It is general knowledge that winter came with cold weather sessions and shorter days that urged people to finish their daily routines earlier. Thicker clothes and drowsier moods were the results of these changes but Baeri never minded this. Even in mid-summer the girl would wear her beanie, green-and-black leather jacket with jeans and a pair of sneakers; the only difference with this season was that she added a scarf to the outfit. Her mood never seemed to change either because she was always neutral – when surrounded by family, her behavior would explode because she had to make herself heard whenever her brother was around, but other than this, she remained fairly stoic to her surroundings.

 

Something inside of her had clicked, however, shifted even because the girl found herself in a thicker jacket and woolen gloves that hugged her slender fingers with her scarf that had been traded for a thicker, also woolen, comforter that nearly covered her whole face. She swore to herself that her usual outfit was her warrior gear and that she became stronger during the weather struggles, but Baeri found this change of clothing strangely comfortable for some reason.

 

“I can’t believe you survive in that,” he muttered when he saw her putting on her thin jacket. The girl frowned with an amused grin but continued to put on her scarf and beanie and stuffed her hands into her pockets. “Why, it’s comfy!” she countered and ran her eyes over the boy’s fully clothed body. “And cold!” he instantly replied and shook his head as he zipped up his jacket and pulled his own blue and white beanie tighter onto his head. The artist just shrugged and slid through the entrance of the building into the cold, leaving the boy on his own.

 

 

 

Baeri smiled to herself and buried her chin deeper into the warm confinements of her comforter, releasing a sigh before throwing a subtle glance to her side. Mark was walking beside her with a small smile bearing his lips and his nose and cheeks a cute shade of red because of the cold that constantly surrounded them. Today she had found out that this boy was more stubborn and headstrong than she initially thought because, even though Baeri had shot down each and every item of clothing he suggested, he still managed to get her a new jacket, scarf and gloves.

 

He didn’t care that she was fine with whatever she had and that she didn’t want him to spend money on her; he just acted on his own with Baeri’s comfort in mind.

 

The sound of sudden struggle and a low thud caught Baeri’s attention. When she whipped her head to the side, she found Mark crouching, leaning on one knee on the snow-covered ground as he wiped his gloved hands on his pants to lose the snow. She realized he had slid on an icy part of the path and quickly shuffled over to his side as some complaints left the male’s lips. “You okay?” Baeri asked worried and placed her hand on his shoulder to check up on him.

 

Mark nodded and accepted her hand to carefully stand up from the cold ground. “I had higher and more dangerous falls than this,” he grinned and winked when he had completely straightened again, making Baeri feel a little uncomfortable, “no need to worry.”

 

She shrugged the unfamiliar feeling off and scoffed when she immediately retracted her hand and folded her arms in front of her. “Well sorry for not wanting you to fall on your face,” she sassily remarked before turning and carefully walking away. Mark chuckled at her behavior and quickly followed after her. “With acrobatics, you have to accept your fate which unfortunately contains a lot of falling on your face,” he continued amused when he had reached the girl and fell into step with her again.

 

Baeri hummed in response and began to recall some of the most common injuries that acrobats had, wincing inwardly because they weren’t pretty. Knowing what kind of activities they practice, it was easy to break a leg when stepping wrongly on a beam or not catching a ring on time and plummeting to the level of injuries because of it. “Isn’t that really dangerous?” she asked when the painful images began to flood her brains and shook them off by focusing on the path in front of her. Mark nodded and stuffed his hands into the pockets of his jacket. “It is but I guess it always gave me this kick that nothing else could trigger.”

 

The artist frowned with an incredulous look. “Couldn’t you just go to amusement parks for that, like normal people?”

 

“Now where’s the fun in that?” Mark countered playfully and snickered at Baeri’s expression.

 

Baeri felt herself grow warmer because of their conversation because normally these kinds of things didn’t come easy to her - she avoided them nine out of ten times since talking to strangers felt just like abiding her mother: not done. It was strange how Mark had managed to make her feel this comfortable around him because they hadn’t known each other for that long - today was the official third day - so it intrigued her.

 

A comfortable silence surrounded them as they continued walking through the white streets, when Baeri realized something. When Mark spoke of his acrobatics past, it was all in past tense. Now normally that would’ve sounded normal to Baeri but the way he spoke about it couldn’t help but strike a melancholic string or two. It was perfectly normal for a person not to practice anything they did in the past anymore - Baeri should know that like no other - but again, the girl’s interest was piqued.

