“You know, it doesn’t hurt to actually tell what way we need to go,” Mark deadpanned as he picked up his pace to keep up with the elder. Jihoon wore a frown because of the sudden cold gust of wind that passed them but this soon morphed into an amused grin. “You’re such a whiny little geezer, you know that?” he responded and, for the heck of it, began running to get even more on Mark’s nerves. It worked – the younger growled lowly in annoyance before he grabbed the strap of his backpack tighter and dashed after him.

 

After ten minutes of continuous banter and running, Jihoon stopped in front of a building block and began searching for something in his pockets. Mark soon joined him and leaned over to catch his breath, cursing the elder’s playful nature. “Are we finally there?” he breathed heavily and straightened, stretching his back as he watched Jihoon push his key into the door and unlock it. He laughed and nodded, opening the door for him to enter. “Welcome to my humble abode, sir,” he grinned and even did a gallant bow to finish his show. Mark frowned at his friend, muttering ‘loser’ under his breath before he entered the compact little house.

 

“You’re a third year in high school yet you still behave like a kid sometimes,” Mark shook his head disapprovingly, pressing his lips together before he glanced around to take in the interior. Jihoon childishly mimicked the boy’s words and threw his keys into the bowl next to the door, slipping his shoes off as he did. “Maybe you should stop being such an uptight little baby,” he joked and playfully bumped shoulders with Mark as he passed him to the living room. The latter chose to ignore the comment and left his bag near the front door before he followed after Jihoon.

 

The interior was fairly simple, yet it had a homesy feel to it – the black couch stood out against the fire-wooden floor but the dark brown carpet complimented the colors perfectly. The armoires and bookcases were all of dark wood but the large windows and light walls allowed the great contrast to fade into a calm atmosphere. It wasn’t anything like his house, which was all recent architecture, but maybe this was why he liked Jihoon’s house – it made him feel at home at first glance.

 

“Nice house,” Mark spoke with a subtle smile on his full lips and searched for his friends as he sauntered through the room. He spotted Jihoon near the dining table, reading some piece of paper he was holding in his hand. “Thanks,” he muttered and threw the paper onto the tabletop again. “My mom won’t be home until dinner so we have the place to ourselves until then.”

 

Mark hummed in response but as he was approaching the other, a muffled thudding caught his attention. After another moment, he could make out a consistent beat and figured it was coming from outside. “Is that music?” he asked as he eyed Jihoon who was already walking to the hallway again. He stopped in his step for a moment and nodded. “Huh, I guess my sister is home.”

 

Mark listened carefully to the muffled pounding when Jihoon answered. “You have a sister?” he asked, thinking back to any moment that Jihoon might have shared that fact, and came to the conclusion that he had indeed not elaborated on the issue of ‘family’ yet. Jihoon, however, just continued walking to the stairs, nodding as he did. “Yup,” he responded, not adding more, and hopped onto the first steps. “She’s in the garage so no bother,” he said, calling for Mark’s attention again because he had noticed that he had taken quite an interest in this matter.

 

Nonetheless, Mark followed after the elder, the sound of the music becoming less and less until he heard nothing but silence. His steps began to slow until he had come to a complete halt at the top of the stairs, subconsciously trying to find any more signs of the pounding.

 

“She’s off limits, just so you know,” Jihoon suddenly spoke up again, half a grin playing his lips as he waited for Mark to join him. The latter pivoted his head towards his friend, and took a few steps forward until he had reached him. “It’s not like that,” he mumbled with a frown, letting Jihoon wrap an arm around his shoulders as he began leading them to his room.

“I know,” the elder grinned and squeezed Mark’s shoulder, “but just throwing it out there.”

 

Mark just rolled his eyes with an amused smile and shook his head, mentally laughing at the fact that he would even consider dating his friend’s sister. “Whatever.”

 

Puffing up his cheeks, Mark was somewhat able to cover the laugh that was threatening to spill from his lips. He knew that Jihoon was quite lazy – he had known him long enough to figure this fact out – so when he was assigned to another science project, he would buddy up with Jackson, his classmate, other half and savior. This didn’t mean that the latter wasn’t as lazy but with him being in the team, their teacher was satisfied with knowing that minimal work would be done – at least enough for them to pass the subject.

 

So, hoisting himself into his house with a load of books in his bag and a terrible scowl on his face, Jihoon was quite the sight.

 

“I hate school,” he grumbled to himself as he dropped the bag from his shoulder with a loud thud, “I’m a handsome man, okay. When will I ever use science?” He shuddered and began dragging the bag up the stairs. “If I’d become a model, I would take the world and be crowned as the king,” he continued, “ask me to do a freaking Ollie and I would ace that like a pro!”

 

Mark laughed at the utter bull that his friend was spouting as he slipped out of his shoes and followed after him. “But science!!!” Jihoon once again exclaimed and dramatically dropped himself onto his knees once he had reached the top steps. Mark just remained on the steps near the top floor and chuckled. “You’re so conceited, man,” he laughed and moved to pass him.

