4

“Believing even in the possibility of a happy ending is a really powerful thing.”

                   

It was after walking two blocks when Mark decided the we should take the bus home, since our apartment complex was a bit far from where we were. I agreed with him, I haven’t really explored the city of Seoul that well so I’m not really familiar with directions. I just take a cab whenever I’m at a place that I don’t know, since all you have to do was tell the driver the address you want to go to then they’ll drive you there.

The bus that we rode in didn’t seem crowded, but I’m somehow having a strange feeling because Mark sat pretty close to me. It would be a really embarrassing situation if I fall asleep next to him. I mean, the first encounter we had was embarrassing enough. I wouldn’t want to embarrass myself any further, like by letting him see me openly drooling on his shoulder as I sleep, not that I do though.

I adjusted in my seat as I took out my phone and my earphones, Mark must have noticed since he was looking at me. Ugh, those eyes…

“Why are looking at me like that?”

“No reason. I just wonder if you ever heard one of our songs yet?” He asked, leaning a little bit closer for my comfort.

I leaned away and shook my head. “I actually haven’t gotten into listening to any of GOT7’s songs.” I answered him. I placed one of the ear bud into my ear and also did it to the other one before blasting one of my favorite songs.

I got surprised when Mark suddenly took one of the ear buds and put it on his own ear. I wanted to laugh when he turned to me and made a face. “You haven’t listen to our songs, yet you’re listening to Super Junior’s song? I even thought you don’t listen to Kpop.”

“Yah. Of course I would, pabo. Super Junior’s songs are awesome, especially Donghae-oppa’s ‘Beautiful’ ” I said, grinning like a little girl. “I’m actually a really big fan of him.”

“Wow.” Mark muttered in English, his voice sounded even more ier whenever he speaks in that language. But he also went back to speaking in Korean. “I just realized that even though I am older than you are, you haven’t called me ‘oppa’ even once. But then you call Donghae-sunbaenim ‘oppa’? That’s pretty unfair.”

“What? I thought it wasn’t a big deal for you? I mean, they don’t use honorifics in LA and you’re from there, aren’t you?”

He pouted that made me chuckle. “But, we’re in Korea.”

“Should I call you ‘oppa’ then?” I said as I gave him a teasing look. The way he looked right now was totally different from the way he always looked. That pout of his made him look really cute. And childish, if I may say. “I can do that if you want.”

“Do it.” He ordered.

“Oh. Shut up, Mark-oppa.”

“That's it? Do it cutely.”

“Yah!.” I scoffed, gently smacking his arm in the process. “I already called you ‘oppa’, isn’t that enough?”

“No. You should do it cutely, you know.” Once again, his brows furrowed into a frown.

“Why did calling you ‘oppa’ cutely became a big issue here?” I chuckled as I shook my head and just looked outside the window of the bus.

I couldn’t really tell what’s running on Mark’s head at this moment, but I have to admit that I’m liking the friendship that we currently have. I had become really comfortable being myself with him even though we haven’t known each other that long. Weird, but it just happened. To be honest, it felt like we’ve been friends for years.

Noticing that Mark was still ‘sulking’ because of what I said, I decided to talk to him again. “Aren’t you afraid someone’s going to recognize and see how ridiculous you look right now?” I and playfully nudged his shoulder.

“It’s okay. They won’t know anyway.”

“How sure can you be about that. Hm?”

He shrugged his shoulders and tugged the hood of the jacket that he was wearing. “I have a disguise.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at what he just did. “Oh, yeah right. You have a really awesome disguise. No one would ever know that it was you.” I muttered sarcastically as I shook my head.

 I didn’t know what happened, but when our eyes met, we just bursts out laughing. Our conversation once again went to different ways, from him telling me stories about his nieces, to us reminiscing our grade school days. It was actually really great talking to Mark that I completely got over the incident that happened earlier this day.

Soon, we had gotten off the bus. But, even though we were now walking the streets of Hongdae, we still shared my earphones like the way couples do. I also noticed that some people stared at us as we walked by, but I just shrugged it off. I mean, it’s not really a big deal for me or for Mark. We’re friends and I’m really happy for that fact.

“You know, we should hang out again.” Mark said as I retrieved the other bud of my earphone from him since we already reached the entrance of my apartment.

“Really? You want to hang out with me again?” I gave him a playful nudge on his shoulder.

“Well, I like you.” He said as he rubbed the back of his head. “I mean, you’re pretty cool. How about you? Do you like me?”

I couldn’t help but dismiss the sudden flutter in my heart because of what he said. I just said that we’re friends, I shouldn’t have this weird feelings in