'eight
"mark."
"yes grandpa?"
"call that boy over."
"what?" he looked up from his homework in bewilderment and followed his grandfather's pointing finger out the window to haechan, who was helping his parents work in the garden.
"i said to call him over."
"why?"
"he's made the local news."
"what?" mark repeated. "where did you see that?"
"check the daily," he replied, showing the front page of the newspaper he was reading. in bold letters, 'determined youth risks life to save local library' crossed the entire heading. mark observed the single picture of haechan sitting high up on the construction bars with a sigh.
rumours spread like wildfire in his small school, and chatter said that the boy had been sitting up there under the hot sun for hours before they finally got his parents convince him to move.
"i'm busy," mark commented, but didn't let go of the newspaper. he took the first sheet of the article, in which haechan's story took up majority of the top half of the page, and handed his grandfather the rest of the bundle before heading upstairs.
it had been two days since the incident, and haechan hadn't been at school since. mark felt compelled to apologise, but he didn't know when to.
he shoved the article into his drawer and slammed it shut before sitting at his desk and sighing. he decided he needed to approach haechan the next time he saw him. he needed to get rid of the ever-growing remorse that his guts churned over.
♔
"where have you been?"
renjun was the first face haechan saw when he returned to school after three days, and he sighed.
"something happened and i—"
"the library was demolished, i know," renjun interrupted. "i didn't realise how important it was to you. i'm sorry."
haechan nodded. "i'll get over it."
"it's where we met," renjun pointed out in a conversational tone. "isn't that so weird?"
"i guess that's part of why i liked it so much," haechan admitted shyly, and the two shared a short chuckle. silence fell upon them before renjun piped up, "ah! at least you were on the news."
haechan laughed drily. "i guess i was."
"... do you feel better now?"
"you're horrible at cheering people up."
"i tried," renjun sulked, and as the two walked to haechan's locker, he spotted mark entering the school from the corner of his eye. he kept his gaze towards his lock as he opened it.
"haechan," mark called after a few seconds, approaching the quiet boy. "hey... i was looking for you."
the latter nodded as he stopped rummaging through his locker and looked over at mark, who spoke. "you didn't catch the bus this morning."
"yeah," he replied curtly, turning his head back to his lock as mark nodded.
"look... i'm sorry for what happened at the library that day. i had to get to school, and i didn't want to make the entire bus late..."
haechan flickered his gaze towards the older boy and felt his cheeks warm. "okay... that's okay."
"cool," he said awkwardly. "well, i guess i'll see you around then."
mark walked off, and renjun stepped forward. "what was that? did something happen at the library?"
"long story," haechan sighed, watching mark turn the corner before looking at his friend. "i'll tell you if you come to my place tonight."
"alright, i just have to ask my mum first."
"don't forget," haechan said, patting renjun's shoulder and bidding goodbye as the bell went. he headed towards his homeroom, which he shared with mark, with strangely mixed emotions.