The Close Strangers

o n e

Mark Lee is forced to pause his game when his mother suddenly calls him from downstairs.

He sighs as he stands up from his seat, leaving his laptop behind to go to where his mother is currently is. He walks quickly because he really wants to continue his game as soon as possible which is actually impossible.

When he reaches the living room, he can hear his mother's voice from the dining room.

"Why, Mom?" He asks at the time he comes into the dining room. He spots his sisters, Marcella Lee and Lee Minhee, sitting on the dining chair while eating some brownies which their mother made yesterday.

His mother turns around, holding a cup of tea with her hands, "What are you doing in your room?"

Mark ruffles his hair lightly, "Playing a game?" He answers hesitantly.

He knows that his mother doesn't like it when her kids are spending their day in their room on the weekend since it is the only time of the week where their whole family could spend their times together.

As a dentist, Im Yoona is always busy throughout her weekdays, especially because she also has a bakery shop which makes her need to check the store after her dental practice every day except for the weekend.

"What a lazy guy," Minhee mumbles with her mouth full of brownie, forgetting about the fact that she also just woke up fifteen minutes ago and already eating a brownie that her mother tried to make since she wants to add a new menu for her bakery store.

Mark rolls his eyes as a response to his second sister who is only one year apart with him. Mark decides to join his sisters on the dining table because he knows his mother is going to give a long speech about how he should go downstairs right after he wakes up to get some water before doing whatever he wants to do. He's used to it since he never listens to his mother in this case without any reason.

"So, are you ready for your first day of college?" His mother asks after she did what Mark has expected her to do.

Mark nods slowly when he's going to take a piece of the brownie, but Minhee suddenly pushes the brownies box to her side, not letting Mark taste it since she knows he will take the whole box when he finds out how good that brownies are. Marcella, as the oldest among the three of them, chuckles before giving a piece of the brownie that she's about to eat for herself. Mark takes the brownie right away before sticking his tongue to Minhee.

"You should be friends with good guys only," His mother says, causing Mark to choke on his brownie.

"When did I ever be friend with a bad guy though?" He asks after he turns his body around to face his mother.

His mother shrugs, "Who knows, right?" She sips the tea from the cup that she's still holding with her hands.

"Mom, I already got new friends from the orientation week," Mark explains, "They are all good guys who won't drag me into anything wrong."

"What about you girls?" Their mother asks all of a sudden, causing them to look at each other in confusion.

"We're also fine?" Marcella answers with a questioning tone.

Their mother chuckles as she comes closer to Mark, suddenly caressing her one and only son's hair, "I mean, are you ready? Your brother will officially go to the same university as you."

Minhee nods without doubt as she glances at Mark, "It honestly doesn't affect our college life at all, Mom, especially me since I'm going to a different faculty like him."

"It might be different if Mark was a girl though," Minhee adds by mumbling, but Mark could hear everything clearly.

Minhee has been saying things like that for a million times. It was probably ever since their mother announced that the girls would finally have a new sibling which was a boy back when Mark was only an embryo.