The House on Mass. Avenue | Rensung

Untitled Part 17

Several weeks had passed since the 'living room incident' as Jisung had been calling it.

The house was tense, and that was an understatement. After the residents, who normally got along with each other, had pointed fingers and accused the other of aiding in the injury of Jaemin and the rest of the strange happenings, there were certain changes in dynamics.

Jisung still had his breakfasts with Jaemin and Chenle, occasionally Jeno or Donghyuck dropping by. He still talked to Renjun on the occasion when he was leaving or coming home from work, and he still had odd conversations with the others. But it was with Mark that many of the amiable relations had gone to shit.

Now, Mark rarely came down from the attic in their regular schedules. But, on the more often occasion that he walked down to the kitchen, there was an air of indifference that enveloped Donghyuck and Chenle if they happened to be around the older. It always brought Jisung's mind back to something that Chenle had yelled at Mark during the living room incident.

"You think I don't know what you're doing up there in that attic of yours you piece of shit!"

Jisung huffed and leaned back in his desk chair, crossing his arms as he looked out the window at the raindrops racing down the glass pane at odd angles. "Curious." He muttered, the statement bugging him. What was Mark doing in the attic? What took up all of the older's time that he was in the attic 24/7 and barely interacted with anyone else? Even if he was an author, Jisung was an author too and he didn't stay in his room for weeks on end.

The young author let out another sigh and drummed his pencil against his desk, shivering slightly at the cold seeping into the room from the light rainstorm. It was middle of December now, and the cold was extremely prevalent now. He could see the ocean churning and rested his head against his hand.

He was bored. He had too much on his mind and he didn't want to work. He was tired but he was too awake to take a nap, besides it was too close to the evening and he would ruin his sleep schedule if he went to bed this early. So Park Jisung was at an impasse.

The comforting sound of knuckles rapping against his old wooden door fell upon his ears, eyes turning esuriently for someone to be there to cure the disease of boredom. And there he was, dressed in a loose t-shirt and grey slacks. Mark.

"Hey," Jisung murmured, his boredom showing itself in his tired droopiness. Mark smiled, leaning against the doorway and crossing his arms.

"Hey," he responded in the same quiet and soft manner, Jisung noticing the prominent eye bags resting on his face. He seemed tired too. He didn't blame the other though, the other residents weren't being the most forgiving and Jisung didn't really have a problem with Mark. He liked the other, and he had agreed with what he had said during the living room incident.

"What's up?" Jisung prompted, turning to face the other more directly and Mark shrugged. He was excited to see the older boy, it had been maybe two weeks since he had last seen him. Six days since he had last heard him, an argument with Donghyuck ensuing while he was in the safety of his own room.

"Well, I know we haven't seen a lot of each other and I sort of wanted to apologize for that," Mark started, moving one of his hands to rub the back of his neck, "There's this nice restaurant called 'Estia' on main street. It's a bit high end and we would have to dress up but I think it might be nice. Would you want to go with me?"

Jisung perked up. Time outside of the house with Mark? It would be the perfect time to talk to the older about the house and what Chenle had said.

So he nodded. "Yeah, that actually sounds like a good time," he thrust out a thumbs up gesture and Mark laughed, looking down at the watch that sat comfortably on his wrist.