don't you want to go dance there?" Hyebin asked them, almost shouting above the music.

"No," Mark said.

He noticed some guys were eying him and Jinyoung, especially their eyes wandering over his and Jinyoung's bodies. He did not like this atmosphere and wished they could get out of the bar now.

After a while, Hyebin and Jieun got up, saying to them that they were going to the washroom. Soon they disappeared among the crowd and Mark and Jinyoung were left.

Not long after that, a group of three guys approached Mark and Jinyoung. "Hey, don't you want to come and dance with us? You look lonely here."

Mark raised his intertwined hand with Jinyoung's for them to see and said, "Sorry, mate. We're taken. You can go to others."

"But while you're here, you should have fun," another guy said, "Rooms are available here. We can have threesome, foursome, whatever you name. Tomorrow morning, you can just go back to each other, forgetting us."

"Not interested," Mark said, firmly.

"Please go back to your dance floor. You're just wasting your time here," Jinyoung said, desperately.

"Oh, I see, you're not in an open relationship. Just taking each other, isn't it boring? We'll entertain you and you'll never regret the experience."

Before they could protest, the two guys plunged themselves to them. One threw himself onto Mark's lap, wrapping his hand around Mark's neck. Another was forcing Jinyoung's face upwards to have a kiss. The remaining one was watching them, licking his lips.

Mark was seething with anger and not a second was lost before he was punching the one on his lap. The guys were startled and a murmur of surprise went around in the whole bar.

Mark pulled the one who was still holding Jinyoung's face, by the collar, and pounded his fist on the guy's face. He drew Jinyoung up and ignoring the eyes of the crowd on them, strode out of the club with Jinyoung beside him.

It was just a regular night outside. The noise of the club had faded away as they walked away from it, along the sidewalk. For minutes, they were just walking in no specific direction, with no words. But their thoughts were nearly the same.

It was Jinyoung who broke the silence first, "Could it be that...it was their plan? It was a bit too much of a coincidence, wasn't it? They took us there and when they were away, that happened. Also Jaewon's words. He said they didn't deserve people like us. He meant Jieun and Hyebin, I think."

"Yes, Jinyoung. All of these couldn't be just a coincidence. They're trying to separate us. I had my doubts when they texted us that they supported our relationship."

"Their intention is to separate us? They're underestimating our relationship. Will it be a good idea if we talk to them? To make them understand us?"

"We should. They aren't going to stop if we don't talk to them. What they don't know is that they are never going to succeed in whatever they are planning to, even if they continue."

Mark stopped suddenly, halting Jinyoung as well. He turned his eyes upwards to cast a brief glance at the moon above, before drawing Jinyoung towards him and lunging forward, for a kiss. Their lips moved collaboratively, as their mind refused to be aware of the surrounding.