Mark was annoyed at Donghyuck. It was so clear that he was. He had his arms folded, his head tilted away from his best friend and a frown tugged on his lips. Donghyuck eyed the way Mark let out small huffs every now and then when he didn't give a reaction to his dramatics.

"What's wrong, hyung?" Donghyuck finally decided to ask, and the honorifics that he usually never used seemed to crack the older.

"Aimi left me," He dropped the news as if it was a bomb and Donghyuck had to force himself to give an appropriate reaction. He already knew about this, since he had been the once Mark spoke to yesterday but he couldn't tell him that. "She didn't even tell me why."

"I'm sorry, hyung," Donghyuck tried to comfort him and placed a hand over his, earning a small hum of approval before he moved forward and enveloped the older in a hug. Normally, by now Mark would've pushed avoid whilst complaining about how Donghyuck was too bony, or smelt a little off, however, this time he kept his arms tightly wrapped around the younger's body, pulling him impossibly closer.

"You don't have to apologise," Mark said after a while. The noise of the cafe dulled out as Mark pressed his head against Donghyuck's chest until all he could hear was just the younger's heartbeat. It was fast. "You okay? Your heart's beating really fast."

"I'm okay," Donghyuck cleared his throat, his cheeks reddening as he realised he had been caught getting nervous just because if a hug. "But are you?"

"I..." Mark sighed, his breath brushing against Donghyuck arm and he tilted his head up, catching the youngers' eyes and pouted a little. It was so clear he was trying his best to not breakdown. "I'll be fine."

With that, Mark smiled at Donghyuck and pulled away from the hug, much to Donghyuck's dismay. Mark had always been the more sensitive one out of them. He always got insecure over tiny things and couldn't handle breakups at all. Even at the age of 21, after 3 breakups Mark didn't know what to do. He had become so attached to Aimi that without her everything seemed meaningless (yes, he was that dramatic but can you blame an emotional guy?). Donghyuck thought it was sweet, but Mark's naive thought process was the reason most girls chose to stay away from him. They didn't want to commit.

"I called you so many times last night," Mark said with a pout still lingering on his lips. Donghyuck stared at him with disbelief, because how could he still be hung up on that. He leaned forward and took the straw of his milkshake between his teeth. "Even messaged you. Why didn't you pick up?"

"It was 3 am, hyung," Donghyuck whined, gulping down the drink and then reached for Mark's hand. "And I messaged you back as soon as I woke up."

"Too late," Mark shook his head in disappointment and mixed his drink with his straw. "I ended up feeling so desperate for help, I called a love hotline and spoke to some dude for like 10 minutes."

"A love hotline?" Donghyuck laughed and he hoped it sounded natural because, well fuck he was scared. Imagine Mark managed to work out that he was Haechan. Mark would end up telling the others and they would find out about how unemployed his ass was that he had to reach out for some hotline service and beg them to take him on board.

"Yeah," Mark chuckled to himself and his figure visibly shrank. "Was feeling really down you know... But the guy who picked up was nice so I feel better. For now at least."

Donghyuck bit his lip and fought the urge to let out a sigh of relief. He was glad he managed to make Mark feel better than before, but it was clear he was still hurt by Aimi. Then again, anyone would be hurt if their girlfriend of 2 years broke up with them on text and then left the country without leaving any contact behind.

"I need to go," Donghyuck said after a while, placing his milkshake down alongside some money and smiled at Mark. "I'll see you later, okay, hyung? I hope you feel better soon."

"Thanks, Hyuckie," Mark returned the smile and Donghyuck hurried out, feeling far too nervous to stay still. Another reason he left was that he had a job to go to, one that he hadn't told his friends about, again.

"You're late," The manager said as Donghyuck ran into the restaurant, his hair sweaty from the enormous distance he had just covered and his breath was unstable. "Go change and get out here."

"Yes, sir," Donghyuck panted and pushed through the crowd of people, holding his bag close. It was going to be a long day and an even longer night.

Hello?

Hi, this is the NCT Loveline service, how can we help you?

Am I speaking to Haechan?

Haechan? Who's...oh! You mean- give me a second, sir, I'll just check to see if he's available.

Thank you.

You are being transferred to Haechan right now.

Hello? Who's this?

Haechan?

Yes, that's me. Who's this?

It's Mark speaking.

Oh...Mark.

Yeah...sorry to disturb you.

Oh! No, no, no, don't worry. You aren't disturbing me.

Are you sure about that?

A hundred per cent sure.

Ahh, that relieving.

...

...

So?

So?

What did you call to speak about?

I- I don't really know...

Oh...

It's just when I spoke to you, I felt a lot better about what had happened.

Well, if it makes you feel better, then we can talk for however long you want to talk for. You can tell me anything, I won't judge.

I know you won't...you seem like a nice person.

Haha...well I'm not called Haechan for anything.

Haechan means full sun, right? Is that what you're referencing.

