“Do you like Mark?”

 

She looked at him in disbelief. She had agape and couldn’t even speak any work. She swear she is not hearing this question from him. She chuckled to break the ice but from his looks, he’s serious. She cleared and smiled at him.

 

“Why would you ask that?” she slightly hit his shoulder. “You’re silly”

 

“You seem to pay attention to him than the other NCT members” he looked at her straight in the eyes. “So I just wondered if---”

 

“No” she cut him off. “He is hardworking and Minseok Oppa seems to care for him a lot. So I want to know why. Are you jealous?”

 

“What?” he asked, in disbelief, this time. “No.. I’m not” he said shyly and looked down. He was welcomed with Minyeong’s head leaning on his shoulder. He looked at her and gestured for her to lay down on his lap, in which she did. He her hair. “go to sleep. I can tell you’re tired and stressed”

 

“Hhhmm” she hummed. “but I don’t want to” she argued. “do you remember when you weren’t famous and we always do this? I would always lay like this on your lap and doze off to sleep and worry about nothing”

 

“I remember of course. It was so long ago. Still, nothing has changed” he smiled lightly and kept her head and hair. “You know… if you were to decide to like someone else… I’ll be okay with it” he said in a painful voice.

 

“I’m not… I’m not ready to like someone else. I’m not ready to let you go. I’m not ready to give this up” she choked on her voice. Kyungsoo can tell her voice is trembling and she’s ready to cry anytime soon. “I feel sleepy. I think I’m gonna go to sleep like this. Goodnight Kyung”

 

“Goodnight Minyeong. Saranghae” he whispered the last word silently.

 

 

 

 

 

------ NCT DORM-------

 

“YA!! GO SHOWER FIRST BEFORE YOU GUYS PLAY GAMES!!” Taeyong yelled at Haechan and Yuta. “Ugh. This kids” he said in frustration and Jaehyun chuckled.

 

“Relax Tae. You’re too worked up” Jaehyun put his hand on the leader’s shoulder calming him down.

“Thanks Jae. It’s hard to be a leader”

 

“I know. We’re all here to help you” Taeyong gave him a smile and thanking him again. Both of them noticed Mark all attention and submerged in his phone while walking. The younger didn’t even notice the two guys looking at him.

 

“Mark” Jaehyun called his name but no answer.

 

“MARK” Taeyong said in a stern voice and the younger looked at him with a confused look.

“Huh? Neh Hyung?” Mark looked at him. “Did you call my name?”

 

“You okay? You’ve been on your phone a lot today. Let me see what you looking at” Jaehyun tried to look at his phone.

 

“Hyung stttoppp” the younger whined while trying to move his phone away from Jaehyun. His phone was suddenly swooped away by Taeyong and laughed. Both of them looked at his phone and was surprised to see what he had been looking at.

 

“Minyeong Noona?” Taeyong and Jaehyun looked in disbelief while Taeyong scrolled the younger’s phone.

 

“Hhhyuunng~~~~ give it back”

 

“Why do you have pictures of Noona?” Both of them asked.

 

“I’m just looking at her pictures. Give it back, now”

 

“Because Mark here, likes Minyeong Noona” Haechan suddenly popped out of nowhere.

 

“No I do not!” Mark defended himself turning pink.

 

“Then why are you blushing then?” Doyoung teased the younger followed by Haechan.

 

“Mark…” Johnny tried to calm him down as he noticed that the younger is being too worked up.

 

“OKAY OKAY!” The younger put his hands up in defeat. “She’s really pretty, okay? I can’t even like someone in peace? She’s so pretty and I want to be closer to her. Is there something wrong with that?” Mark pouted.

 

“We know she’s pretty. We all like her. There’s nothing wrong with---” Doyoung stopped when he realized that Mark is pertaining to something else. “Do you mean….”

 

“Yes. I like Noona. I know I’m not supposed to. I know she likes… I mean, loves someone else, and that’s Kyungsoo Hyung” the younger said in a disappointed tone.

The members felt so bad for the young boy. He had worked so hard starting when he entered at 12 years old and up until he debuted. The boy was never really interested in any girls and he thinks he is not popular with girls, but in fact, he is. The younger boy never had a crush even though he had been friends with other girls from girl groups. He does feel guilty about liking MinYeong despite the fact that he know he can’t because of certain circumstances. He let out a big sigh and asked for his phone back.

 

“Here” Taeyong softly handed it to the young boy. “Mark…”

 

“I know Hyung” Mark responded walking to his room, dragging his feet weakly. He never showed s how tired he is but this time, with his discouragement, he didn’t really feel like faking it. Johnny tried to hold on to the younger but Mark just signaled that he wanted to be alone.

 

“Ottoke” Doyoung asked Taeyong and the other shrugged his shoulder.

 

“I knew this was going to happen” Johnny signed and put his head, rubbing it.

 

“Yeah. He kept looking at MinYeong Noona when we were eating. I could already tell” Jaehyun added with his very unbothered face and gesture. He looked at the others when they were all looking at him. “What?”

 

“You and your unbothered gestures. It kills me!” Doyoung huffed and walked to his room.

 

 

 

Mark got inside his room. He took off his jacket and shoes and plopped himself on his bed. He stared at the ceiling for a good minute until he picked up his phone again. He kept staring at MinYeong’s picture. He found a picture of MinYeong in the school’s website where she is attending and she was wearing her scrubs uniform with her white lab coat. He never thought someone in a medical field can be as pretty as MinYeong. He sighed, put his phone down and closed his eyes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Get it together, Mark. Get it together” he mumbled to himself before he passed out to sleep.