a muffled groan fell on mark's lips as he lifts his head away from his pillow and immediately went to search for his phone. he just had the most comfortable sleep and was even planning to sleep in for a few minutes but that idea was immediately discarded when he finally realize the time.
his sleepy eyes widens while a curse fell on his lips. he missed three alarms he had set the night before, so to say the least he was late.
he ran towards his bathroom to wash his face and brush his teeth, before quickly grabbing his jeans, a plain white shirt and a zip-up hoodie. while messily wearing the pieces of clothing he grabbed, he made his way to his living room to grab his bag and with that, he was already off.
maybe luck was still on his side when he noticed that he was just at the right time for the last bus.
weeks have passed since Jeno's party, and it's almost the first half of the semester, but mark, here, has not been doing great in his classes since they started. this class specifically, literature class.
he's always late and doesn't even show up half of time. people in that class probably doesn't even know who he is, but since when did he care?
after a few minutes, mark finally arrived at the university, not forgetting to check the time on his phone. "three minutes..." the black-haired male pants out. three more minutes until his class starts.
with heavy steps he reached his class, grabbing the door frame as he made his presence seen for his professor and the whole class.
this made the professor stop talking and averted his gaze towards the door, "oh mark lee, just in time." he told.
mark took this as a sign to enter the room. he bowed towards his professor and was about to look for a seat. "i just finished giving everyone their respective partners for the project. and for you, your partner will be..." he started, looking down on his list, "donghyuck—who is sitting up there." his professor pointed at the tanned male, sitting in the last row.
the black-haired male bowed, once again, before making his way to the end of the class. he released a sigh before he started whispering to himself, "gosh, i thought i'll get scolded for being late—wait..." he halts as he just realized the name that the professor had just mentioned.
when he finally made his way to the seat next to the said male, he lifted his head and saw someone with their head ducked down as if they were looking at something under their table, "donghyuck?" he whispered, not trying to catch other students' attention as the class had already started.
the said name finally averts his gaze away from his phone—that he has been hiding under the table. he wasn't really paying attention to the class so his brows furrows, "hi?" he whispered back, "are you my partner? mark lee?"
this gave the older a clear view of what donghyuck looks like.
the older didn't get to say the words that he mentally prepared as he felt speechless all of a sudden. an awkward nod was all he gave before he took the seat beside the male.
donghyuck found this odd, feeling like he just got ignored. nonetheless, he just brushed this off and went back to his phone.
on the other hand, mark is completely frozen in his seat.
as the class went on, the two didn't really exchange conversation anymore. mark felt awkward and fidgety sitting beside the male, probably because of the fact that he had already made out with him.
and for some reason, the event between them at the party suddenly started appearing in his head, making it hard for him to focus on the discussion.
the guy, that hendery and yangyang were talking about at the school festival is sitting beside him. he probably should tell hendery about this—well, he knows how crazy he is about donghyuck.
"now for your project..." their professor started which immediately caught the tanned male's attention, "as a literature student, i want you guys to write me a love story. it's up to you to give it some twists and turns—the options are endless. and i will be giving you guys a month to complete this and after this, you'll be presenting it in front of the class. is that okay?"
all of the students inside the class replied a 'yes' in chorus.
"no more questions?" he asked and he received a no as reply, "well then, class is dismissed."
everyone then started cleaning their things before making their way out of the class.
mark did the same, slinging his backpack on his shoulder and was about to head towards the door when he heard his name, "uh mark?" donghyuck called, causing him to turn around. "this is my number, you can call me whenever you're free so we can get the project started." the older immediately accepted the small paper that donghyuck was holding.
"i-i see!" mark replied, attempting to not sound awkward but still failed miserably.
the younger waited for the older to say more but all he saw is mark turning his back around him before making his out of the room. donghyuck frowned, "oh..." he pursed his lips, "that was awkward."
