Present – He's 25; she's 23

Nayeon groaned as she brought herself up on the bed groggily, rubbing her head at the same time. It's never fun to wake up with a massive headache. She paused for a moment, feeling slightly more awake and looked around her. When did she get home? How did she-

Her thoughts stopped there, so did her actions.

"It shouldn't be like this, you're supposed to be a friend. A best friend!"

Nayeon's shook her head at that blurred memory.

"Just the thought of it makes me sad. I get sad just by seeing you; I get sad thinking about you."

Her eyes opened completely, all sleepiness gone as the memories from last night slowly came back to her. She stayed in her bed for another short moment before she hurried out from the room.

"Jungyeon!" Jungyeon jumped a little at the sudden yell of her name. She turned the stove off then shifted her attention to Nayeon who's in her pajamas, looking all dishevelled. She looked pretty anxious about something too.

"What is it? I made pan-"

"Answer my question first." Nayeon cut Jungyeon off urgently, which caused Jungyeon to raise an eyebrow, intrigued by her actions.

"Alright, what is it?"

Nayeon took in a deep breath, as if preparing herself for whatever answer Jungyeon will give to her question.

"Who brought me back? Please tell me it was you." Nayeon spoke in a both frustrated and pleading tone. She kept her gaze on Jungyeon too, as if trying to read her mind to see if she could get the answer she wanted.

"I didn't."

Nayeon cursed under her breath at that two words then gave Jungyeon an uncertain smile, hoping that it could be one of the other two boys. But before she could even ask the question, Jungyeon dropped another bomb on her.

"Mark brought you back."

This time, Nayeon groaned and cursed out loud as she messed her morning hair up even more in frustrations.

"What happened?" Jungyeon asked curiously. She was the one who called Mark last night but she had also left to give the both of them some privacy. She had thought that maybe those two could talk things out but, not soon after Jungyeon got home, Mark brought Nayeon home.

She didn't seem to be really drunk but she did look like a mess. Mark didn't say much last night either; the only thing he said to Jungyeon was to take care of Nayeon. He left after that. Which left Jungyeon wondering what had happened. Mark will always be there to make sure Nayeon is fast asleep whenever she's unwell but this time, he just left everything to her.

And now, with how Nayeon's acting, Jungyeon's certain that something happened but she had no idea whether her bet last night was right or wrong. She was hoping Nayeon will give her the answer she wanted but instead, Nayeon just gave her an instruction.

"Jungyeon," Nayeon sighed and again, the hint of frustration was obvious in her tone. "If, just if. If Mark asked about me about anything, say you don't know. Do not tell him where I am. Do not tell him if I'm home or not. Basically, just say you don't know everytime he mentioned my name!"

Jungyeon watched her best friend in front of her, feeling really intrigued by everything but she had decided to not ask anything yet.

"Hey-"

"Don't ask what happened!"

"I just wanted to say, I made pancakes." Jungyeon rolled her eyes at Nayeon's overreaction, holding up the plate of pancakes in her hand. "And I just want to tell you to wash up and come join me. It's Sunday."

Nayeon blinked then gave Jungyeon a sheepish smile before she headed into the bathroom. Jungyeon could only watch her back, making a mental note to get some information from Jackson later.

That evening, Jungyeon left Nayeon alone, which the latter was completely fine with it after knowing that she's meeting Jinyoung. Technically, she didn't lie. She was indeed meeting Jinyoung...

And the two noisy boys.

"Are you sure the both of us aren't ruining your date?" Bambam had asked, looking at both Jinyoung and Jungyeon, which the both of them shrugged.

"After hearing from Jungyeon, I got intrigued." Jinyoung gave his signature 'this is going to be fun' smile.

"It's important." Jungyeon nodded firmly. "And Jackson, you're important. Did Mark told you anything earlier? The both of you usually meet on Sunday's afternoon for basketball right?"

Jackson shook his head.

"He cancelled on me today, saying his friend wanted to buy something for her family or something."

"Wait, Mark's friend is a girl?" Bambam interrupted the conversation, which everyone else nodded in response.

"Why am I the only one who didn't know about this? Even Jinyoung knew it!"

"Jungyeon told me."

Jungyeon shushed Bambam up by shoving a fries into his mouth when she noticed that he's about to protest.

"That's not the main point, Bambam." Jungyeon shook her head then turned to Jackson again. "Does that mean we are back to square one?"

The silence answered her question and again, the four of them sighed together.

