The Close Strangers

e l e v e n

"Minnie! Are you coming or not?" Mark shouts as he knocks his sister's bedroom door.

His sister has promised to do a morning run with him around their residence on this Saturday morning, but then his sister doesn't even sound like she's alive right now.

"Minnie! Lee Minhee!" Mark keeps knocking until his mother shouts from downstairs.

"Mark?! Minhee-ya has left with Yerimmie earlier!"

Mark jaws drop in no time once he realizes that he's been doing a pointless thing for ten minutes straight. Mark fixes the towel around his neck before going downstairs. He's so annoyed because his sister broke her promise, changing the plan without telling Mark first.

He spots his mother, sitting in the living room with his father.

"Dad, let's run," He says, can't hide his annoyed face.

His father turns his head away from the television in front of him.

"I don't think I need that, buddy," He replies, "My body is super healthy."

Mark rolls his eyes, "You've gained a lot of weight, Dad," He points at his father's cheeks, "Look at those chubby cheeks."

"Heeeey," Lee Changwook shakes his head, meanwhile, his wife is laughing while holding a cup of tea in her hands.

"Been living for 45 years in this world and I've never gained weight more than 87 kilograms," He says proudly, but Mark doubting that statement, "Do I need to show you my guns? Or maybe my packs?"

"NO THAAANKS," Mark responds immediately as he walks faster to the main door.

He has no other choice but to do the morning run all by himself. As he puts on his running shoes, he suddenly hears Marcella calls him from inside the house.

Not long after that, Mark turns his head when the door is being opened by his sister. She's wearing her running outfit, showing that she's going to do what Mark wants to do.

"You coming?" Mark asks as he stands up after he put on his shoes perfectly.

Marcella nods, "It's been a while since my last routine, so please bear with me," She says as she lifts her hands up to tie her long black hair.

They warm their bodies up by doing stretching first before starting up with jogging side by side. They usually spend one to one and a half hour for their routine since their residence is quite massive. They also like to stop and rest at some point, such as when they reach the residence park while enjoying the fresh air in the morning.

A morning run is never a bad choice, at least for Mark's family.

"How's college, Mark?" Marcella suddenly asks.

"Not so ready for mid-test though," He mentions about the thing he will do next week.

Marcella and he are coming to the same faculty, but it's so hard for them to meet each other. That's because their gap year is too wide. Marcella is on her last year, meanwhile, her brother has just started it all.

Mark once compared his schedule with Marcella's and he realized that their schedules are so different. When Mark has a class on A Building, Marcella has one on D Building. When Mark finishes at 2 pm, Marcella will just start her class. When Mark comes home early because he has no other schedule besides his classes, Marcella will come home around 11 pm after her photoshoot.

He misses his sisters who are so busy these days, but he never says or shows it.

"So, I heard things are getting better between you and Yerimmie," Marcella starts another topic after she gave Mark some tips for the midterm exam week.