ɪ sᴀʏ ɪᴛ ᴅᴏᴇsɴ'ᴛ ᴍᴀᴛᴛᴇʀ (ʙᴜᴛ ɪᴛ's ᴋɪʟʟɪɴɢ ᴍᴇ ɪɴsɪᴅᴇ)

10 || ʟᴏᴏᴋ ʙᴀᴄᴋ ᴀᴛ ᴡʜᴀᴛ ɪ'ᴠᴇ ʟᴏsᴛ (ᴄᴏᴜɴᴛʟᴇss ᴛʜɪɴɢs ɪ'ᴠᴇ ʟᴏsᴛ)

Mark comes back when its half-past midnight, a little damp from the light rain that had started just a few minutes after he left. His shoes were slightly ripped from the side because of how long he had run for and his throat was parched. He caught sight of his parents sitting in the living room, their head in their hands and the lights dimmed out. At the sound of the door opening, his dad jumped up from his seat, his eyes red-rimmed and Mark felt terrible. It was his fault again, wasn't it?

"Mark!" His dad yelled, hurrying over to the door, tripping over a few shoes that were misplaced. He immediately wrapped his arms around his son and pulled him close, ignoring the way Mark's arms remained glued to his side. "Where were you? Where did you run off to? We were so worried-"

"I'm sorry," Mark muttered, lowering his head in shame. His parents froze by his side and slowly pulled away, looking a little surprised at the sudden apology, as if they had forgotten their argument during his disappearance. "I shouldn't have run away like that and I shouldn't have been angry at you guys. I'm sorry."

Before his parents could say anything else, probably give a half-assed apology back and hope for him to accept the engagement, Mark shrugged their hands off himself and began to make his way up the stairs.

There was no point arguing with his parents, he figured that out when he cried his eyes out on a bench in the park, hoping the people who passed by him would pretend they couldn't see his tears (they did and a few gave him some tissues - he would've preferred they acted as if he didn't exist). His parents were always hard-headed. They believed their opinion was superior to Mark's, after all, they were his parents, they had more experience in life. They would know better.

Mark shut the door to his room and slid down, pulling his knees to his chest once he was seated. His head hurt and he didn't know what to do. His friends had left him, no one believed him and he was pretty sure everyone in his year thought of him as a weirdo. His perfect highschool life was ruined. There was really no point in trying to fix anything.

Mark wanted to blame Donghyuck for it all. If the younger boy was never part of his life this wouldn't have happened. Yerim wouldn't have had a reason to break up with him, Jisung would still be his friend, Renjun and Lucas wouldn't have abandoned him as quickly as they did and maybe, just maybe, his parents would've loved him more than they currently did.

But then again, Donghyuck wasn't to blame for Yerim losing interest in him, or for Jisung to cut off their weak friendship, or for Renjun and Lucas having been completely useless friends. Maybe he was to blame for Mark's relationship with his parents. At least there was one thing Mark could hate Donghyuck for with his whole heart.

-

Studying seemed a lot easier now that nothing was distracting him. He had no one to speak to on his phone, there was no one offering him help for his subjects. His teachers were useless, barely providing him with any help when he asked them which universities would be best for the course he had chosen. Again, there was no one there for Mark to lean on.

"Mark," he heard someone say his name. Raising his head as slow as he could, so that the person standing opposite him would get the idea that Mark wasn't interested, he wondered who it could've been. Who would bother talking to him now, after months of being shunned by everyone? "Are you okay?"

It came as a surprise to see Donghyuck staring down at him. Mark paused. It felt strange, being the one who was looked down upon. It brought a chuckle out of Mark. After everything he had done throughout his life, he ended up being in the position he thought he would never end up in. He was where he thought Donghyuck would be.