“Koeun!” He shouted at the girl who was sitting against one of the goal posts nearest to the building’s exit that Mark had just come out of. “Hey! Koeun!”

“Mark!” Koeun shouted back, calling him over and he jogged towards her, sitting down next to her before she sighed and looked at him with tears in her eyes. “I’m sorry, Mark…I really am…”

“What?” He asked, staring at her in curiosity before she picked up her phone that was previously on the ground and showed it to him - a single picture of Jeno holding a phone and opening the door to the broadcasting room using his key. 

“Jeno barely uses the broadcasting room and Herin was taking pictures for the school newsletter about the news team,” Koeun explained, her eyes sad when he glanced at them before staring even longer at the picture on the screen. “This is the one she took minutes before the announcement.”

Mark didn’t know what he felt at that moment - betrayal, anger but most of all, curiosity.

Why didn’t Jeno just tell me straight up?

Was him crying all an act?

In his mind, Mark could picture the younger’s face that he had seen earlier - the tears being too real and too emotional to be anything else. 

“I know you didn’t want this but I did some research and found that Jeno let Herin inside to drop some things from a teacher off,” Koeun informed him, her eyes showing so much honesty that Mark let out a breath in relief. “When I asked her, she said that she had seen Jeno plugging something into the broadcast system before he walked out, leaving his key behind. She has it now and needs to return it to him.” But Jeno said- “Don’t you get it, Mark? Whatever Jeno told you is a lie.”

Is it really? 

Inside Mark’s chest, he felt his heart squeeze in pain at the thought of his best friend lying to him and even forcing tears for him. He saw Koeun smile at him softly to give him a feeling of validity for his feelings of betrayal, a sign that Mark was grateful for since he knew that he still had one genuine friend amongst all of this. 

“I know it’s hard to believe but its simply the truth,” Koeun said, opening her arms and for once, Mark let himself find comfort in the other’s arms - her warmth being nowhere near the temperature he wanted or needed but being enough in that one moment.

“Why do you think he did it?” He asked her, sighing when Koeun began to his hair to calm his nerves.

“When I was doing some digging, I heard that he apparently likes Donghyuck,” Koeun said softly, humming shortly after. “Maybe he’s jealous that you like him too?”

“But Jeno isn’t-“ He cut himself off, the sudden fact that Jeno spent more time with the other group than the one that Mark was in hitting him in the face. “You don’t think that he’s-“

“It certainly seems that way,” Koeun commented before he shook his head and stood up, dusting off his pants. “Mark, what are you-“

“Thanks for telling me but I think I should talk to Jeno before I start anything,” He explained, nodding at Koeun and receiving a stare of disbelief. “I have to get both sides of the story since I don’t want a repeat of what happened between Donghyuck and I.”

“But I…I have proof,” Koeun protested, holding up her phone that still displayed the picture of Jeno opening the door to the broadcasting room before she laughed sadly. “Of course, trust Mark Lee to be uncooperative.”

“Uncooperative?” He asked, furrowing his eyebrows but only receiving even more laughs from the other. “I’m just trying to get to the bottom of this-“

“It’s okay,” Koeun reassured him, her smile hiding something that seemed malicious but also looking so genuine that Mark almost asked her what she wanted to do with the information she had found. “I’ll…I’ll do some more digging. You go ahead and talk to Jeno.”

“Will do,” he replied, smiling softly before taking out his phone to text the younger.

APPARENT BESTIE (jeno lee)

Yo man where are you?

I finished my detour

I’m in one of the art rooms with Donghyuck and Renjun

it’s the one closest to the vending machine

Coming

Don’t move

He had just gotten to the hallway before all of the art rooms when the public announcement system went off, static coming through the speakers before a shaky female voice with no filters was speaking.

“Um…is this…is this on?” The t