A Beautiful Butterfly

Chapter 5

Since the previous day, Jinyoung had felt much more comfortable with Mark. They had not been alone together since they had left the bench but would exchange smiles whenever their eyes met by chance; it was all more than Jinyoung could hope for.

For once, just for once, he wanted to know what it would feel like to have lunch in the same room with Mark. At the lunch break, he abandoned his usual restaurant that day and chose the one where Mark and his friends usually were.

But of course, he did not dare sit near them because Mark's friends would certainly be suspicious of him. He chose the corner which was a few tables away from where Mark and the other two were and from which he still could see Mark.

Soon after Mark and his friends had been seated at their table, the whole restaurant was pretty much filled, with no more tables available.

Jinyoung was not sure if Mark had noticed him; he sat at the corner, having his lunch and only occasionally glancing at Mark. Whenever he looked at their table, Mark was either talking or listening to his friends. It might be a biased thought but he felt Mark was too good for his prejudiced friends.

At some point, his view was blocked by a group of girls, with food trays in their hands and apparently looking for a vacant table. Jinyoung could not feel sympathetic to them at the moment. He wished they would move away so he could continue staring at Mark.

They moved, not out of his sight but to his table. His table was the only one with enough extra seats for four of them and so their intention was clear. But they abruptly halted when he looked at them and a girl with long, brown hair said, "Are we going to sit with him?" with a distasteful glance at him.

"I don't want to, either. But there's no other table. Come on, just fifteen minutes at most," a plump one said, already stepping forward, but she was held back by her friends.

"We must not! It'll ruin our image if we're seen sitting with someone that outdated. And look at his hair! Looks like it smells. No, I'm not sitting-"

The tallest girl who had been ranting was interrupted by a slam against the table and a screech of a chair against the floor. The girls turned to the source of the sound, which was from behind them.

"No one's telling you to sit there," Mark roared, which rendered the entire room silent and everyone there stunned. "If you didn't want to, couldn't you just go away instead of insulting someone? Did you think it was nice to hear? Your attitude is the problem here, not anyone's appearance. You want to have a table so bad? Come here then. You can sit all you want and shut up."

Mark took his lunch tray and strode to Jinyoung's table, while the girls, looking indignant and furious, went to the table they had been offered with humiliation and sat down.

For another minute, no one dared speak and silence continued, another confrontation being anticipated. But when nothing more happened, they went back to their own chatter and lunch, and commented on the incident quietly.

Jinyoung had lost his appetite and seeing Mark was not calmed down yet, he did not make any sound. He was thankful although he had got some unwanted attention from others. If it had been up to him, he would just have lowered his head and pretended he had not heard anything those girls had said. But who wouldn't like that feeling of being protected?

"Thank you, Mark," Jinyoung managed, quite ashamed that he could do nothing better than that. No matter how grateful he felt to Mark, a sign of rage he could still see in Mark's eyes made him nervous.

"I just can't stand such kind of people. I heard everything they were saying. Such an uncalled-for criticism. Don't let them upset you, Jinyoung."

"I'm sorry you had to interfere," Jinyoung said, "I... I couldn't defend myself." In fact, he had not at all thought of because he had never been able to.

"Don't think of that anymore. Let's eat," Mark said but Jinyoung knew they both had no more desire to. Without surprise, Jinyoung saw Mark's friends talking with the girls. He turned back to his lunch and started eating, as Mark did. It was altogether a solemn lunch break.

Jinyoung had not realised how the incident could affect Mark until he overheard Mark's friends at the toilet. He was inside a toilet stall just before the last class of the day started, when he heard Jackson's voice. Seemingly, Mark and his friends had just entered the toilet.

"You shouldn't have done that, Mark. It was not a nice move."

"Done what?" Mark asked.

"Acted like a human protective shield for him," Jaebum answered, "If you keep standing up for him, everyone would soon turn against you."

"Even now, what happened is a juicy gossip on everyone's lips. 'That Mark Tuan is on the side of that rustic, country boy'. Such rumours are gonna spread real soon."

"Tell them it isn't just a rumour. Because I really am on his side," Mark said, "You know what, everyone is so full of themselves they never think of what someone else will feel. I'm not going to hate him or look down on him just because other people do. I already told you. Why can't you still understand? You do but you want to pretend you don't."

"No, we don't understand why you still want to defend an outcast. Risking your image and ours," Jackson said, his voice laced with a hint of anger.

"Let's stop now. It won't do us any good if anyone hears this," Jaebum pacified, "Let's talk about this later."

"There'll be no 'later'! If you don't want to understand, then don't. But don't tell me what to do or not." With that, a few steps and a door being slammed were heard.

After a few seconds of silence, Jaebum said to Jackson, "Calm down, Jackson. We can talk to him by and by."

"Did you hear what he said? He doesn't know what he's doing! The fuck that he wants to act like a hero!" The room resounded again with footsteps, but this time, they were heading out of the toilet.

Sadness and guilt filled Jinyoung's heart. Because of him, they had argued. Mark would have nothing but only drawbacks, if he was seen with Jinyoung. This was no consoling thought for Jinyoung. He had never wished to become someone who would ruin Mark.