7:30 AM

“I can't believe I'm skipping work to stalk my son.” Jinyoung said staring at the ceiling. He was still in bed, using his day off (forced day off) to wake up a bit later. Jaebum was still sleeping beside him. They had to make this as real as possible and everyone would be doing their parts. Youngjae, BamBam, and Yugyeom had already left, dressed in their school uniforms, appearing to anyone to be walking to school when in reality, they were going to be walking around the street and then hanging out in the backyard of the house.

8:00 AM

Jaebum felt his eyes open and yawned. He was not made for waking up before 10 AM. Even if he did agree to this idea of stalking Mark. To be honest, it was an idea that did come from his side of the family. Mark was the mysterious one and everyone wanted to know what he did during the day. Even Jackson, who spent the most time with Mark didn't know what he did exactly. There were times when Mark would just leave and sometimes Jaebum when filming outside of the studio would even see Mark around Seoul and there was always the times Jackson would leave the house to visit Shinyoung.

“Good morning.” He heard Jinyoung say. Jaebum rested on his elbows to see Jinyoung shirtless staring at the closet.

“I have another idea. Let's stalk Mark tomorrow and we can spend today doing something else.”

“Age hasn't changed you at all. Tomorrow is Saturday. Mark knows that we'd all be home. I'm trying to decide what sweater I should wear. I suggest you get dressed because pretty soon Mark, himself will be waking up.”

9:15 AM

Mark woke up and headed for the bathroom. He brushed his teeth and splashed some cold water on his face before heading downstairs. He went to the kitchen to find Jackson pouring himself a glass of orange juice while Jaebum ate toast and Jinyoung read the newspaper.

“Good morning Jackson. Good morning Dad. What are you doing here Mom?”Mark asked, opening the fridge and grabbing a strawberry yogurt.

“I didn't have to teach a class today because I'm giving my students a day off to work on their essays.” Jinyoung said, hating himself with every word of his lie.

Mark nodded. “That's cool. What time does your filming start today?” he asked Jaebum.

“I don't have any filming today. I just thought I should wake up early and spend the day with my husband.” Jaebum didn't have to lie. He didn't have any filming today or meetings and that was partly the reason why they were doing this today. University students are a lot more happy about days off than actors were.

9:28 AM

Mark had finished his breakfast and was heading up the stairs. He went to his bedroom and grabbed his bathrobe before heading into the bathroom. He took a quick shower and went back to his room. He put on a pair of dark blue jeans, rolling them up a bit at the bottom, and a long sleeve plain red shirt with a white striped short sleeve shirt on top. He put on some red sneakers to match and checked his phone's battery.

9:34 AM

Everyone minus Mark was now piled into the mini-van. Mark was leaving the house now, he had told Jaebum, Jinyoung, and Jackson that he did not need a ride. He was simply going to meet up with a friend at the bookstore that was a fifteen minute or so walk away.

“I still can't believe we're doing this.” Jinyoung said as Jaebum started up the mini-van.

“But don't you want to know what Mark does all day? We come home and find him in front of the TV and he always said he did nothing all day. How many times can someone just stay home and watch TV in their pyjamas all day? You have to get bored of it sometimes.” BamBam said.

“But Mark-hyung does do things. In the spring and the summer he always goes skateboarding and back when he was in high school during the winter it was basketball season. Mark-hyung just doesn't do things in the winter. He never did.” Youngjae said.

“It has to be a family difference. Your family is smaller so you have a better connection with each other. Since we're bigger we need to have updates on each other.” Jackson explained. “So we do things like this.”

“It's also because Jackson, BamBam, and Yugyeom were brought up very differently and have very different personalities than Mark and Youngjae.” Jaebum added in. “Sometimes I wonder what they would be like if I had raised them more like Mark and Youngjae were raised.”