———
mark was just peacefully zoning out when all of a sudden he felt a tap on his shoulder, startling him. "you're thinking way too hard." he looked up and saw jeno already taking the seat beside him.
the older released a nervous chuckle before he went back to eating his food. jeno's right has just been full of thoughts, and questions.
when donghyuck saw him earlier, he doesn't seem like he knows or even recognize him. it made him question if donghyuck really wasn't aware that he made out with mark. i mean, they did do it in the dark, so that's understandable.
and to be honest, that's even better for mark, it would make things awkward between them especially knowing the fact that they're most likely going to see each other often because they got partnered for a school project.
"jeno," mark calls out, feeling like he has to tell the younger about this, "so there's this guy at your party—"
"mark!" a shout was heard coming from them, which immediately made the two avert their heads towards the direction. it was yangyang and hendery, coming to their table and before they knew it, both of them already claimed a spot. "it's just you two here, mind if we join?"
"you're already sitting here." jeno is quick to reply, and was about to eat his food when he remembered mark was about to say something, "wait, what were you saying?"
mark's eyes widens as he sneakily took a glance at hendery, that is just sitting right in front of him, "w-what? nothing!" he released an awkward chuckle, "nothing—i said nothing..."
"hey jeno, do you know what happened to hendery at your party?" yangyang started before giving the said male beside him a teasing look.
hendery shook his head in disbelief, "yangyang, don't even start."
"why? what did i miss?" jeno suddenly got interested as he now dropped his utensils, giving his full attention to the two.
with that yangyang immediately went off on telling the whole story about donghyuck "left" hendery hanging because of a little game. obviously, yangyang found this funny so for the whole time, he was basically clutching his stomach because of how hard he was laughing.
while jeno only lets out a disbelief sound, mark beside him only kept quiet—debating whether he should tell him why he didn't see donghyuck in the room and expose himself that he just made out with his friend's long-time crush.
"wait, but you know donghyuck, right?" yangyang finally stopped laughing.
mark's eyes widened after hearing this. he totally almost just told jeno about what happened to him and donghyuck earlier.
"i do, but we're not that close." he's quick to eply. he only knew about him because he's the friend that jaemin kept bragging about to him.
"doesn't matter!" yangyang exclaims, "how about this, set my dude up with donghyuck this weekend so he can finally stop whining about this."
the older who has been keeping quiet throughout the whole conversation lets out a sound, "this weekend?" he questioned, looking at jeno to see if he approved this.
jeno shrugs, "i can't make promises but i'll see..."
jaemin placed his food tray down on the table as he sat down on the seat, startling the male. "have you seen mr. sweet kisser yet?" the younger asked, "you just disappeared last night, i didn't even know when you got home."
donghyuck rolled his eyes as he released a frustrated sigh, "i gave up." he told, but he knows himself that deep down he was still desperate to find that stranger.
and seems like his best friend knows it too as he started laughing, as if donghyuck just said a joke, "yeah, right." he sarcastically said. "anyway, how about you ask yangyang about it?"
"i haven't seen him nor interacted with him after that party. plus we're not that close." donghyuck is quick to argue. he can't even imagine having just a small conversation with him, what more if he tried to ask him about the guy that just kissed him? "what if he just made fun of me for it? gosh please, i can't handle that."
"you have a point..." jaemin nodded.
the two fell silent for a second before the older hums. he averts his gaze towards his best friend. squinting his eyes as he hums, once again, but this time he made it more obvious. jaemin felt uncomfortable under his stare, so he looked at the older in confusion, "but where's jeno?"
"all of a sudden?" jaemin's eyes flickered.
the older shrugs, "i don't know... i always see you with him, it's just odd he's not here." it's already obvious that the two had something going on, jaemin doesn't even have to tell donghyuck about it.
"uh well, he said he's just going to catch up with a friend today." jaemin simply replied and after that donghyuck didn't ask any further.
just then his donghyuck's phone made a sound. opening a device he saw that he received a message from an unknown number.
his brows furrowed as he silently read the message.
"how about let's start the project this weekend? saturday and sunday."
for the whole weekend? he asked himself. is he really that serious about the project?
"by the way, this is mark. please tell me immediately if you're free."
donghyuck didn't think much more, well, he knows he was just going to lay down and lock himself in his room the whole weekend, so why not?
"hi, mark. yes, i'm free this whole weekend. you can text me the place we can meet up."