"haechan? haechan, are you there?"
the mentioned man groaned and opened his eyes. he was laying on jisungs couch with renjun, jaemin and mark looking down on him.
the young man sat up and asked "what happened? gosh, my head hurts."
"lay back down, chanie. jisung is getting you some water, you blacked out for about two minutes." renjun informed him.
"what's going on?" another voice called out and all the heads turned to chenle.
mark raised his eyebrows at the boys appearance. he looked at him and sceptically asked "who are you? and what are you doing in jisungs apartment?"
"oh, i'm chenle. i'm jisungs-"
"friend." jisung cut him off, coming from the kitchen. he handed haechan a glass of water which the man gratefully took and drank.
"seems like this chaos was why your brother didn't want us over." akira joked. haechan looked at her. to be honest he had completely forgotten her existence. but now she was bending down to him. "are you alright? this seemed pretty serious." she asked in a concerned voice.
"yeah, i'm good. thank you for asking." haechan replied, smiling at the pretty woman. she smiled back and then stood up again and stood next to mark.
and that was when haechan realised the obvious. she was marks girlfriend. even though mark had introduced her as such, haechan was kind of busy fainting at that moment so one couldn't really blame him.
so that was why mark reacted the way he did when they kissed. but then why did he kiss haechan in first place? akira was not only much prettier and nicer than haechan but also his girlfriend. and if she was marks girlfriend that meant mark had cheated. and suddenly haechan felt guilty, it was obvious akira didn't know the kiss happened or else she would've probably not been so kind to haechan.
"akira and me just came by to check on you, seems like that was quite necessary. dad wants us at the mansion at twelve." mark spoke.
"what's the time anyway?" jeno asked, saying something for the first time. haechan looked at his phone that he still had in his pocket and replied "eleven thirty."
jeno nodded and turned his head to talk to jaemin quietly, probably about getting back to their dorms. jisung took the empty glass as an opportunity to go into the kitchen and take chenle with him. jeno and jaemin followed them but reappeared after a minute or so.
"we're going to go now. haechan if you faint again don't you dare make it a secret. renjun will tell us either way." jaemin noted.
"i will?" renjun questioned with a confused look in his face.
"you will." jaemin smiled at him causing renjun to blush. haechan chuckled at jenos reaction to all this. the mans lips were pouted and one arm was secured around jaemin's waist.
"bye everyone!" he said before the two boy exited the apartment. left behind were akira, mark, renjun and haechan. the latter closed his eyes, trying to ignore the upcoming headache. he should probably have cut it short on alcohol last night.
"don't you have work, jun?" he asked, breaking the silence.
"shit, you're right. i could not go but.. no way, that's really unprofessional. i'll go, see ya." renjun rambled and ruffled haechan's hair at the end.
"see you at home." haechan smiled and then closed his eyes again.
a phone rang and he could hear akiras voice answering it. the language she was speaking wasn't korean but japanese. haechan had gotten used to the language due to hanging around with yuta a lot.
while akira was gone it was only mark and haechan left in the living room. haechan knew that but did not want to open his eyes. there was an awkward silence before mark said "i'm sorry about.. you know."
at this haechan did open his eyes "uh yes. it's alright i guess. i didn't know you had a girlfriend." actually it wasn't alright but haechan ignored his brain screaming that at him.
"uh, yeah. she's nice." mark said and awkwardly scratched his neck. haechan raised his eyebrows "nice? she's your girlfriend, should you be a bit more head over heels?"
mark looked embarrassed and replied fast "i mean, i like her of course. she's great."
"she's gorgeous. and that comes from me, a gay man." haechan noted and at that mark chuckled. haechan did definitely enjoy the sound of that.
jisung and chenle joined them back in the kitchen. jisung cleared his throat, gaining haechans and marks attention.
"hyung, chenle is going with us for the dinner. i asked dad and he said he won't mind." the youngest boy said. mark nodded approvingly before looking back at haechan.
"when did you plan on leaving? not to sound rude but we all have stuff to do." he said.
"i can leave now. thanks for reminding me mark." haechan chuckled but then realised his mistake. "i meant mr. lee, i'm sorry."
mark didn't say anything but haechan thought there was a small smile tugging at his lips. "akira?" the man asked.
"yes?" the girl said from the corner of the room where she was still on the phone.
"call our chauffeur and take jisung and his friend to the restaurant already. i'm sure my father won't mind them being early. i'll take haechan home." akira nodded and waved the two boys to her. haechan got off the couch and followed mark to the door. he quickly thanked jisung for letting him stay over before him and mark left the apartment.
"thanks for taking me home. i didn't even realise i need a ride." haechan said while following mark out to the parking lots. he was again fiddling with his fingers, as always when he was nervous.
