Ayeon was at a loss for words. Could it be?
Ayeon decided to focus on her project instead and to question the whole Minhyung and Mark situation later. As her and Renjun continued to paint, before they knew it, hours had passed.
The sound of the door opening made both their heads spin. In walked Donghyuck along with a girl that was about the same height as Renjun, with long, dark hair. She was wearing all black with her phoenix jacket, her heeled boots clicking as she walked. The resemblance between her and Renjun made her identity quite obvious. It was Jiayi.
Donghyuck wore a big smile as he approached them. "And this is where these two spend their time instead of hanging out with me."
Ayeon felt small as Jiayi glanced over at her. "You must be Ayeon. Haechan told me a lot about you."
Ayeon shot Donghyuck a glance and he just shrugged. She turned back to Jiayi. "It's nice to meet you."
Jiayi nodded her head, proceeding to bother Renjun. Donghyuck wrapped an arm around her waist, making Ayeon look up at him. "Aren't you not supposed to do that?"
"It's just Renjun and Jiayi and neither of them really care." Donghyuck replied. Ayeon smiled, letting herself lean against Donghyuck's body.
"Oh yeah, when are we going to go out together?" Jiayi asked, turning to the two.
"Us?" Ayeon asked, pointing to herself and Donghyuck. Jiayi nodded.
"Yeah, I forgot to ask you about it but when you're free, Jiayi wants to go out for dinner with us, Winwin, and Renjun." Donghyuck told her.
"I thought you guys couldn't be seen with non-phoenixes." Ayeon pointed out.
"I don't really care about those dumb unwritten rules. They're unwritten for a reason." Jiayi said, making them chuckle.
"Our project is due tomorrow at 6 so after then?" Renjun suggested.
"Cool, I'll let Sicheng know." Jiayi said, taking out her phone.
"Angel, it's getting late, are you ready for me to take you home?" Donghyuck whispered in her ear.
"Yeah, I'm just going to quickly clean up first and we can go." Ayeon replied. Donghyuck nodded, placing a small kiss on the top of her head before ruffling her hair.
...
Ayeon held hands with Donghyuck the entire way to the parking lot. She couldn't help but think about Mark and how much Donghyuck must be hurting inside.
"Ayeon, you seem tense, what's wrong?" Donghyuck asked her.
Knowing that she couldn't lie to the male, she let out a small sigh. "Renjun told me about Mark."
Donghyuck was silent as he let go of her hand to lean on his bike, crossing his arms. "He did?"
"Well to be quite honest, I asked." Ayeon told him. Donghyuck nodded.
"Well, it's alright. I suppose you would have found out one way or another." Donghyuck said, passing her the helmet.
"You're not mad?" Ayeon asked, taking the helmet from his hands. Donghyuck shook his head.
"No, of course not. Just a little surprised but a part of me is glad that Renjun told you. I don't think I-" Donghyuck's voice cracked.
He looked down, clearing his throat out and blinking a few times before looking up again. "I don't think I could have told you without breaking."
As Ayeon looked into his eyes, she knew that Donghyuck was already breaking inside from the thought of Mark. She instinctively wrapped her arms around him, giving Donghyuck a warm embrace.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up." Ayeon said as she felt a teardrop fall on her head. Donghyuck sniffled before hugging her back.
"No, don't be sorry, you didn't do anything wrong." Donghyuck said, smiling as he placed a small kiss on her forehead.
Ayeon looked up and brought her hand to Donghyuck's face, wiping away his fallen tears with her thumb. She gave him a weak smile.
"You know, you're beautiful." Donghyuck said with a chuckle.
Ayeon didn't know what to say back so she just leaned forward, giving Donghyuck a kiss. Donghyuck held on tightly to her waist, pulling her closer to him.
Unknown to the two of them, Renjun was trying hard to block the view of a male with a cross tattooed to his right cheekbone, but failed miserably.
"What the heck is Haechan doing?" Jeno asked, hands balled in fists.
"Jeno, stop it. You know she's good for him. We haven't seen Haechan this happy since..." Renjun sighed as he looked away. "Since Mark died."
At the sound of Mark's name, Jeno released his fists, crossing his arms.
"Fine, but you know he's screwed if Taeyong ever finds out." Jeno told him.
Renjun simply nodded his head.
"I know."
...
Donghyuck dropped Ayeon in front of her apartment, watching to make sure she got in safely. He didn't leave until she texted him that she was inside her apartment.
Ayeon watched as Donghyuck rode away on his bike from their living room window. Once she was gone, her thoughts turned to what Renjun had told her earlier about Mark.
Could it be? Could Minhyung really be Mark?
Ayeon sighed, deciding to brew herself a cup of tea to calm herself down. As she was pouring the hot water into the cup, the door opened and Minhyung came in.
"Oh, Ayeon? I thought you had a big project to finish, how did you get home?" Minhyung asked once he saw the girl in the kitchen.
"One of my classmates drove me." Ayeon lied but Minhyung didn't seem to notice as he stretched his arms above his head, yawning.
"I see. How is your project?" Minhyung asked, taking a seat at the counter.
"It's good. I'm still not done though, so I have to go in and finish it early tomorrow morning." Ayeon told him. Minhyung nodded his head.
"I want to work on my assignment too so why don't we head to school early together." Minhyung suggested. Ayeon nodded her head, giving the male a small smile.
Minhyung yawned again and got up from his seat. "Man, I'm so exhausted from work. I'm going to take a quick shower and then head to bed."
"Alright."
Ayeon took a sip from her tea as Minhyung went to his room to get his towel before heading to the washroom. Once he was inside, an idea formed in Ayeon's head.
Ayeon put her mug down and head straight to the washroom, knocking on the door.
"Ayeon, do you need something?" Minhyung called out.
"Yeah, I was just wondering if you have an extra phone charger. I left mine at school." Ayeon said to the male.
"Yep, just in the first drawer of my desk inside my room. It's unlocked so just head on in. If you can't find it, I'll give it to you when I'm done." Minhyung answered.
Ayeon smiled to herself as she thanked the male, heading straight to his room.
Minhyung's room was an organized mess. It wasn't super messy but it wasn't perfectly clean and organized either.
Minhyung's bed wasn't made and papers scattered his desk, but all his dirty clothes were in his laundry basket, no a single shirt on the floor.
Instead of going to Minhyung's desk, Ayeon went straight for Minhyung's closet, swinging the double doors open.
If Minhyung was really Mark, he would have this, wouldn't he? Ayeon thought as she went through the shirts hung up.
But Ayeon didn't have to look far as there it was, right in the middle of all his clothes.
A Phoenix jacket.
———————————————————————————
Welp :)