Mark was already introduced to the rest of Jeno and Donghyuck's group of friends. He got along with them really well, he also met Youngho hyung and so far, everything is going good. He's liking the atmosphere, the people and Donghyuck. 

 

 

Mark's not even denying it. 

 

 

He's starting to really like the tanned boy. Donghyuck never fails to make him laugh or smile, he just finds everything he does amusing. 

 

 

Besides, he is an amazing cook, Gordon Ramley will surely approve his omelette. He's trying to get closer to Donghyuck, if his failed attempts at flirting goes unnoticeable by Donghyuck himself, their group of friends, especially Jaemin, doesn't let it pass.

 

 

("Hyuck's as dense as a rock," Jaemin tells him one day, when Donghyuck was still in one of his classes. "But he's loveable so I totally understand why you like him, just don't hurt our Hyuck or I swear to God Mark, you won't-"

 

 

"Hey, hey," Renjun chimes. "Stop threatening Mark, he's not yet even confessing to Hyuckie. You're scaring the poor boy," Renjun smiles at him. "Hyuck likes sunflowers, just want to let you know.")

 

 

Mark blushes at the thought. He's not really keen on everyone knowing his growing fondness for the boy, but at least they're giving a lot of helpful advice so Mark's not really complaining. 

 

 

~

 

 

If you leave Donghyuck alone with his thoughts, it usually results to him over thinking every situation. Or getting stressed for no apparent reason. 

 

 

But these days, he finds himself thinking about a certain someone - someone named Mark. 

 

 

Add that with his worry about his soulmate and he'll probably end up crying. Donghyuck feels like he's cheating on his soulmate - whom he still hasn't met, by the way, what a shame - even if he's not doing anything wrong. Why does their soulmate marks don't come along with their actual soulmate? Donghyuck groans, that'd be more easier for people. It'd lessen heartbreaks as well. 

 

 

"Hey."

 

 

He looks up and he ignores the momentarily stopping of his heart because holy , Mark is breathtaking. 

 

 

Mark looks awful, if you ask anyone (anyone besides Donghyuck). He just woke up, his hair looks like a bird's nest, there might be dried saliva on his face and nasty eye crusts and Donghyuck would still be in awe. 

 

 

"You okay?" Mark asks in English.

 

 

Donghyuck nods, heart beat getting impossibly faster. There's a faint smile in Mark's face and Donghyuck knows he's not inside a fairy tale dimension, but he can feel everything going into slow motion. There's just something about Mark that moment that makes him become fearless for once. He's not sure of what he's doing; why he's leaning in, for 's sake and why is Mark not backing away?!

 

 

"You have something on your face." 

 

 

He ruined their little moment when he muttered those words because Mark was quick and aggressively wiped his face with the back of his hand. Donghyuck had to bite the inside of his cheeks to stop smiling. 

 

 

The older clears his throat, "by the way, any news about your soulmate?" 

 

 

Since in their group of friends, Donghyuck and Mark are the only ones who have their soulmate's mark so they don't really have a choice but to talk to each other about things like this and help one another out. Youngho is busy with his studies while Jisung is still in highschool, it's not like they can randomly ask someone with a mark to help them out and ask for advice. 

 

 

"Eh," Donghyuck makes a face. "Other than the dreams I had, there's nothing really. You?"

 

 

"Same, I don't even know if the dreams are helpful."

 

 

They both stay silent afterwards, secretly enjoying each other's presence and liking the warmth the other emits.

 

 

Moments later, Donghyuck doesn't want to reflect about soulmates anymore and unconsciously held Mark's hand.

 

 

"Let's not mind our soulmates, yeah? We have a long time for that but now, let's meet Jeno in the ice cream shop?" Mark just nods, dumbfounded. The younger releases his hand and stood up and says something about getting his wallet or what but in reality, he's not listening.

 

 

That...that hand, the way Donghyuck held his hand...he's felt it before. He's certain it happened, not sure when and how but he knows he's felt that kind of warmth at least once. 

 

 

~

 

 

Mark couldn't sleep that night.

 

 

He's tried drinking milk, but he has drank three glasses already and he stopped before finishing the whole carton because Jeno would surely throw a fit tomorrow morning if they ran out of milk. He's tried listening to calming music and Mark's getting frustrated because he can't sleep. 