 

“Do you still do acrobatics?” Baeri asked casually while she kicked the snow at her feet as they continued to walk. Mark eyed the girl after her question with an expression that instantly made Baeri regret her question and want to hit herself because of her curiosity. “I-I’m - if you don’t want to talk about it, it’s fine!” Baeri quickly corrected herself, almost pleading the boy in her voice to not answer her stupid and private question.

 

The brown-haired boy looked up at the sky that was starting to fill with small snowflakes that drizzled down to join the white world around them, and sighed with a faint smile. “It’s okay, it was bound to come out one day,” Mark continued to smile and glanced at the petite girl next to him, “and we’re friends anyway, right?”

 

Baeri was rendered speechless for moment. Yes, she had thought of them being friends but she was too naive to admit it herself; she wasn’t sure if she could classify them being friends as she was with Shindae and Jackson. Baeri was happy that he acknowledged their relationship because that meant she didn’t have to do that anymore and could just go with it. She smiled to herself, then buried herself mouth-deep in her scarf, not entirely answering Mark’s rhetorical question as she watched flakes of white meet with the already grounded snow.

 

“I fell at a competition when I was twelve,” Mark began and looked down at his feet, “we didn’t think much of it at first. I mean, it felt like a pulled muscle to me so why should we, right?”

 

This question made Baeri realize that the conversation would go deeper than she intended it to go so even if the conversation had just started, the little bug that would bring uncomfortable feelings found her already with Mark continuing. “It was after a month of painful practice that my trainer told me that it was maybe better to visit the doctor again,” he pressed his pink lips together when they stopped walking in front of a red traffic light. “I shifted multiple vertebrae’s in the lumbar curve of my spine, meaning my waist is messed up,” Mark continued, to Baeri’s shock his always present smile still there.

 

The girl was again left speechless. This boy at the mere age of twenty-two had already been stolen of his hobby, maybe even dream of ever becoming a professional athlete and yet here he was, smiling as if he had no care in the world. “Falling on your back is already dangerous,” Mark continued and curled his lips to the side as if in thought, “but in my case, add a few aerial flips to that and then image the impact.”

 

At this, Baeri’s jaw dropped as the unimaginable had just become imaginable. Mark, with one single slip-up, had become injured for life at the age of twelve.

 

Mark chuckled at his friend’s expression and reached for her arm to gently pull her with him to cross the streets when the lights turned green. She just mindlessly followed him as he continued to make his way to the other side, not even fazed about his fingers that were wrapped around her arm. “There was one positive point in this whole experience, which is that I’m lucky that I didn’t become paralyzed from the waist down,” Mark showed Baeri a tightlipped smile when he said this and released the girl before continuing their walk, the snow heavier than before.

 

It wasn’t that she wanted to remain silent for the rest of their journey back to campus. It was more that she didn’t know what to say because she was sure that he had gotten more ‘I’m sorry’s than she could even image, which all had lost their charm along the way.

 

“Normally, my hand-eye coordination was always on point but I think it’s safe to say that I might be the clumsiest person that has ever been born,” Baeri spoke up, surprising Mark because he had expected her to feel sorry for him, apologize for something she hadn’t even done. “My brother was like the mad hatter when we were younger sometimes. I swear to god, I’m surprised I even survived living with that idiot for so long,” Baeri continued with a laugh escaping her lips, “he dropped me multiple times, gave me scars and memories that reminded me of every single dumb act he performed, we performed.”

 

“But that never seemed to do the trick,” she finally sighed and glanced at Mark, who just listened intently to her as they walked through the snowfall. “Don’t fall with your head back out of a tree, I swear, the old memorizer will get messed up,” Baeri smiled at him and tapped her head. “At least, for me it did. To use fancy words, the cerebellum is a region of the brain that plays an important role in motor skills; mess that up and you mess up your motoric abilities. Some aftereffects of damage could be disorders in fine movements, equilibrium and motor learning.” Baeri sighed with a halfhearted smile.

 

Mark stopped walking. This time it was him who was left speechless because he realized that the girl was telling him her own story; no empathy or useless apologetic phrases, just sharing an experience. “I like to draw,” Baeri said before stopping too and lifting her hands in front of her, wiggling her fingers in her gloves, “but I love to dance.”

