Love Me | MarkNoHyuckMin

chapter fourteen

"What the hell is happening with you?"

"Hi Lele?" Mark questions as he male steps into his apartment.

"Don't you 'hi Lele' me, what the fuck is happening in your love life?"

"What if I just wanna make friends?"

"Mhm", Chenle hums, full of attitude.

"What? I like them. They're nice."

"So am I but I don't think you're gonna have romantic feelings for me."

"I think that woulda happened by now."

"You never know. Which means you can't write off the idea of you liking them."

"I know." It's silent for a minute before Mark speaks again. "I accidentally brought up my exes. I just said one thing about...her and then I mentioned Darci. He was easier to talk about."

"Were you okay?" Chenle asks, now looking concerned.

Mark hates the look. He hates that his relationship with his ex-girlfriend broke him so much that he can still can't talk about her without getting emotional. He's over her, he's supposed to be over her. He never would've agreed to a blind date if he was still hung up on his ex bur whenever memories of her come back out into light, it feels like he's trying to move on all over again.

He'd liked Darci so much but their break up didn't hurt as much as it did with Annalise.

He hates that she still has power over him.

"I'm fine", he answers, too harshly for him to mean it.

Chenle doesn't say anything, aware that his best friend is probably gonna shut down. It doesn't stop him from putting his arms around Marks shoulders and pulling him down onto the couch so they're right next to each other. Chenle throws a leg over one of Marks to keep him in place.

"You don't have to talk about it", Chenle starts, "just let me support you."

Mark nods and tilts his head to the side, meeting Chenles head in the middle. It's probably to do distract him when Chenle takes out his phone and starts showing him a video of Jisung trying to bake a cake with no help from the pinkette besides "You're doing it wrong" and "That might be right" but it makes him laugh all the same.

Chenle smiles, hearing his best friend laugh. Unfortunately, Mark is the type of person that can laugh in any situation—almost any situation—no matter how he is feeling. He just continues showing him videos on his phone, hoping it's enough to distract Mark.

And it seems to be.

After a video taken by Jeno of Chenle and Jisung arguing over something stupid—which is half of their arguments—Chenle places his phone face down against his knee, letting them sit in silence.

After a moment, he breaks it. "I love you, Mark."

"I love you too, Lele."

The pinkette looks at his best friend. "It's okay if you still need time. It's okay if your heart and mind aren't in the same place about it but please promise me that, at least, platonically, you won't stop them from loving you too."

"I'm not gonna do that."

"Okay."

"I know you don't believe me but I like them. They seem like good people. I'll let them be my friends. I just hope that, if it ever gets that far, they won't like me before I'm ready to be liked."

"I think you all will be able to understand each other. You're all different but in some ways, you're not. And I think I'll be good if you can relate to them."