alters » nct dream

54

"hyung, where are you right now?" asked jisung from the other end of the line as soon as mark picked up his call.

mark was at the florist when he received the call, a bouquet of red roses in his hand as jisung and him decided to meet up in 10 minutes at dream cafe.

when jisung arrived with chenle, mark was seated on one of the chairs in the cafe, scrolling through his phone with the bouquet resting on the table.

"hyung," called the two youngest, making the called shift his attention to the two. "oh hey,"

"are you visiting noona?" asked jisung although he knew the answer the moment he saw the bouquet.

mark nodded, "it's been a while since i last visited." he said, not in the happiest tone, "what's up? why did you want to meet up?"

"jisung and i made friendship bracelets," said chenle, fishing out the two bracelets they made, "we made one for noona and you."

chenle's words touched mark's heart more than chenle and jisung even intended. his eyes were locked on the two bracelets in his hands. the red one they made for jinhye made his heart ache, enough to make his vision blurry from the tears pooling in his eyes.

and although he pretended to be okay, chenle and jisung could see the tear that escaped his eyes before he quickly wiped it off with the back of his hand.

"you guys are so cute," he muttered, voice shaky. "thank you so much, chenle and jisung. i'll make sure i won't lose it," 

he released an empty chuckle as he wiped the remaining tears in his eyes. the maknaes didn't mutter a word but instead rubbed mark's back with a soft smile on their face.

they only stayed together for a few more minutes before chenle and jisung said they needed to pass the bracelets to jaemin and eunha. they bid goodbye to mark, before leaving the cafe.

it took mark a few more minutes to feel better before he left the cafe, tightly gripping the bouquet in his hand and the red bracelet as he made his way to the cemetery. he exhaled a deep one as he opened the gate to the cemetery. it surely has been a while since he came, as the past few weeks have been very busy for him. his feet led him to the grave of his loved one, her name engraved on the stone, 'Na Jinhye'.

a weak smile formed on his face as he read the name. "i'm here, jinhye."

he put the red roses down before sitting down on the empty spot next to her grave. "it's been awhile, right? i'm sorry." 

he breathed out a sigh as his eyes wander around the long stretch of blue sky. for some reason, he found comfort in this sad place. no other place can make him feel like at home than this place. of course, he has his own home with his family, but jinhye felt like a special home to him.

"do you remember that place you really liked?" started mark, picturing the wall he passed by earlier, a wall where they doodled on.

"the doodles we left for fun are still there. they haven't changed," he continued.

it was just a few months after jinhye and jaemin moved to nct. mark and jinhye stayed back at school for extra studies so mark walked her home when they were heading back. they walked pass a wall in the streets that people usually draw and write on. it was like a wall for people to leave messages for the future them. he remembered exactly the message he wrote down for jinhye to read in the future.

'in such a short time, you've brought me so much happiness, jinhye. maybe it's too early to say this, but i know that i want to keep you in my life.'