Taeyong waited. He wasn't sure what he was waiting for. He considered doing something to distract himself, but he didn't know how long he could do that for. He wasn't sure of anything.

At first he was waiting for Mark to answer his calls and texts. That never happened. Taeyong gave himself excuses that he shouldn't even have to think of in the first place. Mark was just busy. Busy doing something he couldn't tell his mom. Hey, maybe he's getting laid. Taeyong cringed at the thought.

Taeyong didn't want to wait anymore. He felt hopeless. Needy.

He was robbing Mark's time.

Mark didn't have to put everything aside for him. No one did. He was just being needy for attention.

Taeyong kept telling himself that, and it didn't take long for him to believe it.

Without anyone to talk to, he went on Instagram. He scrolled through memes and filtered selfies. He thought to himself how brave people were to post selfies and write captions such as, "hmu im bored 💦💦," even if they made him cringe. He couldn't do that.

He couldn't do a lot of things. He told himself he was useless. Why does he believe himself? He can't talk to people without seeming awkward. It's impossible. He still wanted to put up an act. Talk to someone he didn't know too well, make them think he was someone he wasn't.

But everyone at school knows who he is, or at least they have an idea of who he is; a useless faggot. He wasn't sure how the idea came around, since he was always interested in girls. What happened? Did he stare at a boy for too long? Does hanging out with Mark make him look gay? Does it matter? No, that's not why. Mark started talking with him soon after the bullying initiated, supporting him. A good friend. His only friend.

If only he knew why it started, maybe it would make his life a bit easier.

Just maybe.

Taeyong opened his private messages, hoping to relieve his boredom. It was dry. Not even any hurtful texts. He was surprised. Not even the bullies cared for him anymore. He wasn't sure if he preferred this emptiness though. He wasn't used to it. Maybe he just liked the attention.

It's like his daily routine just changed without him agreeing. Talk to Mark, get spammed by bullies, tell Mark, get comforted by Mark, cry, go to sleep.

That routine couldn't start though. Mark wasn't there to talk to. So the bullies couldn't spam him, so he couldn't tell Mark about it, so that means Mark couldn't comfort him, and that means he didn't have to cry anymore.

But, he still wanted to cry. No one was bothering him, so he didn't understand why he wanted to. He didn't know why he felt more hurt than ever before. Ten's ruthless punches couldn't compare to how he felt right now. Even the bruises scattered across his body didn't match up to the scars in his emotions. He felt betrayed.

Mark. He's the center of this, isn't he? Something with Mark. Something with him started all this. He doesn't understand. What did Mark do? What did Taeyong do? He's confused.

What was Mark hiding?

He told himself he was over thinking everything. Nothing was occurring here. Everyone just had different things to do. And for once it didn't involve him; yet he didn't feel relieved.

Taeyong wanted to solve this. Text Mark, just to check in and prove his theory wrong. Mark wasn't a reason for why the bullies were a part of his everyday life. Even if they didn't send anything today, his tormentors would attack him tomorrow. Taeyong was desperate to prove that his life didn't change. Because if it changed the way he thought it was changing, it meant he lost Mark, and he didn't want to lose him.

He texted Mark, "hey."

It didn't send. He was blocked.

Taeyong went to sleep with tears stained in his cheeks as he dreamt about a different life, and he wasn't sure he was ready for it.