It had been a week since Mark and Soori’s date and it was now the beginning of September. Despite all the events that had taken place within the first month of school, Soori felt like time was going by far too slow. She was already hoping for winter and Christmas to be coming around the corner sooner than later.

Mark and his friends were once again hanging out with Soori and the others. Things were still tense between Jaebum and Jinhee, but other than that everyone was happy with each other. Jimin had found a new group of friends, mainly revolving around the girls who threw themselves at him. No one really paid much attention to him anymore after the homecoming incident.

“So,” Jackson nonchalantly walked up to Soori while she was at her locker, “what do you plan to get Mark for his birthday?” he asked.

Soori hummed in thought for a moment, “I really have no idea… What do you think he would like?”

“He would love to receive anything from you, in my opinion.”

“Really? Then what if I get him lipstick? It’ll be a neon pink color or something.”

“Soori, I know you’re not going to give him something as ridiculous as that.”

“What? I think the neon pink will really bring out his lips. It’ll go really well with his skin complexion too.”

“You need mental help.”

“Says the man who didn’t even know who Yoona from SNSD was.”

“How does that mean I need mental help?!?!”

“Who doesn’t know Yoona???”

Serah was just walking up to the bickering friends, with Bambam at her side, “Now now kids, what seems to be the problem?”

“Nothing, ma’am,” both Jackson and Soori answered at the same time.

Serah chuckled lightly and shook her head, “So are we planning a birthday party for Mark this weekend?”

“Depends on what time you’ll be having the party. Both he and I have a theater rehearsal this Saturday,” Soori sighed.

“We’ll probably start the party at around 6:00. Does that sound good?”

“I’m down for that. What are you guys going to buy him?”

“Presents? Pfft, I’m planning this whole party for him. If he really needs a present from me he can my !”

“Uh. No,” Bambam suddenly intervened, subtly placing his hand on Serah’s waist, “That is my property.”

“Guys, we don’t need you reminding me and Jackson that we’re single.”

“Single? Jackson, you can get in a girl’s pants with one word. Soori, you are basically dating Mark.”

“We’re not dating!”

“Not officially, anyway,” Mark came up and slung his arm around Soori’s shoulders, “What’s up?”

Soori immediately shrugged him off, “Nothing, we’re just discussing weekend plans.”

“Oh! Speaking of. Soori, may I have the honor of taking you out on another date this weekend? After tech rehearsal?” Mark grinned, turning to face the girl.

Soori immediately grew flustered. She would have agreed without hesitation, if it weren’t the fact that she had just denied that she and Mark were dating and her friends were watching them.

“We’ll just leave you two alone now,” Jackson smirked and patted Mark’s shoulder before walking away with Serah and Bambam.

“Uh… Yeah, sure. I’d love to. As long as you drop me off at home first so I can get changed. You know I have a tendency to not really dress up nicely when we go to tech rehearsals.”

“You look nice in anything you wear though.”

“Yeah, but I kinda wanna look decent for a date. And not be dolled up in paint-covered clothing that may reek of sawdust and other substances.”

“Is this about looking good for all our future dates, or just this one in particular because you know it’ll be special?”

“What are you going on about now?”

“I mean, do you just want to get dressed up for this date because you know it’s a special event?”

“Um… No…”

“But you know about the special event, right?” Mark pouted.

“Uh…”

“Soori, are you serious?”

“Umm…” Soori feigned confusion and shrugged her shoulders.

Mark sighed and shook his head, “Think back to our first date. I told you about a specific event that’s coming up this week. Anyway, let’s get to class; the bell’s going to ring soon.”

~

It is now the weekend. September 4, 2014.

The previous night, Soori had gone crazy looking for the perfect gift for Mark. It took her at least an hour of searching the mall before she finally laid eyes on a gift she could give him. It wasn’t much, since she had a budget, but she loved it, and she was hoping Mark would like it too.

She bought him a snapback with the LA Lakers design on it. She hoped he liked the Lakers, she was never too sure which basketball team he liked, since they never discussed that. But she liked, no, loved, the Lakers. So even if Mark wasn’t a big fan of them, she’d find a way to make him wear the hat.

He and all his friends seem to be rather infatuated with these hats. With the exception of Bambam, who seems to avoid these hats at all cost.

Maybe snapbacks don’t go well with his hair style…

Soori thought one day when she took note of the boys and their hat wearing ways.

She placed the snapback into a birthday bag and stuffed it with several pieces of colorful tissue paper. Then, she had written a letter to Mark. Again, it was very simple.

“Mark,

I’ve known you for about a month now. It doesn’t really seem like a long time but to me, it feels like ten years. Which could be both a good thing and a bad thing. Since it’s you, it’s mainly a bad thing. <3

Anyway, I’m not entirely sure what you like… The main things about you that stuck to me are basketball and LA. So I’m hoping you’ll like the present I got for you~ It took me a pretty long time to find the right gift for you! So you better wear this thing often! If not I’ll castrate you. And take the gift back.

