What if...? || Markhyuck

-28-

[september 2020]

[donghyuck]

When the error message still appeared on the monitor after three hours of constant fixing efforts, I came to the conclusion that there was no more reason to fight this damn machine. I had no idea how old this computer was but it was definitely the oldest of them all here, and, as mistakenly claimed, indestructible. This posed a certain threat to the entire network that merged our database but Steven seemed to be terribly sentimental in this respect and couldn't take this equipment to pieces.

"I'm sorry man but I don't think any care treatments will help here anymore," I said, trying to sound a bit like an empathetic friend who feels sorry for his friend.

"Well," the man sighed heavily, resting hands on hips. "You tried," he murmured, implicitly thanking me for efforts. I nodded in confirmation. We stood in silence, looking at the old computer in the corner of the room. I felt a bit like at some weird funeral, where it was time to honor the victim with a minute of silence and maybe even a spontaneous tear rolling symbolically down the cheek. I pretended to sympathize with Steven and unite in mourning but I was a bit awkward. Perhaps that's why I was happy when Zayn entered the room unannounced. Although, in fact, it was a bittersweet satisfaction.

"Hey," he said unsurely, which surprised me. Bravado and Suskind's sense of superiority always written on his face were now hidden somewhere. The boy entered slowly, closing the door behind him. Without guard and company he seemed tiny and meek. I felt bad thinking like that when I compared this impression to the hard evidence that put Zayn in a completely different light. I had the impression that feeling a bit of sympathy towards him, I was cheating on Mark, who wouldn't like my thoughts at all. I would even be inclined to say that he'd have bumped me off if he could read them.

"You can't just walk in here like that," Steven said coldly, without giving in to the delusion.

"Marco sent me," he explained quickly. In the end, the man aroused respect, it couldn't be hidden.

"In order to?" my friend was surprised, quite skeptical. And indeed, it was quite unusual behavior even for the unpredictable Perez.

"Should I help Haechan in carrying some boxes to the archive?" he asked uncertainly, looking for an ally in me. I decided to free him from Steven's thunderous look, although for such a nasty mutilation of my nickname he should immediately go to this basement the next floor below.

"Ah yes..." I muttered under breath, as if I had just remembered it and as if it was something very important. I rubbed neck, looking reluctantly at the stack of cardboard boxes that lay against the wall. "We really have to do it," I admitted with heartache. I didn't really feel like running with boxes all over the warehouse, especially since I was planning to go to Minhyung in few minutes. After all, some pleasures in the face of this kind of work were rather side motives and I had to acknowledge the superiority of these boxes in the hierarchy over the need to satisfy the desires of a foolish heart.

"I'll open the door for you," Steven sighed, having to acknowledge his anger as irrelevant to orders in advance, though I knew he would gladly argue with someone about it. He came to work this morning with this combat attitude. Any time it seemed that if someone would upset him, he wouldn't even wonder and just hit him today. There were also such days in our lives. We had to accept it if we wanted to cooperate harmoniously.

Steven entered the door code for us, which only he knew for safety. It didn't bother me at all because it meant less responsibility for me and less concern with unnecessary numbers. The man underpinned the door with a chair and gave me a questioning, long look. I shrugged shoulders. I knew he had a meeting with Marco and averagely likes the idea of leaving us alone but what could he do? I winked with a smile to cheer him up. I won't die here. Zayn would rather not do anything to me in our area. He would have to be an idiot because he wouldn't have left alive - this is quite a logical conclusion, which probably also reached Steven this second because he inhaled heavily and nodded in silent acceptance and then blew through.