∞ Chap 12: OVERPROTECTIVE ∞

Jeno’s Reaction to Mark’s Confession

The crowd was still on the floor, looking at Mark and Lina in hysteria. Haechan’s jaw hung low, his eyebrows raised and his pupils dilated. He somehow resembled ‘The Scream.’ The girls all looked stunned; they couldn’t believe something like this would happen to Lina in such a short period. Lina noticed that Jeno had a different expression other than his usual poker face, although she couldn’t point out what. They did not move at all, it was as if they turned to stone.

The only thing in their minds was Mark’s unexpected confession. The boys were astounded to discover it directly from their leader, rigid Mark Lee, who was always highly responsible for his position, working days and nights just to make sure that their music was of high standard, forbidding their members to involve in any relationship besides ‘just friends;’ had just confessed to a girl he only met for less than three days.

The girls should be happy since their sister fulfilled her ultimate dream, but it just came so quickly. They felt so strange, so…odd.

“Oh hell no! Please don’t misunderstand guys!” Mark jumped off his seat, walking towards the bunch of people stacked up like rice sacks. Mark felt like crying. Why did God make his life so miserable?

Haechan stood up first, and others respectively separated from each other, stumbling in the process, their faces remained unchanged. Mark sighed in defeat. How could he explain without being made fun of for the rest of his life?

“Wow. Wow. WOW. WOW!” Haechan exclaimed sarcastically while clapping his hands right in front of Mark’s face. “How can you betray me like that?”

Mark stood dumbfounded. What? He betrayed what, who, when, and how?

“What are you talking about?”

Haechan breathed heavily and started strongly.

“You acted all serious and annoying when I talked with her for three minutes. I’ve never seen you talking or being with her when we had practice. So okay, I thought you were keeping your word, being a hard-working leader or whatever. But, BOOM, you confessed. You freaking confessed, in your practice room while you two were… alone. And why were you guys alone? Or, let me think, okay. I got this. I’ve watched enough dramas to understand. So basically-”

Mark rolled his eyes and used his hands to stop Haechan from talking, but Haechan removed his hands, continuing his speech. Mark clicked his tongue and pushed his hair back, and put his hands on his hips; Haechan’s outlandish behavior was driving him crazy! Haechan continued.

“So you were just acting, finding ways how to push me away from your future girlfriend. You guys didn’t talk much since our Mark wanted to keep his love life a secret. Today, when we all gathered in our usual room, Mark was alone, excusing himself to work on his raps. And you,” he pointed to Lina who was showing huge interest in Haechan’s act but got caught back when he mentioned her.

“You asked our manager to go check on him, and you spent time alone with each other. Wow, imagine if we didn’t visit you guys, we would never know this. VOILA, THE BEST DRAMA PLOTS OF THE YEAR. And ‘The Best Director’ and ‘Best Actor’ go to Mark hyung! APPLAUSE!”

Haechan took a deep breath after his wonderfully organized speech. He clapped his hands above his head, congratulating in a mocking way. Mark was so done with this bull and he could not handle it anymore. He had to explain what exactly happened, he glanced at Lina to see if he had a supporter but sadly, she was in awe with Haechan’s performance.

“That was incredible!” Mark heard her whisper. He sighed in defeat.

“Okay, I have to admit that Haechan’s imagination is a hundred times better than mine. But look, this isn’t what you guys think. I can explain!” Mark quickly defended himself, thinking of how to explain. After sighing once again, Mark began to clear up the problem.

“Firstly, this whole confession thing is a massive misunderstanding. I don’t like her, nor confess to her. She’s just like my little sis. And the reason why I asked her was to know how she would react if I confessed; I was just finding ideas for my rap lyrics.” Mark spoke in a flash. He swiftly took the paper, with lyrics he was working on, on the table and handed it to Haechan.

“Here. You can ask Camilla. She knew my problem. I had no idea of how girls would react to confessions. So I decided to ask Lina who was coincidentally in this room at that moment. Did you even hear my question or did you just jump into conclusion? I also informed her before. ‘Don’t misunderstand.’ Got it? I’m innocent, you freaking idiots.” The girls squinted at him; Mark immediately added, “I mean, Haechan, he’s an idiot!” Mark laughed to ease the atmosphere, breaking the intense gaze the girls gave him.

Lina felt a bit disappointed at first. She thought he was being serious. But somehow, she found herself relieved.