𝐀𝐅𝐅𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 ✧ l. mark ✓

three

"wrapped up in all the choices you're not giving to me."

dongmei slammed her chocolate milk carton on the table. "he what now?"

"it's so sad, even kids from other schools are calling him a loser," yiren sighed. she showed dongmei a snapchat screenshot of mark's private story, where he was practically begging seonmi to get back with him.

"but it's his private story! how did it spread?"

"when you post on the internet, nothing's private," yiren responded to dongmei, checking her other social media updates.

dongmei frowned. even though it didn't happen to her, she knew she would feel like a total loser if she was in mark's position right now. but she did understand that he was desperate.

so desperate, clinging onto a thread.

"people are so mean," dongmei mumbled and sipped on her chocolate milk.

"yeah, well, that's life," yiren stated, placing her phone on the table before opening up the cream bread she bought. "his loyalty amazes me every single day."

"it's not loyalty at this point, it's 'i'll do anything for you so please get back with me because i'm hella desperate', got it?" jaemin said, sliding into an empty seat at the girls' table.

"sucks to be him," donghyuck commented. "what a loser."

"hey, we're supposed to be his supportive buddies right now!" chenle exclaimed.

"lele!"

"mei-jie!"

"oh my god, i haven't seen you in so long!" dongmei grinned. "you grew...a lot."

chenle laughed. "you haven't seen jisung yet!"

"he's a monster," donghyuck whispered. "i swear he grows two meters every year."

suddenly, the room fell quiet. dongmei scanned the room as donghyuck asked, "is it because of what i said?"

"no, the lovesick boy is entering," jeno responded.

at the very second those words came out of jeno's mouth, dongmei's eyes fell upon mark. the state he was in was even worse than the one she saw at the hospital.

his eyes were bright red and sore, his dark circles hung heavily underneath his once-sparkling eyes, and his eyelids were patchy and rubbed dry.

but to dongmei, none of that mattered. it was his eyes that caught her attention: they weren't the same to her. once filled with love and adoration, now empty with nothing. it used to seem as if he held the world in his eyes, but now they were cold.

"gosh, he looks terrible," chenle pitied, eyebrows anxiously upturned.

as mark made his way around the canteen, eyes followed his every move and whispers left a trail behind. he could feel them and hear them clearly, but he didn't care at the moment. all that was on his mind was seonmi.

"shit, he's going to her table," renjun muttered.

dongmei grimaced. there was no way this was going to end well.

"seonmi, please," mark begged.

the said girl sighed with worry laced in her eyes. "i already said no, mark," seonmi softly answered.

"we can make it work! j- just, please!"

dongmei felt her heart stuck in her throat. it was painful watching the person she admired for so long get rejected hopelessly in front of the whole school. why did he have to be so desperate? the flashes and noise from people recording didn't even bother him.