Lili turned to face the three girls crowding in on her and sighed. “None of your business.”

“As if you have a right to like any of them,” the girl in the middle scoffed and tossed her hair, ignoring Lili’s exasperated apathy completely. “I’ve known those boys longer than you’ve been alive—”

“Stalking starts young,” Lili murmured sarcastically.

“—and they’ve never taken an interest in a girl before. Then you come along and seduce them all at once. What did you threaten them with?” the girl hissed.

Lili folded her arms across her chest and arched an eyebrow imperiously. “Don’t blame your dullness on me. It’s not my fault you’re not interesting enough for them.”

“You little—”

“And I’ll have you know,” Lili interrupted smoothly, “that I did nothing to them. In fact, I’ve been trying to push them away but they keep latching themselves onto me.”

The girl turned an unattractive shade of maroon as she screeched in anger and the two girls flanking her stared at her in horror.

“Mira, calm down, you look like a witch,” one of them whispered but was ignored.

“You ! You don’t know anything!” Mira ranted. She raised her hand and slapped Lili clear across the cheek.

Lili took it calmly, her cool gaze meeting Mira’s hot-tempered one evenly. “Don’t touch me again.”

Mira flushed darker, somehow, and raised her hand again.

“Huh? Where did Lili go?” Mark asked, suddenly realizing she was gone.

“Didn’t she go to the bathroom?” Youngjae said.

“Oh no! Maybe she got lost! I’ll go save her!” Jackson proclaimed, puffing out his chest, before bounding towards the girl’s restroom.

“Lili! I’m here to rescue you! Don’t be—” Jackson cut himself off as a loud scream came from behind the door. Horrified, he burst in without knocking and stopped dead in his tracks at the sight before him.

Mira was writhing on the ground, holding her arm and wailing in pain. The other two girls alternated between trying to comfort Mira and yelling obscenities at Lili. Through it all, Lili stood serenely and wordlessly against the wall, seemingly trapped but actually in control. She was the only one to notice Jackson’s intrusion.

“Oh. Hi Jackson,” she greeted with a polite smile.

Immediately, all the yelling stopped. The three girls slowly looked up to see Jackson staring at them in confused disgust.

They all screamed in embarrassment and the two lackeys raced out of the bathroom, still screaming, leaving Mira to fend for herself on the ground. She struggled upwards, cradling her arm as if it were broken, when really it was only bruised.

“What the hell happened here?” Jackson exclaimed, her eyes darting between Lili and Mira.

“She—she broke my arm!” Mira sobbed.

“Oh, please. I barely twisted it. Don’t be so melodramatic.” Lili refrained from rolling her eyes.

“How dare you!” Mira stepped forward and raised her good arm but Jackson stepped in and yanked it back.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” he growled, glaring fiercely at her. By now, the other boys and a curious crowd of onlookers had gathered outside the door, all trying to peer in.

“But—but Jackson she—”

“Lili is special. Don’t mess with her or you’ll be messing with me,” he threatened before dropping her arm like a hot coal.

Mira’s eyes filled with angry tears as she turned back to glare at Lili, who had now gravitated towards the door. They stared at each other silently, one in animosity, the other in cool indifference.

Then suddenly, a loud smack echoed off the tile walls and Mira’s head snapped harshly to the side from the force of the blow.

“Just returning the favor,” Lili said simply before sweeping out of the room without a second glance. “Let’s go, Jackson.”

With one last glare, Jackson followed, the crowd parting naturally for the two of them.

“Lili!” He caught up to her. “Are you okay? Did she hurt you?”

Lili looked at him dryly. “I’m perfectly fine. I think she was more hurt by you than me.”

“Well,” Jackson thumped his chest proudly, “no one messes with my girl.”

“Your girl? When did that happen?” Junior snorted.

JB stepped forward with an approving smile. “That was impressive, Lili. You have my respect.”

“Not why I did it, but thanks,” Lili responded with a smile of her own. “I should be getting home now. I think I’ve had enough excitement to last a year.”

“Well, don’t worry, ‘cause everyday’s exciting when you’re friends with GOT7!” BamBam winked at her.

She ruffled his hair. “Great.”

“Lili, I’ll walk you home,” Youngjae offered with a smile.

