The girl stepped aside and let the family in. Mark was the last to enter, and he just stayed next to Soori as he took his shoes off and replaced them with the house slippers.

He smirked a little before looking at Soori. He had to admit, she looked beyond cute. She was wearing a simple dress (yes, she cleaned with the dress on) and her hair was curled, small clips holding the hair in place so it wouldn't fall onto her face. Mark liked it. It was cute compared to the uniform and her natural wavy hair.

Then, his eyes fell onto the child in her arms.

“So, is that one of your children?” he asked.

Soori raised an eyebrow and nodded, “Yes. Liam here is my baby.”

“Well then say hello to your new daddy, Liam,” Mark cooed, chuckling softly as he played with the boy's hands. He made cute faces at the boy, laughing as Liam squealed with joy.

Soori couldn’t help but to smile softly at the sight. She had always felt an attraction towards men who were good with babies and children.

“Can I hold him?” Mark suddenly asked.

Soori blinked a few times and then shook her head, holding Liam tighter to her body, “No he’s my baby! Besides, we’re eating soon!”

“Aw… I’m almost jealous of him. I wish you’d hug me like that,” Mark playfully frowned.

“Tch…” Soori shook her head and walked away, leaving Mark to quickly follow her into the living room where a good majority of the guests had somehow gathered and made themselves fit.

Eunhee made her way over to Soori and got up on her tip-toes to poke Liam’s cheek. The baby giggled in response and made little flails with his arms. Soori and Eunhee immediately cooed at this reaction and they all giggled.

Mark watched from a distance, a small smile playing on his lips while he watched Soori play with the kid. Somehow, the sight warmed his heart. For a moment, he imagined Soori older and playing with another baby, their child.

Wait. What.

Mark’s eyes widened as his face flushed from his thoughts and he mentally shook his head, turning away and forcing himself not to look back at Soori.

“Hey there,” Samuel walked up to Mark.

“Oh, hi,” Mark cleared his throat, his previous thought refusing to escape his mind.

“Samuel,” the boy smiled as he held out his hand for Mark.

Mark nodded and quickly introduced himself, bowing a little to the boy out of politeness before shaking his hand. Samuel bowed back.

“You go to the same school as Soori and I right? I think I’ve seen you with her lately,” Samuel smiled a little.

“Oh… Yeah… You go to the same school as us?” Mark tilted his head, he couldn’t remember a time in which he had seen the boy in front of him.

Samuel chuckled and nodded, “Yeah. I have a tendency to get past unseen so that’s probably why you’ve never seen me.”

Mark nodded slowly, “I see… So… You a family friend of Soori’s or…?”

“I’m her cousin,” Samuel explained.

“Oh,” the red haired boy nodded.

“So tell me something… You have a thing for my cousin?” Samuel raised an eyebrow.

That caught Mark off guard, and he nearly choked on the air, “W-What-”

“Do you like my cousin?” Samuel asked again.

“I uh… What?"

"Like I said, I've seen you guys together," Samuel chuckled before letting out a small sigh, "Besides... Everyone else made me come over to double check," he muttered, casually tilting his head over to where the other cousins were subtly glancing over. 

Mark nodded slowly, blinking a few times, "Um... I..."

“Samuel!” Soori suddenly called out, walking to the guys. Liam was now in Eunhee’s arms.

Samuel gave a small glance to Mark before turning to his cousin, “Yes?”

Soori glanced over at Mark as well before quickly disregarding him, “I need to talk to you.”

“Alright… If you’ll excuse us then, Mark.”

Mark nodded and watched as the cousins walked off to a secluded corner.

“Why are you talking to him?” Soori hissed.

“Um… He’s a guest? Besides, he’s our age. Why not?” Samuel chuckled.

“He’s an annoyance!” the girl whined.

Samuel rolled her eyes, “Alright, what did he do to you?”

“ing player…” Soori groaned, crossing her arms.

“You seem bipolar when it comes to players, you know.”

“What? How?”

“You like Jimin. You hate Mark.”

“You know why I like Jimin!”

“Yeah yeah yeah... He helped you one day when you were in trouble. Came swooping down like your knight in shining armor yeah I know.”

“So there’s a difference.”

“So what if Mark suddenly saved you one day?” Samuel smirked, crossing his arms as he gave Soori a smug look.

His cousin raised an eyebrow, “What do you mean?”

“You hate spiders right?”

“Yah Yoo Samuel I will not hesitate to end your life!”

