Mark's permanent return had caused a lot of discomfort for Nayeon. She could no longer make up excuses to not attend any gathering he would be attending. Sometimes she even had to bump into him when he's at the company building to pick Sana up. However, it also seemed like she had a radar on him, she was able to hide or turn the other way round before he could even spot her.

Jaebum and Jinyoung seemed to have read her thoughts and they had tried their best to not ask Mark to the company. Nayeon sighed at that thought; everyone who knew had either switch companies or gone on a hiatus. At that moment, she's definitely grateful that the JJ Project was still under JYP while her eyes followed the couple as they walked towards the exit of the building.

"What is so interesting?"

The voice behind Nayeon made her jumped a little. She immediately turned her body around abruptly which she then relaxed when she realized that it was just Jinyoung.

"You scared me." Nayeon grumbled in a quiet tone, her hand still over her chest as she looked up at the older guy. "What are you doing here? I didn't know the legendary JJ Project had practices today."

"Not today, I only came back to grab something then I saw you snooping around."

"I am not!"

"You were," The male gave her a nonchalant shrug but his tone was firm. "So, why are you torturing yourself like this?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Nayeon muttered and walked away from Jinyoung who went after her, continuing to make her talk even though he knew he shouldn't. But someone had to step in to solve this issue, right?

"You do know." His tone was as firm as his previous question, "If it bothers you that much, you could have pretended to not see them and just walk away."

"I am not bothered!" Nayeon stubbornly denied, stopping mid track which caused Jinyoung to collide into her.

"Oi, what did I tell you about stopping suddenly?"

"I'm not bothered." Nayeon ignored his question, her voice getting soft this time which almost sounded like she's convincing herself.

"Jinyoung, Nayeon?" Before Jinyoung could even respond, another voice interrupted their conversation. A voice Nayeon was dreading to hear right at that moment.

The two named two people turned to where the voice came from.

"Mark!" Jinyoung raised his hand and greeted, stepping forward slightly to block Nayeon from the full view of the other male. She probably didn't want to face him right now especially after witnessing that scene earlier.

"What are the both of you doing here?"

"I came to pick Nayeon up." Jinyoung shrugged in a 'I do this all the time' manner. "We are meeting Minhyuk and the others. What are you doing here?"

A small, amused smile grew on Nayeon's lips; guess she owed the guy a meal for the lie he had just made up on the spot.

Mark only muttered an 'oh' before he proceeded to explain that he's back to pick up Sana's sweater. Jinyoung raised an eyebrow at Mark's reply and how his gaze shifted to the girl behind him. As a friend who had known him for twenty years, something told him that Mark probably had hoped to bump into Nayeon in the company. But little did he know that the girl had tried all ways to not meet him at all.

What are the both of them doing, honestly?

"Let's go." Nayeon's voice interrupted Jinyoung's thoughts. "We are going to be late."

"Right." Jinyoung turned to Nayeon, giving her a smile before he shifted his attention back to their old friend. "Bye, let's catch up again soon! At your new café, probably?"

Mark could only nod while the two figures walked away with Nayeon laughing at whatever Jinyoung had said. He had also noticed that not once in their short meeting earlier did Nayeon look at him.

Not even for a split second.

He could only sigh and shake his head, trying to get the thoughts out of his mind – the what-ifs in his head. What if they hadn't broken up? What if neither of them date new people? Would they have make up instead?

When Minhyuk suggested that he should pay Mark a visit at his new café in Korea, he did not notice the change in Nayeon's facial expression. She can't blame her boyfriend either since he knew nothing about their past. Instead she could only just put on her usual smile and making sure her 'Sounds good!' didn't reveal any of her discomfort.

Nayeon mentally cursed at God when they've arrived at Mark's café. Sana was right there with Momo while her boyfriend was giving instruction to the branch manager.

"Sorry, business have not started yet" The manager voiced out at their arrival, not knowing that it was them. That caught Mark's attention, who turned around and it might not be obvious but Nayeon noticed the slight surprise on his face. He probably wasn't expecting her to come to his cafe.

Much less with Minhyuk.

"Mark!" Minhyuk sounded excited and that made Nayeon a little guilty for feeling uncomfortable. Just why was she still hung up over their past?