 

When Baeri looked over the tips of her fingers towards Mark, she saw realization dawn upon him as the words spluttered out of his mouth, “But those require–”

 

“Spot-on, my dear friend,” Baeri exclaimed with a smile and pointed at him like an enthusiastic MC, “these hobbies require fine movements, equilibrium and motor skills!”

 

Tugging on her beanie, Baeri nodded before folding her arms around her body to warm herself. “My drawing abilities would never become as good as they initially were but with a lot of practice, they could improve again. Dancing, for that matter, came to a painfully sudden ending,” she frowned and shrugged. “Turns out that you can’t practice your sense of balance because it’ll always be off in your head.”

 

Mark could only come to one conclusion after this conversation; she knew how he felt. Kim Baeri had lost something that was very dear to her but managed to throw herself into something that might ease the pain. For her, it was drawing because it gave her a sense of improvement and for him it was dancing because this allowed him to be busy, even though he could not practice as intense as he wanted to. “So I guess we’re both a little messed up, huh?” Mark smiled gently as he leaned on the heels of his feet, bending over slightly. Baeri hummed in conclusion and couldn’t help but release a light chuckle at the coincidence of the situation. They were both indeed a little odd.

 

They smiled at each other, both knowing that they had opened up to one another about something they had a hard time talking about, and felt proud. They didn’t know this from each other but again both seemed to know that their meeting was not a mere coincidence; something higher must’ve been at work here.

 

“Snow is picking up,” Baeri commented softly as she looked up at the sky that was filled with all shapes of snowflakes. Mark nodded and pulled his beanie that was covered with a small layer of snow, tighter onto his head. “I should head home,” he said as he glanced at Baeri. For some reason, she didn’t want the boy to leave just yet, feeling as if their day wasn’t over yet.

 

“I think there is a stargaze center near our old building,” she remarked softly, avoiding any eye contact with the boy. “Since it might be s-safer for now, you know, with the snow and all,” she quickly added when she noticed the questioning look on Mark’s face, like he didn’t know what to do with this information. “Do you want to join?” she asked after a few seconds when she had finally found the courage, playing with the edge of her glove to cover up her nerves. Mark smiled at the nervous vibes Baeri emitted and chose to agree, “Sure.”

 

Baeri let out a sigh of relief at his answer and showed him a small smile before making her way towards their former school. Mark bit his lower lip to hide the signs of his growing smile and quickly followed after her. The path they were walking on was quickly piling up with snow, their steps getting heavier with each minute that passed. It was silent as they went, only the sound of the wind howling in their ears together with the snow that painfully hit their faces. Mark had a feeling that this snowfall could end up in a near blizzard and without much thought, grabbed Baeri’s hand at one point to pick up their pace.

 

After a few more struggling minutes, the white futuristic building they were seeking for came into their hazy vision. Mark didn’t say anything, just laughed and continued to half run, half speed walk towards the glass entrance of the center. Baeri held onto her beanie as her friend dragged her with him and finally slipped into the hall when they reached the front. Suddenly, Mark’s laughter echoed against the walls of the main hall, surprising Baeri when she was ruffling her clothes to rid herself from the piled snow. “What?” she asked with an amused smile as she pulled her beanie from her head and shook her body to warm herself. The comfort of the building wasn’t doing a very good job at warming her – inside it was nearly as cold as outside.

 

“That was great!” Mark continued to laugh and followed Baeri’s example of ridding himself of the snow. The girl frowned at his weird look on the situation and zipped open her jacket. “If almost being buried in snow or turned into a live snowman is great, then yeah, let’s do it again,” she said sarcastically with a grin and ran her fingers through her damp hair.

 

“Seriously?” Mark asked with wide, hopeful eyes and stopped all his movements.

 

“No, you idiot,” Baeri smiled and latched onto Mark’s lower arm before pulling him with her to the escalators. “Come on, let’s go up.”

 

The two turned a right and walked up the escalator, noticing the obvious silence that hung around them because there was no one in the building. They decided it was completely deserted when they reached the third floor and had to walk around to reach the next escalator. “I don’t understand why they didn’t choose to use this building for us,” Mark mumbled as he looked through the windows in the walls along the path and spotted areas filled with unfortunate green chairs and tables, an obvious classroom setting in each room. Baeri glanced at where Mark was looking and made a sound in agreement. “I guess it wasn’t a building that belonged to our college.”

