chapter nine: control

Jae Ah snapped her hand away from Mark’s before holding it up and cradling it with her other hand. “W-What are you doing?” She took a step back from him.

                 Mark’s lips parted in surprise as his wolf howled in anger at him. Jae Ah looked at him with a sort of fear and that made his heart sink, “No, I just-“

                 “I’m dating Jinwoo oppa.” Jae Ah had to force the words out. And she flinched at how wrong they sounded to her, even though they were the truth.

                 Mark’s expression fell and a hard look came over his eyes, “I know.”

                 “T-Then why did you…?” She trailed off, looking down to her hand.

                 Mark exhaled sharply as his hands went into the pockets of his dark jeans and he turned away from her. He felt frustrated with her reaction but more importantly, there was this pit of anger boiling in him at her proclamation. He was staring off into the distance, unable to look back at her, when he felt a sharp pain in his head. He flinched, instantly holding his head again. He opened his eyes and everything came clearer into view. His heart raced as he fully turned away from Jae Ah, in panic as to why his wolf was fighting him so much for control.

                 Jae Ah saw him turn away and felt her heart pain, “M-Mark? Are you okay?” She realized it was a similar action to what he had been doing before. “Does your head hurt?” She took a step towards him without realizing it.

                 Mark flinched again as the pain got stronger. He could feel his wolf surfacing, wanting to take control, wanting to shift. His nails dug into the palms of his hands as he struggled to keep in control of his body.

                 Jae Ah looked around frantically, wanting to find someway to help him. She reached forward again and put a hand on his shoulder but he flinched away from her and she felt a flash of hurt, “Look, we have to take you to the nurse. She can help you. Mark? Can you hear me?”

                 “Mark!” Jae Ah looked over her shoulder as she saw Jin Young running towards them, his eyes wide. He was before her in a blink of her eye and she stumbled back in surprise. “What happened? Mark?” He went to his friend, putting a hand on his shoulder.

                 Jae Ah felt that same pain again when she saw Mark didn’t move away from Jin Young but it was quickly overshadowed by worry, “I-I don’t know! He just suddenly held his head and he was doing it before too. What’s wrong with him? We need to take him to the nurse!” Jae Ah’s words grew more frantic and she was suddenly reminded of a time this had happened before with Jae Mi. “N-Nurse! Jin Young, he-“

                 Jin Young turned back and was surprised by how panicked Jae Ah looked. “Jae Ah…” she kept talking, ignoring his call, “Jae Ah!” She froze, looking over to him and he shot her a reassuring smile, “Don’t worry. He’s fine. I’m going to take him back to my house though. Don’t worry about him, okay?”

                 Jae Ah took a step towards them as Jin Young pulled Mark away, “W-Wait! No! You can’t! He needs to go to the nurse!”

                 “I don’t think the nurse can help.” Jin Young shook his head, “Don’t worry, okay? Just go to class, Jae Ah. I won’t let anything happen to him.” He glanced at Mark’s face and saw a glimpse of blue eyes and knew that he had to urgently get Mark out of sight. “Bye!” He was pulling Mark away from her before she could argue.

                 Mark resisted against him but whatever was causing him so much pain was making him weaker than Jin Young, althoug