The theater final was never something to really worry about. It was literally a combination of all their past tests put into one huge test. Majority of the class zoomed right through it, but of course there were one or two students who didn’t finish just as quickly as the others.

Luckily, by the time those students finished, there was still a grand total of thirty minutes to spare doing whatever the heck they wanted.

“Alright students, I’m giving you a reminder of some extra credit you can do over break. The dance clubs and schools normally have a lot of recitals and performances that they perform over the holidays. Heesung, Tiffany, Tao, and Jin normally handle these performances with the help of the house committee; however, they will be unable to assist this time around. If I could have at least four volunteers to take their job I will give you twenty extra credit points. In addition, the dance instructors will be paying you for your job,” Ms. Henan announced.

“Come on Soori, please do it! You’re shadowing me! You should be the first one to go up and volunteer to take my spot!” Heesung said while talking to the young freshman.

“Well… I mean… I suppose I could try to-”

“Yay! Yo Henan, I got one volunteer over here!” Heesung yelled while dragging Soori over to Henan to discuss the paperwork.

Mark’s ears perked up when he heard Soori was volunteering. Jinyoung looked over at him and just chuckled, already knowing what was going through his head. “Alright, alright. Go sign up lover boy.”

Mark grinned and ran up to where Ms. Henan was explaining the job to Soori and Mae. Then he looked back at Jinyoung and gestured for him to join him, “Come on. Let’s both do it. You need the money!”

Jinyoung sighed before getting up and joining Mark in the group.

“Four new freshmen to take over the job, huh? I hope you guys will be able to do this throughout the rest of your high school career, then,” Ms. Henan chuckled before explaining to everyone what the job would look like and how everything would go.

When the bell rung, all the students cheered since they are now officially out of school and on winter break. Mark and Jinyoung walk out of the classroom alongside Soori, all chatting about the extra credit.

“Do you think there’ll be hot girls?” Mark suddenly asked.

“Heesung Unnie said the performers should be about a year younger than us or our age. I assume they’re flexible so…” Soori shrugged, “They should be hot enough in your standards.”

“What kind of person do you think I am?”

“, erted, immature-”

“Nevermind,” Mark sighed and shook his head.

Jinyoung chuckled a little bit, “Hey, it’s not like she’s too far off. I think her description of you is spot on.”

“I’m still trying to change you know,” Mark frowned.

“Yeah how’s that working out for you, lover boy?”

“At least I’m trying…” the targeted red head sighed.

Soori chuckled in amusement, “Hey, we should stop by the café!”

“I can’t go today, I’ve got things to do,” Jinyoung sighed.

“Whaattttttt? Man this . Everyone is busy and we just got on break,” Soori pouted.

“Hey, I’ll go with you,” Mark offered.

“Better than going alone, I guess…”

~

The couple had a quick snack at the café before Mark took Soori home. She had been receiving multiple texts from her cousins. Not like she was surprised, it was the first day of winter break, of course they had all sorts of family things to do.

What Soori wasn’t expecting, was to find all her cousins waiting patiently on her front porch for her. She immediately turned to Mark.

“Go home don’t meet my cousins again, please. I am begging you right now,” she said with a hint of urgency in her eyes.

“What? Why? Do they not like me?” Mark asked with a frown.

“It’s not that I just-”

“Soori!!” Michael screamed, running over to her. The said girl mentally cursed, and turned to face her cousin while Mark remained standing by her side.

“Oh, the other babysitter. You guys on another date?” Michael asked while giving the two a teasing look.

“No-” “Yes.”

Soori turned and glared at Mark. “Really, you’re not helping me-”

“Hey it’s not a big deal Soori. Now that you guys are officially dating, we can all get to know the guy,” Michael grinned.

“We’re not-”

“I’d love to meet the whole family!” Mark grinned widely.

“Mark!” Soori whined, slapping his arm.

Michael just snickered before grabbing onto Mark’s wrist, tugging him over to the cousins. Soori trudged along as she followed the two boys.

~

Almost immediately after meeting the family, Mark regretted telling them that he and Soori were dating. Yes, he liked the family. Yes, he was happy to have met all of them. But man, were they scary. “If you hurt our baby girl, your hair is noticeable from a mile away. Watch out.” “All of us love Soori, one wrong move can leave you being the most unlovable man on Earth.” “According to Samuel, you’re a player aren’t you? We warned Soori about guys like you…”

Fortunately enough for Mark, once everyone was done threatening him they moved on to a happier topic. That day’s topic was what they were going to do for the entire break.

Soori sat down next to Mark after finishing bringing everyone their drinks. “I told you to leave,” she spoke.

“Yeah… But I kind of like your family… And I feel like I just learned a lot about you,” Mark smiled.

“Oh yeah? Like what?”

“Well for one you’re a princess to everyone in the family. There was a time when you refused to even have dresses in your room. You didn’t know how to do your own makeup until about five months ago. And-”

Soori quickly cut him off, “Alright, alright I get it… Remind me to ask Joey to spill more of your secrets,” she chuckled.

