𖤐

"Victoria! I said it doesn't hurt anymore." You whined as she persisted on babying you.

Victoria insisted on staying in Seoul for another week to help you get better after everything that happened at Yugyeom's house. She wanted to make sure you were completely okay before leaving.

They tried explaining that you couldn't be taken to a hospital because there would be too many questions about how your injuries came to place. You didn't understand why you couldn't get the police involved, it's like they were all hiding something. They wouldn't even let you tell Jaebeom about the situation. Luckily, Yugyeom's father happens to be friends with a doctor who gladly stitched up your wounds yesterday.

After getting cleaned up, Victoria drove you to her apartment and that's where you've been staying for the last two days. You had to call your parents and tell them you were staying at a friends house for the weekend. You lied saying it was Jennie and Jisoo's place knowing they wouldn't allow you to stay if they knew where you really were. You really hated lying to them, but it seems that it's the only thing you've been doing lately.

"Oh, really?" Victoria raises her brows. "So this doesn't hurt?"

Before you could even stop her, she lightly pokes your injured arm.

"Ow!"

"See?" She says with a hint smugness in her tone. "You are still hurt. Now, lay down."

You let out a heavy sigh, reluctantly laying back down on the couch.

"Vic, you should've just let Yugyeom take care of me." You state, feeling all guilty. "You were suppose to leave last night. Now your schedule is all messed up because of me."

"I can't leave now, especially when you're not okay." She gives a weak smile, revealing her dimples. "Besides, look how close we've already gotten."

"I know, but still–"

Before you could finish your protest, the front door suddenly opens and Mark walk inside with two boxes of pizza in his hands.

"Mark, you're back." Victoria stands, walking over to him.

"Yep, and I brought pizza." He says while placing the boxes on the kitchen counter.

You attempt to stand up, but Victoria immediately stops you.

"Y/n, sit." She orders, pointing a finger at you.

"I'm not a dog." You scoffed. Her stern tone was as if she were speaking with a disobedient puppy.

You could hear Mark snickering from the kitchen. You squint your eyes at him and he just smiles at you teasingly.

"No, but you shouldn't be moving so much." She retorts.

You let out a deep breath before pulling out your phone to check your recent messages.

• ———•

>> Hey, are you okay?

>> I haven't heard from you

in over a week.

>> I just want to make sure

you're okay

>> It's okay if you don't want to

talk to me, I just need to know

that you're alright.

11:54 AM

I'm fine, no thanks to you.

6:38 PM

• ——— •

After reading Jinyoung's worried messages it made your heart ache. You know he didn't mean to harm you, but it doesn't change the fact that you still got hurt.

You still aren't exactly sure what even happened. How does he know Yugyeom? Why did he send people after him? What happened between the two to cause them to hate each other so much?

There are so many unanswered questions and all it's doing is making your head hurt. You push away those thoughts, deciding to text Youngjae. He always knows how to cheer you up when you're feeling down.

• ——— •

I'm sad.

6:39 PM

>> Nice to meet you, Sad.

I'm Youngjae.

6:40 PM

Stop. You know I hate your dad jokes.

6:40 PM

>> Don't lie, you love them.

>> But why are you sad? What

happened?

6:40 PM

Something happened with Jinyoung...

6:41 PM

>> Oh.

6:44 PM

That's all you have to say?

6:44 PM

>> I'm at work right now, we'll

have to talk about this later.

6:45 PM

Okay..

6:45 PM

• ——— •

Well, he was no help at all. If anything, that conversation just made you feel a whole lot worse.

Youngjae's always so standoffish when it comes to Jinyoung. You have no clue why, he just gets all quiet and closed off whenever you talk about him.

Suddenly, you feel someone lifting up your legs and placing them on their lap as they sit down on the couch.

You look up from your phone to see Yugyeom holding a plate in his hands. He wasn't even looking at you as he was too busy enjoying his pepperoni pizza.

"Yugyeom? When did you get here?" You question, placing your phone down beside you.

"Just a second ago." He answers in a monotone voice.

"You're not gonna offer me any?" You ask jokingly, staring at his plate of pizza.

His brows raise, looking back and forth between you and his pizza. He tries giving you the slice in his hand, but you shake your head in disgust.

"No." You shove his arm away. "You already took a bite of it."

"So?"

"I don't want your cooties." You give a displeased look.

"I don't have cooties." He scoffs.

"I beg to differ." You argued.

"Take it." He shoves the pizza back in your face.

"No. I don't want it." You refuse, wrapping your hand around his wrist as you try your best to keep it away from you.

"Yes, you do." He insists playfully, resulting in a smile to finally appear on your face.

"Yugyeom!" You laugh. "Keep that away from me."

"You better take it. It's the only one you're gonna get." He threatens.

"Fine!" You snatched it from his hand and take a big bite. "There, I ate it. You happy?"

"How's it taste?" He quirks a brow at your aggressive chewing.

"It tastes like your cooties." You teased, watching as his eyes sharpen in annoying, causing you to laugh even more.

"Shut up about the cooties! You've said it so much that it doesn't even sound like a word anymore." He scowls.