 

“Probably,” Mark replied and picked up his pace to lean over the edge of the railing to look at the cafeteria that was four levels down, one level underground. “It has like a million Ikea furniture sets, LED lights, a sundeck and solar panels. It’s like a damn ecological hippie land establishment in here,” he chuckled, curling his fingers over the glass edge and leaning back.

 

“Don’t forget the lack of heating and disgusting organic juices they sell in the cafeteria,” Baeri added with a shudder when she joined him and scanned the downstairs area, wincing at the painfully loud green and orange chairs. She shook her head, mock disappointment playing her face when she spotted potted trees. “Terrible,” she muttered with a sigh and nudged her friend to come with her again. Traveling up the last escalator, Mark and Baeri looked around for an entrance that would lead them to the most upper deck.

 

“Baeri, here!” Mark called over his shoulder and slipped into the nearest room. The girl followed after him, climbing up a final set of stairs before she finally reached the spot she had been searching for. The view was even more beautiful right now with the snow that covered most of the city, creating a landscape that resembled a winter wonderland. “Whoa,” an airy sound of admiration caught her attention when she walked more into the room, approaching the edge where Mark was standing. “This is amazing,” he quietly mumbled to himself as he nearly pressed his face against the cold glass that functioned as a wall that separated them from the outside. “Have you ever been in here?” Baeri asked and crouched down until she could sit on the carpeted floor with her legs folded.  

 

Mark shook his head but didn’t look away from the view in front of him, too absorbed by the beauty that was their city. “We’re not exactly allowed to be here, so you should consider yourself lucky that I’m sharing this special spot with you,” she grinned leaning her elbows on her knees as she bent forward a little to look down.

 

The boy felt his heart flutter at the comment but shrugged it off. “Why not?” he asked casually as he looked back at her and chose to sit down next to her on the floor. He shrugged his jacket off, throwing it to the side and took off his beanie to ruffle his russet hair. “It’s normally off limits for students but I always helped a staff member with closing up so I was allowed to come here, even had a key and all,” Baeri answered and glanced at Mark who already had his eyes on the view again.

 

Baeri pressed her lips together for a moment before continuing. “I always came here when I felt y or had a lot on my mind,” she smiled at Mark when he turned to her again, “felt like you needed a spot too.”

 

Mark scoffed with a grin and playfully wagged his finger in front of her. “Having ulterior motives, I see?” he said as he recalled that Baeri had suggested for them to come here because the snowfall was too heavy and it would be ‘safer’. “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Baeri replied with just as cheeky of a grin and turned to look at the continuous snowfall.

 

Mark hummed as a subtle hint that he still didn’t believe her words but chose not to push her. His playful grin soon molded into a sincere smile when he saw the serene, at ease expression his friend wore.

 

“Thank you.”

 

 

 

 

Carefully shutting the wooden door behind him, Mark toed off his shoes and threw his bag next to the stairs when he walked past it into the living room. “Oh Mark!” a feminine voice suddenly gasped when the boy entered, making the latter laugh. “Hi mom,” he smiled as he approached her and placed a kiss on her cheek before hugging her. The elder was still surprised and placed her hands on his shoulders before cupping his cheeks. “My baby, I didn’t know you were coming home this weekend!”

 

Mark his teeth and tried to roll his head in annoyance but he forgot that his mother was still holding on to him and made the movements a little awkward. “I guess Joey didn’t tell you?” he asked aggravated and stepped out of his mother’s arms. The woman shook her head and kneeled onto the black leather couch before sitting on it, continuing to read a book on cooking. “He didn’t but he’ll be home in a few minutes so you can punish him then,” she grinned at him because she knew her sons could get wild at times and gently kicked his . “Go greet your father, he’s in his office upstairs.”

 

Mark nodded, then walked around the couch and placed another sneaky kiss on his mother’s cheek. “I’m happy to see you again, mom,” he smiled before turning to walk back to the hallway. “Same here, baby,” his mother called before he disappeared behind the wall and began climbing the marble steps of the stairs. Passing multiple pictures of his family, the boy couldn’t help but chuckle at them. His mother was never a fan of standard pictures that showed all smiles and beforehand agreed-on positions. No, this woman always wanted to catch the essence of them in action and if that meant crying children with tears running down their cheeks and their faces in a sad grimace would be captured, then so be it because that was what life really was about.

