"i'm going out tonight."

"again?" jane asked, lifting her head from her phone to look at her son.

"yeah, jaehyun was feeling down today because of taeyong. so, we're both going to the club." mark explained, sitting next to his mother. "maybe he'll find someone there, who knows..."

"maybe you will too." mark's mother wiggled her brows, making mark snort.

"maybe." he nodded. "but maybe you could come too, so that you can find someone."

don't get him wrong there.

mark wasn't inviting his mother to go the club with him and his friend.

he was just teasing her, something usual for them.

since her divorce, she had been lonely, and she had even told mark a few times how she would have loved to find someone else to make her happy.

so, mark often referred to this, sometimes joking, and sometimes being serious.

and jane knew that mark wanted the best for her, so she willingly joked with him or shared her troubles with her older child. even if she had kept hidden a little detail...

"jokes on you but- "

she was interrupted by a 'ding' coming from her phone, meaning that she had a notification. this made her unlock her phone immediately.

"who is it?" mark raised a brow, leaning over his mother's shoulder to peek at her phone – he had never seen her being so eager to read a text message, even if he had realised that she was more on her phone these past months.

"don't look at my phone!" his mother squeaked, pushing mark away.

"who is jaesun?!" mark gasped.

"no one!" jane replied immediately.

"come on, mom. i know he's not no one!" mark rolled his eyes at his mother's teenager-like behaviour. "who is this jaesun?"

"well..." jane coughed. "let's say i won't need to accompany you to the club tonight... or any night...?"she explained, avoiding eye-contact with her son.

"wait, wHAT?!" mark exclaimed, giving all his attention to his mother. "you've been seeing someone?! and you didn't tell us?!"

"i didn't want you to know about it because i didn't know if it would last..." jane explained in a low voice, looking worriedly at her son.

"wow, wow, wow... wait a minute." mark tried calming himself down. "could you maybe give me a bit more information about all of this?"

"the divorce was six years ago mark, almost seven. and you've been telling me that i should find someone to make me happy... well, i did." jane told.

mark bit his bottom lip, his eyes never leaving his mother.

as soon as she finished her sentence, mark jumped on her, wrapping his arms around her neck to hug her tightly.

"i'm so happy for you, mom." he mumbled. "sorry for my reaction."

jane smiled widely as he willingly hugger her son back. "it's okay mark. i'm sorry for not telling you before."

"don't apologise mom, i understand."

the two family members stayed in this position for a while, simply appreciating the embrace and the love sharing.

mark pulled away first, checking the time on his phone.

"okay, so jaehyun is coming to pick me up in 2 hours, so this leaves you enough time to tell me everything about this jaesun. because, i want to know everything, and even the things you think are irrelevant."

jane chuckled as he leaned back, pushing her back against the back-rest of the sofa.

"well... his name is jung jaesun. he's my age, and he has a son who's two years younger than you too. we met 3 years ago, when he arrived in the company i work in. he was new and completely lost, and i was supposed to help him. and, well... this made us spend time together, and we eventually became good friends. we saw each other every day at work, and we always managed to make each other smile. and... a bit more than one year ago, we decided to have our first official date. and we've been dating since then, i guess..."

mark gasped. "more than a year?! and you didn't tell me?!"

"i told you i didn't want to tell you about something that wasn't meant to last." jane told. "but i was going to tell you tonight."

"you were?!" mark exclaimed.

"yeah. i want your opinion first, because maria is still young, and i don't know how she would feel if i told her that she will have a new father figure in her life." the mother continued slowly.

"f-father figure?!" mark's eyes widened. "so, this means you believe this relationship will last?!"

"i want it to last. i love our dynamic, and i believe in us. jaesun and i complete each other very well."

mark smiled proudly at his mother. "i'm happy for you. i'm so glad you found someone."

"really?" she asked, tears of joy welling up in her eyes as she felt a huge weigh being lifted off her shoulders.

