The Close Strangers

t h i r t y - t h r e e

"Yerim-ah!" Yoojung runs into Yerim as soon as she opened the door, wrapping her arms around her right away as the other immediately does the same.

"Oh my God, we miss you so much, sweetheart!" Hyewon says as she pats Yerim's head, meanwhile, she's still stuck in the middle of her friends' arm.

They walk into the house, still hugging like pandas, then once they let go of each other, Lucas takes the opportunity.

"Yerimmie, I miss youㅡ"

"Ya, move back," Yoojung pushes Lucas back even though his arms are already wide open to hug her.

"Even though Yuqi is not here, you still can't hug other girls the way you want to," She says, causing Lucas to whine.

Mark's house suddenly turns into a gathering house ㅡ specifically, gathering house for everyone who missed Yerim so bad.

"Mrs. Lee! We're sorry for making such a fuss by coming to your house like this," Felix apologizes when Yoona and Marcella bring drinks for them all ㅡ  even though they literally just arrived.

Yoona chuckles, giving him the motherly look, "It's all fine. I'm happy that all of you can finally gather before the summer break ends."

Mark watches it all from the stairs, seeing how Yerim is smiling while listening to their friends who just can't stop talking to her. His living room is suddenly filled by so many kinds of sound ㅡ from whine, shout, laugh, then back again to whine ㅡ and it all comes from his friends.

His attention is interrupted when Minhee clears her throat, suddenly already standing behind Mark with her arms crossed.

"You haven't told me about what happened yesterday," She says. "How could you encourage her to go home? What did you say?"

Mark sighs since he gets the same question over and over again ever since he's arrived at home with Yerim last night.

"What's so important about it? At least, she's here with us now," He responds, already leaning against the wall behind him.

Minhee hisses, "You know what my point is. I was indirectly asking you whether you've confessed or not."

Mark suddenly smiles, "You can't find out about it." He goes down the stairs right away, causing Minhee to shout since her curiosity hits its highest spot.

"Kim Yerim, did you know how worried we were when we knew you couldn't be reached by anyone?" Chan asks, holding a bag of chips in his hand. "We lost our mind likeㅡ literally lost it."

Chaeyoung nods in agreement, "No, actually, he's a little bit exaggerating things out, but we're indeed worried." She suddenly takes Mark's hand, pulling him closer until he stands right in front of Yerim. "Thanks to this guy right here. Yerim is finally safe."

Yerim smiles sincerely as she looks into Mark's eyes. They don't know how long their eye contact is, but it's long enough to make Felix claps his hands to pull them back into reality.

"I immediately took a flight back to Korea not to watch you two have this lovey-dovey kind of thing," He complains, not realizing how everyone is surprised by how direct he talks.

Jihoon ㅡ the one who already drinking his second chocolate milk ㅡ sighs loudly, "It's just you who have so much money to the point that you don't know how to spend it anymore."

The others laugh in response, causing Felix to feel intimidated. "It's not like that. I just couldn't take more time to be able to see my other half right here," He takes Yerim's hand, causing Chaeyoung ㅡ who is sitting beside Yerim ㅡ immediately separates their hands while looking at Felix in disgust.