drivers license - ljn

4. Talk of the Town

Chapter 4

"Yo, Jin!"

"What the heck?" I jumped from my bed, startled.

Mark suddenly entered my room without even knocking. He has two thick books in his left arm and an iPad in his right hand. He's wearing his round glasses, just like the same ones I use at home. Since we're siblings, we both got weak eyes. Having one's a bummer, really.

He comfortably sat on the edge of my bed, laying his books beside him. I climbed back and fixed my laptop. Face frowning as I watched Mark become occupied with his own business.

"Gosh, don't you know how to knock? Why are you here, anyway?" I asked.

He looked up abruptly before clicking something on his iPad. His nose scrunching while he scanned a few pages from his textbook. "I want to study here, that's all."

I laughed sarcastically. "Seriously? You have your own room to begin with." I argued.

He shook his head. "I can't focus there. It's too messy."

"What?" I raised an eyebrow. He's unbelievable, really. "It only takes a few minutes to clean up, Mark. Go back!" I demanded.

"Dude, honorifics." He scolded.

"Don't you 'dude' me. You and your excuses. You're so annoying!" I whined.

But he didn't budge from his seat. Instead, he lifted both his legs up and grabbed a pillow as he propped his elbows on it. He continued reading in a relaxed stance like he's in his own room.

"So... I thought you fought with Jeno. Why does it seem like you've quickly gotten close with him?" He started.

I immediately stopped typing from my laptop and glared at him. I knew that there's more to his reason of wanting to stay in my room just because it's messy in his.

"You meant to say?" I responded.

"You like him?" He blabbered like what he said was nothing.

I threw a pillow towards his direction out of consciousness. To my dismay, he quickly grabbed it with one hand.

"Mark Lee!" I yelled.

"Why? What's wrong with that? I mean, it's the only possible thing I could think of. Who hugs someone they just met out of nowhere?" He reasoned out.

I breathed deeply. "He was crying. I only did that because I felt bad for him. Besides, I also did that to you when you wailed like a baby because of Koeun!"

He clicked his tongue and dropped his iPad on top of his book. "Stop bringing that back, it's already old news. Plus, Jeno is a good guy. I'm telling you. There's nothing wrong with having a crush on him."

"And I'm also telling you that no, I don't have any interest with him. Like what you said, we're still new to each other. Another is that he just went from a break up. The guy is still hurting." I spat back.

"You're new to each other but you embraced him out of the blue because you felt bad? You also do think that I didn't notice you during lunch, huh? Your side-meal and orange juice suddenly disappeared when you 'went to the ladies room'. Yeah, that's a really good excuse you got there." He continued.

I shut my eyes tight. Him acting like a love-guru is so frustrating. Doesn't mean that he's read a lot of romance books and developed into a hopeless romantic, he'd freely conclude that I like his friend? That's crazy!