Chapter 5

 

Mark’s Airbnb

9:00 AM

 

A shirt was thrown to join a small pile of clothing on the bed as Mark takes out some other shirts from his XL luggage lying on his bedroom floor.

 

He puts a plain white shirt and a white shirt with thin, vertical baby blue stripes infront of him as he looks at his own reflection in the standing mirror.

 

“Ah I think this makes me look too much like a Cassanova” he titled his head to the side and nodded in agreement to his own statement.

 

Now dressed in his white and baby blue striped shirt, Mark puts on his casual white chinos. He proceeds to pack some sailing essentials on his coffee colored backpack before slipping his feet into a pair of light brown boat shoes and started walking towards Herin’s apartment before the clock strikes 10.

 

Herin wakes up to Liberty calling her to get into the shower, it took her a couple seconds before she realizes that they are going sailing today and that she is introducing Mark to her friends for the first time.

 

Wasting no time, Herin jogs to the bathroom and freshen up. When she comes out of the bathroom, she found Liberty already styling her shoulder length hair with a curling iron and Lia limply walking to the bathroom in a drowsy state.

 

Herin joins Liberty as she started on her make-up and her hair as well.

 

Almost half an hour later, all three of them are almost done dressing up and preparing their stuff for the day.

 

Lia passed by the window on the way to grab her bag on the other side of the room and spotted a guy playing with his own feet in front of their front gate.

 

She whistles to call her friends for a chance to join her excitement.

 

“Dayum, he’s fine. Who is he? Come take a look!”

 

Herin and Liberty join her and they try to fit their faces infront of the small window on Liberty’s room.

 

Herin squinted her eyes to get a better look, “Oh that’s Mark.”

Liberty and Lia snapped their heads back to her, “You’re telling us that’s the friend who’s joining us today?!”

 

Lia hums excitedly, “My eyes are satisfied today”

 

“Damn girl, you win big” Liberty playfully punches Herin.

 

Herin laughs it off, “Let’s go, I bet Liam is on his way to the market as well”

 

The three bestfriends jog downstairs towards their front door.

 

Mark heard the rattles from their door and turns his body to face the gate.

 

Herin waved at him and he returned the gesture as they come closer to approach him.

 

“Good morning” He greets with his instant sunshine smile. Herin looks absolutely gorgeous in her white shorts, baby blue tubetop, and a plain white shirt, which completes her cute nautical inspired outfit.

 

“Morning, I’m glad you could make it” She smiles in return and looks back at her two friends behind her.

“Lia, Liberty, this is Mark—”

 

“Nice to meet you, I’m Lia”

“and I’m Liberty” her two bestfriends giddily cut her off before she could even finish her introduction.

 

Herin laughs in amusement as Mark’s eyes widen a bit due to the sudden burst of excitement. She watches him as he introduces himself to her bestfriends and he didn’t even need to do much to make himself fit in because he effortlessly does.

 

“Today is going to be a good day” Herin thought to herself and smiles contently.

 

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Camden Market

10:30 AM

 

Groups of people rustles through the market; it is as busy as Liam remembers. He’s fully prepared with his sailing bag and airy material clothing.

 

He squinted his eyes as he spots his girlfriend, two childhood friends, and another guy whom he had never seen before but seems oddly familiar.

 

Liberty’s eyes sparkle and her hand automatically shot up to greet him from a distance as soon as she spots him.

 

“What’s the rare occasion? Why are you guys on time when you never are?” Liam teased when the group approached him.

 

They all pretended not to hear him, “This is Mark, Herin’s friend who’s on vacation. He’ll be joining us today” Liberty chimes.

 

“Hey, how do you do? Pardon me if I seem rude, but you seem oddly familiar” Liam shares his thought as he shakes Mark’s hand in a firm but friendly handshake.

 

Mark flashes his signature grin and laughed it off, “I get that a lot. I guess I do have a friendly face”

 

The quintet stopped by the fish stall to get some fresh cod, potatoes, and other picnic essentials for lunch on the boat, along with some champagne to top it off.

 

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry. Are you alright?”, a teenage girl bumped into Mark and dropped some of her groceries on the floor.

 

“I’m okay, are you alright?” Mark automatically drops to the floor to help the girl picks up her groceries.

 

“Oh, thank you. Really, I’m fin—” the girl falls back on her bum as soon as she locks eyes with him and a loud gasp escaped .

“Bloody hell, you’re Mark Lee”

 

The group looked back after hearing the girl’s loud gasp.

 

“Mark, is everything alright?” Herin looked over her shoulders and find Mark on the floor. She immediately crouched down to help him and the girl.

“Here you go”

 

“Would it be okay to take a picture with you?” the girl shyly asks.

 

By now the group’s attention is on the three of them.

 

“Sure” Mark casually replies and Herin volunteered to take the picture for them.

 

“Can I also take one with you?” the girl whispered to Herin when she gave the phone back to the girl.

 

“Oh, I—” Herin stuttered nervously.

“I’m such a big fan of yours since your trainee days” the girl added with visible astonishment in her orbs.

Mark looks at the nervous Herin with a raised eyebrow as if he is asking if she’s comfortable with it.

 

“Okay” Herin finally gave a tiny smile and proceeded to take a picture with the girl and another one with Mark and the girl in one frame.

 

The girl thanked them a couple times after the pictures and excused herself. Herin and Mark are then greeted with teasing smiles from their group of friends.

 

“Should I be wearing my sunglasses now since I’m walking with famous people?” Lia teased.

 

“Oh shut up” Herin nudges her playfully.

 

“Mark, so you are famous! That girl recognizes you instantly” Liam chimes in.

 

“Well, I sing and stuff” Mark replies modestly as he dusts off his palms. He has always loves meeting new people who don’t care about who he is and being in a group of similar age people makes him feel like a normal young man he is—it keeps him sane.

 

“Sure, you sing and stuff. But most certainly, you’re the ambassador for Korean Airlines and that is more than just singing and stuff” Liam brings up a magazine he accidentally came across in the sidewalk when they were walking and rolls his eyes dramatically.

“Lad, I knew I’ve seen you somewhere. Now I remember that I saw you on that safety instruction video when I did a transit in Seoul”

 

Mark chuckles and lightly pushes Liam as if they were brothers even though they had just met half an hour ago. He then looks at Herin’s back in front of him, she’s laughing as she links her arms with both Lia and Liberty.

 

“Is she alright?”

 

He thought to himself with worry lingering in his chest. He realized he had never talked about how she feels about the spotlight she gets from time to time, despite the fact that the path she’s taking now is far from the entertainment industry.

 

While he’s lost in his thoughts, they arrived in the pier in no time.

 

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Author's Note:

 

OOHH they got recognized! What if Dispatch smells this and creates a new scandal??