Author.

Mark Tuan didn’t plan on listening to their conversations because for one, Mark was never nosy.
It might be because of the boredom or that his guy friends were yelling at each other on top of their lungs that he had found himself listening to the girls’.

“….but Mark actually is distant to everyone.” He frowned, never expecting himself to be the topic of their conversation. He leaned back in his chair, more to the left so that he could have a better catch of the conversation.

“Well, I don’t know. He might be an alien, you know, a secret agent on some mission or something.”

Having being called as aliens or other names by his guy friends doesn’t seem so offensive to Mark but there was something about the way SHE poked fun at him which tugged hard on his nerves. Really, an Alien?! What kind of lame joke was that?!

He could feel the heat creeping up his face but he had tried to suppress his anger. Breath in, breath out.

Mark had successfully redeemed his anger but he was one of the vengeful. He didn’t know whether it was fate or luck that there was an empty bucket next to his legs; he decided it was luck.

He focused on her, every tiny movement and when she stood up and walked her way to her brother, he had ever so cunningly slow pushed the bucket to block her way, resulting in her tumbling forward but was quickly caught by Jinyoung. Too bad, he had wanted her to fall face first to the ground.

He felt the glare directed to the side of his head but Mark Tuan remained nonchalance, as if he never did a thing.
He didn’t know why he had felt so angry either.

The day didn’t go as bright or as smooth as it had been in the morning. The two kept on getting back on each other which made everything else more chaotic. They headed back home without solving anything which in Megan Wu and Mark Tuan’s case nothing too serious to solve.

The revenge thing still goes on, though.

*

Monday rolled over far quicker than expected and Megan had spent all her time on the way to school thinking that school days must be switched with weekend. If only.

Whether she was a middle-school or a high-school student, Mondays were never  her  favorite except for that one time when she thought it was cool to be the teacher’s pet and have good grades. Which she never was.

One thing she was certain about this day was that it wasn’t going to end well. Especially, having Mark Tuan almost in all of her classes and lunch break. Not to mention, he is one of Jackson’s buddy which makes everything tougher. She had never wanted to avoid people this much up until now.

“Have you had something wrong for breakfast?”
it’s a Jackson way to say “are you okay?” and Megan knew better than to scoff.

“Yes, did you mix extra flour on that pancake? Because man, I never had a pancake THAT bad.”

Jackson managed to smack the back side of her head before the both of them laughed.
“Actually, I messed up. But eyy, it still tastes great.”

Megan nodded with a small-unnoticeable eye roll; not that she hated her brother’s cooking or anything but the pancake tastes like anything but great.

“I don’t even know why the hell am I taking literature.”

She didn’t try stopping her snort that time, sporting a small, casual but teasing smile right after “Because Amber takes literature too. No denial allowed.”

Megan had picked up her pace when Jackson had just realized what his sister had said “OH NO YOU DIDN’T!”

The school was huger than it seems, now that they are running all around it. Megan was easily leading the run causing Jakson to fall an amount of steps back.

“GET BACK HERE!”

Laughter was heard around them because Jackson Wu, the newly popular guy, is chasing his sister, looking as dorky as ever.

Megan didn’t pay any heed on her tracks and instead focused on getting to class because Amber might already be there and Jackson wouldn’t dare assault her in front of Amber, even though she knew full too well that it would just be a minor one.

She bumped into Jaebum but kept running while yelling “SORRY JAEBUM! SEE YA LATER, BRO!”

It has been a long time since they did silly stuff as running around the school regardless, it was quite refreshing for the time-being.

*

Literature being the marking end of the school hours, student rushed pass each other, bolting their ways to the gate.

Megan felt like she could pass out after a long day of literature only then to be reminded by the tap on her shoulder, Jaebum and their plan. Right.

“Are you okay?”

“Perfectly fine, well, despite all the things I tried to force in my brain, it had surprisingly survived.”

Jaebum let out a low chuckle “The plan is still up, right?”

She nodded before telling him that they would need to find Jackson before heading anywhere orelse Jackson would contact the police station right away.

“Remember, Im Jaebum. 7 pm. Sharp. That’s her curfew.”

Although Jaebum had taken no offense, he still scoffed nevertheless. “Dude, I am only taking her to the local bookstore, we’re not running away and secretly getting married.”

And so there they were, picking books out of their desire. “Hey meg, can I ask you something?”

She hadn’t looked up when she had simply replied with a “yeah, sure. What’s up?”
Jaebum seemed to be contemplating long and hard on the question  that Megan had to look up and stare at him.

“Do you, by any chance, know if Mark hates me or something?” she could have laughed and rolled on the floor if they weren’t in a huge, public place.

So instead, she stifled her laughter and tried her best to look serious. “I think you’ve asked the right question to the wrong person.”

Jaebum was openly confused “What do you mean?”

“As far as I remember, my name is not Park Jinyoung, so I am most likely as clueless as yourself about Mark Tuan. We’ve sat in  the same benches and classes since kindergarten but Mark never spoke to me if he didn’t intend to attack me with his subtle bullying.”

Jaebum had seemed as if he had finally realized that Google doesn’t always have the answers.

*

The evening had been pleasantly calm at the Wu household except for a certain Jackson Wu, who seemed he could past the world record of “pacing back and forth for the longest time” in the history.

“Jackson, quit the pacing and sit your down.”

“Why isn’t Megan home yet?”

The whining undertone made both Bambam and Kris roll their respective eyes automatically. “Maybe because it has only been an hour and a half since she left to the bookstore? Plus, it’s only 4:30. Calm yourself.”

But Jackson seemed to have none of those and stuck to his resolve of whining on the floor.

The door clicked with the most familiar twist of keys. “I’m home guys!”

“Oh My God! Megan, I thought Jaebum had kidnapped you or something. I was so worried. Omg, let me have a moment.”

It was normal for Jackson to act like how he acted the moment since it was Megan’s first time to go without himself or Kris but the other two siblings(alongside Bambam) had thought that Jackson is doing it over ordinary level.

“Is he okay?” Megan had nudged Kris’ side once she had joined him on the couch, watching as Jackson still paced back and forth like a mother hen.

“On his PMS, I suppose. Don’t worry, he would get tired in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.”
True to his words, Jackson sat on the couch, panting hard.

“Can someone get me a glass of water?”

The trio on the couch had shouted “NOT IT!” followed by Jackson’s groan.

It was his own fault that he has drained his energy out so that left him no one to blame.

[Note: this chapter was just..... full of crack?
Comments are always welcome :) ]