Christmas was slowly coming closer.
SM was preparing another station for the Dreamies. This time with Jaemin.
With this song, they also wanted to say goodbye to Mark, who would leave Dream after the year ended.
The seven boys were concentrating on the recording of the song and the music video. But Mark was also concentrating on something else.
In the beginning he actually wanted to ignore the words, which were written in Haechan's diary but after a while he just couldn't.
Haechan said in his diary that a friend had given him the advice to write his feelings down.
And this implied that someone else also knew about Haechan's feelings for Mark.
And this irked Mark.
He didn't know why.
Was it because someone else knew about it before he himself did?
Or was it because someone knew at all?
Mark wasn't sure, he just didn't like it.
So in the next days, he tried to find out who this someone was.
Of course Mark couldn't just go to someone and ask the person, if he knew that Haechan was in love with him.
So he tried to be discrete.
First he went to Renjun.
He and Haechan seemed really close in the last few months, and they also seemed to share a secret. Maybe this secret was about Haechan's feelings for Mark.
One time, Mark and Renjun were alone in the dance practice room.
Since they also had to prepare for a lot of shows in the end of the year, the Dreamies were often found there (just like the rest of NCT).
The other boys were buying food and bubble tea, which they would eat together with the two oldest.
"Hey, Renjun?", Mark asked to get the attention of the younger.
"Yeah?", Renjun asked, after he finished drinking his water.
"So, how are you doing these days?", Mark asked, since he didn't know, how he should approach the topic.
"Huh? Uhm, fine I guess.", Renjun shrugged. "Why are you asking?"
"Oh, just wanted to know.", Mark also shrugged. "So, you and Haechan seem pretty close this days.", it was acutally a question but sounded more like a statement.
Mark started fidgeting with his fingers but Renjun didn't give it much attention. "Possible. I didn't really paid much attention to it but yeah, I think we are talking more.", Renjun answered, slightly confused.
"Are you sharing any secrets?", Mark asked jokingly, so Renjun wouldn't become suspicious.
"No, not really", Renjun lied, because there was a secret they shared. It just wasn't about Haechan's feelings.
"Okay. Just became curious about what made you two so close", Mark shrugged again, like this conversation wasn't actually really important to him.
"Oh, I guess we just found a topic, we love to talk about together."
Before Mark could ask, which topic it was, the other boys came shouting into the room, arguing about where the best tonkatsu place was.
And so the conversation between Renjun and Mark ended.
Mark also now thought that Renjun wasn't the person, who adviced Haechan with the diary, so he didn't ask him further about it.
The next time, he found himself alone with Jeno, so he asked the younger, if he thought that Haechan was acting different these days.
Jeno only shrugged, saying that he thought that Haechan didn't change and was just himself like always.
And since Jeno also didn't seem interested in this conversation, Mark thought he was innocent too.
But Mark just forgot, what a good actor Jeno actually was.
His next target was Jaemin.
"Jaemin, do you think Haechan is acting weird these days?", Mark asked, looking up from his phone as if he just got the thought.
"What do you mean with weird?", Jaemin raised a brow.
"I mean, um, I don't know", Mark didn't know, how he should explain it without being suspicious.
"You don't know?", now Jaemin also raised the other brow.
"Well, like- No this is ridiculous. If he would be in love, he would tell me, right?", Mark looked up at Jaemin with fake innocent eyes.
"In love?", Jaemin pretended to be confused, but deep inside he was panicking.
"Yeah. He is always walking around with this shining eyes, as if he is thinking about someone special. And when he looks at his phone, he sometimes giggles, as if someone special wrote him that made him smile so much.", Mark shrugged.
Jaemin rolled his eyes. "Mark-Hyung. First of all, the shining in his eyes is mischievousness. He is not thinking about someone special but about how he can prank someone of us the next day. Second of all, did you never laugh, when you saw memes on your phone? Because I do, every single day. And third of all, believe me: If he would fall in love, you would be the first person, Haechan would tell it. After all you are his best friend."
Mark nodded. Jaemin was right.
And since Mark didn't know, that Jaemin was also a great actor; and was even being casted for a little Drama in the moment; he believed him too.
And Mark also didn't know, how smart Jaemin actually was.
Because Jaemin had an idea, why Mark was asking these weird questions.
Especially, because Jeno also told him about his talk with Mark.
So Jaemin decided that he urgently had to talk with Haechan.
After that, Mark also talked to Jisung and Chenle but also without success. These two seemed really oblivious, just like the rest. At least about Haechan's feelings.
So, Mark only had one option left.
Mark almost knew Haechan better than himself. So he knew, if the younger really talked about his feelings with someone, it would be one of the dreamies or
Taeil.
The oldest of NCT and Haechan became really close over the last few months. And there was almost no day now, where he wouldn't find the two talking in the living room, the kitchen, the dance studio or anywhere else.
But Taeil was so confused, when Mark asked, if he found anything suspicious about the youngest of 127 that Mark gave up.
It really seemed like no one had any idea.
Maybe Haechan didn't talk with anyone about his feelings for Mark.
