Song for the chapter:

All of Me - John Legend

http://youtu.be/518WB1IcjPI

For the past weeks, Meng and I have been going places together, discovering Seoul as much as we can. We kicked off with a fab connection maybe because we were both foreign and Chinese. He would tell me of his embarassing moments since his stay and I would titter because he was so down to earth. Meng was quite the gentleman as well. He'd help me with textbooks, my bag, whatever he found that was too much for me. It made it much harder for me to keep my cheeks from turning pink.

"What'd you say if we go to a campus banquet together?" Meng stopped ahead of me and turned for an answer.

"Would you like me to you?" I sniggered.

He looked away with his smile, "It's because I want to you."

"Well, I don't see why not." I shrugged thinking it'd actually be fun.

"Fabulous."

"Fabulous?"

Meng's smile was still on, "Yeah, you'll look fabulous."

 His 'fabulous' came out stronger than a flirtacious comment. It came out as a genuine compliment.

"So, was that girl the other day, Kate?" Youngjae swirled the water in his bottle around.

Struck by the question, Mark slowly nodded after stretching out his legs on the wooden floor.

"Does, she remember you?"

Mark bobbed his head, "Yeah, but it didn't seem like she wants to."

Jr listened to the conversation and uttered, "Well, it doesn't matter now that you have Cecilia. She's good to you. Really a keeper."

Mark simpered at the name of his girlfriend. She was the best for him and he knew that. The boys also saw that she had a good effect on Mark and they supported their relationship. His dreams were hers and there couldn't possibly be anything to stop them from taking the next step. Being the over-reacting person he was, Jackson would whine out of jealousy to tease the lovebirds. JB would often comfort the miserable Hong Kong fencer when he would confess how empty he'd feel whenever he saw Cecilia and Mark. Of course it was all out of joke, but a little part of the guy did feel a hint of envy.

The manager stepped into the room with an anncouncement. The boys gathered around to hear what he had to say since it was regarding work. Once all the attention was on him, manager revealed to them that they will be the surprise performer for an event in the upcoming weekend. For this event, the boys had to choose two of their favorite songs from their album to perform and a slow song to end the night. After much discussion, they chose to do "I Like You", "Playground", and "All of Me" by John Legend. For the last song, the majority decided to have Jr and Youngjae sing alone since they had stronger vocals and it was also an opportunity to display their enhanced English. The other five have the option to dance with someone or stand on stage and sway along. Once they conclude everything, practice was on.

Rena and I went dress shopping for the banquet. I decided to go with a soft, lavender dress that had jewels around the heart-shaped front. The dress was long and strapless, perfect for the elegant night. Rena, on the other hand bought a peach, pink knee-high dress with sparkles. Meng kindly introduced his roommate Jeremy to Rena and had him ask her to be his date since he didn't want me to feel alone with only us.

"So, what do you think of Meng so far?"

"I can ask you the same thing about Jeremy."

We both avoided the question we were asked probably because we didn't know at the moment. They were nice, thoughtful guys but that was all we know.

The banquet appraoched sooner than I thought. It was already tonight and Rena, we both got ready after cleaning up our room. Once in the process of curling our hair and glamming ourselves with make-up, I had a flashback to how Jessica and I got ready for our senior prom. I went alone while Jessica went with one of the choir guys that asked her. I was suddenly reminded why I had gone alone and not with a date. It was because during that time, I wanted to go with Mark, but it was impossible since we were seas apart. We made a promise that we'd attend prom together dateless so we could just go together as best friends instead. Thinking back on it now, I regretted waiting on Mark when I knew he wasn't going to be there. I could've gone with someone and made the best of it. Prom was fun, but most of the night I imagined Mark being there which took away too much time. Nonetheless, Jessica never made me left out even thought I didn't have a date. Clicking back to the current time, Rena and I were nearly done with ourselves so we waited for the guys to come pick us up.

There was a knock at our door and I hurried t open it. Jeremy walked in first and went towards Rena. I watched him make his way over to her and heard him compliment her astounding beauty. I turned in right in time to see Meng in his black suit that went well with his built structure. He had his silly shades on that had smiley faces on them. I laughed at his goofiness and he began making funny faces. A handsome guy like him who can make me laugh this much sounded impossible, but he made it happen. After the undying laughter, he took off his shades and grinned from ear to ear.

