Arcadia 11

Eighteen

The male with his hair in disarray, while his sweatshirt was twisted weirdly and his left shoe was un-tied, his chest rising a falling rapidly, dark eyes searching for Mark widly. He looked like a mad man searching for his creation, it was frightening how crazy appeared. Mark could only stare, his slim frame shaking as he hid behind Jisoo, his eye peeking out from over his shoulder. The loud boom having silenced the already scared little.

The nurse who had been on her way out, had her hand over her heart as she tried to calm her breathing. Her mouth opened, most likely to scold to him, but was cut off by Jisoo.

"Ahh, hello." Jisoo greeted with a wide smile. He was still speaking at a soft pitch, his arm moving back to allow Mark extra comfort as well as shielding him from view. Mark accepted it quickly, his hand tightening in the material of Jisoo's soft shirt.

"Oh." He said, his voice coming out breathy as he bowed. "Hello, I didn't mean to startle anyone." He said, trying to look at Mark.

"I do believe you owe our nurse an apology." The man said, motioning to the woman. He hand had moved down from her chest to rest on her hip.

Turning toward her he bowing repeatedly, sincerely saying. "I am so sorry. I heard Mark had been admitted to the hosptial and rushed over from dance practice. I had no intentions of scaring anyone. I'm sorry!"

Jisoo chuckled quietly, while the woman just left without a word, most likely to complain about how odd the people in the room are. Mark had settled back down, his hold on Jisoo loosening as his exhaustion caught up with him again. He didn't understand why he was so tired, but being a Little he thought he could have as many naps as he wanted. This however caused the physician alarm as he turned around to make sure the Little was feeling okay and hadn't fainted due to his band mate's grand entrance.

"Markie, are you okay?" He asked, helping the blonde lay back, he watched Mark rub his eye as he settled in among the pillows momentarily releasing his tiger just to snuggle up with it once more. Once he was comfortable and covered by the blankets, Jisoo whispered. "I'll be here when you wake up, and most likely so will Baba." He added, getting a tired smile. Mark had released his shirt only to silently ask for his hand, big, sleepy, doe eyes too adorable to resist, not that Jisoo ever wanted to try.

Once Mark had fallen asleep Jisoo turned to the young man still awkwardly standing in the doorway. Motioning him over he pointed to a chair. Waiting for the younger to sit before he began. "Im Jaebeom, I am quite disappointed in you." He began, watching as his words sunk in. "I asked you boys to look after him and what do I find? Mark half dead." He watched the younger flinch at his words, the guilt he was experiencing written all over his face, but Jisoo wasn't going to stop there. "I honestly thought you could take care of him, when I left your dorm I remember you saying you would take care of him. How could you ignore someone like Mark so easily, he clearly wasn't doing okay, anyone with eyes could tell, in fact two people from your company came forward." Jaebeom's eyes filled with confusion before snapping down to Mark and the guilt came back. "You live with the man, and it took your boss coming to you about him for you to see this." He took in a deep breath, watching the younger's face change from guilt to defeat, however he couldn't find it in him to hold back. "What was so important that you, as a leader, neglected your duties to a fellow band member? What could have been so much more important than the man laying on this bed? Do you realize he could have died? His heart could have stopped and he would have died." His voice was eeriely calm as he spoke, not once raising in volume, his dark eyes level with Jaebeom's own. "Are you all so self involved that you couldn't see him falling apart in front of you? I wonder if your ignorance will be forgiven this time."

Jaebeom just sat there, taking it all in. His eyes focused on the pale face of his sleeping brother, could he even call him that? Did he have a right to call himself Mark's brother? How could none of them have noticed? Were they all getting to be so self important that they weren't taking the time for each other? Why couldn't he have thought about Mark in all the time he'd been thinking about the others? What would he do if he weren't forgiven? How could they go on without Mark? Did this mean they were going to disband? His thoughts began to consume him, his guilt and doubt painted across his face painfully.

"Jaebeom-ssi," the elder started, seeing the path his thoughts were headed and knew he needed to stop them. "you know he'll forgive you. In fact, he's probably not even mad at you guys, because that's who he is." Jisoo, moved from the bed, motioning Jaebeom closer. Once Jaebeom had taken his place, he carefully slide Mark's hand into Jaebeom's. "Stay here, please." He demanded, needing to find out just how far away Jackson was before he started talking about Mark's health with anyone.

As soon as the door clicked shut Jaebeom looked down at his hyung. Mark looked so awful, and yet while sleeping, he looked so innocent and care free. The conversation they'd had in the bathroom played on repeat in his mind, Mark hadn't been trying to share the burden of being everyone's confidant, he was trying to justify getting some attention himself. He was just needing someone to tell him he mattered as much as everyone else on the team, he was just looking for the reassurance to be himself. They'd known each other for a long time, and yet Mark was still a mystery to them all.

"I'm so sorry." Jaebeom cried, holding Mark's hand to his forehead. Tears falling from his eyes.