-

It will be an understatement to say that Nayeon was avoiding Mark. She's running away from him like he's some kind of plague. Mark had called Jungyeon a few times and each time, if Nayeon was around, she will snatch the phone and end the call for her.

"Hey, I was on the phone!"

"With Mark right? Don't talk to him!"

"He just wanted to talk."

"Well, I don't want to talk to him!"

And each time, Jungyeon had to send Mark an apology message everytime that happened.

Of course, Jungyeon wasn't the only one Mark gone to for help. He had asked Bambam once because he thought that using Jackson will be too obvious.

"Nayeon!" Bambam chirped happily from the other side of the phone.

"Hey Bam, what is it?" Nayeon smiled, hearing the excitement in Bambam's tone.

"Are you free for dinner?"

"I think I am," Nayeon paused for a moment, continuing after. "Who's going?"

"You know the usual. You, me, Mark-"

"I'm not free." Nayeon cut the line off, leaving Bambam a bewildered. But before he could even react, Jackson had flicked him on his forehead while Mark just kept quiet, rubbing his temple in disbelief.

Bambam stared at them for a while and finally realized what he did after.

"Oops."

Mark had tried waiting for Nayeon at her workplace after work. But it was as if Nayeon had a sixth sense for Mark's presence. She ran away before Mark could even see her. She will also instruct her colleagues the things to say if Mark happened to ask them.

"Hey, you guys are Nayeon's colleagues right?" Mark walked up to the few girls who nodded at his question.

"Have you seen Nayeon? I've been waiting for her."

He noticed how the three girls gave each other a knowing glance before one of them answered him.

"She left for an appointment in the afternoon, we've not seen her every since."

"Oh, thank you."

Mark could only thank them, letting out a quiet sigh after. It was obvious Nayeon had instructed them to say these.

All he wanted was to just talk, why is that girl making things so difficult for him!

-

This situation continued for almost two weeks and that was when the other three decided that this couldn't continue any longer. Mark had been trying; Nayeon had been running and the trio was stuck in between. Up till now, none of them knew what happened to Mark and Nayeon but even so, they still have to do something about it.

It was almost like God had created a chance for them. Jinyoung and Nayeon happened to share the same birthday and Jungyeon wanted to celebrate their birthdays as a group; she had conveniently left out the part where Mark's birthday celebration is included too. But still, it took her a week to finally convince Nayeon that Mark isn't joining them, which was a lie.

"But really, Nayeon." Jungyeon started again after her long persuading Nayeon session. "How long are you going to run away from Mark?"

"Forever."

Jungyeon sighed at Nayeon's determined response and finally asked the question everyone else had been asking.

"What happened to the both of you?"

Nayeon didn't answer and only sighed as she avoided Jungyeon's worried gaze.

"Do you remember what I told you that night?"

"At the bbq place? Yeah I do."

Nayeon sighed even louder, hiding her face in her palms as she groaned in frustration. And when Nayeon finally explained everything to Jungyeon, that's when she knew her bets were placed correctly.

-

The evening that Jungyeon had planned with her boyfriend and the noisy duo arrived. Mark had arrived first; Jackson came along after and from the moment he settled down at the table by the windows, he had sighed multiple times. Same goes for Bambam who's the next to arrive. When he saw Mark, the first thing he did was sighing too.

"What?" Mark finally got fed up and asked for an explanation about the both of their reactions. The both of them didn't reply until Mark's company, Cecilia excused herself to the washroom.

"Do you really have to bring her here?" Jackson pointed at Cecilia's back view.

"Don't point."

"You do know we are trying to help right?" This time, Bambam was the one who commented.

"I know but I can't possibly just leave her alone. She wanted to go shopping and I accompanied her and when I said I'm meeting you guys for a birthday dinner, she asked if she could join. What was I supposed to say?"

"Say no!"

"Say that it's an important date because you will finally be able to talk to the girl you didn't realize you actually like."

Jackson smacked Bambam's head gently but Mark didn't make any comment on what Bambam had said.

"What were you guys discussing about?" Cecilia asked when she got back, settling beside Mark again.

"Nothing!" Jackson and Bambam both denied and gave her their best convincing smile. Mark could only rolled his eyes at the both of them.

As if on cue, Nayeon had arrived with both Jungyeon and Jinyoung. She almost turned tail when she saw Mark but Jungyeon dragged her back with the help of Jinyoung. That was when she noticed the presence of Cecilia but before she could turn away for the second time, Bambam had gotten out of his seat and to her side.

