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

Epilogue

- September 23, 2023 -

Saturday

"Oh—I'm sorry!"

I was walking on the streets of Seoul, on my way to my car, too busy on my phone that I accidentally bumped into someone. When I looked up, I was surprised to see who it was.

"Mark? Wow, it's been a long time!"

"Seoyeon, hey!"

Seoyeon gave me a friendly hug, and I gladly hugged her back.

"I haven't seen you in a while," I said as I pulled away.

"Me too. I've been busy with work, and you know, life." She shrugged.

I chuckled at her. "So I've heard."

"Well, how are you?"

"I'm good, I'm good. How about you? I haven't seen Hyuck for a while but I heard that you two are dating now?"

She laughed sheepishly at me before saying, "um... yeah. We've been on a few dates."

I smiled at the sight of the blush that formed on her cheeks.

"Well, I'm happy for the two of you." I said, gently patting her left shoulder.

"Thanks," she smiled brightly at me. "I heard you've got a girlfriend as well. What was her name? Mina?"

"Uh, yeah. That's her name. She's—she's great." I chuckled shyly. "But she's not my girlfriend. We just went out a couple of times too."

"Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't know." She gave me an embarrassed smile but I just told her it's okay. "I thought you guys were official."

"We're still getting to know each other." I said, letting out a small chuckle as we started walking on the streets again.

"Oh." Seoyeon uttered as she caught sight of the plastic cover I was carrying on my right hand, a big white rose wrapped inside. "Does she know?"

"Uh, not really. We haven't talked that deep yet. But Mina's a great girl, really. I just... you know, I'm taking things slow."

"Yeah, I get it." Seoyeon nodded and smiled lightly, and rather sadly. "I still miss her too. She was a great person. Sometimes, I wonder what she'll be like, if she didn't go away too soon."

The bustling city suddenly became louder as we continued walking, not really saying anything. But after a while, Seoyeon spoke up.

"I see you're visiting her today."

"Yeah," I said, smiling widely. "I do it regularly, and on special occasions, I always bring a white rose."

"Special occasions?"

"Our birthday, her death anniversary, and today."

She nodded at me slowly, probably thinking of what today is.

"What's up today?"

"Uh, it's just a really special date for me." I said, chuckling a little. "It's a day that means a lot to me."

"Hmm." She nodded slowly again, trying to understand what I just told her. "What a lucky girl. You never really stopped loving her, did you?"

I shook my head and gave her a small smile.

After walking for a little more, we stopped in front of a bakery to say goodbye to each other.

"We should definitely have a reunion soon. You know, catch up and stuff." Seoyeon said.