Refractive Errors

Chapter 4

They all watched in sadness as the two brothers walked away. Mark pouting the hardest as they left, clinging to Jackson as the younger held him around the waist. BamBam could only watch, hoping they'd all meet again. He'd been more than loving Yugyeom's playful nature and he didn't rush the Thai male when he paused to remember certain words. It took a moment for him to realize hen he never found out how the two met.

"Hyung, how did you meet Gyeomie?" He asked, watching as Mark blushed and hid his face into Jackson's neck.

"Yeah, when did you two meet up?" JinYoung asked, looking suspicious of his best friends. The two were incredibly close and had even asked to share a room in their new dorm (something Mark had to ask his parents to pitch in for), their conversations mostly happening in either English or Cantonese (the fact that Jackson wasn't fluent in the language not a big deal), JinYoung wasn't aware they were keeping anything from him until this moment, and what a big secret they'd been keeping.

"I... umm..." Mark began, feeling everyone's eyes on him and flushing once more. "You see..." He let out a sigh and looked at Jackson pleadingly, they seemed to be communicating without speaking in that annoying way they did some times. Letting out another sigh and slumping against Jackson, Mark began speaking. "I was feeling really homesick right after that fight we got into about the song I was writing and I kind of just ran out." He stopped, thinking over his next sentence and how to word it. Meanwhile JaeBeom looked down in shame, knowing just what occasion the eldest was talking about, it had been a rather large fight that caused him and Jackson getting mad at each other as well. "After I left the dorm, I ran. I didn't know where I was heading, but I just kind of kept going. After a while, I kind of gave up and when I looked around I found myself here. I didn't want to go back to the studio, I also didn't know where I was so I sat down on that bench." He said, pointing to the strangely lonely bench on the other side of the park, shaded by a number of trees and sunk back as if hidden from view. "I was going to call Manager-nim, but I didn't have my phone either and it was getting late so I didn't want to disrupt his dinner or anything. I don't know if I was crying from anxiety or..." He flushed again, picking at the skin around his middle finger. "Anyway, umm... Gyeomie came over and sat next to me, it took a minute for either of to talk, he's a shy as I am and it was nice having someone understand how hard it can be for me to talk to others." Jackson gently separated his hands and let him play with his fingers instead. "When he heard me speak Korean, he said he would tutor him as long as I taught him some of my tricks. It was slow going at first but we've been doing this for a few months and I think I'm improving." He said, not realizing he'd been switching between all three languages.

"Wait... So you guys have been meeting up for a while and you didn't tell me?!" JinYoung asked, his lips pulled into a straight line while his eyes widened. "Why are we all just now finding out about this?"

Mark flushed once again, ducking his head again, the attention making him feel uncomfortable. "Well... I've been trying to get better so that when we debut I'll be fluent." He whispered, surprising them all with how perfect that sentence came out. "I didn't want to burden you guys and figured it would help Yugyeom's self-esteem."

JaeBoem sighed, Mark's shy nature while endearing was a large hurdle for them all. It wasn't too bad now that they'd been around each other for longer and gotten used to one another, it was that the eldest never asked for help, especially if he thought he would bring stress to others. The fact that Mark's family had been so open and willing to help at Mark's request was astonishing since the guys didn't know he had asked in the first place. "Mark, I will tell you this until I'm blue in the face. You are not a burden, nor will you ever be." He said, keeping eye contact until the other nodded with a ghost of a smile on his face.

"It's true!" YoungJae added, his smile wide as he earnestly agreed with the leader. "I enjoy hanging out with you, I don't mind if you ask me questions or need help with Korean!" He said.

JinYoung nodded along, still a little hurt about the massive secret, but also knowing that how hard his best friends were working for debut. He reached out and grabbed Mark's hand, squeezing it in reassurance.