“Thank—”

“I’ll walk her home,” Mark said firmly. Youngjae hesitated but nodded slowly while Lili fought down a blush.

It doesn’t mean anything, it doesn’t mean anything, she chanted to herself. Stupid heart!

“Thank you, Mark,” she smiled demurely at him.

“Wait here. I’ll get your things.” He disappeared without allowing her time to protest.

She had arms and legs, she was perfectly capable of retrieving her belongings by herself. But it was thoughtful of Mark, she decided, if a little presumptuous.

“You’re so obvious,” a smirking voice murmured by her ear.

She flinched and turned to see Yugyeom smugly staring down at her. Why was he so tall? It was like he was always looking down on her, literally and figuratively. Lili hated it—but she didn’t hate him.

Even if he did seem to hate her.

“I thought you were different, but it turns out you’re like every other girl when it comes to Mark.” Yugyeom rolled his eyes. “Figures.”

Lili frowned. “Not that it’s any of your business, but Mark is nice and thoughtful. You should probably learn from him if you’re so jealous.”

“I’m not jealous!”

“Right.” Lili smirked.

“Lili! Ready to go?” Mark reappeared, shouldering her backpack. “Oh hey Yugyeom.”

The maknae nodded. “Hyung.”

“I’m walking Lili home. See you later,” Mark said, flashing a grin before gently grasping Lili’s hand and steering her towards the exit. “Let’s go!”

The walk home was quiet but comfortable, though Lili couldn’t calm her racing heart no matter how much she rationalized because he never let go of her hand and she didn’t want to pull away and give him the impression that she disliked him.

But would he think she liked him if she didn’t pull away? She didn’t want that either. She absolutely would not fall for him. Absolutely.

They arrived just as the sun was setting. He finally let go of her hand and handed her the backpack with a soft smile. “Go in.”

“Thank you,” she said.

“I, uh,” Mark scratched the back of his head bashfully, “I hope you had fun today. Even if you didn’t like the song. And I’m really sorry about Mira. Just ignore her.”

Lili smiled. “No worries. I don’t let people like her get to me. And I did have fun today, despite it all. Thank you,” she said again, putting all her sincerity into it. “Thank the others for me too, if that’s okay.”

“You got it.”

“Good night,” she said softly and walked to the door.

“Lili!” he called after her.

She turned. “Hm?”

He slowly walked towards her and grabbed her shoulders, startling her.

“Wha—”

He took a deep breath and leaned forward, until his soft lips pressed against her forehead. When he pulled back, they were both pink and she couldn’t meet his eyes. “See you tomorrow.” He released her and motioned for her to go inside.

She forced herself not to trip over air as the kiss replayed in her head continuously. She turned and waved goodbye to him, praying that she looked normal, before walking inside her house and locking the door behind her.

She leaned against the door heavily, her fingers delicately brushing the middle of her forehead where Mark had kissed her. She sighed dreamily, slipping off her shoes and going to greet her parents with a skip in her step.

A/N: Some fluffy MarkLi for youuuuuuuu! :D

Once again, sorry for the looong dedlay anad thank you so much for your patience and support! I'll definitely see this story through to the end!

I found myself in a writing frenzy after writing a 6000, almost 700 word long Chen oneshot for a contest (if you'd like to read it, it's here). I still wanted to write so I opened this story and just started typing frantically. Are you glad? :P

Those of you who are rooting for Mark, don't get your hopes up too soon! And those of you rooting for someone else, don't let your hopes fall yet! :D We still have a ways to go!

HAHAHA IS IT ARROGANT OF ME TO SAY I LOVE LILI'S CHARACTER CUZ I LOVE LILI'S CHARACTER. I wanna be like her when I grow up! Oh wait, I am grown up TOO LATE. =____________= I do think if some girls were trying to bully me, I'd insult them right back and slap them around a little. I think I'm fairly strong for a girl. :D LET'S BE FIERCE LIONESSES GURLS RAWRRRR

Please comment below for any errors or inconsistencies because I'm sure I have many (I rarely edit these things. I usually just write write write and then post immediately because I'm so excited to have finished another chapter, haha)! I'll do my best to get the next chapter out soon!

Enjoy!

skyblaze208, OUT!

© Copyright 2014 by skyblaze208