MARK

The scorching summer sun was beating down on his back as Mark sprinted all the way home. All the way home, his mind was flooded with images of him. Images of Jinyoung.

Why did my heart flutter so much whenever we made eye contact? Why does he give me the feeling of both wanting to run away and pulling him close to me? Argh it’s probably nothing. I shouldn’t let someone I hardly know have such an immense effect on me. I should stop overthinking things, as usual.

Mark just shrugged it off as he continued hurrying down the lonesome street.

After 20 minutes of running, he slowed as he finally reached his front door. He gave it a gentle knock before he was met with the gentle face of his mother. He sensed disappointment in her eyes but decided not to provoke her, as it would only irritate her further. So instead, he just did what he normally does in times like these… lighten the mood!

“Mom! How are you today? Feeling excited for tonight?” He cooed as he threw his arms around her.

“Oh my Markie boy, I’m alright but I’ve just been notified that one of old colleagues will be unable to make it tonight, she cancelled at last minute. Why? Am I not important enough for her? We haven’t seen each other for two years and this is how she treats me? I should have known better.”

Even the smallest of problems seemed to take an exaggerated toll on Ms Tuan and it’s just something that Mark couldn’t solve. She grew to become a much more sensitive person who was affected by the smallest of issues. This only encouraged Mark to remain much more cautious in his actions and to keep away from trouble in order to reduce the amount of her stress. He could not counter yet another of his mother’s breakdowns.

“Oh mother, I’m sorry that she pulled out but remember, if you’re not worth their time, then they aren’t worth yours.”

Ms Tuan just nodded as Mark retreated to his bedroom to get dressed. He slid open the doors of his large wardrobe revealing his excessive amount of clothes. He picked out a black zip up hoodie along with a white t-shirt and black jeans. He wasn’t intending on looking too formal. He looked around the room and found something on his bed. It was a card.

It read:

My dearest son,

Thank you so much for agreeing to come with me tonight. You know how much you mean to me and I hope that I can be a better mother in the future. I promise you that I’ll try my absolute best. Thank you for supporting me always and for putting up with me even through you have problems of your own. If I promise to improve my role as your mom, then you have to promise me that you’ll at least try to find a few friends. I think you’ve sent enough time in the dark, don’t you? Trust in me when I tell you that it’ll do you good.

Love you to the moon and back,

Mom xx

Mark smiled to himself as he quickly changed into his clean clothes and styled his hair slightly.

That was sweet. I’m gonna take her word for it even though I know it’ll be hard talking to people again. I just hope that she speaks words of truth and not words of broken promises.

♥ ♥ ♥

Before the divorce, Ms Tuan was an extremely successful woman. She owned her own business and earned stacks upon stacks of money. They were rich, although they weren’t greedy. They didn’t over indulge in expenses as the wealthy usually did. Instead, they liked to use their money for the greater good. They liked to volunteer in their local communities and donate to charity. Helping the world was their passion. But it all went downhill from there. Since the separation, Ms Tuan’s company had been lacking a lot. They’ve been lacking the most crucial part of the business, which was none other than Ms Tuan herself. She spent every minute of the day sobbing, thrashing things around or simply just staring ay the bare wall in front of her. She barely spoke and it didn’t take a genius to figure out that she was completely loosing herself. She never quit the company, although her employees were dying to get rid of her. They loved her, but they couldn’t continue when she was in the state that she was in. After all of their efforts, they gave up. There was nothing stopping her from continuing to run her sophisticated apparel company. She was more determined than ever.

♥ ♥ ♥

As soon as both of them were dressed and looking presentable, they called a cab that drove them directly to the restaurant that they’d successfully managed to book out.

Driving through the busy streets of Seoul was one of the things that Mark loves to do. He enjoys staring out of the window, just watching as life goes by. Don’t get him wrong, he isn’t a stalker or anything, but he just finds it fascinating the way that everybody on the streets has a different story. Maybe they were married? Divorced? Studying? Working? Rich? Poor? Maybe they have a deep, dark secret hidden that people have yet to discover…

All of his thoughts ran wild in his mind. Before he could drown in his imagination any further, the silver taxi had come to a stop at their destination. They quickly paid and tipped the driver and stepped out into the warm breeze.

