Sunshine | Markhyuck

5: social distancing at its finest

Vice Principal Lee now had orders put in place.

No one other than those with a signed pass was allowed next to or near Mark Lee of year 12.

Only 5 people had this pass, disregarding the teachers.

Lee Jeno

Na Jaemin

Huang Renjun

Park Jisung

And Zhong Chenle.

If anyone else were to come into contact with the boy, an immediate note was to be sent to the vice principal, and no one messed with Vice Principal Lee unless you had a true death wish. He may seem quite relaxed, but no one wanted to mess with the teacher who would probably kill them without hesitation if it were not illegal.

Seating arrangements and classes had to be altered so Haechan did not sit anywhere near the boy in classes, some of the classes he (and a few others to not look suspicious) were just straight up swapped out for others.

And that is how Mark ended up secluded in a seat by himself in the way back corner of Mr. Seo's class.

"I stand corrected, this is a fucking nightmare," Mark mumbled as he answered the questions. As if sneezing when the sun was around didn't make him feel insecure enough, now he was being segregated.

"Mark, how are you fairing?" Mr Seo walked over to his lonely table.

"I'm okay, sir," Mark smiled with gritted teeth, stabbing his work.

Mr Seo pursed his lips as he repressed his smile, "Well that's good, if you need anything, feel free to call me over." He tapped Mark's desk before walking off.

Mark groaned silently, sliding down his chair in despair as he sluggishly wrote the chemical equations in his book, the writing barely legible. The only good thing about his seating arrangement was the fact that he was sneezing less, as long as he didn't look out the window on the other side of the classroom, he was perfectly fine. Well as fine as you can get with the constant dryness of his skin.

Mark sat up abruptly, slamming his head down on the table. He was going to die from boredom in this class. Usually, he had either Yeonjun or Changbin next to him but with the new restrictions from his damn brother, he couldn't sit next to them. He had to wait until Mr Nakamoto's history class before he had Renjun. He needed to talk to Taeyong about changing the restrictions slightly just for science.

"Mark, can I please speak with you outside, Mr Nakamoto and I would like to discuss some things," Mr Seo gestured to him. Mark nodded lazily, peeling himself off his seat and dragging himself out the classroom.

Outside he greeted both teachers, bowing respectfully, "Yes, sir."

"We want to assist you in any way possible," Mr Nakamoto spoke with a warm smile, "is there anything we can do?"

"you could burn me at the stake if you want."

"No, sir, I'm fine as it is," Mark responded, "I actually find this beneficial as I can finally learn in a classroom." It wasn't entirely a lie, he finally wrote his notes in class, but fuck did he hate this.

"Mark- okay teacher mode off," Yuta waved his hands in front of his face, "shut the fuck up, man. I know for a fact you hate this."

"Yeah, but I can't say shit now, can I?" Mark snapped back, the student image disappearing completely.

"Is this cause the new kid?" Johnny asked, to which Mark nodded.

"Which kid?" Yuta turned to Johnny.

"Haechan."

Mark unconsciously tensed at the name, cursing at himself when he realised. Haechan. The name made spiders crawl down his spine, he hated it so much. He didn't want to be scared of him, he wanted to know him. Cause yeah, Taeyong was right, he was really fucking pretty, and Mark found him interesting and wanted to talk to him. But obviously that wasn't the case now.

"Ah right," Yuta nodded for a moment, "...who's that?"

"Picture what the sun would look like if they were a small Korean boy," Johnny laughed.

Yuta snorted, "that would make Mark allergic to him," he joked, completely unaware.

Mark's shoulders slumped, "and you'd be right apparently."

"...what?"

"Yeah, I don't understand either," Mark shrugged, crossing his arm, "it's why hyung did all this, so it would limit my contact with him."

Yuta pursed his lips as they threatened to tilt upward, "you're joking right?"

"I wish, you think I want this?" Mark glared at the elder, "I already sneeze every time I see the sun, you think I want to do this every time I see this person?"

Johnny folded his arms, rolling his shoulders back, "is it a bad reaction?"

"Somehow worse than my regular one, I swelled up like a fucking water balloon last time," Mark scrunched his face in disgust of himself.

Johnny winced in disgust as Yuta patted Mark's shoulder, "yikes, that's rough."

"Yeah, no shit."

"Okay," Johnny stood up straight, both Yuta and Mark taking it as a cue to change the professionalism of their conversation, "Mark, I'm sorry, but I need to keep you distanced from Haechan, Mr Nakamoto will do the same."

A little bit of light faded from the young boy's eyes as he nodded, "yes, sir."

"We shall discuss some leniency within your classes with Vice Principal Lee," Mr Nakamoto spoke, "until then we must remain cautious."

"If anything should occur, either of us or Mr Lee must be notified immediately," Mr Seo said sternly, "Mr Qian in the film and media rooms will now be there even during lunch to keep watch."

Mark's eyes widened slightly, his freedom being taken away bit by bit. He liked Mr Qian, don't get him wrong, but he wanted his damn privacy so he could talk to his friends in peace. Now he had some damn teacher winded into his conversations.

Mr Seo leaned down, "You know Kun, man, he's a chill dude," Johnny said reassuringly, even though it had no effect. Mark rolled his eyes subtly. Maybe he'll just sit with his friends then and text them in awkward silence.

"If you have no more queries, you can go back to class," Mr Nakamoto smiled at him.

Mark clenched his jaw, biting back every urge to just scream and throw everything and everyone out of the windows. This was unfair. And the more people prevented him from doing thing, the more he wanted to do them. To keep Mr Qian out of the film room during his breaks. To sit next to his classmates. To go outside in the sun. To just fucking be in the same damn room as the one new guy he desperately wanted to talk to.

Mark bowed politely, slapping on a masked smile as he did so before walking back inside to his lonesome table.

He was completely done with this shit.