"Where are you going?" He wrapped his arms around her shoulders and smirked a little when he noticed how Mark had an eyebrow raised. He kept his arms around Nayeon and escorted her to sit between him and Jackson. On the way there, he turned around to glance at the couple who both gave him a thumb up.

It was awkward at first.

Nayeon had been avoiding Mark's gaze for the whole night while Jackson and Bambam fussed over her on purpose. But that made her feel a little better about the situation. She laughed a few times that evening because of the squabbles Jungyeon, Jackson and Bambam had but still, she couldn't help but sneak glances at the interactions between Mark and Cecilia.

She had thought that she would be able to do this with the others around. But when Cecilia brought a nicely wrapped gift out from her bag, Nayeon felt that uncomfortable feeling in her chest again.

"I heard from your parents that it was your birthday a week ago and since you said this was a birthday dinner, I've figured."

Things got awkward again. It wasn't really her fault since Cecilia didn't know anything that's happening but right at that moment, Jungyeon almost wanted to pull her hair out. Thank goodness for the presence of Jinyoung.

Mark glanced at everyone and then at Nayeon who's looking away and hesitantly accepted the gift with an awkward laugh. Before Cecilia could respond, Nayeon stood up from her seat.

"I-" She stuttered a little, bowing her head low. "I'm sorry, I'm not feeling well. I will be heading off first."

Nayeon left the restaurant, Jungyeon wanted to go after her at first but Jinyoung held her back. The rest of them turned to look at Mark who already stood up from his seat.

"We will be back soon."

Nayeon half ran out from the restaurant, fanning herself and hoping that it will prevent the tears from dropping. She needed to be far away from them.

"Nayeon!"

She paused in her tracks for a brief second before she walked even faster away, reminding herself to not look back.

"Im Nayeon!" This time Mark's voice was a little louder. He grabbed her wrist, forcing her to look at him.

"Where are you going?" Nayeon didn't answer him.

"Let's go back yeah?" He tried to pull Nayeon along with him but she managed to escape from his grip. Mark turned around to give the girl his attention again.

"Listen," Nayeon took in a deep breath and continued. "I know I've said stupid things that night. Forget about it alright? I know you're just a best friend. I've been telling myself that and this will probably pass."

"Nayeon." Mark interrupted her rambling but Nayeon ignored him.

"Remember what I said when you started dating Lena? I was worried that you wouldn't be able to find a partner because you're so quiet and-"

"Nayeon, shut up." He sighed when she never stops. He could hear her voice breaking already and all he wanted was for her to listen to him. But she just kept on going, totally ignoring his words.

"Nayeon, I say shut up." He tried again but obviously, the girl wasn't paying him any attention.

"Whatever I said that night was drunk words, just forget about-" Mark brushed his hair back in frustration when Nayeon did not stop and he did the one thing his body asked him to.

He cupped Nayeon's cheeks and kissed her, finally shutting her up this time.

In the restaurant, where the rest of the gang was spying on them, Jackson's and Bambam's jaw dropped. Jungyeon grinned and turned to look at Jinyoung who gave her an 'I told you so' look.

Nayeon was still silent after Mark pulled away. Even though he was feeling slightly embarrassed by his own actions, he figured that it will probably be worse for Nayeon so he waited.

"Did you," Nayeon blinked twice and looked up at him. "Was that a kiss?"

Mark sighed at Nayeon's reaction then gave her a small smile.

"We need to talk."

Nayeon could only nod, still in her state of confusion and let Mark pulled her gently by her hand.

Back in the restaurant, the remaining five people took some time to recover. It took Jackson and Bambam a while to finally realize what had happened. They cheered so loud that Jungyeon and Jinyoung had to apologize to the tables around them. It was only when Jackson's phone rang that he quieted down a little.

"Mark apologized and said that they are not coming back." Jackson put his phone down and turned to the others. "And Cecilia, he told me to drive you back after dinner too."

Cecilia merely nodded, still confused at what had happened.

"Did you guys already know about this?" That was the first question she asked.

The four of them nodded in response.

"Since when?"

"Five years ago."

Somewhere, in a particular car...

"So, what just happened?"

"I kissed you."

"Then what happened next?"

"We start dating, for real."

"And then?"

"You can kiss me again."

---------

END ON 25/06/2018
Total Word Count: 11,853