"Like I said, you look fabulous." His compliment was innocent.

I pointed at his fitted suit, "And you look mighty sharper than a Sharpie."

We each got pictures with our date and left to the banquet right on time. The night was going to be endless and I was happy to be out, feeling carefree about school and everything else. Meng had this ability to loosen me up and that's what I loved about being with him. With the company of Rena and Jeremy, I knew it was going to be a blast since they both have an outgoing, fun character.

The crowd was getting bigger and Got7 was warming up. Their stylists made them match the theme of the event by having them wear clean, white, buttoned-up, dress shirts that hung out loose from their black, dress pants. They looked semi-formal, not too over or under-dressed. Their hair was cleanly gelled back into a spike or to the side, but in place. It was more like a mature concept that their sunbaenims, 2PM would often go with.

"Are you guys ready? I'm so pumped." Jackson rolled his shoulders backward and forward.

BamBam patted his back, "Don't be too overly-excited or else you'll mess up, hyung." Jackson had a tendency of doing so sometimes.

Mark peeked out of the curtains and saw how formal everyone dressed. It reminded him of the pictures Jessica and Kate had shown him of their prom that he missed. It was a bittersweet moment. Cecilia knew about the performance and was invited, but she had her own rehearsals to attend. Mark was bummed since he wanted to share a dance with her, but she informed him that he should make a fan's night by dancing with her instead. The boys's performance was going to be a bit more laid back since the audience was a bit older of age; therefore, the guys will have their chance to  hangout like the young adults they are so technically, it was a work and hangout night. They were even given the permission by their manager to get to know some single girls if they found interest.

They were told that majority of everyone attending will be between the age of 18-22 and the single ones were excited to party after performing.

"You guys are on in 5! Get ready!" The stage director informed Got7.

Their two songs were successful and the crowd jumped when it was revealed that they were the surprise guest performer. The audience rooted for them and when the third song came, couples danced to the sound of Youngjae and Jr's voice covering "All of Me."

Meng and I rested at the stools as we snacked on some finger food. Rena and Jeremy were stil jumping somewhere in the crowd. The DJ of the night announced that there was a idol group who were our guest performer. I guess the hosts had connections of some sort to drag idols to the event as if it was simple. It was neat and rewarding for those who admired the idols. Once the group entered the stage, I saw seven bodies. They introduced themselves with the name Got7?!

I trembled.

I felt myself sweat.

I felt the dim lights of the room flicker.

I felt the need to look away from Mark.

I began to choke on the treats I got from the snack bar and immediately Meng excused himself to go grab me water. Rena came back in time to where I sat and looked at me once she figured who the guest performer was for the banquet. My heart did some tricks when I saw a face out of the seven that I had met a couple weeks ago.

"Don't worry. He won't see you. There's too many people here." Rena assured me randomly. She knew I feared facing Mark again.

The group performed two of their songs and the third one was a slow song that had all the couples dancing. I realized this was one of the slow songs that were played at prom which was a dedication to all the couples who were there. I remembered I sat down during the song as I watched Jessica and her date dance. I shook my head to avoid the flashback that left me feeling empty. Meng attended me with the drink he promised me and I took a sip to clear my throat. After giving me time to rest, he asked for my hand to dance to the song. I gladly took his hand and we walked to the dance floor. Tonight was different from prom because although it was the song that made me felt lonely, tonight I wasn't. I had Meng to guide my every step. He made me feel comfortable and worthy of his time. Out of every other girl, he wanted to me to the banquet. Out of every girl here, he wanted to dance with me. Meng made me forget that Mark was also here in the same room.

In the middle of the song, Meng had excused himself to the restroom. I backed out of the dance floor to wait for him. From my sight, I could see Rena's arms wrap around Jeremy's neck and his ouwn hands around her waist. They were so cute. I felt someone tap my shoulder and I turned thinking it was Meng who had come back so quickly.

"Are you ready to dance again-"

"Are you a fan of Got7?" Ther person with the voice cut into my words. My eyes still focused on the roommates who were dancing together in a lovely motion. Meng's voice sounded a bit different, but I blamed the music and noice of the people who chattered around me.

"Yeah, they did a fantastic job as our guest performer."

"Would you dance with me then?"

I turned, confused why Meng would ask to dance with me again when we could just naturally get back on the dance floor to end the song.

