7

chapter 9

Jaehyun returned with two small bags in his hands and handed one of the smaller bags to Mark.

"Here is your medicine. Take it slowly, okay? It won't hurt you to take it slowly," Jaehyun said softly.

Mark nodded and slowly opened the lid of the bottle of pills. He took one pill out and swallowed it. He closed the container and put it on the nightstand next to the bed and then lay down.

"What are you going to do now?" Mark asked after a few minutes of silence.

"I'm gonna start looking for jobs and maybe I can find myself some work." Jaehyun replied.

"Well, good luck with that," Mark smiled. "I hope that you find the job that makes you happy."

"Thanks, kid," Jaehyun said with a grin before standing up and heading for the bathroom.

Mark sat there silently for several minutes and tried to relax himself. With the help of his medication, he was starting to get sleepy. He slowly drifted off, only to be awakened when Jaehyun came back and sat down beside him again.

"How're you feeling now?" Jaehyun asked Mark.

"Better now," Mark admitted. "Why did you come back?"

"I wanted to check on you and make sure that you weren't hurt," Jaehyun shrugged. "You never passed out like that when we first met earlier. If you're feeling alright now, we should probably get going. We still have a lot to do today."

"Yes sir," Mark said sarcastically and rolled his eyes before getting off the bed and following Jaehyun out of their room.

"Where are the others?" Mark asked when they finally arrived in the living area of their floor.

"Sungjin hyung and Hoseok hyung are in the kitchen, preparing our lunch. Taeyong hyung is in his studio and Johnny hyung is watching television. Donghyuck hyung and Renjun hyung are at home playing games."

"Alright. Ready to go?" Mark asked with a smile.

"Always."

The two of them made their way out of the apartment building. Once they were outside, Mark stopped for a moment to stretch his arms out. They walked down the hall until they found themselves in front of Jaemin and Chenle's apartment. As they approached the door, Jaemin opened the door and let them in.

"Mark! Hi!" Jaemin greeted enthusiastically. He pulled Mark inside and hugged him tightly. "I haven't seen you in forever. How have you been?"

"I've been great, actually," Mark answered happily. "And yourself? What's going on?"

"Nothing much, actually," Jaemin responded. "It's just that Renjun and Jeno came by yesterday afternoon and we spent the whole day with them. We're going to watch a movie later tonight and maybe order pizza for dinner. How does that sound?"

"Sounds great," Mark said with a smile. "We'll see you guys tomorrow. Have fun."

"Will do. Bye!"

Jaemin waved goodbye before turning around and heading into the living room. A moment later, Chenle joined him in the living room. Mark could hear him laughing as Jaemin and Chenle argued about what kind of pizza they'd like.

"Did you talk to Jaehyun yet?" Mark asked Jaemin as he entered the living room.

"Yeah," Jaemin nodded. "He seems okay. He was just asking me if I felt well and if I thought I was getting too tired recently. He was surprised when I told him that I was fine now."

"Oh. Well, hopefully that means that nothing else happened last night. Hopefully you'll be safe," Mark sighed.

"Hey, I'm not an idiot," Jaemin protested. "Something bad has definitely happened. If I'm lucky, I might get caught up in another case by the end of the month and then I'll be okay."

"Right. Of course," Mark agreed.

Just then, Chenle emerged from the bedroom and headed over to his brother.

"I think it's time we leave for school, don't you think?" Chenle asked as he grabbed his bag from under the couch.

"Sure. Let's go," Jaemin nodded and stood up from his seat.

Mark and Jaemin followed Chenle out of the apartment. They stepped out of the building, only to find the rest of the squad sitting on the concrete steps waiting for them. Mark took a quick look around before walking up to the other boys.

"Hi, everyone," Mark greeted once he got close enough to hear them.

"Hi Markie," Doyoung replied.

Mark glanced over at Donghyuck who was standing by himself on the opposite side of the steps.

"Hey Donghyuck," Mark said to the younger boy. "I missed you. Where did you go yesterday?"

"My parents sent me to visit my grandfather," Donghyuck explained as he raised his arm and scratched his neck. "So, it's nice to see you again. And how are you doing? Last time I talked to you, you seemed very shaken up."

"I am a bit shaken up. There were two guys that I didn't recognize, but that doesn' mean that I couldn't recognize them," Mark muttered. "They were wearing black hoodies, black masks and sunglasses. They were wearing masks, so it was hard to tell if they were male or female. One of the guys was taller than the other one, so I think it was a guy and a girl. And the second guy was shorter than the first one. So I doubt that it was a guy and a girl."

"Is that why you passed out earlier? Were you sick?" Donghyuck asked. "Have you been eating properly lately?"

"I have, Hyuck," Mark insisted, slightly irritated by the fact that Donghyuck had interrupted his story.

"You're always telling us not to worry about you and that you're fine and stuff, but we always worry anyways," Doyoung commented.

"That's because you guys don't know the danger that I'm in. I almost died last week, remember?" Mark reminded the others.

Doyoung shook his head, seemingly annoyed by what Mark had just said. Mark knew that Doyoung had a point. Although it was true that Mark had managed to survive the attack by escaping and running away from the attackers, he still almost died because of it.

"Come on," Chenle said, interrupting the conversation. "Let's hurry up and go to school. I want to get this day over with already."

"Are you sure?" Mark asked. "There's no need to rush. We still have quite a long way to walk."

"We'll be okay," Jaemin assured him. "Don't worry. We're all here and ready to go."

"Okay."

Mark turned and looked at his friends.

"Are you guys ready for school? Do you have everything that you need?"

"Yeah, we're ready," Doyoung answered.

"Great. Now then, shall we head out?"

The four of them walked out of the building together, but Mark stopped short when something caught his eye. He saw that Jaemin, Doyoung and Donghyuck hadn't noticed what had caught his attention yet, so he walked ahead of them for a few seconds. After he reached the corner, he looked back at the group. Then, when he didn't see any signs of them coming after him, he quickly dashed across the street and ran towards the park where he usually would meet up with Jaehyun and Taeyong. He knew that Jaehyun would be there, but he was also pretty sure that Taeyong wouldn't be. Taeyong was probably busy with other things right now and Jaehyun...