∞ Chap 11: MARK LEE’S FIRST KISS ∞

Mark felt something soft on his lips.

It was the third day of practice; a bitterly cold wind was sweeping through the streets. One hour before practice began; Mark was already in the practice room, wearing a two-layered, blue and white coat, working on his rap lyrics. The fans had high expectations for their performance, so Mark kept reminding himself to work harder and come up with more creative and original ideas. Besides, his CEO’s small note constantly rang in his ears. ‘The representatives of SM’, Mark had to do his best.

The rapper couple was coordinating well. As expected from YG’s rapper, Camilla worked industriously and always gave out the best performance. Her rap skill was incredible. Mark knew he needed practice if he did not want to fall behind.

He shivered. His layered clothing couldn’t protect Mark from the cold weather. He was struggling with new lyrics. He repeatedly rewrote his parts but was never satisfied. It was the nth time of the day that Mark re-wrote his parts. He was trying to portray a feeling he had never been exposed to. A high school love story; where he had to describe the girl’s expression when she received a boy’s confession. For the first time ever in his life, Mark regretted not being involved in any romantic relationship before. He had never confessed to anyone as he was too focused on studies and training. So, it was predictable that all his lyrics were insincere at first. He didn’t know what love was since he wanted to stay professional. Although the fans praised him for his fluffy, cute lyrics in NCT Dream’s songs, Haechan was the one who came up with those brilliant ideas. He was whom Mark asked for suggestions and Haechan recommended some love stories and Korean dramas. Not to mention Mark’s wild imagination did pitch in as well.

After discussing with Camilla and asking the girl if she enjoyed watching romantic dramas, she offered him some ingenious tips.

They helped, but he found his own writing bogus as he never truly experienced it in real life. The previous lyrics were not bad, in fact, they were all satisfactory. However, being a perfectionist, Mark only wanted his product to come out flawlessly. He furrowed his eyebrows, narrowed his eyes concentrating on every line he noted down.

Knock, knock. He nearly jumped from his chair, but quickly balanced himself. Mark darted his eyes to the door and discovered a head popping out from behind.

“Hello! Is anyone here?”

A girl’s gentle voice was heard and Mark quickly realized its owner at first sight. She had straight long black hair tied with a pink and white striped headband into a high ponytail, wore sweet pink pastel blazer and stood behind the door. Her appearance was just as sweet and girlish as her personality.

“Hello!” Lina waved excitedly when she saw Mark looking at her. Her smile was radiant and it truly could brighten up one’s day. He felt his lips curve upwards. He greeted her with a wave.

“Good morning,” he gave her his gentle smile, “What brings you here?”

Lina entered the room, closing the door behind her carefully. She hurried, around the table, towards him, her hair swinging left and right.

She softly sat down the chair next to his. He chuckled seeing the child-like girl in front of him. Wait, she was actually still a child. Mark tried to remember her age. She was the youngest in the group, even younger than Jisung. No wonder she acted so innocently.

She brought a big shopping bag with her. He wondered what was inside.

“What’s in it?” Mark pointed to the bag she was holding. Lina looked at it, grinning.

“You weren’t with the others in our usual meeting room so I looked for you. Here, your manager brought you some food,” she opened the bag and slowly took out boxes of meals, putting them on the table, “Everyone else’s eating at that room. But since you’re not there, the manager asked me to bring it for you. You have to eat before work. Or else you’ll faint due to exhaustion.” Actually, it was her who voluntarily asked the manager to come here. She narrowed her eyes, reminding him the advice everyone obviously knew. But the way she emphasized the final sentence seriously, trying to make it sound like a warning, was relatively amusing.

Mark patted her head lightly as an elder brother did to his younger sister. “Thank you,” he said in a low but calming voice, smiling, making the girl’s poor little heart stop beating temporarily. “I’ll remember your reminder.” He withdrew his hand when he saw the girl’s stiff expression.

“Sorry for making you uncomfortable,” he awkwardly shifted his attention to the boxes on the table, opening the lids.

While he was busy focusing on the food, Lina bit her lips let out a happy squeal. She was over the moon and nearly fainted when she felt his warm hands on her head. When he withdrew his hand, she mentally sighed in disappointment but thanked him for making her respiratory system function normally again. Or else, she may die before confessing.

“No. it wasn’t your fault,” she spoke. “I was just... surprised. You kinda remind me of my brother.” she quickly thought of an excuse, secretly feeling grateful to have her brother as a wonderful reason.

“Wow, you’ve got a brother too?” Mark exclaimed.

“An older one. Hate to admit, but he’s talented, just like you, although I love to admit your talent,” she giggled, making her eyes curve into thin lines.

“Wow. What is he good at?” Mark questioned, dropping his chopsticks on the table.

“He’s a genius in cha… oops”, she almost said the ‘charm’ word which would cause big trouble. She thought for seconds before continuing, “He can rap,” she looked at the chopsticks on the table.

“That’s surprising!” he exclaimed loudly.

“Yeah, when he nags at me,” Lina answered while debating which food she should pick.

Mark laughed, showing his typical carefree expression. He