"Mark, can you hear me?"

The Canadian got rid of all his impertinent thoughts and was startled to see all those pairs of eyes turned to him, looking questioningly and perhaps a little worried.

"Sorry. I did not hear what I said." He said bewildered, trying to get into the subject of the conversation.

"Lately you've been very strange, Mark." Jaemin cleared his throat, shrugging, going back to what he was doing.

It was to be hoped that Mark would be hauled the way he was.

It had been a few days since Jaemin and Jeno assumed they were boyfriends, and since then, Mathew and Bran were no longer in their lives, as Donghyuck had said, the gay guard was active and attentive (adding two new members, Jisung and Chenle, who were also familiar with the idea of ​​dating), except for Mark, who seemed to fall into his own daydreams more and more.

Something had changed dramatically since Jeno and Jaemin became boyfriends and made everyone look at things in a new way (at least in Mark's vision). An angle where Mark had never paid attention and that now, after all that was happening, he began to notice things in a different way.

I mean, since when had he become interested in Donghyuck's eyes, which shone brighter every time he listened to music with his headphones? And from what moment did he pay attention to all the details, no matter how small, of Donghyuck?

Everything was chaotic. Now Mark could see Donghyuck in a way he had never seen before. He began to have insane and inexplicable wills. He wanted to stay with Donghyuck for as long as he could. The Canadian would leave school thinking of returning to be able to spend more time with his best friend, and when he was alone, he could not stop thinking about him.

He could barely concentrate on simple things like a conversation between friends, or simply read, yet he lost his line of thought because Donghyuck invaded his mind without permission and flooded his ideas.

Mark was staring at Donghyuck at that moment, in the middle of the cafeteria, barely noticing when it seemed obvious. Since when did he notice his best friend this way? In fact, he was trying to focus on anything but Donghyuck, and tried to disguise his eyes that could not look in any direction other than him.

Donghyuck had partially pardoned Mark because of his lack of honesty. Of course, Donghyuck would not be able to stay very far from Mark, but for the Canadian, staying close to Donghyuck all the time became a form of madness gradually.

On the outside it might seem calm, but internally, Mark utterly chaotic because of his strange thoughts. The only memory that flooded his thoughts in the last few days was the feel of Donghyuck's warm hand touching his in an attempt to calm him the other day. He thought about it for days. During the evenings. During class, which was potentially problematic, because, since when did Mark think so much of Donghyuck, and more, in this way?

Mark could not perceive that the dichotomy in his thoughts affected him in a negative way, because, while he let himself think of Donghyuck, he also forbade him to think of him in the same proportion, and more and more Mark sank into his own agony and anguish.

Everything was clear to Mark, he saw no problem in having thoughts like these and yet he was innocent enough not to notice his own feelings because all this was just a momentary euphoria, so he simply ignored his heart eager to see Donghyuck, and adopted it as a normal thing of friends.

Mark did not have the ability to interpret his feelings, but he could see that thinking so much about a person was not normal.

"MARK" Jeno exclaimed, scaring the poor Canadian once again.

"Sorry." He sighed after a few seconds, defeated. "I'm going to the bathroom."

His friends watched Mark rise heavily from the table, and go in slow and tired steps to the bathroom door. They looked at each other, half-worried, or perhaps cu