Stigma 2 | Mark Lee & Huang Xuxi

Chapter 36: Deal

Voting has officially ended! And to celebrate, here's an update!

Thank you to everyone who voted and also to those who expressed their opinions in a well-mannered way. Although some were a little aggressive, I looked at it as you being very passionate over your ship.

I won't hint or reveal anything about who won. You'll just have to read along to see who Min Jee ends up with.

Enjoy x

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Mark's POV - Tuesday - 10:23 pm

"That was exhausting," I said as Lucas and I both sat down in the living room. We came home from practice for our showcase next month. It's been a while since we practiced Black on Black. And we had two more stages with all 21 members, those were truly tiring.

"At least we got home early today," Lucas said as he stared at the ceiling, his head leaning back on the couch's backrest.

"Why didn't you go out with WayV?" I asked him. After rehearsals, the WayV members planned to hangout together. Lucas didn't go with them though.

"I wanted to talk to you about Min Jee," Lucas said his head still focused on the ceiling, "she doesn't know about my feelings. And at lunch yesterday, I don't know what to do. She said she doesn't want to be in a relationship with you and I thought maybe ... Sorry, this must be weird," Lucas shook his head and let out a chuckle.

I kept quiet for a moment, thinking what I could say. "Uhm ..."

What am I supposed to say? That I'm okay if he would court her? I know Lucas could treat her well, but if there's a chance of me and her getting back together, I'll take it.

"I'm sorry," I said scratching the back of my head, "I don't know what to say."

Lucas laughed, "No worries. I didn't expect you to say anything," Lucas looked at me with a smile and I smiled back, "I guess we can both agree that we'll give Min Jee space," Lucas said and I nodded.

"Yeah," I said and then a thought came to my mind, "so you do plan to tell her?"

"Eventually, but not now. Maybe some other time, but maybe I'll never say it. If I do though, do you mind? I know we talked about this before, but now that you and Min Jee are friends again. Would you actually mind if I did try to court her?" Lucas asked and I felt a little uneasy.

Lucas is my best friend and Min Jee is the love of my life. How can I respond to this?

But then, it would still be up to Min Jee. I don't get to choose who she ends up with, Lucas and I can both court her and it would still be her choice.

And Lucas deserves to try, he has been there. If they end up together, I should try to be happy for him, the way he was happy for me and Min Jee back then.

"Go for it," I smiled and Lucas looked slightly surprised, "I'm not saying I won't fight for her anymore. But I realized, it will be her choice. What we have to agree on, is to not pressure her. Remember when she liked the both of us?" Lucas laughed and nodded.

"She literally ran away," Lucas shook his head, "she's really something," Lucas looked far away and I could see how genuine his feelings were for her.

Min Jee would be in good hands if she chose Lucas. But if she does pick me again, I'd make sure to not repeat my mistakes.

"I wish she'd stayed here," I said as I closed my eyes and relaxed my body, "I only made her cry during the time she was here," flashbacks of the moments she cried come to my mind and I shake my head, "it must've been so hard for her."

"She didn't stop loving you though," Lucas said and I opened my eyes to look at him, "you may have made her cry a lot, but that's because she really does love you. She always has. The fact that she still cried, after months of not talking to you. I think that's better than seeing her not care about you at all," Lucas let out a small laugh, "she loves you, how can I even compete with that?" Lucas shook his head.

"I never saw it like that, I thought every time she cried. She loved me less and less," I said as I looked down on the floor. Lucas sighed and nudged my shoulder.

"If you're really doing to do your best to get her back, you need to know this. Her love? It never changed. No matter how many times I, Johnny or Betty told her to not meet up with you alone she decided against it. She always gave you these chances, because even if she couldn't trust you, even if it hurt seeing you, she still loved you the way she always did," Lucas looked sad saying all those things.

"And you must've hated me, huh?" I joked. Lucas nodded and laughed.

"You don't even know the half of it," he shook his head, "I was mad, I really was. But I knew you were going through something, so instead of getting mad at you, I focused on taking care of her instead," Lucas smiled and it seemed nostalgic, "I was there to make her laugh, every time you made her cry and yet, she'd always go back to you. She told me about it by the way," Lucas looked at me.

"About?" I asked and he laughed. He turned to look at the blank screen TV.

"Before you confessed about everything, she was about to give you a chance to start over," I nodded my head acknowledging that she did say that, "Mark, despite her knowledge of what was going on. She was willing to go into things blindly, you could've literally kept everything from her without her knowledge and she was willing to start again," Lucas shook his head and laughed, "I wanted to smack you so hard every time she came to me crying. She loves you so much and you hurt her like that," he sighed.

I kept quiet for a moment and I realized how Lucas was in pain too. He was there for me and Min Jee. He did his best to be there for the both of us.

"Thank you for being there for the both of us," I said and Lucas laughed.

"Keep your cheesy words for Min Jee," Lucas shook his body as he cringed, "it doesn't suit us man," Lucas shook his head and we laughed together.

"Anyway, we'll just got with the flow then?" I asked and Lucas nodded.

"Still best bros with whoever she chooses?" Lucas asked and I nodded.

"You'd have to tell her you're an option though," I shrugged as I stood up to go to my bedroom, "I mean, if you never tell her. I won't have competition," I jokingly said whilst walking into the hallway.

"So you think I have a chance!" Lucas shouted and I laughed.

"Have you seen our height difference!" I shouted back and I heard him laugh.

We both wanted to make Min Jee happy. And we'd never let a girl come between our friendship. We were friends first and I wouldn't want to lose Lucas ever.

A/N: Thank you once again for being patient with my updates.

Drink water!