It saw that solution to why the voice was different. It wasn't Meng, it was. . . Mark.

He paused after seeing who I was too. "Kate?"

At this point, I froze. How could Mark make his way to me so anonymously?

"Hi, Mark. You're here too." I tried to at least talk properly this time.

"Yeah, we were the guest......performers....." He stuck his hands into his pockets.

I dipped my head, "You guys performed really well. I've forgotten how advanced you all were." Crap, I just made a reference to the past.

Mark knew better than to turn back now after knowing the girl was Kate. He suddenly felt guilty for asking some other girl to dance when he knew he had Cecilia, but dancing with another girl wasn't a problem to his girlfriend for some odd reason. She was trusting of him, but somehow this made him feel undeservin. Something in him persuaded him to dance with her even though it felt wrong. He used the excuse that she was his bestfriend and there was nothing with dancing with her.

"Can we dance?"

Kate looked around and still didn't see Meng anywhere to save her from this last dance. "Um, I'm actually here with someone-"

Out of the blue, Meng appears. "Hey, you're one of the performers up there, aren't you?" He smiled towards Mark warmly.

"Y-yeah, I am. I'm Mark." Mark stuttered figuring out this was the guy that Kate came with.

Meng stuck out his hand to shake Mark's, "I'm Meng. You guys did great on stage. I enjoyed the energy."

Mark thanked him with a bow and the apologized, "Sorry, I didn't know she's yours. I should be more careful with who I ask to dance with."

Meng looked to Kate, "She's beautiful, isn't she?"

Mark could see the way Kate hid her face with a half smile at the man's compliment. Mark only grinned too and couldn't makeup any words because it would be awkward to admit since he knew Kate and that this guy in front of him was most likely Kate's boyfriend.

Seeing that Mark didn't answer, Meng spoke again. "You can dance with her. That's fine. Go on." He dragged Kate by the hand towards Mark.

"Are-are you sure about that?" Mark stumbled over his words and Kate looked lost too.

"Meng?"

Meng nodded for them to go ahead with a sincere smile, "She's my date, not my girl. I have no control over her, so you guys can dance together."

I was completely shocked at how cool Meng was. Not only was he thoughtful and sincere, he was a man with maturity. The way he allowed me to dance with Mark so openly revealed that he wasn't a possessive man who was selfish and needy. Everyday there was something new and attractive about him. I found my mind wondering off to him until I heard Mark's voice echo and his hand making their way to my hips.

"So I take it that he isn't your..uh..boyfriend?"

"No, he's a friend, my date for tonight."

Awkward silence.

Somehow the scene changed. I pictured Mark and I dancing at prom to the same exact song that played. The music was slowly ending and I knew my time with Mark was withering.

"How are you now?"

"Fine, you?"

"Not too bad. Why are you here?"

"For school."

"So you chose to study abroad here?"

"It was the only option." I felt like Mark was cramming in a conversation in the little time we had.

"How's your family?"

"Still the same."

"Are there still Tuan and Tran nights?"He reffered to the family outings our parents had together.

I answered honestly, "I guess so. I haven't been part of that for years."

"Why's that?"

"Things change."

I kept everything brief and short. There wasn't much to say in the moment knowing he was holding me securely around my waist as I held onto his biceps. It felt too awkward to place my arms caging his neck.

"Sorry to intrude, but we must go now since our friends are begging to go home." Meng rescued the awkwardness. Thankfully. After asking for me back, he walked his way back to Jeremy and Rena.

"Kate, can we meet again after this?" Mark couldn't believe he was asking her this. There was much more he wanted to talk to her about. There was much more he wanted to aske aside from family and school. He wanted to actually talk to her like normal to see where they are currently standing.

Kate turned mid-way, "Uh..."

"So I can get my sweater from the other day. . ." Mark covered himself from sounding wrong for wanting to see her and talk to her more.

"Oh, yeah. Um. You can give me your address and I'll send it to you."

"How about we meet outside of this building the day after tomorrow. I'll be here at 12 and maybe we can get lunch together."

"Oh, sure. Okay then."

I was meeting Mark more than I expected.

Some may say that it's meant to be because there are things to settle and until they are settled, things will be repetitive.

Author's Note: Soooooooo, they shared a dance together unexpectedly! XD More to come so stay tuned! Leave love below! <3