"no problem. it's the least i can do." mark replied and walked to a very fancy looking car. he opened the door for haechan who blushed at the action and got in. once both men were seated mark asked for haechan's address and the younger male gave it to him.
during the car they talked a bit. haechan made sure not to mention the kiss or the obvious fact that mark had cheated on his girlfriend. apparently they were just going to ignore it all.
"so what do you usually do on the weekends?" mark asked, stopping at a red light. haechan kept on fiddling with his fingers as he responded "i meet with friends. you saw them, renjun, jeno and jaemin."
the light turned green and mark sped up the car. haechan peeked at him and saw the man concentrated on the street.
"nothing else? just meeting with your friends?" mark questioned. haechan shook his head and said "i also like painting. renjun got me into it and he's teaching me sometimes. i'm not very good though. what else? oh, i also like bowling and karaoke a lot."
the other man chuckled and shook his head. "sounds very korean to me." he commented and haechan gasped. he playfully put a hand on his chest and gave mark an offended look.
"how dare you? you as a canadian are not one to speak." he spoke and mark laughed.
at that sound thousands of butterflies started flying around in haechan's tummy. a very bad sign that haechan chose to ignore.
"well, i love skiing. sometimes my parents would drive us out into the mountains to ski. i always loved it. jisung is really bad at it though." mark told haechan.
"oh canada.." the younger male joked and mark laughed again. the atmosphere was lighter now. it didn't feel like a boss-employee relationship anymore. more like they were goof acquaintances or maybe even friends.
during the whole ride the two kept on talking. mark complained about his parents coming to korea just for their son's birthday.
"they've literally never visited us. only once when i graduated and started working in my uncles company. they made sure i was doing alright and then went back to canada." the older man ranted.
"do you miss them?" haechan questioned curiously. he barely heard anyone talking about mark's parents.
"not really. they try to inference with my life too much for my liking." mark responded with a bitter undertone.
haechan could see his white knuckles on the steering wheel. it made him anxious and he took one of marks hands off the wheel and into his own. again this was not really something he was think about. it was just routine with renjun so he applied it to mark automatically.
he could feel mark tensing next to him so he brushed over the elders hand with his thumb, again barely even noticing what exactly he was doing.
they arrived at haechan's apartment complex. this one time haechan didn't enjoy the sight of his home as his car ride with mark had been surprisingly pleasant. mark wiggled his hand out of haechans and the latter blushed profusely at that.
"i'm sorry, sir. i shouldn't have done that. i keep on stepping over boundaries." he ranted but mark shushed him.
"it's fine, i enjoyed it. and call me mark when we're out of work." mark said and winked at haechan, making him only blush even more.
"okay, mark." haechan said, testing out the name. he liked it.
"but don't tell anyone. at work i'm sir or mr. lee, do you understand?" mark requested and haechan nodded obediently.
"god, can you not do that?" mark groaned. haechan tilted his head in confusion. did he do anything wrong? hopefully not.
"what do you mean?" he questioned shyly.
"i mean-" but mark stopped himself and suddenly kissed haechan. the younger man jumped as this came out of the blue. but after he got over it he started kissing back. how could he not? mark's lips were heaven on earth. soft but strong marks lips dominated his own and haechan got lost in the feeling. he turned his whole body and wrapped his arms around mark's neck.
they kissed for a few minutes but it felt like years. it seemed like neither of them could get enough of the others lips so they kept on kissing each other. at first with some hesitation but then more passionately.
finally they separated as haechan really needed some air. he leaned back into his seat, closing his eyes.
"you have a girlfriend." he noted, taking deep breaths.
"i know." mark responded.
"you're a cheater." haechan said, his eyes still closed.
"i know." mark responded again. his eyes were on haechan but obviously the young man couldn't see that.
"then why are you doing this?" haechan questioned. he was actually curious as he had no idea what made mark kiss him.
"i don't know, i can't help it. i just like it." mark shrugged. in that moment haechan could hear his honesty and sincerity in the others voice. he believed mark.
"promise me that was our last kiss?" haechan asked as he opened the door.
"i'm sorry but i don't think i can do that." mark replied and smiled at haechan. it was a rather sad smile but haechan understood him somehow. he had no idea of mark's reasons or motives neither of his feelings but somehow something in haechan understood mark. it would be on them to figure out how or why.
"thanks for the ride again." haechan said.
"you're welcome." mark replied and haechan closed the door. he watched mark drive off, his eyes following the car until it was gone in the distance.
(a/n: thx for over 1k reads!! i won't be posting in the next days since i'm going camping with my friends and won't have wifi. ily all!)