In Another Summer || Mark Lee/NCT DREAM

Special Chapter. The Park

『 Part 2 』

"Promise me you won't tell the others. Okay?"

Mark blinked rapidly at me, his mouth hung a little open.

"Please? Don't tell Nana, or Injun, or Jeno-yah. And most especially, never tell Hyuck."

"Why? Would he be mad if he knew?" Mark then asked, a quizzical expression on his face.

"Well—not necessarily, but—" I stuttered a bit as I looked down on my fidgeting hands. "Just don't tell the others. They'll probably tease the hell out of m—I mean—us. You know them."

Mark grinned at my rather blushing face, and he was enjoying the sight. It's not so surprising to me anymore, I'm used to it.

We were on the plane back to Seoul, sitting next to each other at the back part, near the restrooms. My parents were a row ahead of us, by the middle seats, while Mark and I were beside the window.

"Keeping secrets to your best friend, huh?" Mark teased, making me frown.

"He's your best friend too."

"Well, I don't think he'll mind." He shrugged, the grin on his face still visible.

I rolled my eyes and sighed, "he'll definitely make a big fuss about it. Just like when he learned that we were sleeping in the same room."

Mark burst out in a quiet laughter. "That part wasn't intentional. It just so happened that it was the only available room in the house, other than my grand—"

"So you mean, the rest were intentional?" My eyes widened in shock, my heart beating fast.

The kiss on my cheek, the not-so-subtle flirting with me at pretty much everywhere, that moment in the sea where we almost kissed—not to mention, the way he embraced me when I was feeling nauseous in the hot air balloon—those were intentional?

"What? No—I mean—" Mark was suddenly caught off guard, stammering as he tried to speak. "Well, why are you so bothered by it? Wait—is that supposed to mean something?"

I blinked several times as he leaned his face towards mine, his eyes narrowed teasingly.

"W—what? What do you mean?" I asked in pretense, my eyes darting around the plane.

He leaned away, smirking at me, then he arched an eyebrow. "You're not thinking what I'm thinking, are you?"

"Huh? What are you thinking?"

"That the reason you're being weird about it is because you're admitting that you like me."

It was at that moment that my heart dropped a thousand feet from the plane I was in. And yes, I know that was over-dramatic, but my face was seriously as hot as the sun due to what Mark just said.

Once again, I was speechless.

"You do like me," Mark continued with that smirk of his, "don't you?"

"What are you talking about?" I furrowed my eyebrows at him, refusing to admit to the truth despite the redness of my face. "I never said that."

"You never said you never liked me."

"Yes! I never said that!"

Mark's eyes turned into half-moons as his lips curved into a very wide grin, making me realize what he just said.

"I mean—uh—"

"You like me. Don't you, Elizabeth?"

If I had a heart condition, I'm sure I would've had some sort of heart attack or something. I didn't though, but with the way things were turning right at this moment, I could well be on my way to having one.