- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

“Hey, no wait!” Mark called out, jogging up after the trio. However, none of them complied with his demand and continued moving. Realizing that they weren’t going to listen to him, the boy decided to run ahead. Once he had surpassed them, he spun around and planted his feet firmly on the ground, ultimately blocking their path. “Can you just give me a second and let me explain?” he pleaded.

Jia blinked at him, glanced down at Joonho then back up at Mark. “Explain what?” she questioned curtly, having no idea what he was referring to.

“About the other day. You know, during lunch…” He trailed off from his statement, not really knowing what else to say. Jia batted her lashes at him and he couldn’t help but grow flustered. This new alienated sensation forced Mark to turn away and hide his face from her line of sight. “I didn’t know it was you.” He coughed.

“How could you not know it was me?” Jia hitched her lips to the side as her brows knitted together. “It’s not like I had a new face or something. Who were you expecting it to be then? You said no one ever goes back there,” she pointed out.

“I-I…” Mark stammered, stagnated. This was the first time he had ever choked while conversing with another party and the fact that it was with a girl he barely knew baffled even him. He didn’t understand why he was reacting in such a way. He was losing his cool. The façade he had taken years to build and perfect slowly crumbling and withering away and all because of one (very strange yet charming) girl. He was supposed to be a suave and smooth ladies’ man but looking at him right now, you wouldn’t even be able to tell that he had broken a countless number of hearts.

“Look.” Once he calmed his nerves down, Mark inhaled and then exhaled. Hesitantly, he shifted his head back toward Jia and locked eyes with her. “I’m sorry. It was a misunderstanding. From far away you looked—different. So I just assumed you were somebody else. That’s why when I realized it was you, I told you I was kidding about you leaving.”

“But you said you were waiting for somebody and that part seemed to be true,” Jia rebutted.

“No, no. Eunmi wasn’t the person I was talking about when I told you that. She just showed up out of nowhere. I guess she followed me out when I left the lunch room,” he explained.

“Oh, she wasn’t?” Jia tilted her head to the side and pursed her lips out. “Then who was?”

“Uh…” There was a long pause as Mark ransacked his brain for a response. The thing was he didn’t even know who he was talking about when he had told her that. He could say that he had lied. Tell her he hadn’t been waiting for anyone and say that he had just wanted to be alone when he told her that. However, he wasn’t able to do so because deep down, he recognized the fact that he had been waiting for someone (even if he didn’t realize it until this moment).

He had been waiting for the girl in the tree.

The girl who smiled so brightly and trusted so easily.

The girl who allowed him to be himself.

The girl who erased any traces of the burdensome façade he lugged around.

The girl who effortlessly tore off his mask when no one else could.

The girl who managed to make his heart stutter with a simple bat of her lashes.

“Isn’t it obvious, noona?” Minwoo jumped in, a smirk planted on his lips. Both Mark and Jia directed their attention to him, anticipating what he had to say. “He was waiting for you,” he said in a duh manner, like it was the easiest thing in the world to figure out.

“Eh?” Jia said as she looked at Mark, whose eyes were big and rounded, making him resemble a deer blinded by headlights.

“It’s clear as daylight. You said nobody goes to that place with the exception of you two. And because he couldn’t recognize you, he told you he was waiting for someone else. But when he realized it was you, he said he was only kidding so that you wouldn’t leave,” he explained. “Isn’t that right?” Minwoo looked at Mark with that smug smirk still plastered across his face.

“W-what?” Mark stuttered, clearing his throat. “I was—I uh… No. That’s not the case at all,” he lied, slightly embarrassed that he had been caught by a kid (even though there was only a few years difference in their ages).

Suddenly, they heard bells ringing followed by a happy tune. It was the ice cream truck coming around. “Noona! I want lemonade! Let’s go!” Joonho shrieked as he tugged Jia away, leav