10

chapter 14

Mark sighed heavily as he shut his phone off and dropped it on the floor. He got up from the couch and moved to his bedroom to grab his headphones. After putting them on, he plugged them into his phone before plugging his ear buds into them. He pressed play on whatever song was playing on his phone and laid down on his bed. Once he heard the music start to play, he instantly relaxed and closed his eyes, falling asleep quickly.

***

When Mark woke up again, it was already evening. He rolled over on his side and noticed that it was already dark outside. The sun hasn't set yet, which means that it's still early in the afternoon. Mark groaned out loud at the realization that he overslept once again. He was never good at waking up on time, but especially since he was used to sleeping late. However, due to his lack of sleep last night, it seemed like he was completely exhausted and had trouble opening his eyes.

After getting himself ready for the day, he walked out of the house and headed towards his workplace. The first thing he noticed upon arriving was the amount of students milling about the school courtyard. While the rest of the buildings and buildings around them were completely deserted, the school was crowded full of students talking amongst each other. Mark noticed how people seemed to be in pairs and groups, as if they were waiting for someone to join them. This made him feel somewhat better, knowing that he wouldn't be alone, but the feeling didn't last long. A couple of minutes after Mark arrived at work, he spotted someone heading towards him from a distance. It was none other than Yuta, the same friend that Mark had met at the coffee shop earlier that day.

Yuta approached Mark and greeted him with a bright smile.

"Good morning, Mark!" he said, flashing Mark his signature grin. "Sorry I'm late, but I got held back by a couple of problems at home. I hope I wasn't interrupting anything important."

"Not really," Mark told him. "Actually, I just got here myself. We just got in a few minutes ago."

"That's great," Yuta said with a hint of relief in his voice. "Listen, Mark. You have a couple of new customers coming in today so I'm kind of busy, but you can take care of them until the end of class or until I get there. Are you able to handle that?"

"Sure," Mark answered. "It's no problem."

Yuta smiled again before he started walking towards his office, leaving Mark standing there alone. Mark watched as Yuta went inside the office and locked the door, leaving Mark alone with the students that were still gathered around the courtyard. As Mark looked around, he saw Jungwoo chatting excitedly with Jeno and Renjun and a few others that he had never seen before. He also caught sight of Johnny and Jaemin walking together, laughing at something that Jisung was saying.

As he watched the group of students, Mark suddenly became aware of an unusual presence beside him. He glanced over and saw Jungwoo standing there awkwardly looking to his left, avoiding eye contact with Mark.

"Is something wrong?" Mark asked curiously.

"Oh, um...nothing," Jungwoo said, shaking his head. "I just remembered that I promised to meet up with some friends for lunch. See you around, Mark!"

"Ah, okay," Mark muttered, frowning at Jungwoo's reaction. "Wait, what?"

Before Mark could ask any further questions, he felt another presence step next to him and turned around to find Donghyuck standing behind him. He glanced down at the ground and shifted uncomfortably as he waited for Donghyuck to speak.

"What is it, Donghyuck?" Mark asked, not wanting to prolong the awkwardness any longer.

"Do you remember what I said yesterday?" Donghyuck asked quietly.

"About what?"

"You know," Donghyuck replied nervously. "The thing about being scared of the future and all..."

"Yeah," Mark agreed. "Why? Is something wrong?"

"Well, uhm," Donghyuck paused for a bit, seeming to be hesitant about what to say next. Finally, he exhaled deeply and continued speaking, "You know how we talked about us having kids?"

Mark furrowed his eyebrows. How could he possibly forget that? "Yes, I do."

Donghyuck's breathing hitched for a couple of moments as he tried to form a coherent sentence. After that, he spoke slowly, "Well, uhm, I...actually, um..."

A nervous smile appeared on Donghyuck's face as he rubbed the back of his neck, seemingly unsure of what to say next. Mark thought that Donghyuck seemed to be struggling with his words, so he decided to intervene.

"What is it, Hyuck?" Mark asked, genuinely curious about what Donghyuck was going to tell him.

Donghyuck hesitated for another couple of seconds, as if debating whether or not to tell Mark the truth. But eventually, he blurted out the words, "I..."

Mark remained silent as he let Donghyuck speak.