4 o'clock / markoeun

#41

“hello, we're nct!”

another day of busy schedules, as always. even after a year, mark gets little to no rest days. even so, he has to keep a smile on his face and greet everyone. once he reached to nct's waiting room, he plopped himself onto the sofa, letting out a huge sigh.

“are you tired, mark?” taeil asked with the softest gaze ever. mark nodded tiredly. taeil patted his shoulder a bunch of times and his patting skill works everytime, so mark dozed off to sleep unknowingly, feeling a tad bit better.

“oh, are you guys the new girlgroup?”

“yes, please take care of us well! here's our album, our members are huge fans of you, we hope that you'll listen to our first mini album well. we also wrote the lyrics ourselves, and hina even choreographed some of the dances – ”

“wow, seriously? hina, you've grown so much!”

“that was so unnecessary.. i only helped a little with the choreography, it's no biggy.”

“i thought nct had nine members, though? where's one more?”

“oh, he's asleep. just.. ignore him. he's on the sofa there, he needs rest. poor boy.”

“eun.. you wanna go talk to him – ”

“i think we have to go soon, guys. i'll wait for you outside.”

the loud chatter in their waiting room woke mark up. he stretched and let out a satisfied groan, staring at all his members who were crowded around at the door. he stood up and walked over to them, blinking a few times in surprise to see a rookie group who came to greet them.

“oh, hello. i'm mark.” he bowed his head and coughed into his fist. “sorry my voice is hoarse, i just woke up.”

“sunbae! nice to meet you, we're – ”

“wait..” mark rubbed at his eyes and blinked to get a clearer vision of the girls standing before him. one of them looked so familiar... “cat?”

she let out a scoff before a fond smile took over her features. “it's hina, mark. it's been a while.”

“wait,” mark glanced quickly at johnny who shot back a knowing look, and then back at the girls. “this means – ”

“are you guys done?” another girl peeked in right at that time, and her eyes met mark’s. both went quiet and weren't able to get words out, and they held the eye contact for a full thirty seconds.

it's not like mark counted. it's not like mark's heart was beating so wildly at that time. it's not like mark realized how much he missed her.

“eun – ”

“we have to go soon, guys.” koeun turned away quickly, gesturing to the girls. her members listened to her obediently, bidding the nct members goodbye and bowing 90 degrees to show respect. her back was still facing mark, and he realized how pretty she looked with her hair reaching down her back, dyed a pretty shade of dark purple. mark also realized that her bangs were gone, and she looked so much different than how she looked a year ago.

mark was so busy staring at koeun that he didn't realize hina was standing before him until she waved her hand in front of his face. “i'm here, dummy. where are you looking at?”

“oh, hina,” mark gulped down the lump forming at his throat and managed a smile. “it's good to see you again.”

“same goes for you. not sure if you noticed, but you can thank me later.” hina prepared to jog off to join her members before mark could ask what she meant. “see you next time! bye, donghyuck! bye, guys!”

his members all said their goodbyes to hina. mark still haven't recovered from his state of daze and confusion. a hand was placed on his shoulder, and he was met with donghyuck who gave him the “just WHAT were you doing ” look. “check your jacket pocket.”

mark's hand went into his jacket pocket and pulled out a neatly folded paper. he unfolded it neatly to find some numbers on it, and a message that said 'you better text me, or i'll find you. number above is you-know-who's (you better text her first) and below is mine. see you guys again soon! :) hina’.

the slightest hint of smile was seen on mark's face and he exhaled. how much has he missed hanging out with them, or just talking to them? a lot. he made a mental note to add their numbers into his phone the first thing they reach their dorm.

“hold on,” mark widened his eyes, “i didn't get to talk to her – ”

“it's okay, mark.” doyoung patted his back a few times, each time harder than the last one. he winced in pain as donghyuck stifled his laugh in. “we're gonna see them for the whole month, you have plenty of time.”

mark shoved the piece of paper back into his pocket and wondered what he should say to her. there was a lot, and even though doyoung assured that he has a lot of time, he feels like there's too much things to say but too little time. he stared out the door where he saw her again, finally, after a full year of not meeting each other.

“it's almost 5 o'clock now, guys, let's prepare for our stage.” jaehyun clapped his hands together to get everyone's attention.

4 o'clock was when they last spent time with each other. 4 o'clock was when they met each other again.

END.

(a/n)

HSHDJSJSJJSJS it's actually the end of 4 o'clock what the hell !!!! ngl this is my second attempt at angst after my failed first attempt (see: time flower) and i feel like i did better here tbh even though i feel like i could've done better... what am i saying

anyway, if you managed to make it this far, thank you so much for always reading/voting/commenting! i appreciate it a lot! this is my first completed story on wattpad, even though i've been on here since like what, 2014??

I THINK I HAVE LIKE A FEW MORE IDEAS FOR THE ENDING AND I'M NOT SURE IF I SHOULD POST THEM OR NOT?? let me know if you all want to read them! i promise i'll include a happy one in

thank you for reading and supporting 4 o'clock up until now, and also supporting markoeun + all the characters mentioned here.

please leave your thoughts on 4 o'clock here <3