The Close Strangers

s e v e n

"I'll drive you home."

Mark could hear Lucas talking to their basketball manager who is also a freshman like them as he drinks his water. They just finished their first ever basketball practice.

"Mark," He could hear one of his seniors, Lee Seokmin, calls his name right after Mark gets up to leave the indoor stadium basketball court.

"Why, Hyung?" He asks back, already talking casually with him since the seniors in the basketball club asked the freshmen to do it in a way to keep them close and comfortable.

"I heard you're Minnie's brother?"

Mark raises his eyebrows in surprise as they walk side by side, "You know her?"

"I was actually close with Jinyoungie which made me kind of close with your sister too," Seokmin explains, receiving a nod from Mark.

"Hyung, you know that her real name is actually Minhee, right?"

Seokmin nods, "But, she wanted us to call her Minnie."

Mark never knows that her sister actually asks her friends on the campus to call her Minnie since her boyfriend usually calls her with her Korean name.

"How is she?" Seokmin asks, causing Mark to frown in confusion.

"My sister?" He reassures who Seokmin is really asking about.

"She's fine, Hyung," Mark answers after Seokmin nodded.

"How are Jinyoungie and she?"

Mark raises his eyebrows spontaneously since he doesn't know why Seokmin asks him about them.

"I think they are good too?"

Mark decides to stop by the cafe inside the building to buy some coffee since he needs to be up late tonight because he hasn't finished his assignment to read three chapters of Korean Politics book.

Mark asks Seokmin to join him as he glances at the situation inside the cafe. That time, he accidentally spots the guy whom they talked about earlier.

Seokmin refuses to join him even after Mark said that Jinyoung is in there, so Mark orders his drink before going to greet Jinyoung in his table all by himself.

"Jinyoung-hyung," Mark greets his sister's boyfriend, causing the owner of the name to show a bright smile when he sees Mark.

"Minhyungie!" Jinyoung greets him excitedly as he stands up, "What are you doing in here?"

"I just finished my basketball practice, Hyung," Mark explains as he shows his gym bag when Jinyoung pulls him down to take a seat in front of him.

"Are you waiting for someone, Hyung?" Mark asks, receiving a nod from Jinyoung.

"I have a tutoring session," He replies right before Mark notices his books and laptop on the table.

"Wow, you already give a tutoring session? That's cool, Hyung."

A girl comes to them at the time Mark's name is being called, signing that his order is ready. He excuses himself to leave first, so they can start their tutoring immediately.

When Mark is in his way to go to the parking lot, he accidentally spots the girl who is no one but Yerim coming out from the elevator with the same guy as yesterday's morning together.

Mark stops walking unconsciously, frowning while watching them from afar. He decides to follow them from behind since they are also going out of the building.