 

“I swear to god,” he laughed and slowed his pace when he spotted a casual picture of him and his younger brother on a swing. Again, it was a picture that caught a random action but instead of teary eyed expressions, wide smiles that spread chuckles of glee played the lips of the young children. Mark felt a smile tug on his own when he remembered that moment - he was eleven at the time with his brother three years his junior as they played their afternoon away at a playground when they spent the holidays at their beach house.

 

Mark grinned and tapped the picture twice with the knuckle of his middle finger - as he always did - and continued to climb up the stairs until he reached the long carpeted hallway that bordered multiple doors. The one at the far end was the one Mark needed so he continued to walk towards it, running a hand through his already unruly locks and knocked twice on the door with the knuckle of his middle finger. “Come in,” a husky voice sounded from behind the door, making Mark swallow in anticipation.

 

“Luck, don’t fail me now,” he muttered to himself and opened the door before stepping through into his father’s office. “Mark!” his father greeted his son enthusiastically as he looked over his reading glasses and quickly stood up from his swivel chair to properly meet the boy. A fatherly, loving hug was what greeted the boy, making him smile in the crook of his father’s neck. “It’s so good to see you, son,” the elder smiled and patted his shoulder once before sitting on the edge of his dark mahogany desk. “What brings you home?”

 

The younger shrugged and casually began walking around the dark office that had armoires on either side of the room that were neatly stuffed with books, documents and some trophies. “Can’t a son come back to the home front to check up on his lovely family?” Mark grinned at his father as he walked along a bookcase that held a few doctorates, an emerald folded sash and a picture of him and his family with him wearing his graduation gear. “He can but that normally means the son is in need of something,” Mark’s father replied with a cheeky grin and folded his arms in front of his chest, his brows raised knowingly.

 

“Only love and affection, father,” Mark countered with the same grin and continued to walk until he reached the trophy case. His father let out an amused laugh and nodded. “Fair enough.”

 

Mark chuckled at his father’s answer and continued to run his eyes over the gold and silver shapes of metal that were placed on the shelves in front of him. “Dad, can I ask you something?” he asked softly, just loud enough for his father to hear. This made him laugh because he knew his son would pull this move and nodded. “Shoot,” he answered with a fatherly smile on his lips and watched how his son took one of his trophies into his hands, running his thumb over the engravings at the bottom. “Were you disappointed when I couldn’t continue with this?”

 

The elder didn’t have to think long before he had his answer. “Yes I was,” Mark’s father replied with a nod, the same smile on his lips as before. Mark’s face fell the slightest, the hint of a grimace apparent in his features when he heard his father’s words. “But only because my son lost something that might’ve been the most important aspect in his life.”

 

At this the younger turned to his father with surprise written all over his face. He remembered vividly that his twelfth life year on earth had been the worst; his injury was the leading role but his father’s shift in attitude drove it further into his soul. During that year of struggling to cope with his injury and accepting the fact that he would never be able to tumble again, he was sure that his father thought he was a disappointment to not only his family, but also to himself. His father had failed miserably to comfort his son in that period of acceptance, showed no remorse in their interaction.

 

It was a low point in their always strong relationship.

 

It turned out that Mark had a whole different idea of why his father acted like that. He never knew that it was because the boy felt like his world had come down on him that the elder was disappointed. At one point, they all had decided to put the life event on snooze out of their lives so they could become united as a family again.

 

They had agreed but a sleeping volcano is still dangerous.

 

“Mark, I know it’s hard to believe but that period in your life was a turning-point for you,” his father interrupted his thoughts when he pushed himself from his desk and approached his son, “you know more than anyone that you put your life and soul into it, fought through rough times and experienced loss at a young age,” he continued and carefully took the trophy out of his son’s hand. “This was your life, Mark. But it came to an unfortunate end which we all deeply regret.”

 

Mark pressed his lips together to keep himself from crying because even though it had been years since the event, he still felt like a part of him had left him the moment he left that hospital wearing a brace. “It’s okay to let it go,” his father said when he had set the trophy down and placed his large hands on his shoulders, narrowing his eyes slightly, “your college choice is evidence that you are beginning to do so and that it’s the first step towards something new.”

 

“And I know it’s hard to accept but maybe it’s about time you try,” Mark’s father nodded and released the hold he had on his son before turning to walk to his desk. “Like any other person in the world that has to adjust,” he finally said as he sat down in the leather chair, “you just have to find your drive again.”