Mark gave the branch manager a slight nod who then nodded in return as an understanding before he walked away. It's been really a while since the two men had been in contact and while Minhyuk hooked his arm around Mark's neck, messing his hair up in a playful way, Nayeon went to a random table and sat down. Somehow, it's still nice to watch the two men play around like they used to during their idol days.

While she was deep in thoughts, she didn't realize that her two Japanese friends had sat down in front of her.

"Nayeon unnie?" It was Momo who brought her back to reality as she waved a hand in front of Nayeon's face. "What are you thinking?"

"Huh?" Nayeon blinked, focusing her attention back to the two girls in front of her. She immediately smiled and she's surprised that it was a smile she didn't have to fake. "Hello you two."

"We weren't expecting to be able to see you here." Sana chirped in a happy tone. The last time they've properly talked was during Younghyun's wedding. They could have talked more if Nayeon didn't avoid her in the company because she was afraid of bumping into Mark.

"Minhyuk oppa wanted to have a catch up with Mark."

"He made the right choice then, if not we wouldn't have bumped into you here!" There was a slight excitement in Momo's voice this time and Nayeon couldn't help but smile. Despite the fact that many years had passed, they were still the Twice members she had always taken care of because she was the oldest.

"Is this your first time here?" Sana asked. "How do you find this place?"

For the first time that afternoon, Nayeon had a good look around the place. That's when she noticed the different spiderman figures and prints everywhere. Also that special corner of just gaming computers caught her attention.

A spiderman themed cyber café, huh? That is so you, Mark Tuan.

"I've initially wanted to help him do some promotion but he insisted that it would ruin the image of his spiderman theme. He really had put in a lot of thoughts into this. It started with him starting it in LA and he's expanding it to Korea now. He told me that he wanted to slowly target the rest of Asia."

Nayeon was only half listening to Sana's explanation of Mark's expansion ideas. She couldn't help but remember the random conversations they had many years ago. The small corner of the cyber café, she was the one who suggested it since he loves gaming so much. It wasn't obvious but she noticed that small spiderman figure on the cash machine; he had told her that it was a stupid idea when she brought it up because she thought it was cute.

That memory made Nayeon smiled a little.

The door of the café opened again and as if on cue, everyone's head turned to that direction and Nayeon had never been anymore grateful towards the people who walked in.

Before the manager could even speak up, Mark stopped him. That poor manager, he's probably confused at why people kept coming to their café when it wasn't open officially yet.

"So there are more people."

"Jeongyeon unnie!" The named girl turned her attention to where the two voices come from.

"You girls are here too." Her voice was softer and gentler as compared to before when she was with her company. "I got dragged here."

"Sana comes here whenever she got the chance to." Momo mocked in a playful manner but Jeongyeon wasn't paying much attention for her gaze had shifted to the silent Nayeon.

"I wasn't really expecting you to come with Jaebum oppa and Jinyoung oppa." Sana ignored Momo's comment and only focused her attention to the newly arrived woman in front of them.

"I got dragged." Jeongyeon repeated as she sat down beside Nayeon and continued. "I wanted to go to your company to find Nayeon but I've forgotten it's kind of her off day today. Those two saw me and insisted on me coming since I've not seen Mark's café at all."

"It's been so many years but all of you are still as close as when you're trainees." Momo spoke in a voice filled with admiration and slight envy. "Fans would have never thought of that."

That statement had made both Jeongyeon and Nayeon smiled. The Japanese girl was right, to be able to still be that tight as a group despite the passing years and them heading towards different paths, even they themselves were amazed.

After a short conversation and catching between the ladies, the men walked up to them.

"Let's go," said Minhyuk. "Mark's paying for dinner."

"I did not agree to that."

"You have no choice anyway." Jinyoung shrugged before turning to the four ladies. "Right?"

His eyes was fixed on Nayeon in which she knew that he was reminding her about the conversation they had the other day. She narrowed her eyes at the older man. There was a warning look in them, probably in the effect of shut up before I poke your eyes.

Jinyoung gave her a brief amused smile before turning to face both Minhyuk and Mark.

"Grab your girlfriends." He then turned to Momo, his voice slightly softer. "Let's go."

And when he faced Jeongyeon, that tone in his voice took a 180 degrees turn.