The venue looked stunning. It was beautifully appointed with white and golden walls. Overlooking the balcony above were flowering plants, dangling low from their pots. The building was predominantly made out of glass that shone beautifully from the golden regal streetlamps. It looked like something out of a children's fairytale book.

Mark's mother took a deep breath before stepping forward to push open the big golden doors in front of them.

It's showtime!

The guest of honor as well as her son entered the dining hall right on time. All of the guests were already seated as they wanted to all be present before Ms Tuan arrived because they wished to give her a special surprise. A special surprise it was indeed. She squealed in excitement as a few tears of joy had already escaped from her eyes and Mark had to wrap an arm around her waist just in case she fainted.

“Oh my God you’re all here already? I’ve missed you all so much!”

There were a lot of people at the gathering. A lot, meaning around 120 people.

How does mother even know all these people? I’ve never even laid eyes on half of them. Is she sure that she invited the correct people?

Mark and his mother were led to their very special table at the front of the large hall where the stage was located. He walked with his head hanging low because the big scene of people was scaring him. He wasn’t used to seeing so many people gathered in one place that he had to initiate a conversation with in one way or another. His introverted self just didn’t like it.

I just hope mom doesn’t get too drunk tonight, that’s gonna be a difficult one to take care of…

As he advanced towards the table, he noticed that it was one of the smaller tables. There were only about five chairs set up.

Well this is strange. Why would they give us the smaller one?

He spotted his nametag placed in an empty space at the elegant table.

After pulling out his chair, he sat down on his reserved seat, still not daring to look up at the other guests seated at their table. Instead, he just stared at his mother, hoping that he would be granted the excuse for escaping to the bathroom. He wasn't in the mood for small talk. He needed to leave. Unfortunately for Mark, his plan didn't work at all. It was quite the contrary. As soon as Ms Tuan caught sight of her son's pleading eyes, she immediately introduced him to her friends.

Oh Lord, help me. I thought my mom was supposed to be on my side.

He took a large sip of his cherry soda whilst finally stealing glances at his new company. He could distinguish two adults, one male and one female. Although there was another figure who looked oddly familiar. He squinted to clear the cloudiness that was building in his eyes before he finally realised exactly who it was.

Holy ! Jinyoung? What the hell is he doing here? This is going worse than I could have ever expected. Why ommaaaaaa?

Jinyoung was staring back at Mark quite amusedly as he watched how he nearly choked on his drink after their gazes connected.

"Mr and Mrs Park & Jinyoung, I would like to introduce you to my son, Mark"

There was a knowing look in her eyes and she knew something that Mark was unaware of.

"Markie, this is the Park family. Jinyoung here is actually a lot closer to you than you may remember."

Mark then shot a bewildered look at his mother.

What is that supposed to mean? Please don't tell me that we're somehow oddly related.

"Mark, don’t you remember Jinyoung?"

He slowly fixed his eyes onto the younger boy. He was smiling. The room seemed to brighten up just with him in its presence.

Wait what am I even thinking? Pay attention stupid!

"N-no I don't. I don't remember where I would happen to know him from."

Mark responded in an embarrassingly quiet voice.

Everybody at the table just laughed as his apparent uncomfortable expression except for an equally dumbfounded looking Jinyoung.

“Jinyoung? Don’t you remember Mark? I thought you already knew…”

Ms Tuan’s voice started to trail off after she caught sight of Mr and Mrs Park sending her hand signals to ‘shut the hell up!’ They just remembered that they forgot to bring the subject up with their son.

Jinyoung rolled his eyes and flashed a fake smile at his parents before turning his attention back to Mark’s mother.

“No Ma’am, I don’t remember a thing. I’m sorry.” He replied with a slight tinge of disappointment. Almost as if he wished he’d remembered.

"That’s okay darling, you don’t have to apologise for anything.”

After conversing for a little while longer, she remembered the news.

“Oh that’s right! Well Jinyoung here is actually currently attending your school, Markie! I had no idea; we’ve lost contact for so long now! Can you believe it? After 12 years of separation, you boys can finally become best friends again!"

Mark was stunned beyond belief.

Jinyoung is my long-lost best friend? Since when?

Everything went dizzy. All of his panicked thoughts rushed to his head and caused him to have a pounding headache. He quickly excused himself to go outside. He needed some fresh air before he passed out.

Avoiding him was definitely not going to be easy…