i'm just a kid : markbeom, markjae, 2jae [editing]

17.

december 2022

it had been over a month since jaebeom was released from the hospital. his ankle was healed. his relationship with youngjae got increasingly worse as the month went on, though. youngjae wasn't coming over to jaebeom's house anymore at night like he usually did, he wouldn't text jaebeom back for hours. jaebeom's mind automatically assumed the worst. youngjae was cheating on him. was what the boy thought. he wasn't sure though.

jaebeom took on a full-time job as a cashier at an antique store a few blocks from his old high school. he took the job, not because he needed the money, but because he wanted an excuse to not spend time with youngjae.

jaebeom hadn't thought about mark since he saw him in the hospital. he didn't have time to.

december 9, 2022; 5:43pm

jaebeom leaned against the shelf which separated him from the customers. he was leaning up against it as the bell suddenly rang, signaling to jaebeom that a customer had entered the store. "welcome to the west avenue antique shop. is there anything i can do for you?" jaebeom asked the customer, as he does every customer. the customer shook his head, smiling and thanking jaebeom before going to an isle labeled old clocks.

jaebeom didn't pay much attention to the customer, but he looked up at the bell above the door. there was something about that bell that reminded him of the coffee shop he and youngjae went to in high school. suddenly, a memory came flooding back. when youngjae got into a fight with mark over him. "god, where are you, mark?" jaebeom thought to himself. he hadn't seen, or heard from mark since he saw him that night at the hospital.

he was brought back to reality when the customer placed an old clock from the 1800's onto the counter. "hi, sir. would you like to apply for a membership with us? it saves you money on every purchase and you get deals you wouldn't get without the membership." jaebeom said as his standard routine.

"yes, please." the customer answered.

"alright! i'll just need your name, phone number or email address, and home address for mail." jaebeom said.

"raymond tuan, and i'll have to pull my phone out to give you the other things. i apologize." the man said.

"that's okay... what did you say your last name was?" jaebeom asked, recognizing the last name.

"tuan." the man answered.

jaebeom stood there, trying to think where the name was from. he knew it was someone he knew — but who?

"do i know you from somewhere? you seem extremely familiar." the man said, looking at jaebeom.

"uh, i don't think so. maybe you've come in here before and you've seen me here?" jaebeom suggested.

"no no, i've never been here before. did you go to zara high school?" the man asked.

"only for my senior year." jaebeom answered, getting weary of why he's asking such questions.

"maybe you were friends with my son, mark." the man said.

jaebeom's heart sunk when he heard the name. "that's why tuan is familiar..." jaebeom thought to himself. he suddenly saw a phone laid in front of him, displaying a phone number, email, and an address. he took the phone gently, entering the information when a notification suddenly popped up from a contact labelled "mark". this caused jaebeom to nearly drop the phone but he quickly caught it before the man realized what was going on.

"we were friends our senior year. we hung out for about two weeks." jaebeom smiled, but inside he could feel his heart pounding. "you are all set with our membership program." he smiled again.

"thank you, young man. i'll have to let mark know i saw you today." the man said, collecting cash from his wallet.

jaebeom didn't say anything. he just took the money from the man, smiling as he counted it and entered it into the cash register.

"you have a good day, young man." the man said, taking the clock and walking out of the shop after jaebeom gave him a smile and slightly bowed.

his heart was racing, and that feeling didn't go away for almost his entire shift.