ᴄʟᴏꜱᴇʀ ᴀɢᴀɪɴ [MARKHYUCK]

[one]

“Haechan-ah, wake up” there is a gentle voice disrupting Haechan’s sleep. As he tried to open his eyes, a painful headache suddenly attacked him causing him to frown. 

The person who woke him might have noticed his abnormality as they placed their slightly cold hand on top of Haechan’s head and caressed him. 

“Uri maknae, wake up now. We have practice soon. We only get an hour to get ready” 

Haechan fights over his discomfort and slowly opens the lid of his eyes only to see their leader, Taeyong, who is sitting on the edge of his bed with concern written on his face. 

“Hey baby, are you okay?” Taeyong softly asked Haechan who was still staring blankly at him. This question broke Haechan away from his preoccupied thoughts. 

“Yeah, I think I am fine. I will go wash up now, hyung” With a reassuring smile, Haechan stood up from his bed to go to the bathroom outside their shared room. 

After washing up, Haechan habitually joined his teammates for breakfast and took a seat next to the left side of a half-awake Jaehyun. They enjoyed their breakfast even though they were still tired from the excessive practices they had these days. 

It was at this moment that Haechan noticed something off. He looked around him but he couldn't find the silhouette of his best friend. He scanned them and it seemed like no one noticed anything missing between them but  Haechan.

“Hyungdeul, did any of you see Mark hyung?” 

The expression they gave to Haechan made the maknae awkward. They glanced at each other before Taeil took the chance to ask their maknae. 

“Which Mark, Channie?” Haechan was bewildered by this simple question. Seeing his teammates’ reaction, it did not seem like they were faking things. Could it be…

“Eumm, Mark Lee? One of the best rappers in our group?” – Haechan

“No baby, there are only 8 of us” – Taeyong

“Are you asking about the Canadian solo rapper? The only person I knew with the name Mark Lee was him” Johnny’s statement caught Haechan off guard. He stared at his teammates in shock. 

“Could it be that our Haechanie was dreaming that Mark lived with us? You like him, huh?” Jaehyun who was staring into space all this time teased their maknae. He gives the younger one a playful smirk that earns him a slap on the arm from Taeyong who sits on his right. 

“Can you not tease Haechan like that? Eat your food and stop daydreaming” 

Despite his hyungs' worried glance over him, Haechan tried not to trouble them and finished his breakfast before their manager arrived at their dorm. 

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Throughout the ride to the company, Haechan pretended as if he had not asked out of the ordinary and played games on his phone to distract himself. Jungwoo, who was so eager to sit next to him, had already fallen asleep. 

Haechan took this opportunity to search about Mark Lee on the internet. When he found the information about Mark, he was once again dumbfounded. 

[Mark Lee, a Canadian male who debuted under Jhones Sources rocked the world with his powerful rap that could outstanding the worldwide record owned by Aminam. He has a total of albums and 3 mini albums released in the past 3 years after debuting. 

It was well-known by his fans how strict Mark is in terms of his career and private life. By far, we have not seen any scandals or bad rumors going on about him. He was once rumored to be the mysterious actress named Hailey Browns yet Mark took this rumor off the internet with just one sentence, “I am gay, not necessarily wanting to find another half at this moment”. The whole internet was shocked by his straightforwardness but his fans soon calmed down and understood Mark did not want to be coupled with anyone just because of the short words spoken between them etc,..]

Reading the article explaining Mark’s life makes Haechan uncomfortable. This Mark Lee was not his Mark. Not his best friend who debuted twice in the same group with him. Not the one who said that he almost left the company because of Haechan. Tears welled up making Haechan’s vision blurry. He looked down on his empty finger with no engagement ring on it. 

It seems like he had come into an alternate universe wherein he and Mark did not grow up together. In this world, they had never met each other because they were in different countries to begin with. 

He wiped off the tears with his thumb and closed his eyes to calm his nerves. He had been exhausted thinking about all the possibilities of Mark since this morning. 

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“Okay good! You guys can rest for 10 minutes before we start the next part!” The boys disperse, finding a spot for them to rest. Johnny has been watching Haechan who looks lost in thought since they stepped into the practice room. He approached the younger one and crushed him with a bear hug that strangely, according to Haechan, made him feel safe. 

Surely, the moment Haechan’s entire body was enveloped by the hug, he silently cried but from how unstoppable the tears were, Johnny knew he was hurt by something deeply. Johnny patted him on the back soothingly. He could feel their maknae was troubled with something but if he did not want to tell them, he would not force him. 

After a few minutes of crying, Haechan wiped his tears on Johnny's shirt making the older one shriek but in a joking manner. Haechan giggled at Johnny’s exaggerated action. Thanks to Johnny, Haechan finally feels a little bit better. 

“Done crying, bear?” What Johnny hated the most was when his baby bear bottled up everything to himself and in the end, it made Haechan depressed. 

Haechan nodded his head and patted the back of Johnny’s back to reassure him. Because of Johnny and Haechan hugging in the corner, Doyoung noticed Haechan’s swollen eyes the moment he saw Haechan look up. 

“Hey, is there something wrong?” He stroked Haechan’s hair when he received only a sad smile from their maknae. 

“How many minutes of rest do we have?” – Haechan

“There are 6 more minutes left, why?” – Doyoung. 

Haechan signals Johnny to let him go before hugging Doyoung’s torso. He gives Doyoung a knowing look, he wants Doyoung to buy him drinks and snacks from the vending machine not far from their practice room. 

Doyoung sighed as he returned the warm hug and left the practice room with Haechan still hugging him. Johnny smiles with ease the moment Haechan starts smiling and acting like a spoiled child again. 

“Hyung, hyung! Look! Doyoung hyung offered to buy me some snacks. Haechan excitedly went over to Taeil and Taeyong who were sitting on the double sofa. 

“Oh how nice of you Doyoungie” Taeyong sent a teasing smile to Doyoung making the latter grunt in annoyance. 

“I did not offer anything. It was this spoiled brat that wanted me to buy them” 

Haechan sat down on the floor while leaning on the sofa as he opened the package of his snack. Taeyong lovingly played with Haechan’s hair while Taeil took one of the snacks to eat it. 

“But hyung, you did not even refuse when I begged you to buy me these” Haechan gave an innocent look at Doyoung who looked so done with Haechan’s shenanigans. 

Without any words to retaliate against their evil maknae, Doyoung could only tackle the younger one with a hug and tickle him.

A cheerful laugh fills the spacious practice room. 

|Author's note: Hey there! Thanks for reading this story! Sorry for my sweetie hope_less_loser, I told you that I was going to make just a one-shot story yet here I am making it into a chapter bc I accidentally wrote too much. Don't worry, this story is already complete <3|