i'm just a kid : markbeom, markjae, 2jae [editing]

15.

tw// don't read if you get easily triggered by manipulation or gaslighting.

september 4, 2022; 3:32am

mark was asleep on the chair provided by the hospital staff for anyone who stayed the night with jaebeom. he woke up to someone blowing jaebeom's phone up. jaebeom was sound asleep as his phone was blaring. mark grabbed jaebeom's phone, about to decline the call and message whoever was calling him. but an all-too-familiar name was the caller ID. "choi youngjae."

mark felt anger building up inside of him as he went to look at the texts. "mark's here." "i can't believe mark showed up." "i miss you." "did you lie to the therapist?" "i can't wait to see you again, jaejae." "i'm sorry you had to do this for us to be together again." "i love you." were the texts which stood out to mark the most.

mark sat jaebeom's phone down, sitting down in the chair with tears filling his eyes. he grabbed a sheet of notebook paper from jaebeom's bag, pulling it out and wrote:
"take good care of him, youngjae.
- mark."

mark sat the note on the desk beside jaebeom's bed. he slowly picked up his bag, tiptoeing to the door and quietly leaving the room. his mom was let out of the hospital a few days ago. so mark went home.

september 4, 2022; 7:46am

hours later, youngjae slowly entered the room, careful enough not to wake jaebeom. he spotted the note, thinking it was from a doctor. he read it. he felt sorry for mark. he knew mark was different from when he was from high school. youngjae knew that if mark wasn't over jaebeom, even after not seeing him for two years, that it was serious. youngjae knew him and jaebeom weren't gonna last and that they weren't soulmates. but he was too selfish to let jaebeom go. youngjae also knew that deep down, jaebeom missed mark. it killed jaebeom to look at mark and said "who are you?" because he knew good and damn well who mark was.

was youngjae in love with jaebeom? no. why didn't he let him go then? youngjae wanted to hurt mark, and he wanted jaebeom all to himself. he didn't care who got hurt in the end. "it hurts, doesn't it, mark?" youngjae thought to himself. "this is exactly how you made me feel in high school..." he thought to himself again.

youngjae manipulated jaebeom into thinking jaebeom was in love with him. "no, you're in love with me." was a sentence often said by youngjae to jaebeom. all of this over a high school relationship which ended in flames.