 

 

Instead, he sits up and grabs his worn out notebook and his favorite pen. He scribbles the word soulmate on top of the page in capital letters and proceeded to write the things that he have dreamt of so far. Youngho suggested that it was good to write it down and Mark feels the great need to follow the older's advice because he's met his soulmate already (so obviously, Mark considers him as an expert in this field). 

 

 

His eyebrows furrowed in wonder when he wrote omelettes because why in the world would be cooked eggs related to whoever his soulmate is? 

 

 

There was a scenario in one of his dreams where he can remember someone leaning in his shoulder and they were sharing earplugs. Mark's shocked that his dreams are really clear and precise, he can remember them perfectly. It's just that, he can't see the person, but he can feel them and...it feels nice. He likes the feeling of holding someone close to him, and for some reason, it awfully reminds him of Donghyuck. 

 

 

And he's annoyed. 

 

 

Everything just reminds him of Donghyuck and he doesn't know why. Even when he was buying a strawberry popsicle on his way back home from uni one time, he remembered Donghyuck because he wore a pastel hoodie with the same color the last day and Mark thought he looked so cuddly and adorable and just - huggable, he had to stop a squeal from coming out by stuffing a bread on his mouth and let's just say that didn't end well from the way he almost died from choking.

 

 

He may be exaggerating but he did choked on his bread. 

 

 

And sometimes, Mark finds himself hoping, the guilt slowly creeping up his chest and the thought of betrayal lingering somewhere in his thoughts, for them not to meet their soulmates. 

 

 

He knows it's impossible, really, but he doesn't know if he can give the love that his soulmate needs. Mark sighs, he hasn't even met his soulmate yet he's already cheating. 

 

 

/Is this even considered cheating?/ Mark thinks. /I mean, I'm just secretly admiring someone and it's not like he likes me back too...ouch./

 

 

Mark sleeps that night with a heavy heart and for some reason he dreams of someone's hand writing. 

 

 

~

 

 

Donghyuck stares at his mark, confusion written all over his face. He's really trying so hard to stay positive nowadays with the amount of school works and now that he has actual free time, his soulmate mark is what stresses him out. He sighs, can't he just have one peaceful day? 

 

 

"You're lucky you still don't have your soulmate mark." Donghyuck pouts, hugging a pillow to his chest. "This makes me feel like I'm destined to myself, besides my surname is Lee and I don't know but it makes perfect sense."

 

 

Jaemin gives him a weird look, "is that even possible?" 

 

 

"Hey, how long have you had your mark?" Renjun asks. "I've seen on the internet something about soulmates meeting each other a few years after they got their mark."

 

 

Donghyuck's eyes went wide, "that long?!"

 

 

Renjun nods, he pats his distraught friend's back and gives him a hug. He kinda feels sad for him because he looks so downcast and dejected and it's so different from the usual happy and smiling Donghyuck that he knows. 

 

 

Although Renjun gets pretty annoyed when Donghyuck gets uncontrollable /some/times, he's still one of his best friends and it seeing their sunshine being all gloomy and sad. 

 

 

"Hey Jeno, what's Mark's surname?" Jaemin asks all of a sudden. 

 

 

"Why are you asking?" Jeno says, looking up from his phone. Donghyuck is feeling too down to participate in his friends' conversation so he continues watching them with a pout. 

 

 

"Just answer me, okay. I have a theory to confirm."

 

 

Jeno makes a face, "uh, okay. We have the same surname. It's Lee. Mark Lee."

 

 

As if on cue, Jaemin and Renjun slowly turned their heads and looked at each other. There's this telepathic thing going on between them because they know they are thinking about the same thing and it's just...brilliant. 

 

 

A wicked smile appears on their faces. This is going to be /fun/.

 

 

~

 

 

It's his second month back in Seoul. He hears a calming and peaceful voice of someone singing in his dreams and Mark has never felt so alive.

 

 

"I don't know, man," He rants to Jeno one day. "It just feels so real, I'm not even kidding. Like you know those 8D audios? That's how I hear it in my dreams. It feels like my soulmate is singing me to sleep everytime and I don't know if I should be concerned about it."

 

 

Jeno gives him a concerned look. "Are you sure you're not going crazy? I mean, you're hearing voices already!"

 

 

"That's my concern!"

