unedited and very very late but enjoy regardless :)
deep, dark circles under his eyes. burning red. sore. the working life had not been kind to mark tuan. he felt his whole body ache and tremble every day when he dragged himself from the dirty mattress he called a bed. his fingernails were chipped and coated in a layer of dirt that wouldn't wash off with soap and he swore his face had gained new lines and markings that weren't there before.
the only thing he noticed was how stiff he was, how painfully tired. why did he have to take such a bothersome job? waking up at 4am was not doing wonders to his already damaged body and mind.
even seeing park wouldn't cheer him up as he stumbled out of his apartment before the sun had even started its journey across the sky, before even the blues could wake up to harass him and call him a filthy lying scumbag. he'd been called that so much, he would pretty much answer to the name.
in short, mark was fed up with working, especially as he was paid so little and forced into so much manual labour. apparently the estate agents also had a garden and apparently that garden needed a complete makeover, courtesy of mark. it was safe to say that if mark saw another weed he would scream.
but he suffered on, the only thing keeping him going being park's promise. they'll get a house. they will. and then, mark could finally be happy. perhaps he could even be happy with park, though that was merely a dream. sure, they had kissed, but he wasn't expecting much from a man still obsessed with a criminal.
both mark and park thought about jaebeom for longer than what felt healthy. even at work, mark would find himself preoccupied with a sort of jealousy that ebbed and flowed through him, almost as constant as his breaths.
why couldn't park think of him the way he thought of jaebeom? why was jaebeom all he seemed to care about?
it made work even worse.
sure, wheein was nice, if a little controlling and sure, the jobs he had to do weren't so bad. but the workload had taken a toll on his body, which hadn't been nourished or exercised in probably way too long.
he was hazy a lot of the time.
on one particular tuesday, he could barely feel his own limbs he was so painfully tired.
wheein had smiled a tight, pitiful sort of smile and handed him a small energy bar, "take this." she said, "if you need me to buy you food just ask, kay? you look half dead."
he nodded slowly and savoured the bar for the rest of the day, only taking bites when he felt the world start to spin and saw small black dots in his vision.
and for the majority of the day, he sat with his head leaning on the counter, staring at the cash register and watching the time fly by. or crawl by. or practically remain at a stand still.
either way, they hadn't received any customers the whole day and wheein looked concerned. it was very rare that they didn't have at least one person come in, grimace at the state of the dirty office and walk back out. their boss wouldn't be happy.
wheein moved to sit next to him, "no customers." she said with a frown.
mark nodded, "yep. nothing."
"well what do we do?"
"like i know. how long have you said you've been working here?"
"6 years... i guess i should figure it out."
she didn't look like she was making any effort to figure anything out, sat next to mark with a dazed expression of worry. last time they had had no customers, they had been shouted at for much too long.
like it was their fault.
mark sighed, "what about flyers?"
she scoffed, "we don't have the budget for that."
mark was just about to respond with another idea, or to mock wheein for being so quick to dismiss his idea, he hadn't quite decided which yet, when they heard the small tinkle of the bell.
a customer! mark thought happily, glad he wouldn't have to go through another shouting match with his boss. his head shot up from the counter to see who the customer was when his heart stopped beating.
he knew that face.
he knew that face so well it felt like someone had started squeezing on his heart, so harshly that he swore it really ached.
he ducked behind the counter before he and the customer could make eye contact and tried to conceal his harsh, raggedy breaths. mark felt himself start to lose contact with his body, mind turning a hazy black, save for an image of the customer burnt into his memory.
why the fuck was youngjae in korea?
wheein looked at him with knitted eyebrows before switching on her horrible fake smile for youngjae. mark peeped over the top of the counter, careful to duck back down when youngjae looked his way. he had to see what was going on.
it was youngjae.
youngjae was in his estate agents.
"how may i help you?" wheein asked, moving to her fake, happy voice with ease. mark swore she raised it like 2 pitches and grimaced at the sound.
youngjae wasted no time, "my friend... he moved to korea some time ago, i was wondering if you had seen him?"
wheein's eyes drifted down to where mark was sat and she mouthed, "what the fuck mark?!" as youngjae got distracted trying to find something on his phone.
mark's wild eyes glared back at her, "i know him." he mouthed back, "that's youngjae. my ex."
she threw a hand over her mouth before quickly turning back to youngjae as he spoke again, this time holding up his phone with a picture of mark on it, "do you recognize him? he told me he'd go to the nearest estate agents to the airport so.. i dunno.. i think he might've come here.."
wheein had no choice but to nod, "yes sir," she said brightly, "that's mark tuan. we sold him an apartment in wingate gardens just under six months ago. would you like to rent a place there too?"
"no.. no no thanks, i'd just like his address please, i just want to visit him."
wheein winked at mark, from where he was crouched, his knees starting to buckle from weakness. that wink did not feel like a good thing.
"i'm afraid i can only tell you that information if you're a tenant of the same estate. the rent is 300 won a week."
youngjae looked conflicted, opening up his wallet and glancing at the contents of his wallet and sighing, "go on then, i really need to speak with him."
"brilliant!" wheein said, her happy voice starting to fade as she handed him a contract attached to a clipboard and a pen, "if you would like to move into the room adjacent where you can fill this out as i get my associate."
she gestured to small door to her left, caked in a layer of greenish black mould. youngjae grimaced.
