SPIDER-MAN: MARK LEE

28

𝟮𝟴: 𝗘𝗬𝗘𝗦 𝗢𝗡 𝗬𝗢𝗨

Wednesday night, I was supposed to assist Naomi with her English essay, which was a fat lie, so I laid on my back against the soft mattress of my bed while staring out in the open air with nothing filling up my mind but Mark and Mark. Oh and did I mention Mark too? And perhaps, a bit of Gwen as well.

It was frustrating.

Now, there were pleasant feelings Mark could give me such as those somersaults and butterflies in my stomach. But there were unpleasant ones too. Jealousy was the worse. It was unbearable, almost like nails scratching against a blackboard or fork scratching against a plate. It made made clench my jaw and pucker my face.

I wanted to complain about it with Naomi, but I knew she'd be busy with Donghyuck right now.

I wanted to complain about it with Taeil, but he was also probably busy with Taeyong right now. I mean, busy with their singing and rapping stuff.

So I had no one to distract these thoughts with. Or so I thought.

Thud.

I sat up from my bed, my head swiveling to look at through the balcony doors, only to see Venom in his usual black suit, against the metaled barrier with one of his hand lifting as a gesture of greet.

I smiled, waving back.

When I calmly got off the bed, I joined Venom outside the balcony again, just like always. "Hey. I didn't expect you to come today." I said.

Venom gave a small nod. "Didn't either, but I figured it's been a while, so I wanted to drop by."

Silence hovered above us. Not an awkward one, rather a peaceful one.

Ever since my first encounter with Venom at the rooftop, I was always so skeptical of his consistency of keeping in touch with me. I always failed to fully believe that his mere reason was because he needed a friend. Out of everyone, it had to be me? It sounded nonsense. I knew he wanted something, and I knew if he did, it would most definitely be about my father and his business. Though I didn't dare to question it, I was afraid he was gonna jump on me if I did, kidnap me and then interrogate me.

"Any news about the current case of illegal weapons?" I asked, deciding to finally break the silence.

Venom nodded. "Well-"

Buzz buzz.

I felt my phone vibrate in the pockets of my pajama, causing Venom's words to get cut off. Slightly wincing, I hastily pulled out the gadget and looked to see who chose to phone me in the middle of the night.

It was Mark Lee.

I felt my eyes open wide in surprise, as I looked up to see Venom's reaction, though I always failed to recall that he was wearing a mask that covered his facial expressions. With a small cough, I smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, this would be very quick." I explained and turned my back on him, before pressing the phone's speaker against my ear. "Hello?"

"Hey! Hey uh, hey Juli! I really didn't think you'd pick up. Umm- So, I was wondering if you have an update? Of when we can study together? Perhaps? Maybe?"

"I'm sorry, now is not the time. I'm with a friend you see, and he's-"

"Eh? A friend? Umm, he? Wait, I thought you said you were with Naomi."

"I am, or I was but she left now." I said with a puckered face, cringing profusely at how much of a failure I was. "Look, I really can't call right now. I'll update you tomorrow okay?"

"Oh, yeah of course, yeah sure. See you then. Goodnight Juli."

"Goodnight."

Venom stood patiently by the barrier, his arms crossed, and when I finally hung up and turned around to face him, his head tilted. "Who was that?"

I shook my head, tired. "Doesn't matter. Anyways, what were you saying earlier, about the new updates?"

"Right." Venom mumbled. "Well, it gets harder to get informations about big cases like these, considering NYDP wants I and Spiderman to stay away from it and just do the rescue part. But I'm persistent. We learned that these weapons were very high-tech. You already know that advanced technology is bad, it's dangerous and imprudent, even if it meant to use it for good cause. I figured just a couple of days ago at your friend's party, two of them showed up at the entry at your friend's mansion. They're in jail now and are being questioned, but both of them weren't willing to say anything. I demanded physical interrogation but NYPD refused. Without that, then I'm sure we won't get answers from those two imbeciles."

I shuddered at his words. Nobody even noticed that.

"I didn't even know that..." I mumbled.

You were meaning to tell me that there were two strangers who pulled up at Chenle's party with those high-tech weapons, and possibly intruded and caused another massacre?

Wait...

"How did you know?" I looked up at Venom, my eyes squinting at him suspiciously.

"What?"

"How did you know." I repeated before an elaboration. "How did you know that I was in that party?"

Despite the mask Venom was wearing, I knew his eyes widened at the question I posed. I just knew it. Just by the way his head twitched back and body winced a bit, explained it all. It was enough body language to understand that. He wasn't saying anything, all he did was look away and hang his head down, which confirmed my theory.

"Are you following me?"

Yet again, Venom didn't say anything but responded with silence.

My eyes squinted as I let out a shaky breath. "Why? Why do you follow me, Venom?"

Like a cat got his tongue, he stayed quiet, as if embarrassed by his actions.

"Why, Venom?" I asked, a bit demanding this time. "I've been thinking it through... You don't just wanna befriend me, do you? Because who on earth just befriends a random civilian? There's an underlying reason for your attempt on 'befriending' right? What is it?" My mind went back to the rooftop encounter, specifically when Venom mentioned my father and his business.

The vigilante couldn't muster to look at my direction, despite already wearing a mask. Therefore he kept his head down. "I just want to protect you, Juliane. That's all."

"Why? Why waste your time following me? I should be grateful, which I am, but there are people there who actually need you Venom."

"I decide my own choices. And I choose to look after you."

"But why? You don't even know me. I don't even know you."

"I don't have to know you personally, to choose to protect you Juliane."

"But what's your reason Venom? What is it?"

Venom could see how much I needed to hear his answer, his explanation, but he didn't give it to me. He placed his hands on the barrier, preparing to jump and disappear in the night. "I won't tell Juliane. But just so you know, I will still be out there to keep my eyes on you." He said, and just like that, he jumped off the balcony and vanished.

I stood there, confused and frustrated.

NOTE: There's not a lot of action, but there will be soon. It's just because I really wanna build up Mark and Juliane's relationship!! I swear it'll get interesting soon!