ɪ ᴛʜɪɴᴋ ɪ ʟᴏᴠᴇ ʏᴏᴜ | ᴍᴀʀᴋʜʏᴜᴄᴋ

ʟᴏᴠᴇ ɪs ᴛʜᴇ ᴡᴀʏ

It was graduation day, and Mark was dressed in his navy blue suit (the one he ended up ordering online, after he realised he won't be able to leave his house any time soon). Mark fixed his tie, centering it, and then looked at himself in the mirror. Even after applying makeup, Mark's eyebags could be seen, and his cheeks were still flushed, the blush making it look even worse. 

The knock on his door made him hurriedly pat himself down once again, and then rush to the door.

"Mark!" Johnny exclaimed, spreading his arms wide and enveloping Mark in a big hug. "You look great!"

"Haha, thanks hyung." Mark chuckled, wrapping his arms around his older brother and sinking into his warmth. 

"I'm excited for you." Johnny said, pulling away and looking down at him with pride. "Have you and Donghyuck made up yet?"

"No." Mark sighed, dragging himself across the room and picking up his phone. "He's got a new soulmate, and I don't really wanna see him be all lovey with someone."

Johnny didn't say anything else after that, only the occasional, 'you look good bro' and 'don't worry about anything'. Mark wanted him to say more, maybe ask him more about Donghyuck, about his new soulmate, about their relationship, about the reason why Mark couldn't stand this 'Lucas' dude. But he didn't voice those thoughts, knowing that if he were to, it would seem as if he's basically asking for sympathy, or something.

"We'll go to the seating area." His dad informed him once they reached his school. Mark nodded and then waved them goodbye, the sight of them leaving making him come to a realisation that this was it. This was the last time he'd see all his friends before he moved to his university dorm. This was also probably the last time he would meet Donghyuck, and that made his heart ache even more. 

The students began to rush towards the hall, and Mark followed after them, his steps heavier than his heart, and his mind filled with pessimistic thoughts. Mark was probably going to find new friends, and then find his old childhood friends bothersome, or somewhat boring. Maybe Mark won't find any friends, maybe he would be the one who would get abandoned. What if one day, Mark crosses paths with his friends, and they would walk away, pretending (or not) that they don't know him. What if—

"Mark hyung?" Jaemin said, shaking him to gain his attention.

"Yeah?" Mark replied, blinking a few times to get rid of his thoughts. He turned to face Jaemin, and his jaw dropped at the sight. Jaemin's freshly dyed blonde hair were brushed down, a tint of blue at the front (which Mark made a mental note to tease about) and his face was neatly coated with some makeup. "Woah, you look good."

"Thanks." Jaemin shyly nodded, running a hand through his hair, which only bounced back, and then turned his gaze over to Jeno, who was standing a few feet away from them, next to Renjun and—oh. Donghyuck looked amazing. Actually, amazing couldn't even describe what Mark was thinking at the moment. The way Donghyuck's suit was a perfect fit, his hair styled up, revealing his forehead and his eyes wide open with excitement. Donghyuck's lips coated with a light red tinted lip gloss, and Mark wondered what they tasted like. "This is your last chance. Make up with Donghyuck."

Mark groaned and tilted his head back. He knew Jaemin would try and tell him to speak to Donghyuck again, but he didn't know what Mark found out about over the past few days. He didn't know that Donghyuck had found a new soulmate, and that he was happy with him. He also didn't know that Mark had come to terms with his feelings and decided that he was, in fact, in love with his (former) best friend/soulmate, and most probably has been for the majority of their friendship. 

"I'll try." Mark muttered, ignoring the bright smile Jaemin flashed him, and then trailed behind the rest of the students, all dressed in suits and dresses. His eyes remained glued to the ground, too scared that he would raise them and meet Donghyuck's. 

The ceremony went quicker than Mark expected, quite a let down, because he wanted to spend more time in Donghyuck's presence (another unfortunate thing occurred during the preparation, when they were all told to stand in order of their surnames, and Jeno forced Mark to be besides Donghyuck). The awards were given out, hands were shook, flowers were received, hats were not thrown up dramatically but in fact just shoved into bags, and everyone was getting ready to attend the party that was planned to take place at an ex-students house.

"I'll be home late." Mark informed his parents, and Johnny took a step towards Mark, separating himself from the others, and throwing an arm around the younger. Before Mark could question him, Johnny stopped him.

"Jungwoo's throwing the party, you think I'd miss that?"