"What's going on over here?" Victoria grins, while walking over with Mark.

She hands you your own plate of pizza before sitting down on the other couch with Mark.

"Thank you." Your smile disappears after making eye contact with Mark.

"Nothing." Yugyeom answers, quickly leaning away from you.

Victoria makes googly eyes at you and Yugyeom and you couldn't help but think about her talk she had with you before her birthday party last week.

You and Yugyeom have been arguing a lot less. But you know it's only because he feels bad about what happened to you at his house. If you weren't injured right now, he would be treating you exactly how he was before the party.

You glance back over at Mark as he sat silently staring at the television. You felt bad for making him worry so much over you for the past couple of days, and you felt even worse for still having some sort of attractionfor him especially while Victoria is here.

You know he loves Victoria, but just the mere thought of it makes a tinge of jealousy form in the pit of your stomach and you hated that feeling, so much. You hated feeling this way about him.

"What do you want to watch?" Victoria asks while scrolling through Netflix to see what's new.

You were beginning to feel tired, so you just shrugged, knowing you were gonna end up falling asleep anyways.

"It doesn't matter."

• I •

After sleeping for what felt like hours, you wake up to realize you were still on the couch.

All the lights were turned off except for the small night light in the kitchen.

You look around and it seemed no one was here. You lay back down, getting comfortable enough to go back to sleep.

"Come on, Victoria! Don't be like that!"

You heard a male voice shout from outside the apartment door. The front door slams open and you watch as Victoria and Mark storm back inside in a fit of anger.

"Be like what, Mark?!" She shouts back, facing him, "The night of my party, you told me that you're okay with me going back to France, but now you're practically begging me to stay!"

You quickly close your eyes, pretending to be asleep as Mark shuts the door.

Victoria storms into her bedroom with Mark following behind, leaving the door cracked. Your eyes pop back open and you lean over the couch, peeking inside.

"Mark, I asked you multiple times if you wanted me to stay and you said that I should go!" She hollers. "Now all of a sudden you don't want me to! What's changed?"

"I love you, Victoria. Don't you get that?!" He finally admits to her face.

There is was again, that pang of jealousy attacking your heart.

"No, you don't!" She denies. "You're just using me as an excuse to hide the fact that you really have feelings for Y/n!"

"Don't say that! You know that's not true." He shakes his head.

"Oh really? Give me one reason why I'm wrong." She commands, catching him off guard.

"I–"

He pauses, not knowing what to say.

"..because..she's been nothing, but a substitute for you." He reveals.

A small gasp escapes Victoria's lips. Her hand raises and swings. You cover your mouth from the shock as her hand collides with Mark's cheek.

You watch as his hair flies across his face, covering his eyes while he stares down at the ground.

"Do you hear yourself right now?! Grow up!" She screams furiously.

His words rang in your head and you couldn't take it anymore. You pull your phone out, scrolling through your contact list.

You click Jaebeom's contact, placing the phone to your ear as it rings. Tears built up in your eyes and you made your best attempt to push them back.

"Hello?"

"Jaebeom-ah," You whisper, masking the sadness in your voice. "Do you think can you come get me?"

"Now?"

"If that's okay with you, then yeah, now." You nod even though he wouldn't see it.

"Um–yeah, just give me a minute."

You pause for a moment as you hear voices in the background. They were very distinct, almost like you knew them.

"..is that— Yugyeom?" You ask with a frown.

You thought you heard Jackson and Bambam too, but you weren't sure.

"What? No–uh.." He speaks hesitantly.

"Are you busy or something? I can find someone else to call." I ask as he sounded distracted.

"No, it's fine." He responds quickly. "I just finished work. I can come get you."

"Thank you, I'll send you the address."

After hanging up, you immediately start putting your shoes on. You try your best to be as quiet as possible while ignoring the arguing going on in Victoria's room.

As you were about to leave, Mark stomps out of the room, slamming the door shut behind him.

His eyes catch you standing in front of the door and he immediately says something.

"Y/n, why are you awake? Where are you going?" He asks, approaching you.

"I'm leaving." You deadpan.

"What? Why?" His brows furrow. "You shouldn't be going anywhere, you're still hurt."

"Don't pretend you care? I'm just a substitution for Victoria, remember?" I scoff. "You don't have to act like you give a damn about me anymore.

His eyes widen in realization and he shakes his head.

"No, y/n." He steps closer. "I didn't mea–"

"I don't care what you have to say." I cut him off. "Just keep it to yourself."

"I'm leaving with Jaebeom, so you might as well stay here and try to work things out with Victoria." You state, motioning towards her bedroom door.

"Jaebeom?" Mark whispers silently to himself.

You turn around and walk out the door, leaving Victoria's apartment without another word.

As you hastily headed down the stairs, you heard Mark call after me.

Once making it outside, you spot Jaebum standing in the parking lot waiting for me. You were almost surprised at how fast he got here. He must've already been somewhere nearby.

As you got closer, you noticed how tired he look. It was like he hadn't slept for a few days. He was leaning against his car, with his arms crossed over his chest as his eyes were resting shut.

