I would be lying if I said I did not think about Mark again after LA, because I did. A lot. But there were other things that occupied my mind when I got home. For one, I had to remind my brother that I did not intend to ever go back to Itaewon.

I was barely twenty when I ran away from home, although I was not really unreachable. The first place I went to was to Chanyeol's parents' place, and they took me in willingly, but then my brother found me the next day so I decided to stay with Zico's house in Mapo-gu for a few days. When Yunho found out where I was, I stayed in another friend's house. This went on for two months until my brother decided he would rather let me stay in his apartment unit in Cheongdam-dong, and find a new place closer to the hospital he worked at, instead of me jumping from one friend's place to another. He agreed to pay all the expenses, in the condition that I lived there with two other (female) friends from high school, Ahn Hani and Lee Sunmi.

"It's not just a phase, okay?" I told Yunho. "I'm not a kid anymore."

"But you're acting like one," he argued. "At least come home this year's Chuseok."

I glared at him. "Seriously? You're going to make me go there and watch him and that slu--"

"Jung Eunhye!"

"I don't care if you raise your voice at me, I'm not going," I said with finality. I grabbed my bag and headed for the door. "Now if you don't have anything else to say, I have to go to school."

After that, I was so consumed by hate and anger that I had to divert all my attention to my studies. The sooner I left the country and get away from all these people, the better. That was when I saw the postings for the Exchange-Student program, I applied for it without second thought. I did not care which country I was sent to, although I hoped it would be an English-speaking one. If I was lucky, I would be sent to the Philippines, where a person that I had unfinished business with was currently at.

I wanted to think the time Mark and I spent together back in LA was special, which was another reason why I was excited to go back to school. However, when we met in the hallways, he was still the same as he was before summer vacation. He would just nod at my direction when we see each other in the cafeteria. Even in some of our classes together, he would not talk to me unless necessary. There would be times that I would even consider that he was avoiding me.

When he turned down a party invite in a video game for the very first time, I shrugged it off. He never said no to me before, but I decided not to think too much about it and believed he just had other things to do. It was a busy time of the year, especially since the first years like him would have to decide which career path they would be taking for the rest of their years in the university.

Eventually, I had to play less video games, which meant I saw less of Mark. He seemed to have found himself good friends with his classmates after Jae left. I would often see him with Im Jaebum, Lee Minhyuk, Yoo Kihyun, Lee Hongbin, Chae Hyungwon, Kim Jongin and Kim Ravi, whom he used to avoid. Yes, I was observing him a little bit too much. I could not help it. He was different from all the guys I was friends with, and I was always surrounded by them. In our year level, there were just four girls, and that included me.

And ever since Lizzy started dating Shownu, and she thought I was spending too much time with the boys of our class, she decided that I was no longer part of that group. She turned Moonbyul against me and since Amber usually hang out with the American kids, I spent less time with my old friends, too. I stayed at home when I was not in school, only occasionally going out when some of my friends like Chanyeol and Zico would ask to drink. Sometimes I turn down, even that, too.

There was one time that I really craved beer to find out that my housemates drank all the cans and bottles I stored, so I had to go out and buy. While I was considering buying a small fridge for myself that I could keep inside my room, thinking about how convenient it was not needing to go out to the kitchen when I would get thirsty, I bumped into Minhyuk and Kihyun buying dozens of beer, and all sorts of alcohol.

"Party?" I asked, also wondering why I had to socialize when I could have just pretended not to see them.

"It's Mark's birthday today, Sunbae," Kihyun answered. "He did not want to go clubbing so we're just going to play in his place."

"You can come, too, if you want," Minhyuk offered. "You know what, you should come. There's just us, boys, there, so we could use a single rose among us, thorns."

"I could be a thorn, too," I muttered. "A very sharp one."

"Ey, Sunbae," he chuckled, patting my shoulder. "We all know you and Mark play DotA together. He said he boosted you up a couple of times."

My eyebrows creased. "I never needed his help!"

Grinning, Minhyuk dragged me out of the mart as Kihyun paid for all the drinks. Fine. I decided to go since it was Mark's birthday. Also, I was kind of wondering how he was doing. Besides, I should not turn down free booze. We took a cab to Mark's place, which reminded me that I had been to the apartment building, where I used to tutor someone before.

True enough, I saw the familiar kid making his way to the elevator, carrying a black plastic bag, obviously from a convenience store. I had a suspicion that it was instant rice.

"Jihoon," I called him. He was that Busan highschool kid I used to tutor. I was also supposed to tutor him in English, but Seungheon happened and I had to stop, altogether.

"Saem," he greeted back, dimples showing on the sides of his mouth as he smiled. He stopped the elevator doors from closing with a hand and made room for the three of us in the lift. I would have preferred the stairs but I had little time to think. Trying to ignore the tight feeling in my chest as the cab lifted, I smiled at Jihoon. "I thought you stopped tutoring."

I gestured to my schoolmates. "Yeah, we're just throwing a birthday party for a classmate who lives in this building."

The elevator stopped on Mark's floor and we had to get out. I waved at Jihoon before stepping out. He was one of the good students I had who actually studied to learn instead of just getting high grades. I was wondering what happened to those kids I taught before but my train of thought shifted to the present right away as soon as Minhyuk rang the doorbell to Mark's apartment unit. They stood in front of me on purpose to hide me.

"Go away," I heard Mark's voice from the intercom. His voice sounded hoarse as if he just woke up. At nine pm? No way. The Mark i knew slept around 2AM after rounds and rounds of games.