Thousands of Miles Apart | MARK

Chapter 26

Sarah watched as Johnny flinched as the youngest members of the group entered, laughing amongst each other. Their eyes soon widened as they saw Sarah. Chenle quickly dragged Jisung towards them while Renjun went to go bother a sleeping Haechan, Jeno and Jaemin went to go see Doyoung, who was lazily resting his head on his arm as he sat at the end of another couch.

"Noona, I didn't expect to see you here!" Chenle said, bouncing up and down. Jisung hid behind him, trying to cover up his bare face.

"Didn't Mark tell you? I'll be following him for all his schedules." Sarah replied, making the younger grin. Johnny sighed as the young male squeezed himself between him and Sarah, pulling Jisung into his lap.

"That's so exciting, that means I get to spend so much time with noona!" Chenle cried out.

"Chenle, you're so loud. Can you quiet down, it's too early for this." Jisung whined.

"I'm always this loud, deal with it." Chenle snapped back. Jisung let out a small sigh before lying down on Johnny and Chenle's legs. Sarah couldn't help but chuckle at how cute the two youngest members were. They were completely opposite, Chenle being loud and outgoing while Jisung was more quiet and reserved, yet someone how, they had such a good friendship.

Sarah was busy talking to Chenle about Korea and Mark's lack of cooking skills when she heard someone clear his throat in front of her. She looked up to see Mark, his black hair slicked back, revealing his forehead.

"Johnny, it's your turn." Mark said. Jisung rolled off, plopping on the floor as he let Johnny off the couch. Someone called for Chenle as well, so Jisung took his place on the couch, going back to sleep while Mark slid in on the other side of Sarah.

Sarah couldn't help but smile as she looked at Mark. She had seen his hair slicked back in pictures, but it was the first time that she had seen his hair like that in person.

"Stop staring, you're making it too obvious." Mark whispered to her, making Sarah blush. She bowed her head, letting her hair cover up her face as Mark let out a small giggle.

"So how are the members? They're not too much, right?" Mark asked. Sarah shook her head.

"No, they're all really nice, actually." Sarah told him. Mark nodded his head with a smile, pleased.

"Good, because I was afraid that they were going to say some weird stuff about me." Mark admitted. Sarah immediately thought about what Johnny had asked her. Mark must have noticed her face as he immediately narrowed his eyes at her.

"What did they say this time?" Mark asked. Sarah gave him a small smile, not wanting to expose the members.

"Knowing Johnny, did it have to do with... passing gas?" Mark asked her.

"Maybe." Sarah said with a chuckle. Mark shook his head.

"Man first he exposes me to my fans and now you." Mark said with a sigh. Sarah shrugged her shoulders.

"I mean, I'm a fan too." Sarah said with a wink just as Chenle returned, calling Jisung. Mark's manager came with him too.

"127's going to head out to the venue first, let's go." The manager said. Sarah and Mark nodded, waving goodbye to the Dream members before following the manager to the van.

...

"Whoa." Sarah said as she looked out the window, eyeing the large amount of fans that had already gathered at the venue. Many of them held neon green light-sticks, NCT's colour.

"Yup, hope you're ready for people to take numerous photos." Mark said with a small chuckle. Sarah immediately put her staff ID card on, worried that the fans wouldn't think that she was a staff. The manager immediately passed Sarah a few bags.

"Just hold those and follow the boys and you'll be fine." The manager told her.

"Yeah, don't worry Sarah, with your hands full, the fans will be convinced that you're a staff member." Jaehyun said, trying to comfort the girl.

"Open the door for them too, that will be convincing." The manager said just as the van came to a stop.

"Well here goes nothing." Sarah mumbled as she exited the car, carrying the bags. Just like the boys had said, she was immediately blinded by the flashes from the camera but quickly went over and opened the door for the members.

"Why isn't this opening?" Sarah muttered to herself as she struggled with the van door. Luckily, Mark had decided to open to door from the inside, allowing Sarah to pretend to open the door for them. Mark gave her a small smile before letting it fade as he entered the venue. Sarah immediately followed the boys, all of the scurrying to get away from the cameras as fast as possible.

Once they were finally in NCT's waiting room, Sarah let out a big sigh of relief, making the members laugh.

"It wasn't that bad." Mark said, lightly rubbing her back. Sarah shook her head.

"I don't know how you guys do it, it was a struggle." Sarah said as she placed the bags down on one of the tables.

"Well, you can sit and relax now. We have a few hours before we're on stage." Mark told her, guiding Sarah to the couch area where a few of the members were already seated.

"Actually, Sarah, can you help me out a bit?" Mark's manager asked, earning a glare from Mark. He soon understood as some of the other staff members began passing cameras to some of the members.

"We're filming for youtube, aren't we?" Mark asked. His manager nodded his head.

"Fine, I guess you can relax later." Mark said, taking the camera. Sarah gave him a small smile.

"Don't worry about me, Mark. Learning about backstage stuff can be interesting." Sarah said with a wink. Mark smiled back at her before giving her hand a small squeeze.

"Let me know if Manager-hyung is making you do dirty work." Mark said.

"You act like I'm the supervillain taking your princess away." The manager said, rolling his eyes.

"I mean in a way, you are, hyung." Haechan said, making the room erupt in laughter.

"I'll see you guys later, have fun preparing." Sarah said, before leaving the waiting room with the manager.

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I'm so sorry this is such a filler chapter 😭