“You don’t like answering questions very much do you?” Mark whispered while staring at Baram’s profile.

After both of them had calmed down, they had shifted from the kitchen to the balcony. Sitting on the bench, the two former high school classmates stared at the night sky, a bottle of whisky standing between them. Although in a fit of anger Mark had declared that he would stick to strictly business, he soon regretted his words for he realised there was no such thing as strictly business — not when it involved the girl sitting next to him right now.

Ryu Baram; until a few weeks ago her name was just one of the many that Mark had buried to the back of his mind, laying forgotten amongst the floating memories from his idle and inconsequential high school days. Until a few weeks ago Mark did not even realise that he still remembered the name, much less recognise her face in one glance in a dimly lit bar. A few weeks ago he thought his biggest headache was Bambam’s constant yapping regarding his latest TV drama obsession. Boy was he wrong.

“Nothing happened to me,” Baram muttered, taking a sip of her whisky. “Just life being a every once in a while. Nothing out of the norm.”

“Oh now you answer the question. So even when you do answer it's done selectively.” Mark shook his head in disbelief. “Seriously, do you purposely make it hard for people to converse with you?”

“If it stops people from annoying me then why not.”

“You don’t like so socialise so you decide to make it a living hell for anyone trying to interact with you,” Mark snorted. “Sounds charming. Rather pretentious as well if you ask me.”

“I didn’t ask you did I?” Baram smirked, seeing Mark’s offended look. “But yes, I am charming like that.”

“So I should be honoured that the mystical Ryu Baram has deemed me good enough to engage in a somewhat normal conversation with shouldn’t I?”

Standing up, Mark bowed as if to show his respect towards Baram. The girl let out a hearty chuckle, kicking him in the stomach for his silly behaviour.

“You’re supposed to become more mature after high school Tuan, not the opposite.”

“Forget about the high school Mark Tuan. This new Mark Tuan has blossomed into a man who knows how to enjoy life more,” Mark responded, sitting back down. “You should learn a bit from me.”

“Excuse me,” Baram exclaimed. “I am enjoying life right now, can’t you see?”

Shaking her glass of whisky in Mark’s face, Baram let the amber liquid swirl around, glistening under the moonlight.

“You’re just an alcoholic in denial,” Mark chortled, gulping down his own whisky.

“I think I liked high school Tuan better,” Baram huffed.

“You’re just jealous of how awesome I’ve become,” Mark quipped, nudging her shoulder.

Baram rolled her eyes, but when she turned to look at Mark, she saw the mischievous glint in her eyes reflected in his. Her gaze however soon fell flat, her expression becoming blank again. Mark held his breath, feeling uneasy at how the girl’s mood had shifted so suddenly, all the mirth and playfulness gone in an instant.

“I meant what I said Tuan,” Baram whispered, her tone so soft, like the murmur of the wind. “Say the word and I’ll leave you alone. I won’t step back inside Eclipse and 1:31 am.”

Mark swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat. He searched Baram’s eyes for any traces of lies or pretence but found none. Whatever she said, she meant it. But did Mark want that?

“What do you want?”

“I like the speakeasy, I feel at ease,” Baram hummed. “Jinyoung also has great taste in alcohol and superb skills as a bartender.”

“Oh, so you keep dropping by for Jinyoung huh?” Mark mused, wiggling his eyebrows at the girl, deciding that for just tonight, he was not going to dwell on serious matter.

Just for tonight, he was going to be a silly push his worries aside. Baram flattened her hand against his face, muffling his grunt of protest.

“I’m being serious Tuan.”