"Oi, let's go."

For the first time since she had arrived at the café, Nayeon laughed as she walked to Minhyuk's side. She had a feeling that the arrival of Jaebum, Jinyoung and Jeongyeon wasn't as simple as what Jeongyeon had explained.

Nayeon suspicions were confirmed when Minhyuk mentioned about him texting Jaebum that he would be heading down to Mark's café with her. Jaebum merely gave her a smile when she turned to look at him, a smile cheeky enough for her to understand that she really had to treat the three of them to a meal one day. The whole thing about Jeongyeon heading down to the JYP building to look for her was probably a lie too. She could literally imagine how the two boys appeared in front of their doorsteps and dragging the girl out with them.

Dinner was much less awkward than Nayeon had expected. There were moments when she didn't want to see between Mark and Sana; there were also moments she felt that he was looking at her and Minhyuk. But it was a lot more comfortable than they were at Younghyun's wedding until Mark blurted out something he shouldn't have.

"Jinyoung, switch with Nayeon." He had said without thinking which made the two named people paused for a moment. "There are peaches in the cake she's holding, she's allergic."

Jaebum cleared his throat.

"Nayeon, take mine." He had said while throwing a quick glare at Mark who kept silent. He knew it was a natural reaction from Mark but it might have made things slightly awkward.

"You're allergic to peaches?" Minhyuk asked his girlfriend. "Why didn't I know?"

"Well," Nayeon laughed in a slightly awkward manner, "Not many people know and I don't really announce about my allergies."

"We didn't know too." Momo added on to the conversation which Nayeon wished would stop right there. Thankfully, Jeongyeon was able to do it.

"She is allergic to peaches." Jeongyeon confirmed then added on. "Mark probably remembered because he was the one who accidentally bought her and Jinyoung a cake that's similar to this during their birthday many years ago."

Minhyuk and the two Japanese girls nodded at Jeongyeon's explanation. Whereas, Nayeon and Mark had an uncomfortable expression written all over their face. As if on cue, both Jaebum and Jeongyeon kicked the both of them under the table.

Nayeon looked up at Jaebum giving him a 'what do you want' look which the latter returned her with a 'compose yourself' glare.

Same goes for Jeongyeon and Mark; the latter had his usual blank expression as he looked at Jeongyeon who gave him a glare which probably meant 'I'm going to kill you later'.

Thankfully, none of the other three caught onto anything yet.

The rest of the night might seem normal to outsiders' eyes. However, Nayeon's dead eyes even when she's smiling and laughing didn't escaped her old friends' eyes. Mark got even quieter that night but maybe it's because of how he usually was, no one paid attention except the other four of them.

After that one gathering, the number of times Mark and Nayeon met for that few months was close to zero. Neither of them brought up the topic of the other; it was almost like they were treating as if each other never existed.

However, God just loved to make fun of humans like that.

The two of them just had to be in Japan at the same time alone without their partners or friends, unplanned and in the same hotel. What are the chances of that happening; it's probably a less than 5% chance.

But it happened.

Nayeon was there for her Japan fan meet and her manager had booked a room in Grand Hyatt Tokyo, the hotel they would always stay in. Mark was there to have a meeting with a building landlord; if everything goes well, his business would be able to take flight in Japan too.

"Nayeon?"

Nayeon looked up from her phone when she heard her name called and her face dropped almost immediately. Right in front of her, on the other side of the elevator was Mark Tuan. That Mark Tuan whom she had pretended never exists in her life.

"Mark." She had greeted in a quiet voice as she stepped out from the elevator, careful to keep her distance away from him. "What are you doing here?"

"Business trip."

A silent 'ah' formed on her lips and for a short moment, none of them knew what to say.

"Fan meeting, I supposed?" It's rare but Mark broke the ice this time.

"Yeah." Nayeon nodded, her gaze looking anywhere but him. "It's tomorrow. My manager is waiting; rehearsal, you know?"

With that, Nayeon scurried away with Mark watching her back. She probably still hasn't forgiven him. After all, he did try to end her celebrity dream. There was always other ways to settle the issue they had but he just had to settle it with a break up.

Mark sighed and stepped into the elevator. He really needed a break, away from everything.

