Mark was sixteen and a half when he got dumped for the first time.

Honestly, he should've expected it. The way Yerim ignored his calls, shot him a dirty look when she thought he wasn't looking, and the way she avoided him in school with her excuses. Her excuses. They were horrible and painfully obvious. ("My parents took my phone away," she said, clutching onto her phone as she smiled at Mark in a condescending manner. "I'll talk to you later, Mark".)

But when Yerim actually broke up with him, it could've been a better place. Definitely not a party celebrating Lucas' 17th birthday.

Mark didn't know whether or not he should go, especially after what had happened in the past few days, but Lucas was his best friend, and what kind of friend would he be if he missed his birthday? (Still a bad friend, his mind provided).

"Mark," Lucas said in surprise as he opened the door. The two shared an awkward smile before Lucas let him in, leaning against his door to give him entry. Mark shuffled in, his head lowered in shame when he caught sight of Renjun staring at him.

Why was he feeling shame in the first place? What had he done wrong? Not taken Jisung's side? Not defended Donghyuck? What would've changed if he had done any of them? Either way, Yerim would still hate him. Mark frowned at the thought and followed Lucas around his house.

His parents had allowed Lucas to call his friends over as they went to his grandma's house. Mark knew this only because Lucas had told him his plans for his birthday a week ago, before the entire incident happened. His chest felt heavy at the thought that maybe Lucas didn't want him to come.

"It's nice to see you, Mark," Lucas said once they reached the kitchen, the only place where there was silence. The music wasn't loud like it normally was, probably because Renjun said so, and the lights were just slightly dimmed out. It looked more like a friends gathering than a party, to be honest. "Renjun wanted it to be peaceful," Lucas spoke up again when he noticed Mark had been looking around. "You know he doesn't like loud music and dark rooms."

"Yeah," Mark nodded slowly, taking the cup of mango juice Lucas handed to him. "I'm guessing he doesn't like alcohol either?"

"No, that was me," Lucas chuckled and then took a sip of his juice. "I don't want to spend my seventeenth birthday drunk and exhausted. Rather spend it knowing that Renjun is finally my boyfriend."

"He gave in?" Mark asked, surprised. Renjun had been rejecting Lucas for almost a whole year now, it was shocking news.

"Donghyuck convinced him," Lucas smiled, only to realise Mark had frozen up at the mention of his fiance. "Uh- sorry?"

"No need to apologise," Mark cleared his throat. Why did he get so scared after hearing Donghyuck's name? "Anyways, where is Renjun? I saw him a while ago."

"He's with-" before Lucas could finish his sentence, Mark heard someone yell from the living room and silence followed. Lucas glanced at him and they exchanged looks before hurrying over to the other room, confused.

"Stop it, Donghyuck," Mark heard and he stopped in the hallway, Lucas continued without him. Donghyuck? Mark's heartbeat fastened as he trailed after Lucas to the room. What was Donghyuck doing here- what kind of question was that? Donghyuck was Lucas' friend, of course he would be here. With a hand to his chest, Mark took steady steps and entered the room. What he saw wasn't something he had expected.

"She needs to apologise," Donghyuck said, pointing his finger at Yerim, who was leaning against the wall with shock plastered over her face. Although Mark was curious about what happened to Yerim, he was more surprised to see Donghyuck holding Jisung to the ground, his other hand clutching tightly onto Jisung's collar. "She needs to apologise, right now."

"Donghyuck," Jaemin put his hand on the shorters' shoulder and attempted to pull him away from Jisung, but Donghyuck stood his ground. Mark had no idea what was going on.

"Don't stop me, Jaemin. Either she goes and tells Mark the truth, or I beat this idiot up," Donghyuck looked down at Jisung, who only returned his glare with a smug smile. Why were they fighting? Why was Jisung at Lucas' birthday party? Especially after what had happened in the past week. Was Lucas still friends with Jisung? Was Mark the only one who was forced to eat lunches alone and get brushed past by everyone?

"Mark," his stomach dropped when he realised it was Yerim who had called out to him. She was looking at him with wide eyes. But she didn't look scared, just shocked. "You're here?"

"What's going on?" Lucas questioned, ignoring the way Mark remained still by his side even after Yerim repeated herself. "Explain, what the hell happened here?"

"Tell him, Yerim," Donghyuck hissed, his grip on Jisung tightening. The smirk on the older's face didn't disappear, however. Instead, he continued to snicker under his breath.