 

 

"Also I don't think I am the right person you need to talk to, you should be talking to Hyuck about your soulmate problems because I'm sure I wouldn't be of any help to you. Sorry, dear cousin." Jeno successfully pushes his poor cousin out of the room and with a smile, he closes the door at his face. 

 

 

"Hey!" Mark pounds at the door. "I'm still older than you, Lee Jeno! Let me in! I'm not done ranting yet!" 

 

 

"I told you to talk to Hyuck!" 

 

 

He pauses. Should he really talk to him though? He hasn't seen the younger the whole day and now that he noticed it, Donghyuck has been quiet these past few days and it's unusual. 

 

 

He misses him too. 

 

 

They weren't able to hang out a lot because it was hell week this past month in college and everything just piled up. He wants to talk to him sometimes but he sees Donghyuck studying and he doesn't want to bother him because God knows how hard it is to concentrate while studying. 

 

 

There's something that draws him closer to the tanned guy and he doesn't know if it's creepy or cheesy. Or like both. 

 

 

Mustering enough self courage, Mark knocks at Donghyuck's bedroom door. He taps his feet unconsciously, a habit he does when he feels anxious for some reason. 

 

 

Donghyuck opens the door. "Oh, Mark hyung. It's you." He smiles and opens the door wider to let him in. "I thought you went out."

 

 

"Oh, I remember something." He looks at the younger, eyes twinkling in amusement. "I recall Renjun telling me that you sing, can I hear it?" 

 

 

"Wow." Donghyuck laughs, "did you came in here just to hear me sing?"

 

 

Mark raised his eyebrows and smiled. 

 

 

And literally, Donghyuck's brain went static. /Oh my God/ He thinks. /That smile is dangerous./

 

 

"How many people have fallen in love with your smile?" 

 

 

.. 

 

.. 

 

.. 

 

 

Mark blinks. 

 

 

Donghyuck blinks back. 

 

 

"W-what?" Mark muttered. Did Donghyuck just really said that or was his brain really messed up now? 

 

 

"Your smile is beautiful." Donghyuck mumbles. 

 

 

It took Donghyuck three whole seconds of awkwardness to process what he just said, and when he did realized his mistake, he ends up covering his mouth in shock. Sometimes his mouth and brain aren't really in sync and then things like this happens and just, ugh. 

 

 

And worse, in front of his crush.  

 

 

"I-i mean," Donghyuck can't think of an excuse all of a sudden. "What I mean is..it w-was...a joke, yeah, I'm just joking you Mark hyung." He ends up scratching the back of his neck out of nervousness. 

 

 

"Yeah, right." Mark nods slowly. He tries to catch Donghyuck's eyes but the younger keeps on avoiding his stare. "Do you mean it though? That I have a beautiful smile?"

 

 

Okay, look. Donghyuck is a pretty confident person. It's very unlikely of him to be shy and conscious of his actions but Mark seeing him like this makes his heart grow fonder for him a bit more. He thinks he's so adorable like this; blushing and stumbling over his words. 

 

 

It's times like these that makes Mark feel like Donghyuck is his real soulmate. There's just something special whenever he's with him; there's a feeling of comfort, excitement and the younger inspires him so much that there's a ton of poems and lyrics about him on Mark's secret journal. 

 

 

"Lee Donghyuck," he calls. Mark's not a risk taker; he prefers to stay in the comfort of his own space; he's what you call a 'wallflower'; but God, he's so willing to risk for this one guy sitting in front of him right now. 

 

 

"What if you're actually my soulmate?"

 

 

Total silence. Donghyuck ends up staring and gawking at Mark. 

 

 

To say that Donghyuck is surprised is an understatement. He literally went '???' when Mark said that. 

 

 

It's not like he doesn't like it, he actually love the idea of being Mark's soulmate. But of course, he doesn't want to get his hopes up. There's millions of people with the surname Lee around the world, the chance of Mark being his soulmate is just a strong 0.1%.

 

 

Unconsciously, he looks at his wrist to look at his mark. 

 

 

He finds nothing. 

 

 

Donghyuck's eyes widened in shock. 

 

 

His mark disappeared. Literally nothing. 

 

 

Mark noticed the sudden change of his reaction. "Are you mad? I was just joking, Hyuck. I'm sorry!" He apologizes frantically. 

 

 

"My mark," Donghyuck swallows the lump in his throat. Everything looks a bit blurry now. "It disappeared."