Happy Birthday loser,

Jang Soori~”

When she was satisfied with what she wrote, she placed the letter into an envelope and sealed it. She then placed the envelope into the gift bag and brought it with her on her way to the tech rehearsal.

~

Soori was halfway done painting some of the box sets when Mark had finally shown up. He apologized to everyone for arriving late and said that his alarm broke and his parents forgot to wake him up since they had to take his siblings out to other places. Ms. Henan and the others forgave him and simply told him to get to work with Soori.

As soon as Mark had kneeled down next to her, Soori turned to him with a huge grin and screamed, “HAPPY BIRTHDAY!”

Mark’s eyes widened in surprised at the sudden outburst, and soon enough, everyone in the theater had yelled the same greeting to the red-haired boy. He chuckled lightly and bowed his head, thanking everyone for the greeting. Then he turned to Soori. “I thought you would have forgotten.”

“Please, I remember everyone’s birthday. I was pretending to forget it was your birthday the other day. Anyway, I got you a gift… But you can’t open it until after tech rehearsal,” Soori grinned at him before turning back to her painting job.

“Aww, babe you didn’t have to get me a gift.”

“I felt obligated to,” Soori shrugged, “and seriously, stop calling me ‘babe’.”

“But I feel obligated to.”

“You should only feel obligated to if I was actually dating you. Which I am not, and never will be,” she chuckled.

“Ouch, you’re hurting my feelings.  Can’t you be nice to me today? It’s my birthday!”

“I could… But… I think I won’t,” Soori said while sticking her tongue out at him and handing him a paint brush, “And even if it’s your birthday, you came here to work, so let’s get painting.”

The duo proceeded to spend the next 6 hours together, going from job to job: painting, helping to build sets, helping Heesung with lights (otherwise known as sneaking out to laze around), a lunch break, and then back to painting and building.

Once the 6 hours were up, Mark and Soori were exhausted as they walked home together.

“So… We’re still going out on a date, right?” Mark asked while looking at Soori, and eyeing the gift bag in her hands.

“Of course! But just remember that your parents want you back by 6:00.”

“Ugh, why do they even want me back so early…”

“Hey, parents want to spend time with their children on their birthday too, you know.”

“I guess… Well, I’ll meet up with you at the café in a few minutes then?” Mark asked as they approached Soori’s house.

She nodded in response before handing the gift bag to him, “Happy birthday again, please wear it. I’ll see you in a few!” Soori grinned before running into the house.

Mark smiled a little and waved back to her before looking inside the gift bag. He pulled out the snapback and chuckled lightly as he looked at Soori’s house, immediately putting the hat on before he made his way to his home.

During his walk home, he noticed the letter included in Soori’s gift. He took it out and started to read it, a small smile starting to form on his lips as he did. At the end of the letter he just chuckled and shook his head in amusement.

Only Soori can pull off making a threat seem scary and cute all at once.

~

After getting changed, the couple had met up at the café, dressed in semi-formal clothes and void of the smell of sawdust.

Soori immediately smiled upon seeing him, “You’re wearing the snapback!”

“How could I not? My favorite person in the world gave it to me,” he winked.

She rolled her eyes and shook her head, avoiding eye contact with him, “Shut up.”

“Aawww, are you being shy??” Mark chuckled.

“Shut up. Are we going on the date or shall I just leave you alone here?” Soori playfully glared.

“Would you really do that to the birthday boy?”

In response, Soori stood up from her seat and started to make her way for the door. Mark’s eyes widened and he jumped up from his seat, taking Soori’s wrist and pulling her back to him, “Okay I’m sorry, I’ll stop teasing you… Just don’t leave me like that. It breaks my heart.”

At that comment Soori’s face slowly turned red, but she pushed those feelings away. She knew Mark was still a player, after all. And like those feelings, she also pushed Mark away and playfully glared at him, “You’re such a flirt.”

“Well I’m not a player just because I’m good looking,” he chuckled as the two sat back down.

~

It was now finally six in the afternoon. Soori and Mark’s date consisted of ice cream, shopping, walking, and lots of subconscious flirting.

They were now on their way back to Mark’s house for his surprise birthday party. Soori was dressed in a decent pair of black jeans and a yellow top that was lace around her cleavage and rather loose around her waist so that it somewhat flowed with the light breeze. Mark, on the other hand, was dressed in a plaid yellow and white t-shirt along with regular black jeans and the Lakers Snapback that Soori bought him.

They really did look like a couple with a matching outfit.

Soori had texted Serah three minutes before she and Mark arrived at his house. Mark said it’d be okay if Soori had went home since they had already finished their date, but she insisted on staying with him until it got late. Mark was secretly extremely happy that she decided against leaving.

As soon as they opened the door, all of their friends, along with several other people from their class, jumped up and screamed “Happy Birthday!” before cheering and jumping around the house. Mark was frozen still at his spot with wide eyes. After a few seconds, he had calmed down from the shock and was smiling widely while he thanked everyone. Then, he turned to Soori.

“Did you plan this?”

“Please, I was just part of keeping you away while they set up the party. All of this was planned by the new class couple, Serah and Bambam.”

