ɪ ᴛʜɪɴᴋ ɪ ʟᴏᴠᴇ ʏᴏᴜ | ᴍᴀʀᴋʜʏᴜᴄᴋ

ᴊᴜᴍᴘɪɴ'

The party was not as fun as Mark wanted it to be. Jeno and Jaemin had disappeared into one of the corners of the house, Renjun had been dragged into the area where they were all playing games, and Mark was being forced to sit alone in the kitchen. Well technically, he wasn't alone. A couple, a lovely, lovely couple, were sitting in front of him, casually talking about their future plans.

"I wanna move out," The blonde, or Donghyuck, said, twisting the lid of the coke and pouring himself a cup (and Mark was grateful that the younger hadn't touched any of the alcohol, a bit of him glad that Donghyuck was still fulfilling their promise to never drink). "Live in a dorm, you know? Typical uni life."

"That shit only happens in movies man." The other guy, the taller one, or Lucas, replied, holding his glass out to Donghyuck, who continued pouring in the coke. "My friend, Jungwoo, the guys who's party we're at, he moved out thinking it would all be okay. Five months in, he called his parents and asked if he could come back. The costs for everything was too much."

"Did he work?" Donghyuck asked, taking a seat and leaning forwards, causing Mark to make a face at the action. Their intimacy making him sick, and the disgusting taste becoming more and more prominent in his mouth. The couple opposite Mark went on with their conversations, completely ignoring his presence, and Mark wanted to feel offended, but then again that was what he had done with Donghyuck a few months back, so he didn't exactly have a right to feel that way.

Time flew by, and Mark chugged down his fifth cup of coke, the back of his throat became more sore, and he knew he was going to end up ill after this, but he couldn't care less at the moment. He could either get drunk, break the promise he made with Donghyuck, and end up having a horrible hangover in the morning, or, he could drink the two litre bottle of coke, sitting on the counter top, begging for him to finish it, and end up spending the next week sick at home because of his terrible immune system. The second option seemed better in the long term.

But before Mark could get up, Renjun bounced into the room, his smile slightly crooked, cheeks a dark shade of red, and his eyes wandering around the room in excitement.

"Yukhei!" Renjun yelled, holding his hands out at Lucas in surprise, and his gaze shifting between Donghyuck and Mark. "My best friend!"

Best— what?

"Renjunie!" Lucas yelled back, his voice much louder than the music being played, and his pulled Renjun into a hug, lifting him up from the ground, and Mark thought he might be heard the sound of bones getting crushed, but that could be his imagination. "It's been a while."

"Literally just a week." Donghyuck scoffed, and folding his arms in annoyance because of the sudden interruption, but the small smile in his face said otherwise. 

"Yeah but—oh hey Mark hyung!" Renjun said, waving at him as if he had only just realised the latter was sitting there, awkwardly sipping through his drink and waiting to be acknowledged.

"Hey Renjun." 

"Hey Hyuckie, have you told Mark about the whole soulmate thing?" Renjun slurred, his arms wrapping around Donghyuck's and his knees weakening, forcing all his weight upon the struggling blonde.

"Uh—yeah " Donghyuck cleared his throat, shooting a look at Lucas, who only stared back at him with a worried expression.

"Doesn't seem like it." Renjun hummed, blinking slowly, before gaining a sudden burst of energy, making him jump right out of Donghyuck's arms and over the table, his face uncomfortably close to Mark's. "Mark hyung I found my soulmate!" 

"Huh, who is it?" Mark looked over at Donghyuck, who shuffled on his feet, trying to find an escape route, but Renjun caught his arm, grabbing Lucas in his other and pulling both of them forwards.

"Yukhei is my soulmate!" Renjun exclaimed, and Mark coughed out the sip of coke he had taken. Wiping off his mouth with his sleeve, Mark turned to Renjun with a confused glance. "We found out about a month ago! Apparently our souls hadn't bonded yet, or something, but once they had, our strings came! And now we're soulmates!"

Mark turned his gaze to Donghyuck, shock, betrayal, and other horrifying emotions present in his expression. The other boy coughed nervously, trying to hide behind Lucas and Renjun, who were now shamelessly close in public, but Mark caught on to him quickly, taking his hand in his own, and dragging him out of the kitchen, throw the crowd, and then into the garden. The sudden change in temperature and environment caused the two to shiver, but Mark didn't let that distract him. 

"What the hell Donghyuck?" Mark hissed, his eyebrows gravitating towards each other, and his face heating up by anger. Even the cold wind around them couldn't cool him down. "So Lucas isn't your soulmate? Why did you lie? Was it an attempt to make fun out of me? Were you really doing this just for a tease? Did you think I wouldn't find out sooner or later?"

"Mark listen—"

"Listen to what! The fact that you cut off all ties with me, literally, because you didn't want to fall in love? Or the fact that you brought in a whole other guy just to make me jealous?"

"Wait, just listen to me—"

"Donghyuck." Mark sighed, his eyelids fluttering shut, and the tears welled up in them pouring out, finding no other place to go but down his flaming cheeks. "How could you do that to me? I know you don't love me, but we were friends before soulmates—"

"Mark!" Donghyuck yelled, pushing the elder to finally stop him from rambling. Mark fell to the ground, losing any energy to get up, and Donghyuck kneeled beside him, a hand coming up to swiftly wipe off his tears. "Can you just listen to me, please?"

The silence he received after that wasn't exactly the answer he wanted, but Donghyuck took the only opportunity he could find.

"Yes, that was a lie. Lucas isn't my soulmate, he never was." Donghyuck confessed, his eyes dropping to the floor as a wave of guilt washed over him. "But I never intended on purposely hurting you in any way. Hell, I didn't even know it would make you jealous until now. I mean, sure, the reaction you had when Lucas called us soulmates was quite alarming, but I had just assumed it was because you were annoyed that I hadn't told you, my best friend."

"Ha, best friend." Mark laughed bitterly, his voice cracking at the words, and his hands clenched into fists.

"Yeah, best friend." Donghyuck squeezed Mark's shoulder, a tight smile on his face, before it returned back to his worried and sad expression. "And you got one other thing wrong."

"And that was…?" Mark tilted his head to the side, unintentionally leaning into Donghyuck's hand, and his head began to spin, the crying, rush of emotions, and exhaustion from the previous week finally taking a toll on him. 

"That was," Donghyuck started, bringing his other hand to Mark's face and brushing away his bangs, the smile on his face widening as he did it, and he let out a sigh. "The part where you said I don't love you."

Before Mark could react, or reply, his mind shut off, and darkness veiled his eyes, forcing him to close them and let out a final deep breath, his body became limp, and left his entire weight on Donghyuck's arm. He heard a whisper in his ear, repeating the few words that were said before, almost as if Donghyuck was making sure Mark had heard him, before it was all silent, and Mark fell unconscious.