"Y/n!" Mark yells, running out the door after you. "Wait!"

"No! Mark, just go back to Victoria." I demand. "I don't want to talk to you."

Jaebeom finally opens his eyes upon hearing shouting voices. You give him a quick glance while entering the front passenger seat.

"How do you know Y/n?" Mark questions in a whisper, quite shocked to see a familiar face.

"It's a long story."

You watch silently from the car as they spoke with each other. Your brows furrow, not quite sure how they knew each other. You had a bad feeling about it, but you continued to watch in silence.

"Just watch over her for me, okay?" Mark speaks solemnly. "Make sure she doesn't get into anymore trouble."

Jaebeom just nods and watches as Mark slowly walks back inside. He finally get in the car and starts up the engine.

You feel him staring at you, waiting for you to tell him what happened. You let out a deep breath before leaning your head against the window.

"I don't really wanna talk about what happened right now.."

You hesitantly turn your head to look at him, meeting his strong gaze. You study his face and your brows crease together as you notice a dark crimson substance smudged slightly across his cheek.

You sit up, moving closer towards him to get a better look of what it could be.

"What is that?" You question, placing your hand against his chest to keep yourself from falling on top of him.

"What is what?" He asks, leaning back.

You use your free hand to gently wipe the smudge off his cheek.

"Is this..blood?" You question a bit shocked once noticing the resemblance.

Jaebeom catches you off guard when he suddenly snatches your wrist and pushes you against the car door behind you.

"I don't know." He speaks in a low tone. "Does it look like it could be blood?"

"I don't—" You stutter, not being able to get any words out.

He smirks arrogantly at your nervous reaction. You try backing away by pushing your back further against the door, but it wasn't the brightest idea as you hit your wounded shoulder in the process.

Jaebeom sees you wince in pain and he immediately lets go, thinking he that he might've hurt you.

"Are you okay?" He panics. "Sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you."

"No, it was my fault." You shake your head in awe at his cute reaction.

He stops to stare at you while smiling. You tilt your head in confusion, not knowing why he looked so happy.

"What's with that face?" You question, squinting your eyes playfully.

"Oh, it's nothing." He says, mischievously.

"Come on, just tell me." You persist, wanting to know what he was thinking about.

"It's just—I really missed you, Y/n." He speaks genuinely, with a toothy grin plastered on his face.

You couldn't help but to return the smile, grinning like a child upon hearing his words.

"I missed you too, Jaebeom." You sit up straight in your seat. "I missed you a lot."

• II •

It's been a couple of days since you've been staying at Jaebum's place. It's actually been really fun and he has quite a cozy house.

Jaebum hasn't really been here that much cause of his work, but you're okay with it as your social battery needed to recharge.

While you were making lunch you stopped what you were doing at the sudden ringing of your phone. You check the caller ID to see that it was Mark. You roll your eyes, letting the call ring out.

Once you finished making your sandwich, you walked over to the couch and sat down.

While watching TV and scrolling through the notifications on your phone, you realize Mark sent you a voicemail five minutes ago.

You felt like being nice, so you decided to click on it to hear what he had to say.

"Y/n, I know you don't want to talk to me right now.." He paused, "..but I need to see you."

As you were about to stop listening, not wanting to hear him guilt trip you, he says something that stops you.

"I'm leaving today. I decided it was best to leave with Victoria." He reveals. "I just—I need to see you before I go. If you decide not to come..I understand."

"Goodbye, Y/n." The message cuts off, letting you know it had ended.

You place your phone on the coffee table in front of you, standing up.

"Damn idiot." You groan in annoyance.

You bit your bottom lip out of anger, pushing the hair out of your face. You were debating on whether or not you should go. You knew deep down that you'd regret it if you didn't.

I give in, quickly running out of the house after throwing on some shoes. You ran as fast as you could to the airport. It was the only way to get there, you didn't have your car with you and Jaebum was at work.

You just kept running with the hope that Mark was still there, he couldn't leave just like that.

Yes, you're mad at him for what he said, but you can't help how you feel about him. These faint feelings washed over you so fast that you didn't even realize you had them. Not until now.

After running for what felt like thirty minutes, you see the airport in your view. You pushed yourself to run faster than you ever have before.

You head out towards the back after spotting him and Victoria boarding a private jet. He sits next to the window putting on the headphones that he wears everyday.

The jet's engine starts up and the wheels begin to roll forwards. You were panicking as it was already beginning to take off.

"Mark!" You shout knowing he wouldn't be able to hear you.

You stare at the ground thinking about how sad Mark looked while resting his head against the seat in front of him. He expected to see you, but like usual, you were a disappointment.

While staring at your feet, you noticed white flakes dripping down to the ground. You look up at the sky, realizing that it had started to snow.

You let out a deep sigh, turning back around to walk away. You should've known you wouldn't have made it on time.

The rest of your night was spent walking around the city with a big bottle of vodka in your hand. You didn't necessarily like the taste of vodka, but you'd rather drink it and feel numb than feel the pain of Mark's departure.

It was maybe around ten degrees outside and you were freezing cold without a jacket or your phone. You left them both at Jaebeom's place.