Half-Blood | NCT DREAM

Chapter 12

It seemed as though Mark was trying to be nicer to her as Haerin trained with him for the next few days. Haerin often found herself visiting Mark's cabin at night, as turns out Mark was too scared to go to hers. Haerin didn't mind though, as Mark's cabin was fine for her.

They would stay up late watching cartoons, chatting as they half focused on them. Haerin actually accidentally fell asleep there once, and it was quite embarrassing when she found out that some campers had saw her sneak out of Mark's cabin the next morning.

They had definitely gotten closer, and it was nice for Haerin to have someone that she could talk to about her own struggles. Mark had given her good advice, and it made her realize when everyone saw him as such a good leader.

The other camp counsellors were friendly too, and Haerin spent a lot of time with them when Mark was busy. Haerin finally felt like she was beginning to find her place at Camp Half-Blood.

Mark wore a small smile as they worked together that evening, focusing on improving her fighting skills.

"Relax." Mark said, giving her shoulders a few squeezes. "You're tense and it shows in your movements."

"Easy for you to say." Haerin mumbled, earning a look from Mark.

"Yah, do you want to improve or not?" Mark asked. Haerin waved her hand.

"Alright, alright. I'll try to loosen up or whatever."

Haerin took a deep breath before following Mark's advice, and surprisingly, she did do better.

"See, told you so."

"Whatever." Haerin said, trying not to show how happy she was on the outside but Mark saw right through it.

"Come on, put your weapons away. Let's go get dinner." Mark said, patting her her head.

After Haerin's weapons had returned to jewelry on her body, she followed Mark to the dinning pavilion just to see that no one was at their usual table.

Right, capture the flag is tonight.

The head counsellors had a meeting earlier, discussing the captains for that night. Mark and Haechan were selected.

"Do you know who you're picking for your team?" Haerin asked Mark as they two settled at the head counsellor table.

"Yeah, I have a plan." Mark told her with a grin. "Not sure if you know, but my team has never lost.

"I don't want to be on your team then." Haerin said, taking a big bite of her dinner. "That's too much pressure for me."

"Oh come on." Mark said, smiling as he poked her arm. "It'll be fun."

"But Haechan's funnier." Haerin whined, earning a look from Mark.

"Fine, be on his team then." Mark said, feigning hurt. His terrible acting only made Haerin laugh.

"You know, it's kind of nice having you here." Mark said as he poked his food. "Normally, I sit here alone on Fridays."

"That must have sucked." Haerin said, Mark nodding his head.

"It did, but now you're here so I don't have to talk to myself like an idiot." Mark said, making the two of them laugh.

Before she knew it, Haerin was standing in the crowd between Jisung and Chenle, waiting for Mark and Haechan to choose their teams for the game.

Haechan chose first, so obviously, he picked Artemis' cabin, even with Renjun's absence. Mark's first pick ended up surprising the whole camp.

"Hades." Mark said, without a second of hesitation. Even Taeyong seemed taken aback.