text me

3

it was finally time for break. he couldn't stop thinking about what the message could've been.

he opened the break room door, and grabbed his usual snack, crunchy cheetos and water. he sat down after grabbing his food, then typed in his password, tapping on the notification he had been wating to see for what seemed like ages.

unknown: jackson. or wang puppy. whatever sounds best to you.

he chuckled at the name wang puppy and changed the contact name before replying.

me: well, wang puppy, i'd love to learn more about you. but alas, i must go. i'm at work. text you at 5?

wang puppy™: sure. have fun.

mark smiled. he was happy to have a new 'friend'.

then he remembered; the cute boy who's order he'd taken today, his name was jackson.

also, the boy got a notification right after he texted jackson.

maybe it was just a coincidence.

or not.

he stopped thinking about it suddenly when he heard the door open. he prayed it wasn't minho.

god didn't answer his prayers.

"mark! get back to work!" he said, sitting down.

"sorry, minho. i got distracted." mark apologized, walking out of the room.

something weird about minho was that he would only call his employees informally. mark was now used to it, but all his other jobs weren't like that.

suddenly, minho yelled "mark!" which startled him, but he turned around and peeked his head into the room.

"yes?" mark said.

"you forgot your phone," he said, mischievously smiling, knowing he scared mark.

"ah, thanks." mark smiled, and shut the door.

"aigoo, i almost died," said mark, placing a hand over his heart. he then went back to work.

he stood at the regester once again, but this time he wasn't greeted by jackson. he was greeted by jaebum.

"hello, mark hyung. can i have my usual, and a cakepop for youngjae?" he asked, smiling.

jaebum smiling was something new to mark. he was glad to see jaebum so happy again. that's why he liked youngjae. youngjae made jaebum happy. jaebum's happiness made mark happy.

"yeah, 7 dollars, please." mark responded, hitting various buttons.
he payed and went back to sit with youngjae. the sight made him smile.

sometimes mark did miss the days when he himself had someone, although the relationship wasn't healthy.

he was so stupid to think that what was going on was okay. or that it would stop. or that he was loved.
he thought it was poetic. it wasn't. it was an ugly truth that he wasn't loved, and it hurt him even more than his boyfriend did that he had to leave.

by now, his smile faded. he hated when that happened. when he smiled, and was happy, but then it was all washed away because of the horrific memories. it felt as if he had been stabbed in the heart with the truth. he'd never forget the feeling.

suddenly, there was a realization; he was working at the counter. he saw a confused looking girl in front of him.

"um, are you okay, sir?" she asked, sounding concerned.

although he knew she didn't actually care, he was the least bit happy someone finally asked.

he didn't know her, and he was working, so he just lied. as always.

"oh yes, my apologies. what can i get for you?" he asked.