"guess who!" the rapper jumped at the sudden darkness that had taken over his vision. it didn't even take him less than a second to know who it was, even if she tried to make her voice sound all funny. he immediately recognised those icy cold hands anyway.
he silently tutted, setting a reminder in his head to scold her for not keeping warm. but as always, she would just reply, "you know if you care so much you should just hold em' for me, you know, to keep them warm," and in the end they'd be sitting, hands entwined, and mark would try his hardest to stop himself from blushing. or try his hardest to deny the butterflies that would erupt in his stomach. like he always did.
"mark, you're no good at this game!" she whined, removing her hands and sitting on the chair next to him with a pout. damn, how long was i thinking about her?
"i'm sorry, i just couldn't guess!" i knew it was you, of course i did. "really?" talia's eyes lit up with a small glimmer of happiness.
"really! i mean, lia you sounded like a whole different person!" mark almost bursted out in laughter at how good of an actor he became when it came to making the older girl happy.
"well, that's great to hear, because i've really been working on my voice acting these days-"
"and it's terrible." sora confessed as she passed by with haechan, not even paying attention to her surroundings as she scrolled through instagram. she turned around back around before turning a corner, "so please stop doing it at 3am when i'm trying to get some sleep!" the youngest of elysian deadpanned before leaving the room.
trying to cover up his small chuckle, the canadian boy grabbed talia's hand, and pulled her up to her feet. "cmon, how bout we go sit outside, it's too humid in here anyway, and plus, i have something to tell you." to which the smaller girl agreed.
it seemed to be god's plan -in mark's eyes of course- that haechan planned for sora to come visit the rest of the group during one of their "90's love"promotions. with everything going on with elysian, haechan wanted to make sure his friend got a break, and didn't get too overwhelmed. the gods plan part is that his best friend and long time crush, talia, had decided to tag along.
but the truth is, mark's liked talia since they met in high school. talia was slightly clumsy and oh, so pretty that mark thought it was some sort of dare when she suddenly came up to him after class and asked if they could hang out.
"why?" he'd asked, pulling up his mask to hide the red colour slowly rising on his cheeks. "you seem like a cool guy, is all!"
and ever since, they've been best friends. friends, god i hate that word.
"marrrrrk!" talia whined for the nth time. "why don't you ever pay attention to me!" she then giggled at the dumbfounded look on his face. if only you knew jung talia.
he just smiled at her, shaking his head and pulling her down next to him on the bench. it was starting to get cloudy. just get it over and done with. "like a plaster, rip it off fast." johnny had told him earlier. wait is that even the saying?
"mark i've never seen you think this much since high school," talia joked, oblivious to what was going on inside the boy's head. "haha, you're funny." he replied sarcastically, poking at her side.
it suddenly fell silent as talia's laughter died down. it had never been this awkward with mark. yes, she knows she can be a bit of an airhead sometimes, but the tension in the air during the situation made her stomach churn. she knew it wouldn't end well. like the time jisung called her in the practic-
"i-i love you."
his sudden statement pulled her out of her depressing thoughts, and talia felt like she'd be dealing with a bad neck tomorrow by the way she had whipped it around.
"seriously mark?" the boy in question was confused at how her face suddenly relaxed, "you scared me for a second there, bringing me all the way outside and everything. i thought something bad happened."
what? "what?" he cleared his voice, for the second time that day he decided to speak his thoughts to the pretty girl in front of him.
"mark," she sighed, "you're my best friend, i'll love you forever."
and by the way his heart dropped so fast, mark had an unsettling feeling he'd end up in the hospital later on.
"right, best friends! i just thought you looked upset and i didn't want to think any comments were getting to you, you know."
best friend? these shit excuses? mark, you're pathetic, you really thought she'd like you back? what a joke.
his eyes began to sting when he felt talia wrap her arms around his neck. she probably thinks you're so pathetic right now.
holding him tighter for a second longer, she pulled away, looking up at the sky and then back at his dark brown eyes. "how bout we head inside, it's about to rain, i can feel it,"
and even though she had just broken his heart into a million pieces, mark still felt a piece of his heart thump a little harder at the way she innocently smiled at him.
"i-i'm gonna stay out here for a minute, gotta call someone, you go inside though." and with one last hug, and a reassuring nod, talia stood up and walked back inside.
it felt like a movie. as soon as the door shut, his tears fell along with the icy rain. it reminded him so much of her. her cold delicate hands. god, how he wished he could hold them all day long.
the boy sighed. all i can think about is you, why can't you see that?
little did he know that just on the other side of the door, talia was almost chocking on her sobs. with her hand clasped over her mouth, she pulled out her phone, looking at her lockscreen. the time read 11:11 and it was a picture of both her and mark years back posing next to each other in their school uniforms.
"i love you so much mark. so so much. why can't you see that?"
