ɪ sᴀʏ ɪᴛ ᴅᴏᴇsɴ'ᴛ ᴍᴀᴛᴛᴇʀ (ʙᴜᴛ ɪᴛ's ᴋɪʟʟɪɴɢ ᴍᴇ ɪɴsɪᴅᴇ)

8 || ᴍᴀᴅ ᴄɪᴛʏ, ɪ ᴅᴏɴ'ᴛ ᴋɴᴏᴡ ʜᴏᴡ ʏᴏᴜ'ʟʟ ᴠɪᴇᴡ ᴍᴇ

Mark was sixteen and a half when he got dumped for the first time.

Honestly, he should've expected it. The way Yerim ignored his calls, shot him a dirty look when she thought he wasn't looking, and the way she avoided him in school with her excuses. Her excuses. They were horrible and painfully obvious. ("My parents took my phone away," she said, clutching onto her phone as she smiled at Mark in a condescending manner. "I'll talk to you later, Mark".)

But when Yerim actually broke up with him, it could've been a better place. Definitely not a party celebrating Lucas' 17th birthday.

Mark didn't know whether or not he should go, especially after what had happened in the past few days, but Lucas was his best friend, and what kind of friend would he be if he missed his birthday? (Still a bad friend, his mind provided).

"Mark," Lucas said in surprise as he opened the door. The two shared an awkward smile before Lucas let him in, leaning against his door to give him entry. Mark shuffled in, his head lowered in shame when he caught sight of Renjun staring at him.

Why was he feeling shame in the first place? What had he done wrong? Not taken Jisung's side? Not defended Donghyuck? What would've changed if he had done any of them? Either way, Yerim would still hate him. Mark frowned at the thought and followed Lucas around his house.

His parents had allowed Lucas to call his friends over as they went to his grandma's house. Mark knew this only because Lucas had told him his plans for his birthday a week ago, before the entire incident happened. His chest felt heavy at the thought that maybe Lucas didn't want him to come.

"It's nice to see you, Mark," Lucas said once they reached the kitchen, the only place where there was silence. The music wasn't loud like it normally was, probably because Renjun said so, and the lights were just slightly dimmed out. It looked more like a friends gathering than a party, to be honest. "Renjun wanted it to be peaceful," Lucas spoke up again when he noticed Mark had been looking around. "You know he doesn't like loud music and dark rooms."

"Yeah," Mark nodded slowly, taking the cup of mango juice Lucas handed to him. "I'm guessing he doesn't like alcohol either?"

"No, that was me," Lucas chuckled and then took a sip of his juice. "I don't want to spend my seventeenth birthday drunk and exhausted. Rather spend it knowing that Renjun is finally my boyfriend."

"He gave in?" Mark asked, surprised. Renjun had been rejecting Lucas for almost a whole year now, it was shocking news.

"Donghyuck convinced him," Lucas smiled, only to realise Mark had frozen up at the mention of his fiance. "Uh- sorry?"

"No need to apologise," Mark cleared his throat. Why did he get so scared after hearing Donghyuck's name? "Anyways, where is Renjun? I saw him a while ago."

"He's with-" before Lucas could finish his sentence, Mark heard someone yell from the living room and silence followed. Lucas glanced at him and they exchanged looks before hurrying over to the other room, confused.

"Stop it, Donghyuck," Mark heard and he stopped in the hallway, Lucas continued without him. Donghyuck? Mark's heartbeat fastened as he trailed after Lucas to the room. What was Donghyuck doing here- what kind of question was that? Donghyuck was Lucas' friend, of course he would be here. With a hand to his chest, Mark took steady steps and entered the room. What he saw wasn't something he had expected.

"She needs to apologise," Donghyuck said, pointing his finger at Yerim, who was leaning against the wall with shock plastered over her face. Although Mark was curious about what happened to Yerim, he was more surprised to see Donghyuck holding Jisung to the ground, his other hand clutching tightly onto Jisung's collar. "She needs to apologise, right now."