The Cold Curse | MarkHyuck

Chapter 9:

"Can you move? Like MOVE?"
"I am moving but you keep sticking with me. Perhaps, you like me too much?"

Jaemin teases Jeno once again. Today was Haechan's first day of medication and Mark didn't want to mess up any of it. Since Jeno knew Haechan "half-trusted" Mark, he allowed Mark and Jaemin to go outside BUT they had to go with him.

Mark and Jaemin didn't have any problems but Jeno was having a lot of it.

"I think I found it!"

Mark announces as he sees a "common sage" just around the corner. The difference was that this certain herb glows with a slight golden color which was really odd. This place was also really odd anyway, what could Mark even expect?

Mark turns to give Jeno a confused look.

"Why does everything glow in here?"
"Because... it's magical... in here?"
"Yeah, but how?"
"I don't know?... Besides, I don't even know if we're not the only ones living here..."

Jeno says, rolling his eyes at Mark. He, then, sees Jaemin staring while being amused at the roses with a blue to pink gradient that glowed with a slight golden color. Something about it made Jeno smile.

Jaemin made Jeno smile.

Suddenly, Jeno realizes what he was doing, which was staring at Jaemin. Jeno shrugs it off, rolling his eyes once again as he helped Mark put the glowing sages in the basket. Jaemin snaps out of reality and helps Mark and Jeno with the sages, too.

Jeno knows it's odd... but doesn't it feel okay?

"I know you were staring at me, Jeno."
"... Yeah? What about it?"

Jeno asked with a rude tone that he most likely used to cover up what he's actually feeling.

"I made you smile and that's no secret."

~

After a while, the three returned to the palace with a basket of glowing sages. Mark informed Jaemin that sages were great to use for people who suffer from memory loss or dementia. Mark thought that the sages might help Haechan in a faster way since the sages they found were literally glowing.

As Jeno guarded Jaemin in the dungeon, Mark helped Jeno's mother make tea out of the sages. Mark was still surprised when even the tea glowed and then realized why would he be surprised when every herb in this abandoned kingdom glows.

Jeno's mother went to Haechan's room, about to wake Haechan for the day.

"Your highness..."
"... Hmm... Mrs. Areum?"
"Your highness, please have sage tea for breakfast."

Jeno's mother was very sweet towards Haechan. Her and Haechan have been close since Haechan was even born. That's why Jeno did not dare to hurt Haechan because he will also hurt his own mother.

That's why Jeno stayed with Haechan because he knows his mother loves him and will protect him.

"Sage tea? Where did-"
"The visitors went outside to search for them, your highness."
"... Were they with Jeno at least?"
"Yes, your highness."
"... Thank you, Mrs. Areum."

Haechan smiled at her as she exited his bedroom. There he saw Mark entering his bedroom, smiling at him. Again, Haechan found himself weird already when it's literally just the start of his day.

Mark stands beside Haechan's bed, leaning on the wall sideways as he looks at him with a smile.

"... Can you stop?"
"Stop what?..."
"... I don't know?"
"... You know I find you odd sometimes but it's alright with me, I guess?"
"..."
"... Not even a 'thank you'?"
"... Thank you..."
"You're welcome, your highness."

Mark jokingly says as Haechan just sat there, blank faced and over-thinking once again.

"... May I sit beside you, your highness?"
"Do you think we're a couple?"
"... We're a what?-"
"Nothing. Forget that."

Haechan abruptly says because he couldn't think about anything straight. Haechan thought that Mark didn't hear what he was asking but Mark knew that and was ready to answer. Mark didn't take the opportunity to tease Haechan about it because he knew Haechan is currently a very serious person.

Mark definitely knew what Haechan meant but he kept it all under the slight blush on his cheeks.

"... Sit."
"... Alright..."

Mark sits beside Haechan which was very awkward since they just started talking and Haechan doesn't even remember him at all. Haechan doesn't even know what he's doing because he trusted Mark too early that Mark sits beside him on his bed inside his own bedroom. Haechan most likely decides with a long period of time for thinking but it suddenly just changed when Mark came to his life.

On Mark's side, he was ready to prove to Haechan that he can bring back his old self which may take a long time. But Mark was ready and he's never going to give up until Haechan finally can feel emotions. After all, it was Mark's promise.

"Do you want to talk about the past, Haechan?"
"... I do have a sage tea and a calm mind right now so... sure."
"Alright so I know a lot of healing methods with memory loss and such. This one that we're going to try is meditating since it really helps people know and remember the broken fragments of their past. That's the same with you, right?"
"... Kind of."
"So we do it this way and if it works within a week then we continue with this method. Maybe I'll call for help too if we both need it."
"Sure."

Haechan shrugs but he fully agrees with what Mark suggested. Throughout his whole life, Haechan never meditated even at least once since he never really thought about it especially because of his reckless attitude at fifteen years old. Mark knew that this might help Haechan because Mark was an expert with this type of medication.

Mark was a well-known herb expert, a well-educated beginner as a psychiatrist, and an informative business man in Vancouver. Who wouldn't trust him at that point? He literally had a lot of achievements but he chose to live in Korea again...

Because he knew he had a promise to Haechan and that escaping his arranged marriage would be the best time to prevent himself from breaking a promise.