Growing

Chapter 7

Jackson:

I slowly opened the door of room which would be my home for the coming two weeks. The guys and I were going to live in the dorms on the campus along with the other college students.

Luckily I had ended up with Yuta as my roommate. He wasn't the type of guy who spoke about random shit all the time and he definitely wouldn't invite any girl or boy for some nice hours together.

I walked into the room and looked around. One bed was standing on each side of the room, there was a closet, a desk with a chair and another door which most likely leaded to a bathroom.

My Japanese roommate followed me inside and placed his suitcase on one of the beds. I looked at him for a moment and put mine on the other bed before we started to unpack our things in silence.

Although the two of us were in the same swim team, we had never really talked much and I didn't know a lot about him. Maybe we could get to know each other better during our time here.

I mean, if everything was going the right way, the both of us would end up here on the same college and the same swim team again and it would definitely be helpful to get along with each other.

I placed my clothes in my side of the closet and looked at the younger who had already finished unpacking his belongings and was sitting on his bed now. I thought about how I could start a conversation.

Yuta and I hadn't talked much outside of the swimming pool before and therefore I didn't really know if there was anything we could talk about. It seemed like I had to start with some small talk.

"So... what do you think about the college so far?" I asked him after a moment of thinking, making him look up from his phone. He placed the device next to him and shrugged his shoulders.

"It's actually nice. We haven't seen much of the school building nor the swimming pool yet. We probably have to wait until we can form a proper opinion." The purple-haired male answered.

I nodded a bit. "I've heard the swimming pool was great. I'm pretty sure they'll show us tomorrow." I told him with a light but friendly smile, hoping that it would ease the atmosphere a little.

"Maybe you're right." Yuta said before he grabbed his phone again. I sighed quietly before I continued to unpack my stuff. It seemed like he didn't want to talk at the moment and I wouldn't bother him.

I took Lily's photo out of my bag and placed it on the bedside table. She was wearing her pink bunny onesie and smiled into the camera. It was one of my favorite pictures of her and I loved to look at it.

And it seemed like I wasn't the only one. "That's your daughter, right?" Yuta asked, looking in my direction again. I nodded, not able to hide my pride. "Yes, her name is Lily." I answered, smiling.

The younger looked at the photo for some moments. "She looks very cute." He told me and I nodded in agreement. "Honestly, she's the most beautiful person I've ever seen." I admitted happily.

Yuta chuckled. "Must be hard to know that she's back in Seoul, either missing you like crazy or not even noticing that you aren't there." The Japanese male said, making me look at him with wide eyes.

Of course, I knew that she was most likely too young to be able to miss me and she probably wouldn't even notice my departure but that didn't mean that I wanted someone to say it out loud.

My roommate also seemed to realize that he had said something inappropriate because he raised his hands in defense. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I didn't think before speaking." He quickly apologized.

I lightly shook my head and managed to give him a small smile. "It's ok. I mean, she's pretty young so it's very likely she won't even miss me." I answered, shrugging my shoulders and sitting down on my bed.

Yuta sighed. "But that doesn't mean you can't miss her. I'm sure you do. I mean, it's normal to miss someone you love." He told me and I kinda got the feeling that he was talking about someone certain.

"You're right. I miss her and Mark a lot." I admitted then. "And it seems like you're also missing someone." I looked at him with a knowing grin. The younger bit his lower lip with a light blush on his cheeks.

"What makes you think that I'm missing someone?" He asked, making me chuckle. "I have a boyfriend and we've been dating for more than a year. I know how it looks when someone's in love." I said.

The Japanese student didn't answer verbally but the look in his eyes confirmed my previous statement and I decided to continue speaking. "It's the guy who was with you this morning, right?" I asked him.

Yuta nodded. "Sicheng." He told me the blonde boy's name. "He's one of my roommates. We're living in an apartment with some other guys from our school." He explained further and smiled lightly.

"I guess, he doesn't know that you like him more than a friend." I concluded and got a short nod in response. "Why haven't you confessed yet? It seems like he likes you, too." I told the younger male.

He shrugged his shoulders. "I don't really have the courage. Whenever I think he returns my feelings, he suddenly starts to push me away again. I don't want to embarrass myself." He said.

I let out a soft sigh. "I'm not a real expert when it comes to any kind of romantic stuff. But I think you should take the risk and confess. I'm sure he's just a little scared." I gave him an encouraging smile.

Although Mark and I had been dating for a quite long time and I had been the one who had confessed in the end, I didn't know much about love at all. Hopefully, my advice was good enough to help him a little.

Yuta returned my smile. "Maybe. I think about it when we go back." He began. "I want to focus on swimming as long as we're here." He continued and I knew that this was definitely the best decision for now.

Although the both of us had people who we missed a lot, swimming should be our number one priority at the moment. We had to show Coach Lee that we were the right candidates for his team.

Yuta had said that missing someone you love was normal and he was right. I was already missing my boyfriend and our child like crazy and I would miss them even more during the next days.

Of course, it wouldn't be easy to get Mark and especially Lily out of my mind but I knew I had to for the majority of time. Missing them too much would only distract me and I couldn't allow this.

I had to concentrate on swimming. The coming two weeks were able to become the big chance to attend this college and fulfill my dream of becoming a professional swimmer. I couldn't waste it.

-

New chapter my friends!

You see, I've build in some Yuwin because firstly, they're the absolute cutest NCT ship (Jaeyong is right behind them), and secondly, because there aren't that many possibilities to write much Markson at the moment so I focus on my main ships for now (there'll be Markson in some chapters).

I've also chosen the ship for "Maybe" and it would mean the world to me if you checked it out because I'm so in love with this idea and I'd love to share it with as many people as possible.

What will happen now? Will Jackson miss Mark and Lily a lot? Will he do a good job and convince Coach Lee that he's good enough? What will happen with Yuta and Sicheng? And how is Mark right now?

Thank you for reading & 13k reads and 1.1k votes 💙