Yup! My colleagues say I remind them of the sun, always happy and joyful.

That's cute.

...thank you.

...so I can talk about anything?

Anything at all.

Well, I wanted to start off by talking about my workplace. You know, I uh...I work at a solicitors firm.

Oh, that's interesting.

Not really... I haven't told anyone this before but the- the uh- I mean my boss he...

He?

He's really...bad.

Bad? What do you mean by that?

He's not the nicest person. You see, I'm the only guy that works there, other than him.

That's...odd.

Yeah. And I'm close friends with the person I work with but...but he doesn't like that. He- I think he doesn't like that I'm friends with the girls whilst he isn't.

So he's a pervert?

I think so. Oh my god, wait please don't tell him if you find out who he is. I don't wanna lose my job.

Don't worry, Mark. We don't share any information. What you said to me will be our little secret, okay?

Okay.

You called at night again, hm?

Figured you'd be working at this time again.

Ah, yeah. But I don't work every day, just warning you.

So when do you work?

That's for you to figure out, I guess.

Ahh, why can't you just tell me?

Because I can't tell you everything about me yet.

That's unfair.

Tsk, tsk, what a child.

...

...Are you okay?

Yeah..yeah, I'm fine...it's just...

...just?

I remembered Aimi.

Oh?

Ah, Aimi was my girlfriend's name.

Ohh.

How am I joking around like this after what she did to me?

Maybe you subconsciously also didn't like her. So when she left you-

No!

No?

No. I love her.

Mark, you don't have to-

No. Listen to me Haechan. I loved Aimi. I've always loved her. No matter what happens, I will love her.

But Mark-

You can't say that about me! You don't know how much I loved her! Maybe, maybe...maybe she didn't know either. Fuck. Is that why she left. Should I have told her more about how I loved her? Fuck! I'm so stupid!

Mark. Mark, calm down. Mark-

I'm sorry Haechan. I'm going to go.

Wait, Mark-

Silence followed as Donghyuck pressed the phone against his ear. The beeping sound of the phone was heard before he placed it down with a long sigh. Why did Mark have to be so in love with a horrible person? Donghyuck ran a hand down his face before he realised that Mark could be in trouble.

"Shit," Donghyuck cursed and jumped up from his seat, ignoring the confused looks he gained from those around him and ran over to the main office. It wasn't large so it didn't take him much time. "Hyung!"

"Haechannie?" Taeil answered in a questioning tone. It wasn't as if Donghyuck never visited him, but it was never in such a nervous manner. "Is something wrong?"

"My friend, he needs me," Donghyuck quickly told him, his feet tapped against the floor impatiently and he waited for Taeil's response.

"Oh... Then you should go to him," Taeil nodded and Donghyuck felt like giving him a hug (and he did) before he spun around on his heels and dashed out, only wearing his jacket and had his phone in his hand.

"You're too lenient on that kid," Johnny scoffed as he entered the room, eyeing Donghyuck as he flew into the elevator and hastily poked the buttons. "He could've been lying, you know."

"Yeah," Taeil smiled, tilting his head up and stared at Johnny with an unreadable expression. "But I believe him. He sort of reminds me of my younger self."

"I know we joke around about you being a grandad but please never say that phrase again until you're 30," Johnny cringed, scrunching his nose as Taeil laughed.

"Shut up."

-

"Mark?" Donghyuck called out as he entered Mark's apartment. He had a spare key that Mark had given him in case of emergency situations (which never actually took place and he ended up using it just to break into the house. "Mark hyung?"

"Donghyuck?" He answered and Donghyuck's heart dropped at the sound of his weak voice. "What're you doing here?"

"My gut feeling told me to come here," Donghyuck lied and finally found Mark sitting in his kitchen. It was an absolute mess. Medicines were thrown into the floor, Mark was soaked in water and he was sat against the cabinet. His face was tear-stained and Donghyuck didn't understand how a simple break up had caused him to become like this.

"Hyuck..." Mark mumbled as he caught sight of Donghyuck's warm eyes.

"Baby," Donghyuck got down on his knees and slide his arms under Mark, easily picking him up and shook the water off him. Mark stuffed his face into Donghyuck's neck and hoped it would be enough to cover his face up. "Let's get you changed, okay?"

"M'kay," Mark kept his face attached to Donghyuck's neck, even as the younger placed him on the bed.

About half an hour later and Donghyuck was pressed against Mark in his bed. The blanket was over them and the lamp had been dimmed down.

"Wanna tell me what happened?" Donghyuck started softly, feeling a little guilty when he saw Mark's eyes open up and tried to fight against sleep.

"No," Mark muttered and dug his hands into Donghyuck's hoodie pocket. He pursed his lips and shuffled closer. "Just wanna hug right now."

"We can do that, don't worry," Donghyuck said and wrapped his arms around Mark. If he wasn't willing to speak to him about it, that was alright. Donghyuck could wait.