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"I'm home!" Mark's voice resonated through the household as he closed the door behind him and took off his shoes.
"Welcome home sweetie!" He heard his mom say from the kitchen.
"I'll be upstairs doing homework" He saw her nod in response, giving him the cue to go to his room.
He only went back down when he was called for dinner, and he was excited to tell them about his day, though he always received somewhat the same reactions.
"Guess what mom! Remember the friend I made among seniors that's president of the student council? He asked me to become representative of my year!"
"That's great Mark, but I hope you'll be able to keep you grades up if it means getting more responsibilities"
"Of course mom, things aren't even that hard to handle"
"Didn't you also say you were joining a school show? Doesn't that take up your time too?" His father asked.
"Yeah but I'm able to do what I want for the show, so I don't mind, I like it"
Both parent only nodded, humming a response simultaneously.
It became silent.
"I... also got a new project! I'm teamed up with this classmate named Donghyuck"
His mother dropped her fork in her plate, making a 'clang' sound "Donghyuck? The one who was mean to you on the first day of school? Didn't you say he was troublemaker?! I'm going to call your professor I don't want that damn boy affecting your grades-" "Mom!" He pulled at her sleeve when she stood up to grab the home phone "We worked yesterday and it was just fine, he works as much as any other person really" She looked at him strangely while sitting back down "Well it's just the beginning, it's never too late to still make a call and arrange you with someone else"
He sighed "It's fine, if anything happens I can handle it"
Silence crept back into the room almost as fast as it left.
"You know I love music more than studying right? I'd like to hang with my friends more often too..."
"That won't get you anywhere, music won't guarantee how successful you will be in the future. Just get the best grades so you can get a better high-paying job when you go to university"
"But dad... We're in Korea, I could just audition for a company and do what I love"
"Have you not heard enough horror stories about the trainee life already? Nothing even guarantees how much you will earn. You'll also have to spend most of your time training when you can be simply studying, which can lead to you earning more money" His dad fired back.
Mark didn't say anything. He didn't want to say anything. He put his fork down and stood up "I'm not hungry anymore, thanks for the meal" He said quietly and walked back to his room.
Once he got to his bedroom, he slumped against his chair at his desk with a heavy sigh.
He stared at the ceiling, partly refraining his eyes to get more watery.
"Gosh it's so stuffy here" He opened the window in front of his desk.
He stared out of the window for a while, even though he could only see the dark sky and the shadows of a few trees. His desk was lit up by only one lamp. In fact, that was the only source of light in the whole room.
He finally opened his laptop and returned to getting assignments done, sometimes writing down lyrics in his composition notebook when they popped into his mind. He blocked all exterior noises with his headphones and soon enough, Mark fell asleep on his desk.