It was the ringing of his phone that woke Mark up. He had planned to sleep through the day till the next morning but the endless ringing of his phone forced him to wake up from his slumber. Groggily and with a little unwillingness, he picked up the call.

"You idiot." Mark sat up on the bed upon hearing that two words and that voice. "I've been calling for a while."

"Nayeon?"

"Yes it's me." She slurred from the other side of the phone. "You can't recognize my voice after these few years? Unfortunately, I can recognize yours anywhere, anytime."

"Are you drunk? Where are you?"

Mark ignored the rambling of Nayeon and the speaker mode of his phone while he changed into his casual outfit, kicking his luggage out of the way before he grabbed his phone again.

"Where are you?" He repeated.

"Don't worry, I'm still in the hotel." Nayeon replied with a dry chuckle, "I can't possibly be out there like this. The ex Twice member, soloist Nayeon who's still hung up over someone she couldn't anymore. Who would have thought?"

Mark's heart skipped a beat when Nayeon finished her short rambles but that wasn't the time to feel anything. For she had hang up on the male right after that. Ignoring his heart palpitating harder – which he couldn't tell if it's because of what she said or because of him being worried – Mark grabbed his coat in a hurry and headed out of his room.

If she's still in the hotel and was drunk, there's only one place she would be, the quiet bar at the basement of this building.

Why in the world would she be drinking at this ungodly hour of the night? Didn't she say her fanmeet would be tomorrow?

Mark pressed on the down button of the lift rapidly, as if it would reach his floor by doing that. His frown deepened at the thought of Nayeon having a headache but yet forcing a bright smile for her fans. Because that was something she would definitely do.

When he had reached the basement, he mentally thanked God that there weren't many people there. He spotted the female by the bar and walked up to her, just in time to snatch the glass away from her before she could take in anymore.

"Let's go."

"No."

"I said let's go." Mark grabbed onto her wrist, his voice firm, leaving Nayeon no room for any argument. But she did try to push his limit.

"And I said no." She taunted. "Who are you to even tell me what to do?"

"You called me, it is my responsibility as a..." He hesitated for a short moment before he continued. "Good friend to make sure you're safely back to your room."

"Good friend, huh?" Nayeon brushed her bangs back, letting out a quiet yet dry chuckle. "Yeah that's what we are."

Mark said nothing but instead, used that chance to pull Nayeon up from her seat and at the same time, he told the bartender to put it on his tab along with his room number.

"Let's go." He mumbled, his voice a lot more gentle than before as he supported the tipsy Nayeon.

Thankfully, Nayeon wasn't stubborn enough to not provide him her room number although part of him suspected that Nayeon's probably only half conscious now. He really couldn't imagine what would have happened if he's not the one there. However, maybe Nayeon wouldn't have drunk that much if he's not at the same place as her.

After helping Nayeon carefully down, Mark sat by the edge of her bed and for a short moment, his gaze never left her face. When was the last time he had seen her within that short distance? She had always made sure she's never near him everytime he's seen her.

With these thoughts, Mark reached out for her, his fingers gently brushing against her cheek then a loose strand back so he could have a better look at her face. He knew it's wrong to even be sitting there, watching his ex girlfriend like that but his body just refused to move away from where he was.

"Hey."

That quiet voice made Mark retreat his hand quickly and stood up as he mumbled a quiet apology.

"I will be going off now." He continued in a quiet tone and kept his back facing her. "Rest we-"

He stopped mid sentence, turning his body around when he felt Nayeon's hand holding onto his. For the first time since they've met again, their gaze met without Nayeon avoiding his.

"Stay."

we have now moved to the main part of the story. just saying, i'm capping this at 7 chapters only. but i will give you hopefully longer chapters. also, remember that this is very far into the future. by math, mark would be alrdy 37; nayeon would be 35 and the korean boys would have completed their military services. personalities might be slightly different bc it's been 12 years. and no, jeongyeon and jinyoung won't be a ship (as much as i ship them), i just imagined their relationship as a savage kind. and since they are older, they would be more open with each other. i'm making jjp brotherly figures to the girls. these are the way i imagine the 2010 trainees will interact behind the scene. i will add some of my head canon from my "Friends Of 2010" series. i really love those 11 kids.

warning: there would be sensitive topics and cursing from next chapter onwards.