"Why should she explain?" Jisung forcefully pushed Donghyuck off himself and stood up, patting away imaginary dust on his knees before turning to Lucas. "I'll tell you." He shot a look at Donghyuck before beginning. "You see, Yerim over here was tired of waiting for Mark, who had been avoiding her for the past week-"

"What?" Mark interrupted him and took a step forward. "I wasn't avoiding her, she was!"

"Don't lie," Jisung shook his head, the smile on his face widening. "I saw the way you turned corners every time you came across her. Now imagine how heartbroken Yerim must've been to find out that her boyfriend, Mark Lee, was running away from her."

Jisung took Yerim's hand and pulled her close. "So being the nice guy that I am," Jisung continued, running his hand through Yerim's hair. "I tried to cheer her up, because she looked pretty down, didn't she?" Jisung shot the question to the small audience that had gathered up. They all glanced at each other before nodding. Sheep, Mark thought, clenching his hands into fists.

"But Donghyuck over here," Jisung turned to point at the boy in question. "He got annoyed, but for what reason? He wasn't close with Mark, right? He never spent any time with Mark, neither did he ever talk to him."

Mark watched as Jaemin intertwined his fingers with Donghyuck, Jisung's eyes following the movement.

"That was until Yerim told me a little secret that the two had been hiding for years." Mark's heart dropped. What did he mean by that? "Why don't you tell them, Yerim?"

The girl sighed and then turned to face Mark, a bored expression on her face.

"When I visited Mark's house, he refused to call me his girlfriend. At first, I didn't quite suspect it. I mean, you can't just go to your parents and say you're dating, it's not that easy," Yerim nodded and then leaned on Jisung. "But then, I was once talking to his parents and saw a picture of a kid in the living room. When I asked them, they told me it was Donghyuck. Weird, right?"

"Me being close with Donghyuck when we were kids doesn't matter at all," Mark finally spoke up, breaking everyone out of their trance. "I didn't do anything wrong."

"You did," Yerim huffed in annoyance, her eyes suddenly watered. She sniffled and wiped at her cheeks roughly, smudging her makeup. "You cheated on me with Donghyuck."

"What?" Mark froze and everyone in their room snapped their heads in surprise. Where did she get that idea? "What the fuck are you talking about? Why would you think that?"

"Your parents told me that you're engaged to Donghyuck," Yerim finished her sentence and ended it with more dramatics, lowering her head to sniffle a few more times. Jisung wrapped his arms around her and as much as Mark wanted to be angry at them, his heart was racing at the thought that everyone knew. They knew he was engaged to Donghyuck. They knew.

"Mark," Lucas put a steady hand on his arm and leaned close. "Is that true?"

Mark flinched away from the question and quickly stole a look at Donghyuck. It was a bad decision, because Donghyuck was staring at him with equal fear in his eyes. Taking a step back, Mark let out a shaky breath as Lucas repeated his question. His chest ached and he hurriedly spun around, ignoring the way Lucas reached out to him.

He had to get out.

Mark pushed through the crowd around the door and ran to the exit. He had to get out, he had to go home.

His breath quickened as he rushed out of the house, the cold air slapping him across the face as he took no break. He heard someone call his name out, but the ringing in his ears tuned it out. They were going to tell everyone, weren't they? They'd find out that Mark was engaged to someone else but had been dating Yerim. But Mark never agreed with the engagement, technically it didn't even exist! They had no proof, just verbal discussions. However, who was going to believe him? Everyone loved Yerim with their entire heart - Mark did as well - and Jisung was someone no one ever fought against. Who would listen to him? Did anyone even trust him, or believe in him?

"Mark!" A hand grabbed his shoulder and he was tackled to the ground. His wrists were pulled up to his head and pinned down as someone kneeled over him. "Stop running!"

"Donghyuck?" Mark panted, his head hurt from when he got dragged to the ground. "What-what are you-"

"I told you to stop running," Donghyuck breathed out slowly, his chest rising and dropping as he took a second to gather himself. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, get off me." Mark tugged at his hands, but Donghyuck's grip tightened. He could escape easily, both Donghyuck and himself knew, but he didn't. "I said, get off me."

"Only after you tell me if you're okay," Donghyuck argued, frowning when Mark averted his eyes. "How do you feel?"

"Why are you asking me? You don't care about me," Mark said, childishly looking away every time Donghyuck leaned over.

