“Hi.”

She crossed her arms and looked at the ground before looking back at him. “Been a while, huh?”

Mark didn’t really register what she was saying. He knew she was talking to him but it was like his ears had temporarily stopped working. And when one sense weakens, the rest of them strengthen.

His eyes were marvelling at her smile. How had he not noticed how vibrant it was until now? It went up to her eyes, and Mark felt, cheesily enough like he could stare at them forever.

Mark had finally understood in that moment why people said eyes were like the window to a soul. When he looked into Youra’s eyes, it was like she used them to emote her deepest of emotions. All the little things that normally people would miss, it seemed like they were shown through her eyes.

Like when she was passionate about something and go on one of her tangents about a topic, her eyes would light up with the sort of brightness one could compare to the moon. It was enchanting to the point where Mark no longer wanted to listen to what she was saying.

In those moments, all he wanted to do was just look into her eyes and unravel all the secrets she held in her soul.

Unravel all the things she felt like she couldn’t say and then examine the thread that was used to hold her together, to see just what the girl he loved was made of.

This was it, wasn’t it?

Love, the most cliché, most complicated and most evoking emotion of them all.

And somehow he had gone from loving Youra platonically to a loving her with the sort of love and adoration you reserved for the most beautiful of things.

Because she was beautiful.

She always was and always would be.

And he wondered how he hadn’t noticed until now.

She waved a hand in front of his eyes, breaking him from his reverie. “Mark, you with me?”

“Oh, sorry.” He scratched the back of his neck. “It’s just that I didn’t really expect for you to be talking to me.”

And I was too busy staring at your eyes, but you don’t need to know that.

“Honestly, I didn’t expect to be talking to you either, but I guess I missed you too much to let that stop me.” She shrugged before sitting down on the pavement.

He sat down beside her. “If it’s any consolation, I’m pretty sure I missed you more.”

She looked up from the ground and scoffed. “Not possible, Tuan.”

“That’s debatable, Choi.”

They mock glared at each other before breaking out into chuckles.

Things were starting to look up.

Mark sighed and admitted softly, “I missed this, I missed us.” I missed your smile, and the way you would look at me and make me feel at ease, and everything else about you. “Youra, I, I’m really sorry for doubting you and Jackson like that, for shouting at you, for not letting you in my house, and for making you feel guilty for something you didn’t even do.” He paused. “When you cried that day, I felt like the worst best friend ever.”

She blinked at the sudden apology before softening. “I’m sorry too, Mark. Jackson and I should have told you that we were joking, we should have clarified that nothing was going on between us.” She let out a deep breath and hugged her knees to her chest. “And I also probably shouldn’t have shouted at you like that that night.”

“No, I think I deserved that. I’m glad you spoke up that night. If you hadn’t, I don’t think things would be as easy to talk over like this.”

She nodded, not knowing what else to say. But when her stomach growled, reminding her that she hadn’t eaten anything yet, it seemed like she didn’t have to say anything after all.

Mark chuckled at the noise and Youra who was looking at her stomach. “I’m assuming you haven’t had breakfast yet. Wanna come over? I’ll make waffles.”

She nodded enthusiastically. “God, yes please.” She immediately got up and started walking towards Mark’s house. Mark sat there, watching her for a while with what he could say for sure, was the goofiest smile he had ever worn, before getting up and jogging to catch up with her.

-

“I haven’t had your waffles in so long.” Youra let out a hum of satisfaction as she took another bit of her maple syrup covered waffle. “Actually, I don’t think I’ve had waffles in general for so long. Probably why yours tastes so good.” She quipped before moving away before Mark could hit her arm.

“Looking at you devour them like that makes me want a bite now.” Mark opened his mouth and closed his eyes. “Aah.”

Youra grabbed the can of whipped cream nearby and squirted a handful on her hand before spreading it all over his face. His eyes shot open at the cold feeling on his face and he quickly moved away from her.

“Youra!” He complained as he tried wiping whipped cream off his face with his hands. He stared at his fingers for a while before shrugging and the cream off them.

Meanwhile, Youra was busy giggling at his reaction.

“If you don’t shut up, I’m gonna your fingers clean of all that whipped cream.” Mark threatened as Youra continued laughing. “I’m serious!”

“You wouldn’t, who knows how many germs are on my ha-” Her eyes widened as Mark grabbed her hand and gently the cream off her index and middle finger, all the while looking right into her eyes.

