ɪ ᴛʜɪɴᴋ ɪ ʟᴏᴠᴇ ʏᴏᴜ | ᴍᴀʀᴋʜʏᴜᴄᴋ

ʟᴘ

"What the fuck?" Was the first thing Mark heard as he entered his classroom. His eyes immediately reacted to the voice, snapping to the owner, who looked at him with wide eyes and a shocked expression. Mark paused for a second, trying to understand what was going on, before he caught sight of the thin red line shot across the room, the one clasped around Mark's finger, which was also connected to Donghyuck's. "Mark hyung?"

"I—" It didn't work. His string was still connected to Donghyuck. Mark was still soulmates with Donghyuck. And Donghyuck, Donghyuck knew.

In a state of panic and worry, Mark spun on his heels, pushing away Jaemin, who had just arrived, and ran down the hallway, ignoring the looks he was getting from the other students, and the calls he was getting from teachers. It couldn't be. How was his string still connected to Donghyuck? He made sure to cut it last night, and watched it himself whilst it disappeared and a new one formed. The image of Donghyuck staring at him with shock was engraved into Mark's mind, and he held a hand to his chest, trying to calm his heart down. Surely Donghyuck wouldn't end their friendship because of this, right?

Pushing the door of the toilet, Mark stumbled in, rushing to the first one he saw and locking the door behind him. He took deep breaths, tears stinging his eyes and his legs shaking uncontrollably. Mark threw his bag to the ground, unzipping it quickly and pulling out a pair of scissors he had. He shakily held it to his string and cut it in one go, watching as the string exploded into tiny particles, resembling the powder like form they were on the first time he got it. 

They fell to the ground, scattered across the tiled floor, and Mark watched in anticipation. A few seconds later, the bubbles jumped right back up, joining together and rushing back to Mark's hand, tying themselves around his finger once again. Letting out a loud groan of frustration, Mark held the scissors to the string again, cutting it with more panic and dear than last time.

The sound of the door opening was heard, and Mark held his breath, waiting for the string to join together and form another one, but when it did, it moved to the left, following the footsteps of the person outside his stall, and stopping once the person came to a stop. 

"Mark hyung?" 

Mark wanted to cry.

"What?" He asked, his voice cracking and his knees failing him, causing him to fall on top of the closed toilet seat. The shadow of Donghyuck was seen from below the door, and Mark felt himself getting more and more sick. 

"Can you please open the door?" Donghyuck took a step forward, his hand on the door, and his feet directly outside the stall. Mark shook his head, before answering with a small, 'no'. Donghyuck didn't leave, however, instead he turned around and leaned against the door. "Do you not want to be my soulmate?"

"You hate love." Mark chose to say instead, hoping he could avoid the question. "You hate love, you hate the idea of soulmates, and you once said that you'll hate anyone who was your soulmate."

A silence followed, and Mark fiddled with his fingers, his eyes blurring due to the tears, and his mouth letting out quiet hiccups. He felt horrible. Donghyuck knew that he was his soulmate, and now everything was ruined. First Mark failed his plan to make Donghyuck fall in love with him, and now he failed to hide their string of fate. He failed badly.

"So you don't want to be my soulmate?" Donghyuck repeated his question, and Mark internally groaned. "Mark hyung, answer me, do you want to be my soulmate?"

Another silence, a sniffle, and then,

"No."

The door to Mark's stall opened, and Donghyuck entered, quickly pointing out how the door had a broken lock, before grabbing the pair of scissors Mark had in his clutches. Without any hesitation, or even a look at Mark, Donghyuck swung the scissors at the string, cutting it and then shoving the scissors back to Mark.

The two watched as the string burned away, trailing back to their fingers and then disappearing. A few seconds passed, but then nothing happened. No new string appeared, no old string repaired. Nothing. 

"What— how?" Mark stuttered, pulling his hand towards himself and examining his finger, checking to see if the string was really gone, and that it wasn't his imagination.

"You need both people to agree to cut the string." Donghyuck replied, his face hung low, and he quickly left the stall, and then the toilets. Mark stared at the open door, the sound of footsteps echoing in the hallway loud in his ears, and he turned back to his hand.

"So…" Mark bit his bottom lip, getting up from his seat and walking over to the sink, spraying his face with water. cleansing himself of the mess he had made, before straightening his back, looking himself right in the eye. "Donghyuck is no longer my soulmate."

When Mark returned to the classroom, receiving his late slip and then taking a seat besides Jaemin instead of Donghyuck, too ashamed to even face his best friend, no one said anything. No one teased them for running out, no one teased them for being late, and no one teased them for having puffy eyes and red cheeks.