 

“I’m not, I’m just confident in my many abilities that don’t require school activities,” Jihoon answered and stood up before dragging the bag across the hallway to his room. “Because science, of course,” Mark chuckled as he glanced at his friend over his shoulder. Jihoon just nodded tiredly as he followed Mark into his room and left the bag for what it was at the door. “I never liked using numbers unnaturally.”

 

“That’s math.”

 

“Or subjects that involve numbers in general,” Jihoon corrected himself and dropped himself onto his bed, letting out a content sigh as his body sunk into the mattress. Again, Mark laughed at the boy but lingered near the door. “Hey, lemme use your bathroom real quick,” Mark said and hopped from foot to foot as he watched his friend sit up slightly, leaning on his arms as he propped his upper body up from the bed. “Yeah no go downstairs, I love my own sanitary bathroom, thank you very much.”

 

Mark frowned but moved through the entrance of Jihoon’s room anyway. “You’re such a girl sometimes,” he said but Jihoon just shrugged before dropping himself onto his bed again. “Fortunately for me, I have long accepted that fact,” he answered with a sigh and did a random movement with his hand in the air. “Jackson will be here in a few so hurry up.”

 

Noting this fact in the back of his mind, Mark hurried down the stairs but instead of moving down the hall to use the bathroom, he hopped through the living room into the kitchen. Two doors caught his eye but the one at the far left was the one he was searching for and like always, it was kept open with a small crack between the doorpost and the door itself. Checking his surroundings, the boy slowly made his way to the door but didn’t enter the room on the other side.

 

He recognized the song and noticed that it was coming to an end. But when the final chorus was playing, a thud and a groan mixed with the melodic sounds, catching Mark’s attention. He closed the space between him and the door and peeked through the crack, instantly spotting a petite girl sitting on the floor with her head hanging between her legs. Her narrow back was heaving and her short, shoulder length hair swayed with every sort of move as she craned her neck from side to side. Mark narrowed his eyes to get a better look at the situation but he wasn’t left with much when the girl stretched her arms above her head before standing up again. Clad in a dark pair of sweats and green flannel jacket over a white shirt, she then hopped over to the stereo system nearby and skipped a few songs before she had reached the one she wanted.

 

But when she was walking back to the spot she had been sitting on earlier, Mark noticed something near her feet. Without thinking, he pushed the door open and slowly made his way over to her. The young girl whipped her head over her shoulder and frowned at the intruder.

 

Mark obviously hadn’t entirely thought this out and when he stood in front of her, he didn’t know what to utter to explain his situation. So instead of acting with words, he chose to just go for it. It was safe to say that the girl was even more confused when the intruder suddenly began tying her shoelaces. With nimble fingers, he tied a perfect knot into the black laces and straightened up again, facing the girl who wore an even deeper frown. Rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly, Mark lamely pointed at her shoes.

 

“You could’ve tripped.”

 

Even Mark thought his reasoning was flawed.

 

“I would’ve tripped either way but that’s beside the point,” the girl responded with the same frown and moved to the stereo system to pause the song that had started playing in the background. An awkward silence filled the air around the youngsters and Mark was sure that this might’ve been his worst idea ever.

 

“Thanks,” the girl suddenly spoke as she turned to him and leaned her lower body against the system. “But were you spying on me?” she asked with a cocked eyebrow and crossed her arms. This was definitely not the sentence Mark was expecting – not that he expected anything for that matter but he still found himself coughing as he choked on the nonexistent lump in his throat. “What? No!” he instantly went to defend himself but the amused smile on the girl’s face told him that all his words would be in vain anyway.

 

“Okay maybe a little,” he dumbly admitted, his hand still resting in his neck, “but just because I was curious of why there was music playing in here.”

 

The girl laughed at this and pushed herself from the system, mindlessly kicking the groove between the leather-cased foam tiles on the floor. “You could’ve just asked, and that doesn’t really require you tying my shoes,” she quick-wittedly remarked and watched how Mark’s mouth opened and closed as he was trying to find an answer – he failed miserably.

 

“Whatever.”

 

He pressed his lips together after this lame response and dropped his hand from his neck.

 

“Okay,” the girl responded, the same smile as before playing her lips as she went back to the stereo and played the music again. She turned to the silent boy and glanced at the door, silently hinting at him. “If you don’t mind,” she said and Mark was more than happy to oblige to her wish because without saying anything, he quickly made his way to the door and slipped through it. He left the door on a crack and leaned his back against the empty wall next to the doorpost. A dreaded sigh slipped passed his lips, the mental image of the awkward moment just now ingrained in his mind as he repented on every single aspect of it.

 

Soon, the beat of the music vibrated through the wall and Mark could feel his muscles react to the soft thudding against his skin. His ears caught the sound of steps against the floor of the room and subconsciously, a small smile tugged itself onto his lips. Interesting, Mark thought before he pushed himself from the wall and began walking to the living room again.

 

It was a fraction of a moment in time but Mark was intrigued and his curiosity was sparked. It wasn’t the best of first meetings but either way he looked at it, he was looking forward to seeing more of her in the future.

 

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