"yes. and, you know what? you should invite him and his son for dinner soon. i would love to see the man that makes you happy."

🎀

"gay club for tonight, right?" jaehyun asked as mark rolled his eyes.

"yes, i already told you."

"sorry, i don't want to bother you if you want to find a girl." jaehyun apologised as him and mark turned left at the intersection. they were walking to the club since it wasn't too far away from mark's house, and they didn't really know in which state they would go out of the club.

"girls and boys are both fine for me." mark explained.

"we're here."

the two boys stood in the queue of men, waiting for their turn to penetrate inside the club.

after waiting for a few minutes in the cold, they were allowed in, both heaving a sigh of relief at the warmer temperature inside the club.

the music was deafening at first, and dozens of neon lights flashed around, almost blinding them as well. the first few minutes in the club were never pleasant, since you weren't in the mood yet, and all of your cognitive senses got attacked violently at the same time.

hearing, because the music was always too loud and people screamed over it to talk or just to show they were having fun.

sight, because the lights kept flashing, and turning around, reducing the visibility inside the crowdy space of the club.

smell, because the air was a mixture of sweat, alcohol, cigarettes, and surely drugs too, and this deathly concoction was making it hard to breathe.

taste, because of the alcohol every people standing in the club consumed, since it made you feel good, and it made you not realise how horrible this place actually was when sober.

and touch, because any notion of privacy ceased existing the second you put a foot inside the club as people danced skin against skin, and as the place was too small for this number of people dancing inside.

"let's go have a drink." jaehyun declared, pulling mark by his arm not to lose him in the mad crowd.

after struggling to get past the people dancing to reach the bar, both boys managed to order their appletini and drink them in one gulp, their throats burning at the passage of the vodka-charged cocktail.

in a matter of minutes, the two boys were in the middle of the crowd, the little amount of alcohol in their system sufficient to help them having fun.

mark and jaehyun danced with the other boys that were partying inside the club, moving their bodies to the beats of the loud music blasting through the speakers.

after an hour of dancing mark was up for a little break, but sadly, jaehyun was nowhere to be seen. perhaps had he found someone to spend the night with? or they had just been separated by the moving crowd of horny guys? he had no idea.

the korean-canadian walked away from the dancefloor, allowing himself to breathe a bit of fresher air.

he walked to the bar where he ordered a margherita. while waiting for his order to be made, he looked around, seeing an older man emptying a bag of powder in a glass, surely drugs.

mark knew that he had to be careful with his drinks. getting drugged and raped in those kinds of places was frequent.

"here!" the bartender handed mark his margherita.

with his drink in hand, mark walked away from the bar where people were pushing each other drunkenly to order more alcoholic brewages.

he stood not too far from the entrance, where he had a great view of the dancefloor without actually being sandwiched between the hot bodies of dozens of men.

mark took a sip of his margherita as his eyes travelled around the club, searching for the friend he came here with.

at some point, mark's eyes stopped on a body that he found more appealing than the others. his drunken mind was telling him to give up on jaehyun and just go and have fun with this pink-haired boy who fit his taste.

he was shyly dancing while talking to a man, his leather trousers hugging his curves nicely, and his shirt had been tied in a knot, making his bellybutton visible.

mark noticed that the man he was standing in front of was way older than him, and that he was handing him a drink.

mark didn't need to long to figure out that this was the man he had seen pouring drugs in the glass at the bar, so he decided to act.

not walking perfectly straight, mark got to the two men, pushing the old hag away as he faced the boy that was about to get drugged.

"i wouldn't drink that if i were you." he said over the loud music, but the boy was bent, trying to help the other man up.

mark took another sip of his drink, waiting for the boy to face him again to engage a conversation.

"you shouldn't push people like- "

the young boy was interrupted in his scolding by mark who had suddenly spat everything he had in his mouth on him when he had seen his face form up close.

"donghyuck?!"