9:48 AM

Thanks to driving slower than needed, they were able to reach Mark's destination alongside with him. Mark really did arrive at the bookstore he said he was going to. In front of the bookstore there was a boy that looked to be around Mark's age wearing a long coat and scarf. He greeted Mark with a bro-hug and the family got a better look at the boy.

“Isn't he the son of the gay gymnast?” Youngjae asked.

“You're right.” Jaebum said. “He's Lee Minhyuk's son. Hyunsik is his name.”

“Isn't he infamous for being the neighbourhood unemployed oppa?” Jinyoung asked.

“You do realize that Mark is also the neighbourhood unemployed oppa right?” Youngjae asked in a whisper that only Jinyoung could hear.

“Yeah but Mark actually lives in this neighbourhood. I thought Lee Minhyuk's family lived in Cheongdamdong.” Jinyoung whispered back.

“To be honest, I think the whole family is the neighbourhood unemployed oppa. The only person I hear about having a job in that family is Lee Minhyuk. Then again, when you're a gold medalist record-breaking Olympian I don't think your family needs to worry too much.” Jaebum said. Mark and Hyunsik entered the bookstore talking about something.

“You don't think that Mark is one of those people that goes to the bookstore, grabs a load of manga,and sits at one of the café tables without even buying anything, do you?” Jinyoung asked with a concerned tone in his voice.

“If he's the neighbourhood unemployed oppa then it's his destiny.” BamBam said.

“I could never do that. Back in high school me and your father would go to the bookstore a lot. Whenever had free time, most of the time we went to the mall, we never read a whole book in there. We always bought it.” Jinyoung said with a fond smile.

“Those were some good times. Looking back on it, I never thought that I read a lot of books but I guessed I did. I remember there was that book series where it was the same story told from the perspective of the guy in one book and then in the other it was the girl's.” Jaebum.

“You guys would spend hours in the bookstore, actually looking at books, and didn't realize you were in love with each other?” BamBam said. “I swear, all of Korea must have known and you guys only figured it out after twenty years.”

11:52 AM

Mark and Hyunsik finally leave the bookstore. Neither one of them is carrying any books. They bro-hug again and walk in opposite directions.

“I can't believe he's one of those people that reads an entire manga series in the bookstore and doesn't even buy anything. We don't even know if he bought a coffee inside.” Jinyoung said.

“Where is he going now?” Jaebum started the car again. “He's probably heading out to somewhere to eat.”

“I hope so. I'm hungry.” Youngjae whined.

“Didn't he say that the noona he met at the park with the cute dog was the manager of a restaurant?” Jackson said suddenly. “Could he be meeting up with her?”

“I told you guys that he was dating the noona from the park with the cute dog.” BamBam said triumphantly. “Ever since I was right about Jackson-hyung and Shinyoung-noona having a baby my psychic powers continue to grow.”

12:13 PM

After another round of driving slower than what is probably legal, they follow Mark to McDonald's. They hit up the drive-thru to grab their own food and eat in the parking lot watching Mark.

“Is the noona the manager of McDonald's?” Yugyeom asked. “Because if she is, can she get me discounts on milkshakes?”

“Yugyeom, your mom's the queen of a country. Why do you need discounts on chocolate milkshakes?” Jaebum said.

“Watching him eat is making what we're doing even creepier. It only gets really creepy when you're watching him eat.” Jinyoung said biting into his French fry.

“If this noona is the manager of McDonald's, Mark would have probably gone to greet her or she would have come out to greet him.” Jackson said.

“BamBam, didn't you say you saw her once? What does she look like?” Jaebum asked.

BamBam slurped his milkshake before answering. “I don't really remember. I think she was pretty. The only thing I remember was her dog. Mark-hyung wasn't lying when he said that it was a really cute dog.”

“I don't think she's the manager of McDonald's. Usually you would mention McDonald's but Mark said a restaurant. It can't be a very famous one.” Jinyoung said. “And no one there seems to know Mark and Mark isn't looking around. He probably only wanted to eat McDonald's.”

12:23 PM
 

Mark had left McDonald's and was walking towards a park.