Maybe he just talked to someone that he felt confused and overwhelmed with his feelings but didn't tell them, what exactly these feelings were.
And if this was the truth, then Haechan could have talked about it with anyone.
And so Mark just let it be and tried not to think about it too often anymore.
One day Jaemin invited Haechan over, when the others were groceries shopping or busy with cooking and cleaning.
Jaemin already had cleaned the bathroom and did the dishes, so he had some free time.
Haechan and him were sitting in his room, so no one else would hear them talk, since Jeno was the only other person, who knew about Haechan's feelings for Mark.
"So you wanted to talk with me about something important?", Haechan asked.
"Yes", Jaemin sighed. "I fear that Mark knows about your feelings."
"What?", Haechan shouted but Jaemin told him to be quiet.
So Haechan spoke with a more calm voice: "What makes you think that?"
"Hyung asked me, if I think that you are in love with someone. I convinced him that his suspicions are ridiculous and he believed me. His argumentation also wasn't really good. But the thing is, Jeno told me that he also had a conversation like this with Mark. And I guess Hyung also talked to Renjun and the maknaes.", Jaemin explained and Haechan's eyes widened.
"But you know, Mark-Hyung is not that clever, when it is about things like this. Why would he just realize now that you have feelings for him? This doesn't make sense. Except-", Jaemin continued but Haechan interrupted him.
"Except he found my diary", Haechan mumbled in shock.
Jaemin nodded, agreeing with him.
"It's just a notebook without a lock and I didn't hide it pretty well, because I didn't know where to put it. But that he really would read it. Wow. I don't now, if I should be mad or embarrassed.", Haechan sighed.
"I know. A hard time will probably come. I just wanted to warn you. What you should do now, is pretending that you don't now and you should really treat him like he is only your best friend. Don't let your feelings show. Otherwise, I don't now what Mark would do. But probably nothing good."
Haechan knew this was true, so he agreed with Jaemin and they stopped talking about it.
Haechan ate dinner that night at the Dreams dorm and when he went home, he really pretended like nothing was different.
A few days later, the 127 members decided to go to a bar.
Haechan was still a minor, so he couldn't drink. But since his talk with Jaemin, he was feeling down and wasn't in the mood to go out with his Hyungs anyways.
Taeil sensed that the youngest wasn't feeling pretty well in the last few days, so he decided to stay with Haechan and to not go to the bar with the others.
Haechan told him that he was fine and Taeil shouldn't dare to sacrifice having fun for him but Taeil didn't listen to him and stayed at home.
Haechan was cooking and Taeil helped him. Taeil tried to bring Haechan to smile and the more into the night, the more often he achieved seeing Haechan's smile.
After they ate dinner, they went into Taeil's room to watch a movie, since the oldest's bed was way more comfy than the couch.
This time Taeil was allowed to decide the movie, since it was Haechan's turn the last time.
Over the last few months, Taeil and Haechan grew pretty close.
Even though they have an age difference from six years. That never stopped them to love and care for each other.
Taeil became one of the closest friends of Haechan and they would often spend their evenings together, making food, eating or watching movies or dramas.
Taeil would always listen to Haechan, if Haechan needed to rant about something and he had no one else to talk to because he couldn't go to the Dream dorm or because Mark was busy.
And sometimes when something happened, Haechan even wanted to tell it Taeil first because it was about a topic, which they were both connected by.
And Taeil grew to know Haechan pretty well.
That was also the reason, why Taeil realized something was wrong, the more they watched of the romcom, which Taeil chose.
"Haechanie, is everything all right?", Taeil asked carefully and Haechan slowly looked away from the screen and to Taeil.
Haechan couldn't find words, so he shook his head 'no'.
"Do you want to talk about it?", Taeil asked in such a soft voice, which made Haechan feel so cared for that he almost lost a tear.
Haechan nodded 'yes'. "But I can't."
"Okay", Taeil said, understanding.
"Do you maybe want to recharge?", Taeil asked this time with a knowing smile.
Haechan smiled back and nodded again, immediately flying into Taeil's arms for a hug.
"Remember I am always there for you. No matter, if you can talk about it or not.", Taeil told him and hugged him a little bit tighter.
"I know. Thank you.", Haechan mumbled into Taeil's chest and they stayed like this for a while.
Haechan maybe couldn't tell Taeil his secret, about his feelings for Mark, but nevertheless he was happy to have the older in his life.
To have such a good friend, who was there for him.
Another few days later it was finally the shooting for the "Candle Light" MV.
All seven boys had a lot of fun but were also a little bit sad because it was the last MV with Mark in it.
Even Haechan was sad, although he was still living with Mark and was together with him in 127.
Especially Haechan because he was in love with the older and not being able to share the NCT Dream memories with him anymore, made Haechan really sad.
NCT Dream was like a family. Everyone could see it.
Not only in the MV that shows the history of NCT Dream but also in the Behind the Scene of the MV, in which the Dreamies were just themselves.
Everyone could see how close the Dreamies are. There were like a family. And losing a member of this family hurt everyone.
Because no matter how much joy brought "Candle Light", in the end it was time to say 'goodbye' to Mark (at least in the NCT Dream world).