cornerstones, nct dream

｡:ﾟeight ﾟ:｡

"i'm going out." mark cut him off before heading out.

he went to the nearest convenient store without any care on his surroundings as he was in deep thoughts.

he didn't know where did he got the courage to say no to his father because in the past, he doesn't say anything and just went on with it. but whatever it is, mark liked it.

he's thoughts just got paused when he noticed that the surrounding is becoming bright giving him a conclusion that he's already in front of a store. and yeah, he was.

he entered and got some snacks. he could get ramyeon but he's afraid he'll mess it up and might waste it so he just got snacks and some drink.

after picking what he wanted, he went to the counter, "good morning sir is this all— mark?"

mark stopped what he's doing (getting some money to pay) and looked up at the person behind the counter. his eyes then widened when he realized who it was, "h-haechan..."

mark stared at the guy who just smiled at him while scanning the products, it's 3 am, why is he here..is he a worker here? he looked tired, shouldn't he rest now? "why are you awake at this hour?"

"what?" mark mentally groaned for being mentally absent. "i-uhm.. i mean, i slept early and forgot dinner so i woke up because of hunger and went here to buy some food."

mark watched the tanned male as he made a small laugh at mark's story, "can't cook?"

"what?— oh i mean, yeah.. it was usually the maids..." mark trailed off as once again, he got lost at the beauty in front of him.

wait did i say beauty? what— mark cleared his throat as he fumbled on his money, "h-how much was it?"

haechan giggled at the clumsy male infront of before telling him the total price. he then just shook his head and did his job.

"haechan.." mark called as he fiddled on the brown paper bag in his hands. when the tanned male gave his attention to mark, mark thought it was a signal that he can continue what he was saying, "are you busy?"

haechan paused for a sec and laughed after, "as you can see, or maybe not, you're the only customer at this hour. so no, i'm not busy. why?"

oh shit i'm gonna talk to him, mark swallowed the lump on his throat before speaking, "can we talk?"

mark bit his lower lip when haechan raised a brow at him after he asked. "do we have something to talk about?"

mark was this 😬 emoji in his head as he nodded a little, "or maybe i wanna ask you something... yeah something like that."

"i'm just kidding mark hyung. sure, we can talk. what is it?"

hyung, mark smiled but he looked away, afraid that the younger male in front of him will find him weird. "we can talk after your shift ends."

mark looked back at the younger when he didn't responded. he saw that the younger male seemed surprised so mark made a questioning look. "it's just that, you're such a gentleman mark hyung, but my shift ends at four."

that statement alone made mark blink a couple of times, "f-four? don't you have classes at 8?"

mark was caught off guard when haechan laughed once again as he took off his vest, "just kidding hyung, my shift just ended and oh— hi hwanie!"

mark looked back and saw a male, maybe the same age as them, wearing the same vest haechan was wearing, wait, hwanie? they seem close 🤨

"hey channie, you going now?" the male answered as he took over the counter.

haechan nodded before going to mark, "mark hyung, that's seunghwan my co-worker, and hwanie, this is mark hyung, my friend!"

mark smiled at the worker but it was as if something hit him making him look at haechan, "friend?"

haechan looked up at mark and just smiled. he then looked at seunghwan to say his goodbyes, "i'll get going hwanie, but first, punch this ramen for me."

the guy named seunghwan laughed as he did what haechan told him. when haechan was about to pay, seunghwan raised a palm, blocking haechan's hands, "no need, it's my treat." seunghwan said, earning a thanks from haechan.

with all of this happening, mark just stared at the tanned male infront of him. despite working late hours, he still has so much energy to radiate sunshine. maybe the name haechan is made for him and him only. full sun. "sunshine..."

haechan paused from trying to bribe seunghwan to giving him one more cup of ramen when he heard mark spoke, "huh? what were you saying?"

mark snapped out of his senses as a tint of red was painted across his cheeks, "i-i wasn't saying anything!"

haechan just laughed before bidding his goodbye to his co-worker. he then pulled mark with him and went out of the convenient store, heading to the back where they could prepare their ramen.

"so hyung... what was it that you wanted to tell me?" haechan asked as soon as both of them sat down on a bench. "and hwanie agreed to give me two ramen, take the other one mark-hyung."

mark bit his lower lip before getting the other ramen that the younger placed on their side, "thanks.. a-and about to what i wanted tell you is that..."

mark's eyes traveled to the younger and he can sense that maybe the younger is tired and hungry from work, "actually, we should finish this first." he said before digging in to his ramen.

when they were done eating and throwing the packets and wrappers to the garbage bin, they sat back down on the bench. "soooo, what is it? i'm getting curious as time passes by." haechan giggled, turning to mark as he tugs the older's sleeves.

"haechan... the thing is, everyone wanted to try again." mark started.

"try again?"

mark can sense the younger being confused as his grip on mark's sleeve loosened. mark looked at the younger before nodding, "they... actually we, we asked mr. suh to let us do the project again."

"i-i..."

"and like... honestly, we didn't felt complete without you, so like, here i am, asking if you still wanna join." mark pressed his lips into a thin line as the younger male looked away.

mark then mentally nodded and thought that maybe haechan didn't want to consider again because he was once betrayed. mark then just clasped his hands together and looked down, waiting for the younger's answer.

but later on, he felt a hand, sneaking and clinging to his arm, and after that, he felt a weight on his shoulder before he heard the younger spoke, "i would love to join you guys again."

mark then couldn't hold back his smile, they're finally complete huh?

t b c 🎬

it has been so long since i last updated this book
*kneels and bows* im sorry
late but, happy 2nd year wayv💚
im so proud i got to be with them ever since debut, i love them so much 😢😓 i technically bore them