Mark Me

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"Can I have Lee Jeno, Park Seongji, and Na Jaemin come to the front office please? Thank you." The voice of Ms. Kim booms over the loudspeaker. Jaemin's eyes widen and he turns to Jeno, but the other only stands and begins walking out of the classroom. Jaemin soon follows.

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"It has come to my attention, Miss Park, that you have been bullying and physically hurting Jaemin. As you know, actions like these are not tolerated at our school and there are major consequences. Jeno here has told me that he's seen the bruises, and that you've hurt Jaemin so bad that he has to put bandages on. Is this true, Miss Park?" Mr. Jung, the principal, says. He looks coldly at the girl sitting in front of him. Jaemin was on her left and Jeno on her right.

Jaemin was staring at his lap, completely silent. Jeno was trying not to slap the girl next to him. And Seongji wasn't making eye contact with the principal, instead she was glaring at Jaemin. The tension between the three kids was so thick that Mr. Jung had an urge to get a knife from the teacher's lounge and cut it.

"Miss Park. The longer you stay silent, the worse the consequences will be." Mr. Jung warns.

Seongji sighs and rolls her eyes. "Ok. I'm guilty as charged." She sarcastically holds her hands up in surrender. Mr. Jung raises an eyebrow. He was not expecting her to admit anything.

"Good, that makes things a lot easier. I have already called your parents and your mother is waiting out in the office. You are to go home and stay there for the rest of the week. By Monday, me, your parents, and Jaemin's parents will have come up with a justifiable consequence for your behavior. You may go." He says, waving his hand for the girl to go. Seongji stands and leaves the room, glaring at Jaemin once more before closing the door behind her.

Mr. Jung turns to Jaemin and opens his mouth to speak, but the boy cuts him off.

"My parents aren't here. I live with my brother and his boyfriend. You can talk to them."

"Are your parents in a different country?"

"No sir. They're dead." Jaemin says, shaking his head to add to his point. Jeno turns to him, eyes wide. Of course he knew Jaemin lived with his brother, but he just assumed that Jaemin's parents were across seas or always working or something. He didn't know they were dead.

Mr. Jung's face falls grim. "I...I see. Well, then I will get in contact with your brother. Now, I do not know much about the situation, but I do know it was about soulmates or something along those lines. Which is why I have Jeno here. But Jaemin, can you please explain to me how this started."

"Well..."

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"I'm sorry." Jeno says suddenly, making Jaemin look up from his homework. The two boys were in the library, waiting to go home with Taeil.

"For what?"

"Your parents."

"Oh..." Jaemin sighs. "You don't need to say it. It's an empty sentence anyways." he closes his notebook and fully turns to Jeno. "I know that people always have good intentions when apologizing after someone died. But it's stupid really, it doesn't help the situation and it doesn't make us feel any better. I'd rather someone just shut up and hug me than to apologize and say shit like 'It'll be ok.' 'You'll get better'. Like ...." He pauses. "Sorry, didn't mean to rant."

"It's ok, I get it." Jeno smiles and Jaemin smiles back.

"Ok guys. I'm all done. Jeno, you want me to drop you off?"

"Yeah, thanks hyung." Jeno says, packing up. The three make their way towards Taeil's car and get in.

The drive was silent. Jaemin was tired, Taeil was focusing on the road, and Jeno was reading on his phone. Taeil sighs and glances in the rearview mirror, the two boys were sitting on opposite sides of the seats and not looking at each other. There was tension, but Taeil knew it would be better for them to work it out themselves than to interfere.

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For the coming weeks, Jeno and Jaemin still didn't talk about the night at Jeno's house where he found out about Seongji. They didn't talk about Jaemin saying Jeno caused him pain. They didn't talk about the bruises. And they definitely didn't talk about the 'I love you' issue. Instead, they acted as if nothing happened.

It hurt them both but they didn't know what to do, no one did. Seongji was expelled and Jaemin was taken to the hospital to see if there was any serious damage, and Jeno stuck by him through it.

Jaemin sits in a cafe, drinking his coffee and laughing with Ten. The older had taken a break from the team for two weeks so he could relax and catch up on the rest of his life.

"You quit your dance lessons right?" Ten asks, eyes peering over his drink as he lifted it to his lips.

"Yeah. My back problems came back so I decided it would be better for my health."

Ten nods in understanding. "You were good at it though."

"I wouldn't say I was that good, but I was up there." Jaemin smiles. "So how are you and Johnny?"

"We're good. He took me out last week to the amusement park. The asshole was so cliche that he kissed me at the top of the ferris wheel." Ten rolls his eyes at the memory.

Jaemin laughs. "I don't see you complaining though." He takes a sip from his coffee before continuing to laugh.

"I'm surprised I can kiss him, I'm so fucking short. It's seriously unfair."

"Ah my poor short little friend." Jaemin leans across the table to pat his friend's shoulder.

Ten slaps his hand away. "Yah! I'm your elder, respect me."

"But I'm taller." Jaemin smiles mischievously.

"Yah!"

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<Ok this was a super shitty chapter. I'm in a small writer's block but HAVE NO FEAR because I'm still gonna update as I normally do because y'all deserve it uwu okieee i love you see you soon my lovelies>