Mark hadn’t succeeded in talking himself out of going to the apartment. At that very moment, he was standing at the door of the apartment, which was, as always, unlocked. Annoyed with himself for caving so easily, he opened the door and moved into the apartment to find Cora standing by the window with her back to him.

Her dark blonde hair draped over her back in loose ringlets, and she was wearing a grey cableknit sweater. Only a grey cableknit sweater. Mark closed the door behind him, and she jolted, clearly startled, and turned to face him. In her hands was a mug, which she placed on the table. The sweater dropped to just above her knees, but even still, when she moved towards him, he felt that it was too short. “What are you wearing?” He asked as she moved towards him.

Or, he’d thought she was moving towards him, but she stooped to pick up Ginger, and held her against her chest, scrubbing behind her ears. “A sweater.” Was her only response.

“It’s a little short.”

“It’s not like anyone’s coming over,” She said, kissing her cat’s nose. “Just you.” He nodded. “So you got my message?”

He nodded again. “So you told MinHee.” She nodded. “Am I allowed to tell Jackson now?”

“Just Jackson?” She asked, and he shrugged. “I figure MinHee will tell him anyways.” He nodded in agreement. “So, does telling Jackson mean you still want to be with me?”

Mark sighed. “Only if you kill this stupid Kai thing.”

“Mark Tuan, are you jealous?” She asked, smirking.

“No,” He said flatly. “I’m tired of your terrible excuses. And this really is the worse of them all.” Her shoulders slumped. “That’d be like me saying that I was dating Suzy from Miss A.”

Cora laughed. “Because that would happen.” Mark shot her an annoyed look. “Well, come on. There could have been a chance of Kai and I. We are close enough as it is. It’s plausible. Suzy isn’t like anything more than a acquaintance.”

“Cora, you’re really not getting far with this compromise.” He said, shaking his head.

She sighed. “Fine. We’ll out our relationship if you let us introduce it as nothing serious.”

“Are we not serious?”

“Mark, we’re not even supposed to be dating! We’ve broken all the rules we set for ourselves, which was your idea let me remind you.” She sighed and put the cat on the floor. “This wasn’t all me.”

Mark made a face. “Maybe not, but you were at fault too.”

She frowned. “Can we just move past this?” He rolled his eyes, but she inched towards him, wrapping her arms around his torso. “I get it. I make stupid decisions. I’ll try to keep it from happening in the future.”

“By the way,” He said, brushing her hair away from her face. “Jackson may or may not have already guessed we were together.” He said, leaning in towards her.

She bit her lip, standing on her toes. “Everyone already guessed we were together.” She said, closing her eyes and pressing her lips to Mark’s.

And this was why he was so annoyed lately. Because she always did this. She always got them into a situation that they didn’t need to be in, and then she would come to him, perfect as she was, and just kiss it away. It really pissed him off. But, there wasn’t much he could do about it.

She pulled away first. “Are you tired?” She asked, still standing on her toes.

Mark shook his head. “Are you?” Cora shook her head. He kissed her again, and his hands found her legs. He lifted her, so her legs were wrapped around him, and he moved towards the open door to her bedroom.

MinHee was pacing her bedroom with her phone to her ear. Jackson hadn’t answered the first time she’d called. She waited a bit, and then decided to call back. She needed to tell him that she was leaving the dorm to film.

“You aren’t making it easy to give you the silent treatment.”

“What are you angry about?”

He sighed, audibly loud. “What do you want, MinHee?”

She bit her lip. She wanted him to not be angry with her. Was it about earlier, when sh