At the End of Summer || Mark Lee (NCT)

Chapter 25. Road Trips, Ice Skates, and Everything in Between

- July 12, 2018 -

Thursday

11:45 p.m. I was sitting on the driver's seat inside our old car, waiting for Elizabeth to come out of their front door. After about five minutes of waiting, she came out and slowly ran towards the car.

"You sure you wanna do this?" I asked her when she got inside and sat beside me.

She nodded her head excitedly while removing her shoes and sitting cross-legs.

"Yeah. How 'bout you? You sure your aunt and uncle won't mind?" She asked back.

"Hmm... They won't find out. I'm more worried about you. What if your mom wakes up and checks on you and you're not in your room?" I worriedly asked.

I looked at her and imagined the things that could go wrong this night. Her dad might still be awake and when he checks on her, he'll find out that she's not home, or her mom might wake up in the middle of the night and do the same, in which the results would also be the same: we'd both be dead when we get home.

My eyes widened at the thought.

"No. This is not a good idea, Lisbeth. We shouldn't do this."

"Aww, come on, Mark! You promised you'd drive me around town." She whined and narrowed her eyes at me.

She looked cute when she was annoyed. I had to look away to hide the blush that was appearing on my cheeks.

Elizabeth was getting more and more expressive of herself. She's still the shy type, but she's been showing more of her true feelings when she's with us, not that she hasn't been doing it. After our first bucket list adventure, which was playing paintball with our friends, she's been more open and expressive.

In the past days, she's been quite lively and energetic than she used to be. It made us really glad, honestly. I was really happy to see her like that.

"I did, but not at this time of the night. We even have classes tomorrow." I explained to her, hesitating a bit.

She frowned and rested her chin on her knees, which she was now hugging. She looked even cuter now that her oversized orange jacket, a favorite of hers (and mine), covered her hands.

Sweater paws, I thought, my lips turning upwards.

She slightly pouted and spoke with a small voice. "But you already agreed to it. I thought you'd keep your promise, Minhyung."

I couldn't resist her cuteness so I just sighed and spoke while smiling at her.

"Alright, alright. Geez, Areum, why do you have to be so irresistible?"

She turned her head to me and gave me a look, but I just scrunched up my nose and ruffled her hair.

"Hey!" She slapped my hand lightly and fixed her hair.

"Buckle up, Areumi. This is gonna be a long ass ride." I said as I started the engine of our old car, then I drove away out of the neighborhood and into the night.

Elizabeth connected her phone to the sound system of the car using an aux cord and started playing her music.

"Title?"