“I think we're going to have to leave the car to follow him.” BamBam said. Mark was entering into the depths of the park.

“Why would he even be going to a park when it's winter?” Jinyoung turned to BamBam, Youngjae, Yugyeom, and Jackson. “You four go and follow him. There's no way we would be able to think of an excuse for all six of us to go. Me and Caramel Macchiato will stay in the car.”

“But how could me, BamBam, and Yugyeom have an excuse if we're meant to be at school? Mark-hyung knows that I would never skip school.” Youngjae said.

“Don't worry. We'll say that we got you out. Me and Yugyeom already done the skipping school thing.” BamBam said opening the car door.

“You let them skip school?” Jinyoung turned to Jaebum and asked once everyone had already left the car.

“They don't do it that often. BamBam and Yugyeom are good kids. It isn't going to hurt them if they skip a bit.” Jaebum said.

“Wait, Mark's going to a bench. I think I see a girl sitting there.” Jinyoung said. “Oh my God, do you think that's the noona from the park with the cute dog?”

Mark was walking to himself down the path of the park, enjoying the winter, when he saw her. The noona from the park with the cute dog. They were friends enough that he could walk up to her if they saw each other in public and join in on their day. He took out his phone to check the time before he headed over to her. When he was about to head over to her, a random guy all of a stood in front of the noona.

Mark didn't hear what they were saying, all he could get was something about going somewhere with the guy, but he could tell that Noona wasn't liking it. Mark did something he never thought he would do before.

“A~,come with me.” Mark said taking his noona by the hand and leading her to somewhere else in the park.

“Did you see that? I told you they were dating!” BamBam whisper-shouted. He, Yugyeom, Jackson, and Youngjae had found a tree to hide behind. The tree was in the perfect location for them to be able to see all the action.

“I never knew Mark-hyung could lead a girl somewhere. Every time I would see him with his girlfriends, he was usually the one that was being led somewhere.” Youngjae said.

Mark stopped when he and the noona were far away enough from the guy. “I'm sorry. I knew I shouldn't have just grabbed your hand and led you somewhere.”

“It wasn't a problem. I normally don't like it when guys take control in the relationship but this one time was OK.” the noona said.

“I hate taking control in relationships. I'm sure I already told you. When I'm dating a girl, I basically exist to serve her as my master.” Mark couldn't believe those words came out of his mouth. It was true but he never felt the need to say it quite so bluntly before.

The noona didn't seem to mind. “You sound like the perfect man, Mark. I wish I could have had boyfriends like you. All my exes never seem to understand that I'm the only one that can be in control. I'll see you around.” the noona said before walking away.

“What was she like?” Jinyoung asked when Yugyeom, Youngjae, BamBam, and, Jackson were back in the car. “I mean, what did she look like? Did she look that much older than him? Was she a foreigner?”

“I don't know what she looks like.” Youngjae said.

“What do you mean? You couldn't see her from where you were?” Jinyoung asked.

“No. We saw her. I can't remember what she looked like either. I don't think you can explain what she looked like.” Yugyeom said.

“How can't you explain what she looked like? Was she tall? Was she blonde? Did she have a third eye? Did she have her whole body covered in tattoos?” Jaebum said.

“I think it's because she didn't have her dog with her. I think her dog is the focal feature about her.” Jackson said.

“She looked like she could be any girl in the world. Do you know those books where you have to choose your own adventure and they try not to give too many physical details so the reader can be part of the story more?” BamBam asked. “She was exactly like that. Only a real person.”

Jackson's phone buzzed with an incoming text. “Guys, look at the text Mark sent me.”

There on Jackson's phone was a text message from Mark reading.

Should I ask her out or not?

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Well, what do you guys think?

This chapter is long but I had a lot of fun writing it. I wanted to include BTOB because of the January 1st episode of Let's Go Dream Team where Minhyuk just kept on breaking records and of course "A"

<3 Smooches <3