"If I didn't care for you, do you really think I would've left Lucas' birthday to come check on you?" Donghyuck asked, loosening his grip. Mark took his chance and pushed Donghyuck off himself, angrily getting to his feet and took large steps towards his house. "Mark, wait up. Stop running away from everything."

"I'm fine, Donghyuck. You can leave me alone," Mark called out and then stopped, turning to face the younger. "You don't have to pretend to care about me."

"Why do you think I don't care?" Donghyuck yelled in frustration. The lights to Mark's house switched on and they both cursed under their breaths. "Mark, listen to me. I care about you alright. I just want to make sure you're okay."

"I'm fine! Why don't you just go back to Jaemin?"

"I will, after knowing that you're 100 percent fine. I know you, Mark. We were friends at one point, don't forget that. I know that you're not okay."

"Then why ask?" Mark's shoulder slumped down and he pushed Donghyuck away from himself. "Why ask if you know I'm not okay? Can't you just leave me alone?"

"Mark!" He heard his mum call out. Great, he thought as he retracted his hands from Donghyuck. "What are you doing? Leave Donghyuck alone."

"I didn't do anything wrong," Mark held his head in his hands as he felt everything burden his chest once again. Why did they think he was in the wrong? Why did everyone immediately think he was the bad person? First, they believed Yerim and Jisung, now his own parents didn't have any trust in their son. Did no one have any faith in him? Mark felt sick.

"We saw you push him," his dad said, putting an arm around Donghyuck and he quickly asked him if he was okay. "What's wrong with you? Why would you do that?"

"I did nothing wrong," Mark repeated, his eyes stinging at the realisation that no one trusted him. "I didn't do anything wrong. I didn't, I didn't, I didn't, I didn't-"

Mark stumbled backwards and then glanced up with frustration. His parents flinched at the sight of their son crying.

"Why don't you ask Donghyuck what he did wrong?" Mark questioned, pointing at the younger, who only stared at him with an unreadable expression. "Why is it always me? Why don't you have any trust in your own son? Is it because Donghyuck's better than me? Do you like him more? Is that it?"

His parents shook their heads, but Mark saw the way they shuffled closer to Donghyuck. They like Donghyuck more.

"Donghyuck," Mark kept his finger pointing at the smaller boy. "He-he also did something bad. He- it wasn't only me! Donghyuck- he's dating someone."

"What?" All three of the people standing in front of him said in confusion. Why would he bring something like that up at this time? Mark didn't know himself. He just wanted to prove that Donghyuck wasn't as perfect as they thought he was.

"He has a boyfriend."

Mark wasn't thinking straight. What was he doing? Why was he doing this? Because he didn't do anything wrong.

"You do?" His mum turned to Donghyuck.

"I-I," Donghyuck stammered and cleared his throat. "So does Mark! He has a girlfriend."

"What?" His parents glanced between them in shock and then held a hand up. "Alright, that's enough for tonight. Both of you, go back home and get some sleep. We'll talk about this in the morning."

"Why?" Mark shook his head. "Why in the morning? You were ready to call me out in the middle of the night over Donghyuck, but now that you know he's also at fault, you want to talk in the morning?"

"Mark, we're not against you. It's not the best time to talk about this."

Mark didn't care if he woke his neighbours up. He didn't care if his neighbours blamed him for ruining their sleep.

"You are! You are against me!" Mark glared at Donghyuck. "Both of you have always supported Donghyuck instead of me!"

"We haven't," his dad frowned. "We care about both of you."

"Stop lying!" Just as Mark finished his sentence, he felt a hand come in contact with his cheek. The force made his stumble and he stared down at the floor with shock. He was slapped. By who? Mark forced himself to glance up to find Donghyuck looking down at him with glassy eyes. Donghyuck slapped him. Donghyuck slapped him. "You!"

Mark grabbed Donghyuck's shirt and shoved him to the ground, ready to land a punch on him when his dad pulled him back.

"Mark Lee!" His dad shouted. Mark froze with his fist up in the air. "Get out of my sights, now."

Mark breathed heavily as he felt their gazes on him.

"I said, now!" His dad repeated, giving his arm a push towards the house.

Without sparing a glance, Mark took large steps back to his house. He kicked his shoes off at the entrance and climbed the stairs. He could hear his parents asking Donghyuck if he was fine. His eyes burned as the warm tears finally rolled down his cheeks. Throwing his clothes off, Mark got into bed and pulled the blanket over his head.

In the end, Mark was always at fault.