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

13 || ɪ ᴅᴏɴ'ᴛ ᴡᴀɴɴᴀ ʙᴇ ʟᴇғᴛ ʙᴇʜɪɴᴅ, ᴛᴀᴋᴇ ᴍᴇ ᴛᴏ ʏᴏᴜ ɴᴏᴡ

"I'm sorry," Yerim cried out, the tears dripping continuously from her face. Mark stared at her with wide eyes. What was he supposed to do? Whilst they were dating, Yerim never revealed her vulnerable side and neither did Mark. This was all new to him. "I'm sorry, Mark. I should've never told Jisung about you and Donghyuck and I should've never jumped to conclusions. I'm sorry for telling everyone about it and then throwing you under the bus."

Mark cleared his throat as the burden on his chest felt heavier than ever before. "Why are you apologising now?" He asked, his voice wavering as his eyes began to sting. This could be a trick, a sort of prank. Was Jisung going to appear from the door behind Mark and laugh at how quick he was to accept Yerim's apology? Was she apologising for calling Mark a cheater, for being unfaithful herself or for the hell she had created for Mark at school? There was no way this was real. Nearly two years had passed since that incident and only now Yerim seemed to realise her mistake?

"I wanted to apologise to you before," she mumbled, rubbing her face with the sleeves of her shirt. Grimacing, Mark reached out and passed her a tissue. "Thanks," she quietly wiped her face clean and turned back to Mark. "I know I'm late and that this is long due, but I really am sorry."

This couldn't be true, right? There was no way Yerim would go out of her way just to apologise to Mark. She had Jisung and everyone else, his absence must've not felt like anything. So how did she even realise what her mistake was? What if Donghyuck had spoken to her? What if— Mark shook her head. This was not the time to be accusing people who were no longer in his life.

He took a deep breath and ran his hand down his face. Mark could be considered naive or gullible after doing this, but he couldn't refuse a crying Yerim. Even if he no longer had feelings for her, she was still someone he held quite close to his heart, despite the false accusations she had thrown upon him. "Yerim," he said softly, lightly brushing his hand against hers, halting her movements. "I'm sorry as well, I should've told you clearly what my relationship with Donghyuck was, even if it wasn't one I wanted."

Yerim choked on a sob and wrapped her arms around Mark. "No, no! Don't apologise! I'm the one who twisted the story. If I hadn't told Jisung about it and he hadn't convinced me to get revenge on you, none of this would've happened."

Mark pat the back of Yerim's head awkwardly as he felt his shoulder become increasingly damp. This was strange. Their sudden intimacy felt weird. Even when they dated, the only time they were this close was when the two of them weren't in their right minds, either drunk or high. Thinking back on it, Mark wondered if they really liked each other. If they did, Yerim wouldn't have ever left him that quickly and neither would Mark have felt more offended by Jisung's betrayal than Yerim's. 

"No," Mark muttered to himself, curling his arms around Yerim's waist and pulled her close. "I really did like you."

"Same," Yerim replied, having heard the words Mark had said into her hair. "I really did like you, Mark. It's just, come on, I easily wavered, shit was going on at home and my grades were falling. The chances of me getting a scholarship were close to none. Everything was piling up and Jisung was constantly breathing down my neck, telling me to break up with you and date him instead. Then when I heard that you were engaged, I thought that maybe you were just using me, you know, to pretend you were straight."

"You thought that's what I was doing?" Mark asked, pulling away from the hug to look at her with surprise.

"I mean could you blame me for that? I come over to your house and your parents tell me you had gone over to your fiance's house to drop off some food," Yerim sniffled, leaning back in her seat, her cheeks flushed and her eyes bright red. Mark stared down at her before falling down onto the chair opposite her.