The front door slammed with unneeded force, resulting in a surprised yelp from the unsuspecting brunet on the couch. The noise seemed to irritate Mark’s flustered self even more as he roughly shook his necktie off and flung it towards the laundry hamper without paying heed to where it actually landed. He let go of his briefcase with a thud and proceeded to his work shirt furiously, as though it was the most urgent thing to do at the moment.

Donghyuck, noticing something amiss about Mark’s behaviour, got up from the couch immediately, worry etched on his face and his usual impish smile gone. Mark’s usual disposition was far from his current flustered, rough, blustering one, and he never forgot to greet Donghyuck with his affectionate smile and a joking “Missed me, love?”.

Today was different. His face was red with apparent frustration, Donghyuck could practically feel the stress radiate from him and he wrestled with his dress shirt as though it did him a heinous wrong. Not to mention, he barely looked in Donghyuck’s direction the moment he walked through the front door. Donghyuck wasn’t the type to let things pass like that, so he was determined to find out the cause of Mark’s strange behaviour.

Slowly, cautiously, he approached Mark and lightly touched his bicep, as though testing the waters. When Mark did not resist, he decided it was safe enough to probe.

“Hey, what’s wrong? Are you alright?” Donghyuck’s tone was dulcet and soothing, replacing his usual teasing tone and light hearted banter.

Mark unmoved, averted his worried gaze, focused solely on taking his sweaty shirt off, shaking Donghyuck’s arm away. A flash of hurt and disdain passed through Donghyuck’s eyes; Mark had never treated him coldly before. He placed both his hands on the taller male’s shoulders and forced him to face him.

“Look at me and tell me what’s wrong. You can’t just blow me off like that and expect me to let that pass,” he said firmly, resolutely, a hint of his characteristic stubbornness showing through.

Mark gazed into the younger male’s eyes intently; the latter holding his gaze as resolutely, unwilling to back down. Suddenly, Donghyuck could feel Mark’s