accipe me | Yumark

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Three days had passed since that day.

Going into work as usual was more of a challenge, heart pounding at the thought of encountering the brunette who had his phone number on his hand. The scariest part of the situation was knowing that he had never met this Japanese man before, and yet he held something so personal to him on his body.

If he had been asked what it was he felt when he read the stranger's palm, but all he'd be able to tell you is the darkness that clouded his mind when he read it was a surefire sign that it was a bad thing indeed.

When his customer left with the news of some kind of delivery, Mark ran his hand through his hair and wiggled his fingers. The cherry-red colour in his wavy locks slowly darkened into a deep brown, and with the flick of his other wrist, the tattoos dissipated from his skin.

"Mark..."

The fortune teller looked up at the doorway at the soft voice, smiling when Mina stepped carefully into his room. She was dressed in their 'uniform' - although that wasn't quite the right word - of a long, plain black dress and her glossy hair up in a bun.

Her voice was soft as she asked, "How are you feeling?"

Mark sighed as he carefullytucked the string of beads around his neck beneath his black shirt. "I'm okay, thank you. Just a little shaken," he said quietly.

Mina narrowed her glittery eyes with pursed lips. "A little? Mark, you haven't looked like your normal self for days. Go home."

Mark scoffed. "Home? It's barely midday."

Mina shrugged dramatically. "So? We'll call your appointments and move them to some other day. I can't have you fainting on us again. You terrified me."

The man's protesting caught the attention of the second woman beyond the curtain, who came striding through. "What's wrong?"

Mark folded his arms across his chest. "Nothing. I'm fine, Mina, seriously. Yeeun I'm so sorry to have bothered you."

Yeeun raised an eyebrow. "Mina?"

"He's ill and won't go home."

Yeeun sighed. Her dainty fingers brushed her bangs out of her eyes. "Mark, please. We can cover for you. You have a right to go home and rest."

Mark just shook his head at the women. "No."

"Mark."

"No! I'm fine!" He tried to convince the two, but it didn't work. Yeeun ended up having to personally escort him out of the building and lock the door before he could try to reenter, and even though they were both apologising for their behaviour, the Canadian knew it was for the best.

As much as he tried to deny it, he wasn't feeling too good. Sleep would be the best thing for him right then.

He pulled his thick, knitted scarf tighter around his neck when the wind tugged at it. Seriously. Why did Autumn have to be so brutal? The leaves falling past his face taunted him as he reached a junction, landing on his head and even tapping against his frozen skin.

And then it happened.

A deep, buzzing resonated in his skull, pressure rising and growing louder. He knew that buzz. In fact, it'd happen every time something awful was about to happen.

But now? His heart began to race, nd he froze in his shoes, turning and twisting around to take in his surroundings. What was it? Mugging? Robbery? Was someone going to collapse and die?

The pressure built more and more until he couldn't take it anymore, and just when he felt his skull was going to explode, his phone rang, and his headache cleared.

It took him a moment to regain his balance. His parted lips drew in a shaky breath, and with a hand, he pulled out his phone and answered the call.

But his skin crawled at the voice over the phone. Yuta.

He started to freak out when the man spoke, saying, "Hi, it's Yuta here. Could I have my usual--"

"What do you want?!"

"...alright, chill. I just wanted fucking udon but I'll go someplace else."

Mark gripped his phone tightly, panting as the levels of stress in his blood increased. So that was what his phone number meant "Just leave me alone!"

"Your-- It's you! You work in a takeaway shop now? Oh my god, did I get you fired from that voodoo place?!"

"What? No, I--"

He was cut off by a sharp screech on the road by his side, and he leapt away from the crossing just as a lorry screeched past and collided with an oncoming van. The crunch of the metal was deafening, but the screams of injured pedestrians and bleeding drivers could be heard easily over the noise.

Mark's throat ran dry. Had he not answered the call, he would have been crossing that road.

He would have been killed in that crash.

"Hey, what happened? Fryer explode?" Yuta called down the line.

Mark gulped.

"Where are you?" His voice was almost drowned out by the sirens and crying coming from all around him, but the Japanese could hear him.

"I'm... at my house? Why?"

Words cracking, he whispered, "Please come and get me."

"What? And why the fuck should I do that?! No offence, but the only thing I know about you is that you charge way too fucking much for a shitty palm reading--"

"I'll pay for your udon!" Mark shouted, cutting Yuta's rant off. He ignored the negative comments and instead focused on getting out the chaos goinbgon all around him. "I-I'll refund you twice the amount, just please come and get me! I'm at the junction by the library."

"...You'll pay for my food?"

"Yuta, please. I'll explain everything later."

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