“Just kidding, calm yourself down. Go carry one of the kids they seem to calm you down.” And with that, Samuel was off, heading back to where Mark was leisurely talking to Eunhee – mainly talking to the baby in her arms.

Soori sighed and followed Samuel to Mark and Eunhee.

“So your name is Liam? My name is Mark,” Mark cooed softly to the baby.

Eunhee chuckled softly as she stared at Liam, every now and then glancing at the red haired boy in front of her. She understood immediately why the other cousins seemed worried that this one would steal Soori's heart; he was as cute as he was hot.

“Liam baby!!” Soori suddenly cooed, kneeling down in front of the baby, gently grabbing at his hands and letting his small baby fingers wrap around her thumbs.

“Hey, I was trying to become friends with him!” Mark suddenly whined.

“Relax, Liam loves everyone, he probably already considers you a friend,” Soori chuckled, not bothering to look at the red head.

Mark frowned for a moment before teasingly pushing Soori away and starting to play with the baby. Soori gaped at Mark before playfully pushing him back. They continued back and forth like this, Liam watching them while bursting into laughter.

Eunhee and Samuel watched with amused eyes as Mark and Soori fought for Liam’s attention. Every now and then, the two family friends would give each other knowing looks and just chuckled while shaking their heads.

“Kids!! Come eat!!!!” The adults suddenly called out, making Mark and Soori stop fighting over Liam.

Liam was given back to his mother, Eunhee’s elder sister, and the four teenagers went to the kitchen together to grab some food.

Mark and Soori were standing next to each other as they picked out the foods they wanted to have. This did not go by unnoticed by the aunts, uncles, and their parents.

“Soori, do you and Mark go to the same school?” Samuel’s mom asked.

“Huh?” Soori looked up, “Oh… Yeah, we do. Why?” she asked politely.

“Nothing, nothing.”

“Do you have guys have classes together?” Mark’s mother asked, her eyes shaped into small crescent moons as she stared at the two.

It was safe to say, all the adults who had seen the two already wanted them together. Parents these days.

“Yeah we do… We actually have a majority of our classes together,” Mark answered.

“I see…” the father nodded.

Mark and Soori glanced at each other and shrugged.

“Oh by the way Soori, would you mind watching over the babies again? The adults are planning to have a good old family poker tournament and I’m almost positive the other kids would try to find some way out of watching all the babies,” Soori's mom chuckled.

“Oh… Sure I wouldn’t mind,” Soori smiled.

“Mark, be sure to help her!” his mother chimed.

“Yes ma’am…” Mark sighed. Deep inside, he was happy to help Soori, but on the other hand, there had to be a reason the others didn’t want to help watch a few babies. Or in fact, it’s probably more than a few. Soori’s aunt did say all didn’t she? That doesn’t sound like it’d be two or three kids.

Soori snickered a little, “Thought you liked kids.”

“Of course I do. But maybe not on a weekend with…” Mark glanced over to the adults, deciding to change his words, “…Not at a party on a weekend.”

~

After dinner, Soori and Mark were alone with the kids in Von’s room.

There were about eight children there. Five of them were of five years or older, and the other three were four years or younger.

One of the five year olds, Soori’s niece Evangeline, decided to come and rest on the girl’s lap.

Soori smiled and wrapped her arms around the girl’s tiny body, looking at the video that was playing on Evangeline’s mother’s iPad.

Evangeline’s twin, Naomi, and their best friend Maelin crowded around Soori’s body to also watch what was playing on the iPad.

It was an episode of Team Umi Zoomi.

Soori ended up watching the episode with them, resting her chin on top of Evangeline’s head.

Mark just watched from the sidelines, glancing up to see what the younger ones were up to. They all seemed cozy in their cribs, though occasionally one would cry out to be carried or fed or changed.

Since Soori was so busy with the elder children, Mark took the initiative with the younger ones.

Soori glanced over at Mark every now and then when he had to change their diapers or feed them milk.

It was a nice sight, Soori always loved watching a man take care of children and play with them. It warmed her heart and she couldn’t help but smile. Of course, she hid the smile and quickly looked over at the other two elder children or back down at what the girls were watching so Mark wouldn’t have noticed. 

Mark would glance over at Soori while she watched the girls’ show with them. Every now and then, she would point at the screen and ask questions such as: “What’s that?” “What is he doing?” “Who are they rescuing?”

He couldn’t help but chuckle; he recognized those questions as a fairly easy and simple way to teach kids to analyze something. Even if it was something as simple as, “What color are his shoes?” the kids were learning something.

