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Today's training is done in a relaxed manner without too many restrictions by their choreographer. NCT Dream immediately scattered as soon as the music stopped.
Mark looked at his surroundings with a slight smile on his face. He saw Chenle and Jisung playing a Jenga board he didn't know where it came from, Renjun sitting on a small couch watching some videos, and Jeno and Jaemin comparing their biceps in front of a large mirror.
But he didn't see Haechan at all. It was only a minute ago when they were taking a break from practising, but Haechan had already disappeared from the practice room. He scanned the room after adjusting his glasses to see if Haechan was around, but he wasn't there.
“Jeno, Jaemin! Did you see where Haechan went?”Mark approached the Nomin couple with a slight frown on his forehead.
“Oh Haechan! He went to the bathroom shortly after we stopped practising,”said Jeno.
“I guess he got a stomach ache again after eating that super spicy ramen last night,”Jaemin laughed as he slapped Jeno's shoulder hard with one hand.
Jeno could only smile [(.◜◡◝)] even though the blow left a bruise on his shoulder.
Mark patted Jeno's back sympathetically before going to the middle of the practice room. He picked up his phone to play the song he usually plays when he's bored. If Haechan was here, he would definitely have an idea of how to pass the time while waiting for the break to end; however, since Haechan wasn't here, Mark used this free time by dancing to warm up for his next practice, which they didn't know when it would end.
He was so focused on dancing that he didn't notice the glance from the corner, watching him with eyes that could see right through him.
“If only I hadn't made a bet with Jaemin last night, I wouldn't be going to the bathroom so many times!”Haechan stomped his feet on the hard floor as he headed to the practice room.
He hums NCT Dream's song, Life is Still Going On, as he pushes open the door, only to see someone staring lustfully at Mark.
Feelings of anger and jealousy bubbled up in him. He angrily walked over to Mark before enveloping the older man in a tight hug. Mark, of course, was surprised by Haechan's sudden ambush, but he didn't reject it either.
He turned his head to look at Haechan and saw that Haechan was glaring at something, or rather, at someone in the corner of the room.
“Hey, babe, what's up?”Mark asked in a soft tone, making Haechan glance at him.
“It's nothing. Let's walk around the room while I hug you from behind,”said Haechan in a playful tone as he corrected his position while hugging Mark's torso. Mark agreed to Haechan's request and squeezed Haechan's arm to calm his boyfriend's mood.
As they walked with Haechan hugging Mark from behind, Haechan loudly sang one of the lyrics from Candy's song, which they had recently covered. Mark was unaware of the situation behind him.
Haechan was delivering a death glare to one of the staff members who was sitting with their choreographer. She wasn't afraid of Haechan's gaze, as she stared back at him as if challenging him.
They kept glaring at each other until Mark, who was oblivious to their pettiness, finally noticed them.
“Babe, can you tell me what you're doing now?” Mark asked worriedly when he saw Haechan's fists clenched as if to hold back from throwing his hand at the woman who was snickering at her boyfriend.
“That lady! She kept staring at you as if she were staring at a delicious meal! That's sexual harassment!” Haechan angrily told Mark, but he spoke in a low voice because he didn't want the rest of his group to hear their conversation.
Mark glanced at the woman his boyfriend was pointing at before taking the angry Haechan into his arms. He gently kissed his boyfriend's forehead to ease Haechan's tantrum.
“Let's ignore her, okay? Just focus on us, on me.”With one hand under Haechan's chin, Mark smiled and planted a quick kiss on those plump lips. Haechan was grateful for Mark's way of calming him down. He hugged Mark's torso and hid his face in Mark's chest.
“My pretty baby shouldn't pay too much attention to such people. He won't be able to do anything to me.”Mark silently led Haechan to sit on the floor with Mark's back against the wall.
As for Haechan, he didn't sit on the floor but on Mark's lap, as if it were his personal seat. Both of Haechan's legs were placed on either side of Mark's waist, almost wrapping around his boyfriend's thin waist.
“I'm jealous... No one can look at you like that except me! Only I can stare at Mark Lee like you're limited edition food, humph!” Mark could only chuckle at the way Haechan described it.
With his arms wrapped around his boyfriend's small waist, Mark kissed Haechan's forehead, cheeks, nose, eyelids, and lips, which managed to distract Haechan from thinking about the woman.
They both continued to kiss and whisper nothing but sweet words to each other; they didn't notice the expressions of everyone in the training room seeing them acting like teenagers in love.
“It looks like someone lost a bet.”Chenle smiled as he held out his hand to the unenthusiastic Jisung. After sighing heavily, Jisung admitted defeat when he handed over $30 for losing the bet.
What are their bets, you ask me? Well, Renjun also wondered the same question, which was answered by the calm and wealthy Zhong Chenle.
“Simple! Jisung and I bet how long Mark Hyung and Haechan Hyung will be able to stop kissing each other in a day. I'm sure they'll never be able to resist kissing because they're so in love with each other, while Jisung bets they can at least resist kissing for 4 hours. Silly guess, isn't it?”
Chenle laughed loudly, making the sullen Jisung even more unmotivated as he lay weakly on the hard, cold floor. Renjun shook his head at their antics. He could never understand their games. Not wanting to think about their affairs, he opened his TikTok app to watch cute cat videos to relieve his boredom.
Not far from them, Jeno and Jaemin were so focused on their mobile games that they didn't notice anything going on around them. They are in their own world.
“I know it's hard for you to listen to me, but can you fire her—I mean, remove her from any job that requires her to be near us? Haechan told me he felt uncomfortable around her, so for the sake of my team's safety, I'm begging you to remove her from your management team.”
Mark sits face-to-face with the chief manager, who has the final say on any activity involving NCT Dream. After sending Haechan to play games with the Nomin couple, he quietly went to the chief manager to make such a weird request for his boyfriend.
The chief manager tiredly massaged his wrinkled forehead before nodding.
“Fine, as long as you agree to make another solo album by this year, only then will I fulfill your request.”Mark silently cheered to himself before he left the office. He happily skipped towards the training room, as he expected to kiss his beautiful boyfriend again.
끝