He let go of her hand and handed her a paper towel before taking a bite of her waffle himself. He nodded. “You’re right, it’s pretty good.”

“Any reason for you staring at me like that?”

 “You-I,” She looked at her fingers and back at him.

He shrugged before smiling and walking to the living room. “Yours just tastes better.”

He didn’t notice the blush that was slowly creeping up Youra’s neck and cheeks as she slowly wiped her fingers with the paper towel he had handed her.

Good thing no one was downstairs then.

-

Youra finished the rest of her waffle and washed her plate before joining Mark in the living room. She was still wondering why she was so affected by what Mark had done.

Get a hold of yourself, this is Mark, you grew up with this boy.

So why was she awkwardly standing in the living room instead of sitting down?

She blinked and stood for a while before finally sitting by Mark, who was drinking coffee that he had made a while back.

How was he so nonchalant?

“So, what have I missed so far?” Mark asked, setting down his cup on the coffee table in front of them.

“Oh, you’ve missed a lot.” Youra told him before grabbing his coffee cup and taking a sip from it.

It was funny how she had made such a big deal out of Mark her fingers just a while ago but now she was the one voluntarily drinking from his mug.

He turned his head toward her and leaned into the couch. “Oh yeah, like what?”

Youra absent-mindedly ran a finger around the rim of his mug. “I have a boyfriend now.”

He scoffed and chuckled. “Ha ha, very funny.” But when Youra didn’t laugh, he realised she was being serious. He took his mug back from her, much to his dismay. “What? When?”

“A few weeks ago. You remember Kim Taehyung, Namjoon’s brother?”

Mark nodded, due to the apparent lack of his ability to string words into sentences. He took a sip from his mug before setting it down again.

“It’s him.” Youra said with a soft smile playing on her lips.

Now that was unexpected.

“Isn’t he like 2 years younger than you? What happened to ‘I want to date someone like Song Joongki’? Taehyung’s nothing like Joong ki.” Mark knew he was rambling at this point but he found all of a sudden that his ability to speak was back, so he didn’t really have much control over himself apparently.

Youra punched his arm but he didn’t notice. “That was during my whole Descendants of the Sun phase. I still like Joong ki, and honestly I’d probably leave Taehyung if I could be with him,” She admitted with a chuckle. “But you know that’s not possible. Besides, Taehyung’s a nice guy.”

“He’s two years younger than you!”

“So? God, I hate when people bring up the between us, do you think I don’t know he’s younger than me? I don’t need the constant reminder!” Youra snapped. She didn’t expect this from Mark of all people.

“I’m sorry, it’s just that I’m really confused. Youra, you always said you wanted to date someone who was your age or older. And Taehyung’s obviously not either of those.”

“I know. It honestly came out of the blue, I didn’t expect myself to like him but it just happened.” She smiled as she thought back to how sweet and endearing Taehyung was, and Mark had to look away before he ended up shouting out of frustration. “He’s a good guy, he knew he was younger but he still tried asking me out and I thought I should give him a chance. And I’m glad I did.”

“So no more spending time with us then?” Mark asked, genuinely worried about what this meant. He had only gotten her back, and now she was potentially going away again?

“Don’t be silly, of course I’ll spend time with you and Jackson. No relationship is going to come in the way of our friendship.”

“And what if he asks you to stop hanging out with us? Then what? Will you still hang out with us then?”

“First of all, just because he asks me to not hang out with you two doesn’t mean I would stop, it’s my choice to hang out with whoever I want to. And secondly, you guys always come first, I don’t know why I have to explain that to you when you should know that already.” She reasoned, sounding exasperated.

Mark sat there silent. He felt somewhat reassured that she had said Jackson and him would always come first but at the same time, he knew that if Youra really liked Taehyung, there was a high chance she would end up forgetting about them without even realising.

“What’s gotten into you anyway? You’ve been acting so weird all afternoon.”

He shook his head. “I guess I’m just protective about you. The thought of you dating someone other than Jackson of course, hadn’t really occurred to me. I worry that you’ll be too busy ogling over your boyfriend to spend time with us.” Mark answered, knowing that ‘protective’ didn’t even begin to explain just what he felt for her but he had no choice. It seemed like she really liked this boy.

She patted his hand reassuringly and he had to resist the urge to shiver at the sudden contact. “I’ll always have time for you two. You guys mean so much to me.”

He sighed and looked at Youra.

Someone truly knew what they were saying when they said you only realise the importance of something when you lose it.

It f