Mark immediately went off to find the couple while Soori trailed behind him. They found the two, along with the rest of their friends, lounging in the den.

“Happy birthday!” the guys all got up and greeted Mark, who immediately thanked them before approaching Serah and Bambam.

“You guys are the best, thanks so much for the party.”

“Oh it’s the least we could do for you, and sorry the party had to cut your guys’ date short.”

“Oh no dude thank you for cutting our date short,” Soori joked, causing Mark to look at her with raised eyebrows.

“Excuse you, you love our dates. I get you ice cream!”

“Ice cream is a deal breaker…” she chuckled lightly before grabbing Mark and Serah’s hands. “But nevermind the date, let’s party!”

~

Soori decided to stay behind with Mark after the party ended at midnight since she knew her mom and brother would probably still be out at her cousin’s and she didn’t want to be home alone.

Mark was just thanking the boys for coming and thanking Bambam and Serah again for throwing the party before closing the door. With a small sigh, he leaned back against the door. “That was the best birthday ever.”

“And now you’re seventeen! Are you getting your license anytime soon?” Soori asked as the two took a seat on the couch in the living room.

“I hope so. Once I get a license my parents should be okay if I try out for sports again. I’m thinking about joining the basketball team.”

“That’s nice. I’ll be sure to watch all of your games!”

“Just like a true girlfriend, huh?” Mark smirked at her, causing her to blush and turn away.

Quickly changing the topic, she stood up, “We should clean up the mess… I don’t want your parents getting angry with us for the party.”

Mark chuckled to himself as he watched Soori start to gather up any cups or cans of soda that were lying around. After a few moments Soori turned to look at Mark and raised an eyebrow, “I wasn’t kidding. Get up and start cleaning.”

With a roll of his eyes, Mark nodded and stood up, walking off to grab the vacuum before joining Soori in cleaning up the house.

By the time it was 1:30 in the morning the duo had finished cleaning off each inch of the house. They plopped back down on the couch and Soori immediately rested her head against the back of the couch with a yawn.

“I called my brother to pick me up but he said I’d have to wait until 3. Apparently they’re really busy over there,” she whined.

“They would let you stay at my house that late?” Mark raised an eyebrow.

“They’d rather have me be here with you in the safe confines of a house rather than having either of us walking alone on the streets at this time of day.”

“I see… Well you seem tired… You can go ahead and sleep, I’ll wake you up when Hyuk Hyung gets here.”

Without any reply, Soori just closed her eyes while still sitting up. With a soft chuckle, Mark slowly wrapped his arm around her shoulders and gently pushed her head down to lay on his shoulder. Soori didn’t mind the action and even shifted her body a little to get a more comfortable position on his shoulder. Within seconds, she was fast asleep.

~

Hyuk hesitated on whether or not he should ring the doorbell. He didn’t want to wake anyone up since it was 3 in the morning. However, Soori wouldn’t answer her phone and he didn’t have Mark’s number. He was silently freaking out and wondering what they were doing. He figured to give it another ten minutes before he rang the doorbell.

Fortunately ten minutes didn’t need to pass before Mark’s dad had gotten home.

The dad had only met Hyuk once, so he cautiously approached him with a raised eyebrow. Hyuk quickly explained the situation to Mr. Tuan before the father nodded and took out his keys to let Hyuk in.

When they were in, they were immediately greeted by the sight of Soori’s head lying on Mark’s shoulder with his arm wrapped around her body and his head lying on top of hers. They were both fast asleep.

The two men gave each other a knowing look at Mr. Tuan once again snapped a photo of the sleeping couple before they proceeded to wake the two teenagers up.

Once Mark and Soori were awake, they were flustered at the situation they had found themselves in. Mark immediately explained himself to make sure Hyuk wouldn’t kick his .

“I swear we just fell asleep while waiting for you to come pick her up! She was tired so I let her sleep, I really tried to stay awake but I guess I dozed off.”

“Yeah… Just be glad it’s your birthday and I found this instead of something else. Next time you better plead for your life,” Hyuk chuckled slightly, somehow the happy tone making the threat seem even scarier, “Thanks for letting me in Mr. Tuan, and I hope you had a nice party Mark. Goodbye now, good night.”

Soori smiled and bowed politely to Mr. Tuan before waving goodbye to Mark and leaving the house with her brother. While they were in the car Soori texted Mark.

“I hope you had a nice birthday. It really was a lot of fun! I’ll see you on Monday <3”

Mark was just changing into his pajamas (which was just a pair of boxers) when he received the text from Soori. A smile immediately plastered on his lips from the message and he texted her back.

“It was the best birthday I could possibly have thanks to you ;) Thanks for being with me all day, babe. I’ll see you on Monday.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Talk about a late update

I mean

Mark's birthday was 2 months ago. Pfft. Ma bad.

I hate finals. End of story.

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adri_kook - Sorry I can't make them a thing yet. Please wait another 61309487 updates thank you- But thanks for your support <3

thelillcat - You shall just have feels everywhere from here on out

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ruseml - Only time will tell :3 I'm sorry for the late update

katcha - You're just going to get more and more fluff now~

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