Once the younger ones were ones were asleep and Mark was just cradling the last one in his arms, he watched Soori interacting with Evangeline, Naomi, and Maelin. He never thought he’d see such a cute side to Soori.

The way she sometimes attacked her nieces with kisses when they were being cute, the cute voice she put on when talking to the babies, every small interaction she had with the children… Mark had felt that within this one night, he had learned more about Soori than he has the week he’s known her.

Finally, about another half hour later, Evangeline, Naomi, and Maelin had all fallen asleep while watching the show.

The last two elder children were still playing with their toys as Mark helped Soori put the girls onto the bed; luckily Von’s bed was big enough for all of them.

A small yawn escaped Soori’s lips as she stretched her arms out, taking her phone out from her pocket to check the time.

“Just barely eleven…” she mumbled.

“Only eleven? I thought it was already past midnight,” Mark chuckled.

Soori smiled and shook her head, taking a seat against the wall. Mark soon sat down next to her. The two sat in silence for a moment while watching the last two children playing with their toys.

The last two were Kyungri and Jeno. Both of them were new children for Soori, so she assumed they were kids of her aunt’s friends.

Again, Soori yawned and she couldn’t help but let her eyes close. She struggled to keep them open and tried straightening herself out and rubbed at her eyes, continuously checking on her phone, anything to keep her awake.

Mark took note of that and after a few moments of watching her, he reached out to wrap his arm around her shoulders, pulling her to rest on his shoulder.

“Just sleep. I’ll handle the last two,” he whispered.

“But… You already did a lot more work than I did with the kids…” Soori countered, too tired to even complain or hit Mark for suddenly pulling her to his shoulder without any warning. She was so tired she even found his shoulder comfortable to lay down on.

“It’s fine. I got to spend some time with you. Even if we didn’t really talk… Any moment with you is worth it,” he smiled and rubbed her arm.

Soori didn’t reply and let her eyes flutter closed. Within minutes, she was asleep in Mark’s arms.

~

Ever since Soori fell asleep, Eunhee was the first to walk in. She was looking for Liam. When she entered, she was about to whisper something but then noticed the position Mark and Soori were in.

Mark smiled at her and lifted a finger to his lips, signaling for Eunhee to stay quiet.

The girl in return just crossed her arms and smiled knowingly at the man. Without saying anything, she walked out of the room, slowly and quietly closing the door behind her.

Eunhee walked into the loft where the rest of the cousins and family friends were gathered.

She just smiled widely while sitting down next to Samuel.

“They’re cuddling,” she laughed.

“Who’s cuddling?” another one of Soori’s cousins, Michael, asked.

Michael was a senior, he went to a different school though.

“Mark and Soori?” Samuel guessed.

“Someone’s cuddling with my Soori????” Michael outburst, quickly pausing the intense game of basketball he was having with another cousin, Jiho.

Michael and Jiho were practically best friends. They were the same age and had all the same interests and hobbies. Their minds even worked the same exact way.

“Dude she’s not yours,” Eunhee laughed.

“But you know what I mean!! Why would Soori let another man touch her anyway?”

“She’s asleep.”

“WHAT IF HE HER?!?!” Jiho gasped.

“Oh please they’re in a room full of babies,” Eunhee rolled her eyes.

“Not to mention, my brother would not do such a thing!” another boy perked up.

“Oppa is nice,” a girl grinned widely.

Eunhee smiled at them, “Are you guys Mark’s siblings?”

“Yeah! I’m Joey and she’s Grace,” Joey introduced themselves.

“Joey and Grace. It’s a pleasure meeting both of you,” Eunhee grinned at them before turning back to Soori’s cousins, “See, Mark wouldn’t do anything bad.”

Samuel raised an eyebrow at the two siblings, “How old are you guys?”

“I’m fourteen,” Joey answered.

“I’m ten!” Grace smiled.

The cousins all nodded.

“I suppose Joey would know better than Grace, we’ll trust him,” Samuel whispered to Eunhee and they both nodded.

~~~~~~~~

The amount of work I've done this past week should not be allowed ugh

This little update is in hopes for y'all to start shipping Mark and Soori a little more despite what he's done the last 8 chapters XD

coughcommentsarelovedandappreciatedcough

Comment Replies

minnymein - I love you too~!! <3

pinkypn - Sweetest little girl on Earth remember? :P There are reasons why she likes Jimin c: 

Kim_Hyojin_Sweethear - Dude she'd kick his anyday. As long as kids weren't around

khayjun-ho - That's the hope :3

lovinkpop1004 - Thanks girl~! <3