9

chapter 12

"What are you going to eat today, hyung?" Jaemin questioned.

"Hmm, I don't know," Mark admitted. "Do you guys know what Taeyong is having for lunch?"

"He should be back any minute from his meeting," Renjun replied.

"And then it should be our turn to pick," Jaemin suggested. "Any suggestions?"

"I haven't eaten yet," Donghyuck chimed in. "Can we order pizza?"

"Pizza!" Renjun exclaimed. "It sounds delicious! How about we have pizza for lunch?"

"Sounds good to me," Mark agreed, smiling. "How are you feeling, Hyuck?"

"I'm fine," Donghyuck responded, pushing his tray aside.

"Are you sure?" Mark asked, noticing the slight slump of Donghyuck's shoulders. "You don't look so good."

"Just tired," Donghyuck replied. "But seriously, I'm fine. Go ahead and eat."

"Okay."

As Mark began to dig into his salad, he glanced back up at Donghyuck every now and then. He watched as Donghyuck pulled a book out of his bag and opened it. He continued to watch Donghyuck as he flipped through pages and read what was written inside. When he finally looked away, he took notice of Jaemin staring at him. He looked up at Jaemin and raised an eyebrow at him, wondering why he was staring at him.

"Is something wrong?" Mark asked, breaking the silence between the two of them.

"Huh? Oh, no. Nothing at all," Jaemin said. "It's just, you've been staring at me for a while now."

"Am I?" Mark asked, sounding surprised. "Where did you get that idea?"

"From the way that you're watching me," Jaemin said nonchalantly. "Like you're actually concerned about me or something."

Mark stared at Jaemin in shock. What he wanted to say was, 'no I wasn't'. However, that didn't sound very convincing and he knew it, so instead he simply nodded. He then grabbed his sandwich and tore apart a piece of bread before taking a bite, leaving Jaemin to wonder whether he actually meant what he said. That question was answered a moment later when he found himself being shoved in the shoulder by Mark.

"Ow! What was that for?!" Jaemin complained, rubbing the spot that Mark had bumped into.

"For asking me weird questions," Mark retorted, narrowing his eyes at Jaemin. "And why the hell are you touching my sandwich? Do you want to break it, too?"

Jaemin blinked for a second, not knowing what to say in response. He didn't understand what Mark was getting upset about. Wasn't he supposed to be happy about Mark worrying about him? But then again, maybe Mark was just overreacting, seeing how everything was going perfectly fine right now. Jaemin sighed and decided that he might as well give in. So, he leaned in and gave Mark a quick peck on the cheek before sitting back straight up. Mark stared at Jaemin for a couple of seconds, blinking twice as he processed what happened. Before he realized, a smile formed on his face.

"Hey, hey! Why are you smiling? What did I do?" Jaemin questioned, slightly panicking.

"Nothing," Mark chuckled. "It's just that I missed this."

Jaemin didn't respond, but he smiled brightly. A smile that only grew bigger when Mark intertwined their fingers.

Chapter 13

"I'm sorry, I couldn't do anything about it. If she doesn't want to go then-"

"It's alright, Jungwoo," Mark cut him off. "It's okay."

"Are you sure?" Jungwoo asked, concern written all over his face.

"Yeah, it's okay. Besides, I would like to spend more time with you. Maybe we could go out together sometime."

Jungwoo smiled softly and shook his head, chuckling at the younger boy who always wanted to spend as much time as possible with him.

"Alright then. Well, I'll see you tonight then?"

Mark hummed in response as he walked towards the front door of his apartment. He stopped walking once he reached the door, turning around to face Jungwoo, and giving him one final nod before closing the door behind him. Once he saw that Jungwoo had disappeared from view, he turned around and walked into the living room, plopping down onto the couch. His mind drifted to yesterday, thinking about what happened. He was still confused by it all. They kissed and that seemed to trigger the whole situation, but why did he even do it? What made him do that? He was still trying to figure out why exactly he felt so guilty about it but there was nothing that he could do about it. It was already too late for him to change things.

As if the thoughts weren't bad enough already, his phone suddenly buzzed loudly. It must have been Jungwoo calling him because he noticed that he has received multiple messages from him. He picked up his phone and unlocked it, hoping that Jungwoo's message wouldn'