ɪ ᴛʜɪɴᴋ ɪ ʟᴏᴠᴇ ʏᴏᴜ | ᴍᴀʀᴋʜʏᴜᴄᴋ

ᴜᴍᴘᴀʜ ᴜᴍᴘᴀʜ

A whole month had gone past since the last time Donghyuck and Mark had spoken, their most recent conversation being the one they shared in the toilet, where Mark was a mess and Donghyuck seemed too emotionless. Their friends were confused, seeing the closest pair in their group suddenly act like strangers around the other, and make excuses whenever they were both invited to hang out, or even to just lunch. 

And they had had enough.

"Okay, what's your problem?" Jaemin asked, grabbing Mark's wrist and dragging him into a quiet hallway, and pushing him into his locker. "You and Donghyuck have been avoiding each other as if you guys were some disease, and don't even say that isn't true, because we all have seen it. You enter the room, Donghyuck gets up and leaves. Donghyuck joins us for lunch, you finished your food as quickly as you could and run out of the hall."

"Don't worry about it." Mark mumbled, putting his hands on Jaemin's shoulders and pushing him away, trying to get out of his grip, but only failing and getting shoved back into the locker.

"No Mark hyung, listen. Tell me what's wrong?" Jaemin's eyes softened and his grip became more gentle, making Mark feel horrible for hiding such a big thing from him. "I won't judge you for whatever you say, if that's the prob—"

"Me and Donghyuck were soulmates." Mark confessed, his chest becoming lighter as if a burden had just been taken off him.

"Were?" Jaemin paused, his eyes widening in horror, and Mark could feel his stomach twist in discomfort. "Shit Mark hyung, did you— why?"

"He could never love me." Mark answered, tapping Jaemin's hand, which was rested on his shoulder, and then moved away from the locker. "So we broke it off."

"Have—have you uhm," Jaemin shuffled on his feet a little, awkwardness plastered clearly over his face. "Have you gotten a new soulmate yet?"

"No."

"Oh." Jaemin nodded slowly, and the two stood besides each other, their silence making it more awkward than it was already, and Mark decided that maybe it was time for him to go.

"Anyways, I'll see you later." Mark said, hurrying out of the hallway and turning the corner, waving at Jaemin, who sent him a worried look. 

In all honesty, he wanted to talk to Donghyuck, spend time with Donghyuck, at least be friends with Donghyuck. But the younger was trying him best to avoid him, not even sparing him a glance or saying a word when they were forced to be partners in English. 

Mark called Johnny the day after he broke the bond with Donghyuck. He cried his eyes out. He doesn't know why, but it hurt when he thought back to how the string cut so easily, evaporating into nothing and the face Donghyuck had. His eyes were empty and his lips were pressed into a straight line, holding back any emotion that could've been displayed on his face.

"Maybe you didn't want to break the bond." Johnny had told him, his eyes doing all they could to comfort him because of the distance between them. "Maybe you did want to be Donghyuck's soulmate, and it hurts seeing that he didn't?"

"If that was the case," Mark had sniffled, wiping his cheeks, "Then would the break in our bond even taken place? Would Donghyuck have been able to cut the string so easily?"

Johnny didn't have an answer for that, and Mark ended the call shortly after. He spent the next few hours sulking over something he apparently shouldn't even care about. His parents had entered his room, rubbing his back and hoping that could've helped him in any way (it didn't, but Mark didn't want to make them feel any worse than they were already because if him). 

Mark stepped into the room, eyeing the way Donghyuck stiffened at his presence and tried to move his chair away from Renjun, who only grabbed his hands and jerked him back to his precious position. It hurt, seeing Donghyuck act so adamant on not being around Mark, but there was nothing he could do.