 

Mark nodded at this with a small smile and went to approach the mahogany table. “It’s not far away, son. You’ll see,” his father finally said with a loving smile and reached his hand out for his son to take. Mark took it and felt his father giving him a comforting squeeze before letting go. Finally, the boy walked towards the exit of the room but turned when he reached the door. “Thanks… dad,” he smiled at the elder, who returned the gesture and nodded before he focused on his work again. Mark quietly left the office and released a deep sigh when he had closed the door and leaned against it. “Thanks bro,” he muttered to himself and kissed the knuckle on his middle finger before walking across the hallway towards his own room.

 

His parents had left it the way it was after their eldest son had left to live in his own apartment for his college’s sake, but the boy was still grateful they had done so. He dropped himself onto his double bed and released another sigh when he felt himself finally relax.

 

A lost chapter had finally ended as a new inspiring one began.

 

The sound of the front door opening and closing caught the male’s attention, making him scramble from his bed because he knew who had just entered the house. Mark quickly darted to the hallway and moved to hide in the bathroom at the other end of the hall. He listened carefully when he heard thuds against the marble steps echoing from the hall and waited for the right moment to strike when he heard the turning of a knob just outside of the bathroom he was hiding in.

 

“Moooooom!” Joey yelled when he fell into his room with a low thud as something heavy attacked him from the back, catching him off guard. “According to mom, I shouldn’t even be here,” Mark grinned at the younger male under him whom he had in a tight grip with his arm around his neck. Joey struggled to escape from his older brother’s hold but failed miserably and only got himself into a tighter headlock. “I-I for-got!” he managed to croak out as much as his airway was closed off because of Mark’s tight hold and when he couldn’t hold it anymore, he hit the floor beside them in a form of defeat.

 

Mark grinned at his brother’s yielding and swiftly rolled off of the younger before straightening and stepping over him to sit on the bed. Joey was still wheezing on the floor and threw some provocative middle fingers his brother’s way but Mark only laughed it off. “So how has my lovely baby brother been?” he asked with a grin and folded his legs onto the bed. The younger finally stood up from the floor and kicked his bag to the side, still rubbing his sore throat. “Oh I don’t know, it was great not waking up in a freaking death lock each morning!” Joey answered sarcastically and sneered at the elder. Mark pouted cutely and shook his upper body as he reached his legs out to rub his brother’s thigh. “Oh admit it, you missed my torturous acts~”

 

“Like hell I did!” Joey instantly countered and hit Mark’s shin. “Do you know how precious air has become to me after you left?! I try not to overuse it because I need to keep a stash hidden for whenever you come back to suffocate me again!”

 

Mark snorted before he laughed heartily at his brother’s dramatic monologue and wiped away some tears. “I love how dramatic you are about things like this,” he continued to laugh and laid down on his brother’s bed, leaning on his elbows so he could still see Joey. “I’m not dramatic - just realistic,” the younger commented with a frown and leaned against the wall beside his bed, watching how the smile on his brother’s face never disappeared.

 

“Did something good happen?” he dared to ask, making the elder whip his head towards him with a huge question mark on his face. “Why?” he asked in response and cocked an eyebrow at his brother, who just shrugged. “I don’t know,” he replied, “it’s just that you’ve been smiling an awful lot lately.”

 

Mark thought for a second before shaking his head. “Well then, I don’t know? Maybe something has, maybe something hasn’t.”

 

“Yeah yeah mister Mystery, I got the hint,” Joey laughed and pushed himself off the wall before lifting his hands in defense, “I’ll back off.”

 

Mark’s frown only deepened because his brother still didn’t believe him and sat up straighter on the bed. “Nothing happened!” he exclaimed and even flailed his arms for the added effect. Joey just put on a mock-understanding expression and started backing away from the elder. “Whatever you say~” he hummed, much like how Mark had done this afternoon when he was with Baeri and didn’t believe her, and slipped away from his room.

 

“Wa- Dude! Come back here and elaborate!”

 

“I think mom is calling me~”

 

“Liar!” Mark huffed and pouted when he heard his brother run down the stairs to escape the elder’s wrath. “What the hell,” Mark muttered to himself on dropped himself back onto Joey’s bed with his arms spread around him, looking up at the white ceiling in thought. “Nothing good happened to me,” he continued to murmur and to his side to face a wall that was covered in his brother’s random handmade drawings.

 

They seemed to trigger some thoughts that were hidden in his mind because before he knew it, a reminiscent smile had found his lips and lit up all his features like a Christmas tree when he thought of an artist that was just as special as this one.

 

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