"great.. okay.." and with that, youngjae walked into the even dirtier office room the estate agents had, filled with a desk and two chairs.
the minute the door shut behind him, wheein dragged mark up from behind the counter by his collar. he groaned.
"mark tuan!" she said, her tone taking on an excited air that made mark want to slap her. seeing a man who ruined his life wasn't something to get excited about, "that was your ex?! oh wow, he's looking for you."
he said nothing, just glared at the closed door that youngjae was sat behind.
"why is he here?" he muttered under his breath, voice coming out almost like a growl.
wheein shook her head, "look, you're gonna have to take him to wingate, that's your job. y'know, taking the clients to their houses?"
"but how!" mark whined, "he'll recognise me! wheein i don-"
wheein held up a finger to tell mark to stop, and started rooting around in one of the many messy drawers in their cabinet. hastily, she pulled out a black balaclava and hoodie.
mark's eyebrows shot up, "why the fuck do you have those?"
"that's for me to know and you to never find out. now put them on and take your lover to his new house, room 32."
"not my lover.. but thanks." mark replied, pushing the balaclava over his face and slipping the hoodie on, at once putting the hood up over his hardly inconspicuous red hair.
wheein nodded in satisfaction, "and now we wait for him to be done- this is exciting isn't it?"
"no this is horrible."
"whatever, i'm excited."
mark groaned and sat back behind the counter, "well he's not your ex is he?"
she rolled her eyes and knocked on the door, her impatience getting the best of her, "sir? are you almost finished."
"yep!" youngjae called from inside, "just signing my name."
mark shivered, nervous that the minute youngjae came out of the office he'd have another breakdown. but thankfully, as youngjae emerged, mark managed to remain relatively calm
sure, his heart rate spiked and he felt his palms go clammy, but he could still breathe so it was a win.
just as she had done when mark had first arrived, wheein handed the concerned looking youngjae a small coppery key and gestured to mark, decked out in his hoodie and balaclava.
"umm.." she said, "mr.. mr um..."
without thinking, mark said, "i'm lim jaebeom, please follow me."
lim jaebeom?! really?! he thought to himself as youngjae smiled cautiously at him. are you really so jealous of jaebeom that you want to be him?!
wheein frowned at the name, though largely dismissed it, "have a safe journey..." she glanced down at youngjae's contract, ".. mr choi, i hope you find mark."
"me too." he said, and mark led him in the direction of wingate.
mark coughed, wondering how best to not sound like himself. opting to make his voice a bit gravelly and a little lower, he turned to youngjae and said, "so.. who's this guy you're looking for?"
"just a friend."
mark laughed. just a friend. of course. of course he meant absolutely nothing to youngjae ever since the boy had cheated on him with that scum.
"why did you laugh?" youngjae questioned, looking at mark a little suspiciously. mark quickly tucked a strand of his red hair that had fallen out of the hoodie back in and turned away from youngjae.
he wasn't good at thinking on his feet, "um.. i err.. i laughed because... it's obvious you guys are more than friends, no 'just friend' flies to korea from america."
youngjae narrowed his eyes, "i didn't say i was from america."
shit.
"um.. you just.. give off an american vibe??? i guessed, sorry."
youngjae smiled pleasantly, seemingly put at ease, "oh haha, it's okay... may i ask what's with the balaclava?" he laughed, "you wanted by the police or some shit?"
"no no no." mark said, chuckling on the outside but on the inside thinking what the fuck am i meant to say to this? shit shit shit shit shit shit sh-
"i... i... i'm an acid attack victim."
mark you're an idiot.
"oh no! i'm so sorry for asking, that must be awful!" youngjae said as they started making their way down the long stretches of dark alleyway.
mark decided to mess with youngjae a bit, the bitch deserved it.
"in fact, it was down this very alleyway, it happens all the time."
youngjae's eyes darted around nervously, "could.. could it happen right now?"
"maybe. let's go quick."
mark almost laughed as youngjae's pace visibly quickened.
"are you sure mark tuan even lives here? i-i don't think it's his style.. he.. he's soft hearted y'know? he would never survive an acid attack. oh god i wonder if he's dead already."
in a weird way mark was kind of annoyed by youngjae's words but he shrugged it off and said, "mark tuan definitely lives here, we're in the same gang."
"g-gang?"
"yep. you'll be in one too, every room is an assigned gang. pray you're not a blue, their leader just got arrested."
mark was having too much fun watching youngjae get scared shitless.
youngjae lowered his voice as they made it into the courtyard, "i-is mark okay? does he have friends?"
"i mean sure, one of them had their tongue cut off but the rest are nice."
"sorry WHAT?!" youngjae shouted.
"shhhh! don't speak too loud, or someone will know we're here." youngjae quickly shut up, "okay now you wait here, and i'll head back to my office."
"w-wait don't leave m-"
"sorry kid gotta blast."
as mark walked further and further away from the boy who had broken his heart, his mind grew heavier and heavier. he thought that when he told park and bambam about youngjae, it would be the last time he ever had to think about him, but now here he was, ready to ruin mark's life all over again.
mark wanted to just work hard, buy a house with his friends and live a new happier life but no.
no matter where he went, his past would always haunt him.