ᴀғғᴇᴄᴛɪᴏɴ-ʟᴇss | ᴍᴀʀᴋʜʏᴜᴄᴋ [ᴇᴅɪᴛɪɴɢ]

13

"Alright, explain."

In the rush of practice ending, whilst all the sweaty bodies were running around in the room and searching for their bags, Ten had crept up by Donghyuck and whispered in his ear. It was a little awkward since everyone had their eyes upon them and watched as Donghyuck got dragged out of the room and then pushed into a car, but the second they got in and their staff began to drive away, Ten got straight to the point.

"You looked as if you had been crying for days, probably haven't slept yet either," Ten said and he examined Donghyuck's face, holding his chin between his fingers and twisted him around.

Donghyuck slapped his hand away and rolled his eyes. "Oh great Ten, you have made such an amazing discovery."

Ten, obviously annoyed by the response, pinched Donghyuck's side and then grabbed the younger's wrist, the playful smile went from his face and had been replaced by a frown. "I'm not joking, Haechan. What's wrong? Why do you look so down?"

And of course, it had to be Ten out of all people that asked him this question after the past few days of stress. As much as Ten loved to push the 'I am very frustrated by Haechan and dislike his presence' agenda, he still sent him a second glance with a fond smile upon his lips. There was nothing but a friendly relationship between the two that was usually misinterpreted by others. Out of all the members, Donghyuck guessed he could say he trusted Ten quite a lot — and that has nothing to do with that fact that Ten had told him all of his secrets and so immediately gained a soft spot in Donghyuck's heart because no one ever told him anything.

"Nothing happened," Donghyuck attempted to lie through a smile, but the pointed look Ten shot him right after broke right through. "Alright, alright, fine. Something did happen."

"Mind explaining?" Ten pushed, trailing his hand down Donghyuck's wrist and into his palm. Donghyuck looked down and an image flashed through his mind. Mark used to hold Donghyuck's hand a lot when they were younger. Whenever Donghyuck would crack a joke, Mark's instinct was to grab his hand and laugh alongside him. At first, Donghyuck had found it weird and even voiced his thoughts (which ended up causing Mark to slowly stop doing it), but now that he thought back to it, he missed it. He missed feeling the tip of Mark's fingers slip into his hand and press against his skin. The warmth from his hands helped against the cold weather whenever they stood outside their school building, too busy in chatter to realise that they could talk indoors, where there was heating provided.

Donghyuck let out a sigh and began to explain his problem. Ten's eyes widened at the mention of how Donghyuck had gotten affected by the constant rejection of hugs and he even saw regret flash through them at one point. The staff member sitting at the front of the car even looked through the mirror and shot him a look of sympathy. But that wasn't what he wanted. He just wanted everything to get solved, for all the problems to just disappear and for everyone to no longer avoid each other out of regret. It sounded careless and even childish because he knows everything can't be solved overnight and that a conversation with them all sat down is the only thing that can fix this. But he's too afraid to try. What if it ends up getting worse?

"Wait, Mark yelled at you?" Ten interrupted him at one point, holding a hand up to stop him from speaking. "Mark Lee, the boy who finds it hard to raise his voice at people, yelled at you?"

"Yes, now let me continue," Donghyuck rolled his eyes and quickly started up from where he stopped. "I told him why I was upset and he called me childish, which I completely understand! I made a mistake, I know, I know I did. I shouldn't have—I... anyways, so then last night Mark hyung was in my bed—"

"Donghyuck!" Ten gasped dramatically, his lips tugged up slightly and he leaned back in his seat. His sudden outburst scared the staff driver and the car swerved for a second, causing Donghyuck to slap his arm. "You're too young and innocent for that, baby boy. Please, no details! No details!"

"Shut up!" Donghyuck hissed as his cheeks flared up when the realisation finally sank through. "That's not what happened. I had just come back home and was tired and just...just— I cried, okay! And like Mark hyung was in my bed and he hugged me. We just— we hugged? And I fell asleep? When I woke up, he had run out of the room and I'm just so confused. Was he waiting for me to come back? So that we could talk?"

"He probably was," Ten answered softly, reaching out to run his hand through Donghyuck's hair. "I don't think you spoke to them after the incident at breakfast, right?"

"Yeah, I didn't." Donghyuck lowered his gaze and internally groaned. Why did everything have to be so difficult?

"Listen," Ten started, shifting on his seat and pulled his leg up to lean closer to Donghyuck. "Mark cares about you a lot. You know this, he knows this, we all know this. Even fans know this. It may seem as if the members don't like your affection because they reject it, but do you think they don't enjoy your hugs or your kisses? Perhaps the time you ask for hugs is not right? Or maybe it's because they don't know your true intention? They probably just assume that you were trying to hug them as a joke? To tease them?

"You told me you like to give Renjun kisses on the neck because he hates them, right?" Ten raised his eyebrow and Donghyuck nodded. "Renjun knows that it's a joke. But whenever you give him a hug when you're feeling a little affection-starved, or just simply need a hug, he gives it to you immediately, right?" Donghyuck nodded again and Ten sighed to himself. "All of this is a simple case of miscommunication. They don't know what to think about your hugs causing them to push you away, and you think that they don't like your hugs. What you have to do here, Donghyuck is to talk to them. One by one. Talk to every one of them."

The car came to a stop as Ten completed his sentence. The atmosphere in it was tense as Ten followed Donghyuck's every move. The younger glanced up before stretching over and hugged Ten. "Thank you, I'll try," he said and then drew away, giving Ten a small smile.

Donghyuck climbed out of the car and shot Ten a wave. As the car turned around the corner and out of his sights, Donghyuck's shoulders slumped down. He had to speak to the members again? But what if they still don't understand what he meant when he said he doesn't like the way he greats treated?, Or what if they don't want to bother fixing their relationship? They're better off without Donghyuck's childish antics anyways—

Donghyuck shook his head and spun on his heels, marching into the dorm building and headed straight for the kitchen. The lady who cooked food for them wasn't there (probably not knowing that Donghyuck would home come so early) so he searched the cabinets for some junk food. He piled up a bit of food on the counter, casually humming as he tried to put his mind off things. First, he would eat, then he would try to talk to the members, one by one.

Yet, of course. Nothing ever seemed to be going the way Donghyuck wanted it to recently.

"Hey, Hyuck," Mark said weakly by the door of the kitchen, his body crushed against the frame and he looked a little worn down. His eye bags were dull and his skin paler than usual — was he sick? Donghyuck felt a pang in his heart at the thought. Mark was probably sick and Donghyuck was too into his thoughts and worries that he hadn't even come to help his best friend. "Can we please talk?"

Donghyuck's eyes widened at the question and his grip on his food loosened, almost causing it to fall, but he was quick to tighten it again. He studied the ground, contemplating whether he should say yes. But then Ten's words repeated in his head and he has never once hated them as greatly as he did right there. He had to speak to them one by one, right? Maybe Mark was the best person to start with, the one person who he didn't want to break his friendship off with the most.

Donghyuck curled his toes and took a deep breath, licking his lips nervously before raising his head to look at Mark. He opened his mouth to speak and Mark saw hesitation run through his face.

"Please," Mark practically begged. "I just want to talk to you, Donghyuck."

Said boy gulped and then nodded slowly.

"Okay, hyung," he answered softly, his voice wavering with fear and underlying panic. "Let's talk."