“Mark, would you let go of me? You’re kinda suffocating me….” I wiggled from underneath his tight grasp.

Mark slowly loosen up, but still kept me in his arms.

“Mark, you can let me go now.” I chuckled lightly, still resting my head against his chest.

“I can’t let go, you can’t look at my face right now….. It’s too embarrassing.” He confessed as he buried his face into the nook of my neck.

“Ahaha, well are we just going to stand here like this then?” I asked.

Mark pulled away slowly and awkward looked down at the ground, refusing any eye contact. I giggled at his cuteness and cupped his face, turning his gaze towards me.

“Awww look at you, so cute.” I teased.

“Let’s not stand in the rain, we have to hurry home.” Mark said, quickly changing the subject.

“Wait, you don’t have an umbrella with you?” I asked, looking around in search of it.”

“Oh, I was in a hurry so I didn’t bring anything with me.”

“So now what?”

“I guess we can stay here until the rain stops.” Mark suggested.

“Since we’re already wet, I guess we should just head home.”

“Well, first, take this.” Mark removed his sweater, placed it around me, and adjusted it. “It’s getting cold.”

I smiled at his gesture and we both started walking. We both walked at a considerably slow rate considering that it was still raining. We both walked in silence, even though it wasn’t an awkward silence, I still wanted to talk to him. I racked my brain, trying to think of ways I could start up the conversation. The both of us kept on walking, side by side, in total silence until I spotted something on the ground a few yards ahead.

“Mark, isn’t that bird’s nest?” I asked, pointing ahead.

“Let’s go check it out.” Mark replied and jogged to take a closer look. I shuffled along right behind him. We both stopped and peered at it. Mark bent down to take a closer look while I stood behind him. We noticed that there were 2 baby chicks next to the fallen nest that seemed unharmed.

“It must’ve fallen due to the raging wind from earlier.”

“How should we get it back up there?” I looked up at the nearby tree, wondering where the original nest placement was.

I bit my lips, thinking long and hard as to how I could safely get the chicks and the nest back up in the tree. I mean, I could climb up there but that wouldn’t work out so well because I can’t climb….

“I’ll bring the nest back up there.” Mark said suddenly.

“Wait, what? Mark, are you sure?”

“Yeah, I’ll climb up there and place it back on the branch.” He gently scooped the chicks back into the nest before picking it up in his hands. “Just stay here, okay?”

“I’ll wait for you, be careful though.”

Mark handed me the nest and started to climb up. Once he was in position, he signaled for me to hand him back the nest. I stood on my tiptoes and reached up to give him the nest. He took it with one hand and carefully placed it back on the tree branch. I smiled at him and gave him two thumbs up. Mark returned the smile before slowly climbing back down the tree. I watched him carefully, hoping for him to safely get back down, but apparently I jinxed it…. Mark accidentally lost his footing and fell from the tree. He landed on the ground with a loud grunt.

“Mark!” I screamed as I rushed over to examine him. “Are you okay? Did you hurt yourself anywhere?”

“I’m fine, I just scraped myself a bit.” Mark replied, looking up at me.

“Where? Let me see.” I insisted.

“I’m really fine.” Mark reassured me as he showed me his elbow where the scratch was.

“Mark, you’re bleeding!” I exclaimed, holding up his elbow.

“Hana, relax, I said I was fine.” Mark smiled as he got back up and brushed himself off.

He stretched his hand out towards me and said, “Now, let’s get back, shall we? The birds are safe, we could go now.”

I took his hand and got back up. Throughout the whole trip back home, I felt guilty because it was my fault that he got hurt. I mean, if I hadn’t wanted to take the birds back up there, Mark wouldn’t have hurt himself. I sighed out loud and lowered my head to look at the ground.

“What’s wrong?” Mark asked.

“Mark, we have to hurry home and treat that wound.” I said picking up my pace.

“What wound? It’s just a scratch, calm down.”

“It’s wound! You’re bleeding, we have to treat it immediately before you get infected!”

“Ohhhh, this is new. You’re worried about me.” Mark smirked.

“Mark, now is not the time to joke around, we really do have to treat your wound.”

“It feels nice to be the center of attention. It feels nice being cared for.”

“Well, if you don’t hurry up, you’re not going to be cared for at all.” I glared.

We rushed home to find Kyuhyun and the rest gone. We walked over to Mark’s house and found the adults all sitting in the living room. The moment we both walked in all attention was on us.

“Hana, where the heck did you go?” My mom ran up to me. “Why are the both of you all soaked? Did you walk home in the pouring rain?”

“Oh my, you two better go dry yourself or else you’ll get sick.” Mark’s mom said hurrying the both of us upstairs.

“Oh wait, Mrs.Tuan, do you by any chance, have a first aid kit?”

“We do. Are you injured anywhere?”

“No, it’s not me. It’s Mark.”

“I’ll bring it up to you, just go and dry yourself upstairs first.” She said pointing to the top of the stairways. I took the lead and walked up the stairs with Mark behind me. I took a left and walked in the bathroom.

“Wait, how did you know the way to the bathroom? You were like only once. Or did you use the bathroom the last time you were here?” Mark asked, clearly confused.

“Uhm, truth is, I know where everything is in this house. Well not everything, but I know just where things are. Like I know how the bathroom in master’s bedroom looks and how many closets there are in the house. Stuff like that.” I answered.

“So how do you know all that?”

“Long story, short; I used to play hide-n-seek in this house with my friend.”

“Your friend lived here?”

“Yup.”

“Who was it?”

“A friend… anyway, where’s the towels?” I asked, hoping to avoid this subject.

“So tell me about this friend of yours.” Mark asked while looking around for the towels.

“Just a friend.”

“He or a She?”

“Does it matter?”

“Yes, it matter