Us 

His heart is beating like crazy, following a sound of a drum he listened before Mark had come.

It feels like a dream but at the same time, it’s so real. So real that he could feel his hands shaking, his skin on fire and Mark presence beside him lying in the bed.

„So, you want me to tell you why I am snooping into your father computer?” Mark asks, raising on his elbows to take a better look at the younger.

Jackson’s eyes grow wide as the red head mentioned his father. „How do you know?”

„Hello, I live like five meters from here. I’ve seen your father coming and leaving a couple of times.”

Well, that was dumb from Jackson not to think that Mark had seen his father at all. It’s still a mysterious how his friends haven't figured that out, besides Jaebum who already knows.

„It seems legit,” Jackson says as a wave of freeness washes over him. It’s hard to hide things when all you want to do is let them out. „Please don’t tell anyone.”

„I won’t tell but why are you hiding it?” Mark asks, letting himself fall on his back as well.

„Because I am good at school and well, people might think that I am the first because my father is the principal,” Jackson says, not afraid to tell Mark what’s on his mind? It feels like a stone has been removed from his heart.

„Are you sure that they might think like that? Because I didn’t.”

„Yes, that happened at my last school, back in Hong Kong.”

That was kind of unfair for him, he likes to study, he likes to learn new things and people were just delusional back then.

„I just prefer to keep it for myself; I don’t want to go back where I had to explain that I am that good.” Jackson lets out a soft giggle as he shifts his position, now he popped on his elbows to look at Mark. „They started to think that I am bluffing.”

„Well, you are bluffing most of the times.” Mark laughs that laugh that Jackson likes to hear a lot. „Why haven’t you told your dad that I was snooping on your computer?”

„Because I don’t really like my dad,” Jackson says, a sad expression making its way in his eyes. „I mean, I really love my dad but sometimes I just want some freedom.”

„What do you mean?”

„Always I have to do what he is saying, I can’t just be me,” Jackson says as he moves his eyes on the trophies that he has on his walls. „Everyone I owned was for him because he likes to think that his son is the best. I like to study but sometimes I want time just for myself.”

„Ah, he is a demanding father, I understand.”

„Like I said, because I score second in class I can’t participate in the singing contest, I need to study to catch up with you.” He sighs, brushing some of Mark’s red bangs from his eyes, resting his palm on Mark’s right cheek. „But enough about me, tell me about you, about your friend that isn’t your friend anymore.”

Mark smiles covering Jackson’s hand with his own. „We were the losers of the school but it felt good to have someone with me, to have my back but he left me for the cool kids and I was left alone, alone to go through everything they put me up to.”

If Mark hasn't said it out loud, Jackson no starts to understand why the redhead hated him at the beginning, even if he didn’t do anything to Mark. He would have done the same, keep it inside him and wanting to protect himself from what he had gone through in the past.

„Eventually, my mom discovered that I was bullied at school and made me transfer schools. That time I decided to never let anyone bring me down again and also to lay low. I didn’t want the attention; I just wanted to study and to be left alone.”

„I am sorry to hear that, I now understand why you hated me so much but I promise you, I am not like them.”

Jackson’s heart feels heavy thinking at a cute kid being pushed around by the others, even if he is one of the cool kids in school, he will never do the same. It just doesn’t feel right. If you are cool, you have to give an example to the others, well, this is what Jackson thinks.

„Anyway, when I changed school I learned how to keep my feelings at bay.”

„What do you mean?”

„I just didn’t want to feel anymore, the pain of losing someone, the pain of being bullied and the constant fear, so I pushed my feeling aside.” Mark laughs shaking his head a bit. „And you brought that all back.”

„So, you did succeed in hiding your feelings?”

Jackso