“What? Why would I remind you to do something like that?!”

“Sometimes when a person really likes another person they accidentally remind them of the things they originally said they weren’t going to remind them about,” she grinned and shrugged.

“Hey lovebirds. You wanna go bowling?”

“We’re not dat-” “Sounds like fun!”

“Seriously, I hate you,” Soori glared at Mark.

“It’s okay Soori! At least your boyfriend is willing to get know us!!” Hyuk snickered.

“Oppa!” Soori whined, but nonetheless followed everyone into the cars to make their way to the nearest bowling alley. Luckily for Soori, it was just her, Samuel, Mark, and Hyuk in their car. It wasn’t as awkward as it could have been if she was with someone else like Michael.

“Mark, I still haven’t accepted you as Soori’s boyfriend, I hope you know that,” Hyuk said during the car ride.

Soori sighed, “Probably because we’re not even dating and he’s not my boyfriend.”

Hyuk just gave Soori a skeptical look and chuckled, “Yeah okay sure.”

“I know you don’t, Hyung. And I’ll do whatever it takes for you to accept me, because Soori means a lot to me,” Mark said sincerely.

Samuel simply smiled to himself at the sight, finding it rather amusing how Hyuk scared Mark while Soori seemed more than ready to just jump out of the car. It was something he knew he wouldn’t mind seeing for the rest of his life.

~

“So the teams are set up like this…”

Of course, Soori had several cousins and in laws in the family, not even counting the adults who were unable to make it with them that day. But to narrow the family down, Mark was with Hyuk and Samuel while Soori was with Michael and Jiho.

“Wait you’re not putting the lovebirds together?” Jiho gasped.

“Pft. When have we ever put the lovebirds together on their first day with the family,” one of the elder cousins scoffed while laughing in amusement.

Mark was a little upset that he wasn’t on the same team as Soori, but he had to admit, he really enjoyed how the family made him feel like he was a part of them already. Although he knew they’d be scarier if he was in a real relationship with Soori, he was glad that they seemed so accepting of him already.

“Alright, so things are a little mixed up today. Normally we do have the couples play against each other and then of course the rival cousins, but that seems to be different with the addition of Mark. So Samuel, your new rival will have to be Michael, since Jiho is on his team now. Jiho will be facing off with his girlfriend, and Soori and Mark will face off with each other. Everyone else will face off with their usual partners,” the eldest announced.

“Is this serious?” Mark whispered to Soori, she nodded in response.

“My family loves to have competitions with each other,” she chuckled softly, watching as the first pair went up to bowl first. “I wouldn’t be too worried, it’s all just for fun anyway. And of course, you’ll go easy on me, right?” she turned to him while giving a sweet smile.

Mark just chuckled lightly and pinched her cheek, “Maybe if I get a kiss,” he smirked while tapping his cheek. Soori playfully gagged and turned away from him, causing him to pout a little bit. “Ouch, babe.”

~

When the bowling rounds were over, Soori ended up beating Mark by a total of 13 points – 105 to 92.

“Hey, Mark, I get you love her and all but you didn’t need to go easy on her,” Jiho nudged him playfully.

Mark just laughed lightly and shrugged his shoulders, “I didn’t want her to go and sulk if I beat her, though.”

Soori just rolled her eyes while snickering to herself, “Oh hush up, Mark. You tried real hard to win against me, you don’t have to lie to make yourself sound cool.”

The cousins ‘ooh’ed and playfully nudged Mark due to Soori’s comment. He just laughed it off while nonchalantly wrapping his arm around her shoulder, “Babe, please. I gave you a handicap. I could have destroyed you if I wanted to,” he said with a smirk.

Soori laughed and playfully shoved him away, “Yeah okay, if you say so.”

“Hey lovebirds, calm down it’s just a game!!” Michael and Jiho snickered at them. Soori giggled in response and just shrugged her shoulders at them.

Samuel walked up to Mark while the two devil cousins teased Soori while she just laughed along and shook her head in amusement.

“The family seems to really like you,” Samuel said to Mark. This one statement caused Mark’s eyes to light up.

“You think so?”

“Well they definitely don’t hate you,” Samuel chuckled, “You’re really starting to fall for my cousin, aren’t you?”

“I guess you could say that…” Mark smiled softly before sighing, “It’s hard though… You know I’m a player… And when a girl starts flirting with me, I can’t help but to flirt back. It’s a terrible habit and it’s hard to stop.”

“Are you telling me you’d give up on her just because a few girls want you hitting on them?” Samuel raised an eyebrow.

“No! Of course not, I just… Bad habits die hard.”

“If you stay by her side, maybe those bad habits will die easy. I can see you become a different person when you’re around her. Girls have been staring at you, you haven’t even noticed since Soori’s around.”

“Really?” Mark asked, clueless that there was a group of girls giggling while pointing at him at that exact moment.

“There’s a group of them right now, you haven’t noticed?”

“Not at all…”

“You’ve fallen hard,” Samuel chuckled while smiling at him.