Ephemera

thirty five

Chapter 35 (The same day as he previous chapter)

Mark looked at his friends who were gathered around the campfire. He squinted his eyes to see if they were complete. He mentally did a head count only to see twenty two people.

He just shrugged when he started to wonder who the missing person is.

He sat on the ground beside Haechan and Jeno.

"Oh, Mark! Here." Taeyong handed him a paper plate with food.

"Yeri-yah, could you ask Eunmi if she'll eat? She haven't left her room since this morning." Jaehyun said.

"Hyung, noona told us earlier that she isn't feeling well." Haechan said.

Mark's ears twitched at what he heard from the younger. Maybe because of the pool incident this morning.

"I'll just go and visit him later, then." Jaehyun said.

***

Their dinner was finished and Jaehyun was helping Taeyong in disposing the paper plates they used.

"Hyung..." Mark approached Jaehyun. He was placing food on a plate for his sister.

"Yeah?" He asked.

"C-Can..." Mark gulped. "Can I check if she's alright?"

Jaehyun stopped what he was doing and faced Mark. "Mark, what are you trying to do?" Jaehyun knew that his sister was still hurt about what happened between the two of them, and he didn't want her to be hurt even more.

"Hyung... even as a friend..." Mark looked down.

The older sighed, and placed the plate and the glass on the tray. He lifted it up and placed it in front of Mark. "Go and take care of her. I'll kill you if she cries once again." Jaehyun gave him a death glare.

***

The door of Eunmi's room opened. She just covered her eyes using the blanket. "Oppa can you just leave? I don't wanna eat..." She groaned, feeling her head ache even more.

Mark could only laugh at the girl's reaction. "Pabo, do I sound like Jaehyun-hyung to you?"

Her eyes shot open and immediately sat down when she heard Mark spoke. "Why are you here?!" She said, totally startled.

"What? Jaehyun-hyung asked me to do this, don't even think about anything." I wanna take care of you again.

She just sighed and buried her head in her palm, she closed her eyes as she felt the pain sting even more. "Argh, I wanna die."

"Yah." Mark said in a warning tone, placing the tray of food on her bed. "Instead of whining, could you eat for a while and I'll get some medicines." Mark said, standing up, and going towards the medicine cabinet.

Eunmi just watched his back. She was wondering why, why is Mark like this? This is the second time for this day. The first time was when he saved her from drowning.

Why are you like this, Mark? Why? Why are you making me suffer even more?

"What are you looking at?" Mark raised a brow when he caught the girl staring at him.

She just shook her head and looked down. "I... just remembered something." She sighed.

"And that is?"

She looked at him straight in the eye. "When you also took care of me when I got sick before..." She looked down and played with her fingers.

It seemed like Mark's tongue shortened. He couldn't speak. He wasn't expecting that she would tall about it. He wasn't expecting that she was going to talk about them.

"I'm sorry... forget that I said that..." She sighed and placed the tray on her lap. She lifted the spoon up and started eating.

Mark just watched her form the side, still processing everything that she said. He slowly closed his eyes, secretly missing those memories too. But what could he do?

He sighed and sat on a couch.

"Have you... H-Have you eaten?" Have you forgotten? Eunmi asked.

Mark looked at the person who was eating, then nodded.

Eunmi just looked down and opened her phone. The wallpaper was still the same. Minus the part in which they're already over.

She wiped the tears that managed to escape her eye.

"Are you crying?" Mark asked.

She immediately shook her head, but her tears kept on betraying her. "N-No... I think something just got into my eye." Another lie.

Mark stood up and went towards her. He sat on her bed and held the both of her hands to stop her from rubbing her eyes. He placed his two hands gently on the sides of her eyes, keeping them open. He gently blew on them and smiled.

"There. Now eat." But truth be told, Mark suddenly remembered Jaehyun's threat before going to her room.

But she couldn't stop crying.

"Yah, what's bothering you? Why are you crying?" He asked, having the urge to wipe her tears away.

"You... I hate you..." She sniffed. "Why are you like this... why are you making things hard for me?"

Mark raised a brow, "Me? Was it just you who had a hard time? Was it just you?" He asked, his voice starting to become louder.

She just sobbed while hugging her blanket. Everything that he said was right.

Mark stood up and sighed. "You know what, I shouldn't have bothered to come here and take care of you." He stood up and left the room, leaving Eunmi who was crying.

***

"Jae-hyung! You can kill me now, if you want!" Mark said once he came down.

Jaehyun just sighed when he heard Mark say those words. He wasn't really serious about it. It was a threat. As if he could kill his own bestfriend.

He knew that this would happen. He saw it coming. But the two of them were stubborn.

Mark clicked his tongue and went inside his room, slamming the door in the process.

"Those two are hopeless..." Wendy sighed, placing her attention back in playing uno.

Back in Eunmi's room, she was lying down while hugging her pillows and blanket, the food he brought her was long gone. The tray was on the floor, with the food half-touched.

She looked at her phone once more, and it made her cry even more.

Things be damned.

It was supposed to be their sixth month together.

—tbc.