The Cold Curse | MarkHyuck

Chapter 35:

In the morning, Haechan and Mark planned to do some meditation. Mark clearly knew about Haechan's abilities that were most likely not used because Haechan didn't want to "explore". Mark thought that if Haechan didn't want to use them, he should learn how to control it.

Mark sits on the floor beside Haechan, instructing him once again.

"Now, breathe in deeply and let it out. Visualize yourself once again."

Mark says as Haechan follows. Haechan visualizes himself in a glass box with nothing but white light around. Haechan frowns, knowing that he couldn't quite interpret what he was seeing. He looked around while he was inside the glass box.

"What do you see, Haechan?"
"... Everything is white light... I'm inside a glass box..."

Haechan says as Mark tried to imagine himself in Haechan's situation. Mark knew that it felt like there was only silence. No happiness, no feelings, no anger, and no distractions. He imagines himself being trapped in a glass box with nothing to do... at all.

Mark assumed that Haechan still felt blank even if he already can feel and name the emotions he feels everyday.

"... What do you feel?"
"... Bored... Cold..."
"Where do you feel the 'cold'?"

Mark asks, observing him as Haechan puts his hand on the left side of his chest.

"... Here... I feel cold... here."
"Why do you think so?"
"... I don't know."

Haechan responds with guilt, he felt ashamed because he thought that he never improved with his mental health. Mark felt sad, knowing that Haechan really is trying his best and that he has gone far already with improving. Mark knew that Haechan feels ashamed of himself because he thinks he's "not improving".

"... What do you think of yourself?"

That question made Haechan feel confused about who he was as he frowns, thinking of an answer but he couldn't make one at least.

"I don't know who I am... I don't know..."

Haechan sighs, his hands freezing a portion of the floor as Mark snaps him out of the negative thinking.

"Haechan."
"... I don't even know who I am in the past, Mark... I've made no improvement at all... I'm sorry for wasting your time-"
"No, Haechan. You've improved so much that you can feel! You can feel me loving you, right?"
"... Yes."
"Then, it's alright! We'll figure this through, alright? We'll be fine, Haechan. We'll be fine soon just... believe that you can do it... because I do."

Mark smiles at him, giving Haechan his full support as always. Haechan felt lucky that he's with a person like Mark. He's one of the very few good people that will always never give up. Haechan really wanted to remember who he was and how they really met but knowing him being the person he is now made him feel like he's with the person he will always end up with.

Haechan loves Mark and it doesn't really matter for him if he doesn't remember their past anymore. Haechan's current relationship with Mark was already enough for him.

Areum comes across them as she's about to ask Mark to buy the things Renjun listed. Renjun listed certain types of herbs that weren't in Jaemin's house as he wondered... what was Renjun up to?

They still didn't know that Renjun was trying to heal himself from the endless exhaustion he always felt after half of his golden aura was stolen from him, making him feel weaker each day.

"... Alright, Mrs. Areum!"

Mark smiles at Areum as he gives Haechan a kiss before leaving Jaemin's house. Mark was literally going to risk his life but since he thought only a few noticed him being connected to Haechan, he did it anyway. As he walked into the center roads of the kingdom, he felt that someone was eyeing him.

No... not someone... some PEOPLE were eyeing him.

He looked behind him to see the knights giving him intimidating glares, walking away from them quickly. The knights suddenly chased after him as Mark ran, not even caring if he bumped into several people. Unfortunately, the knights caught him easily since he was just an ordinary human being.

They arrest him as he tries to get away from them.

"You know you're not going anywhere, right?"
"Let me go! What do you want?!"

Mark still believed that they didn't know about him being connected to Haechan. In fact, Jisung knew that there was something between Mark and Haechan as he knew that he had to find out what it was. When Mark tried to protect Haechan from him, Jisung immediately knew something was up with the way Mark stared at Haechan.

He wanted to know everything.

Mark struggled as two knights held him tightly, not letting him go as they dragged him into the palace harshly. They let go of Mark as he dropped on the ground, kneeling. Mark even had several bruises from trying to fight against the knights.

He was strong but he wasn't trained into doing any of this violence.

"... What do you want?!"

Mark yelled at the knights as he saw Jisung come forward, crouching down to his level.

"Who are you? And how do you relate to Haechan?"
"I'm someone you don't need to know."

Mark was really angry at Jisung as he knew that he wanted to kill the love of his life. Jisung scoffed, raising his eyebrow at Mark. Jisung might not know himself but he's really complicated to understand. His decisions spiral over things that were simple but turned complicated because of his past decisions.

"Do you really think that you're going to get away with that disrespectful attitude?"
"I don't even care if I don't but if you hurt Haechan, I'm not afraid to kill you."
"... Well, you should be afraid that I can kill you anytime right now. This is my kingdom, bastard. My kingdom has my rules."

Jisung threatened, Mark still trying to fight his way to remove the cuffs on his wrists. Mark's anger and hate towards Jisung were overflowing as he even managed to say that he wanted to kill Jisung. Well, who wouldn't hate Jisung? He's a very violent killer.

"... But I won't kill you yet. I want to know more about Haechan."
"As if I would tell you anything about him."
"..."

Jisung didn't respond but he slapped Mark with the back of his hand instead, wanting Mark to bleed in front of him. As expected, Mark winces as the side of his cheek bled from the impact of Jisung's "slap". Jisung laughed at Mark's current state.

"Does that hurt?-"
"It does but does it look like I care?- Ah!"

Jisung slaps him once again, feeling addicted and satisfied to the scent of blood that was coming out of Mark's mouth.

"When I ask you a question, you answer properly and respectfully. Alright?"

Jisung warned, putting a hard grip on Mark's cheeks. His eyes turned red once again as they glowed, staring into Mark's eyes closely. Mark found Jisung terrifying, almost calling him a monster but he couldn't since he was speechless.

He, then, lets go of Mark's cheeks as he sits on his chair while facing Mark.

"Hey. Hey! Look at me."
"... What do you want me to say?"

Mark asks Jisung, suffering from the pain.

"... What are you to Haechan?"
"... We're friends... Childhood friends."

Mark lies as Jisung grips Mark's cheeks again, his grip tighter than earlier.

"Just say the truth."
"... It is the truth."

Mark lies once again, receiving another painful slap from Jisung.