Pierrot Strike: New Year’s Eve, 00:30 a.m. (Yerin’s point of view)

I think I had a hunch about the truth when Ayeon Unnie wiped the red stain from my lips. But I’ll admit that I’m stubborn… it’s really not news that I am. As you three—Bambam, Jimin and you, Yugyeom—were recollecting the truth, I already had figures out most of scattered thoughts. I couldn’t stop Bambam, Jimin, Ayeon Unnie, or you, from remembering the humiliating things I’d done, so I waited until you were all done talking to see what you all know. Lucky for me, you didn’t remember the worst of what happened with us.

            But it’s unfair for me to hide the truth from you, Yugyeom. So I’ll tell you. Oh, and will you stop looking so shocked… I know you secretly knew the truth yourself. Even if your head wasn’t sure, your chest must have felt heavy.

            Anyhow, I’ll get to it.

I was scolding you, and I’m sincerely sorry for that. You were right—I did hit you, I believe. I was still annoyed about what had happened with those men earlier that night, so when I thought you were confessing that it was your fault, I lost it. I could have really hurt you, how could you just let me do that? Seriously, don't let me push you over like that…

            It was then that my phone began to ring. It wasn’t the calling ringtone, it was the tone that I get when I get a voicemail. The fact that I had my phone right beside me shows that the person on the other line had purposefully wanted to send a voicemail rather than call me back properly.

            Obviously, considering all the other evidence told to us by Junior Oppa, it was Mark Oppa who sent the voicemail. I stopped hitting you, and opened up my messages. You looked down, like you didn’t want me to hear it.

            “Um… Yerin—I don’t really know what this is about. But—uh…” Mark’s voice is always a little slow and he stutters like it's a part of the language, but those habits were much more intense this time. “Yeah, um… um, sorry.”

            The voicemail ended there, and you know that I got mad again. I was angry that he could only say Sorry, but now that I think about it… I would probably say the same thing in his shoes. What was I expecting him to say? I’m such an idiot.

            It was after this that I just stared at my phone, dumbfounded. You didn’t know what to say either. After a few seconds of silence, you spoke up first.

            “Yerin-ah… Mark Hyung is such a dumb Hyung…” You slurred your words, repeating the word Hyung multiple times. “This Hyung… doesn’t know how to… um… Hyung properly…”

            “You sound really stupid, you know?” I said bluntly, not realizing I looked like an idiot that night too.

            You didn’t mind my stream of insults and abuse that night, and I still think you’re a dummy for letting me be so mean to you. I continued with the mocking question, “What does that even mean, Hyung properly? That makes no sense. How do you Hyung properly.”

            And Yugyeom, you seemed certain of the answer, no matter how oddly the words came out of your mouth. “Well… to act like a proper Hyung, you have to act mature. Avoiding the… um… the answer with words like ‘Um, sorry’ is not what I want my Hyung to act like. He should say what’s on his mind and either directly reject you or directly accept your feelings.”

            “I suppose, but you make it seem so easy,” I said, my thoughts functioning more properly for these few seconds, “How can you so easily reject someone or accept them?”

            “You did it quite easily in freshman year,” you suddenly said.

            You were bringing up that time that you had suddenly confessed your feelings to me when we started high school—and that was already a few years into our friendship. I was so much shier back then. And at the time, JYP was focusing on my debut with Jimin, so I only had work on my mind. So of course I rejected you with a sloppy, whispering, No… I don’t want that.

            This reminder of the past was especially annoying to the irritable-violent-drunk me, so I hung my head back in annoyance. “Ah, Yugyeom! That’s been a taboo subject for so long, why are you bringing this up?”

            You were still an emotional wreck from when you busted out crying earlier, so you didn’t hesitate to spill your feelings again. You said, “I’m just saying, you and Mark Hyung have similar personalities! He should be able to confidently reject you like you did to me.”

            “But Mark’s gentleman enough to not reject me over the phone,” I retorted. “And besides, things have changed. I don’t think I could reject someone that easily today.”

            You suddenly had a bright face, as if you thought of a great idea. “Then let’s practice! Reject me.”

            “…What?”

            “You and Jimin can get over your stupid one-sided crushes tonight, I want to as well!”

            This was another moment when my drunk mind felt a bit more sober and sane. It was finally hitting me—you were basically telling me that you still liked me, and you had no idea that you were actually saying these things. I felt hyperaware of everyone around me.

            “Yugyeom-ah… do you still like me?” I said, and it seems that I wasn’t hesitating to ask. You weren’t hesitating to answer, as well.

            “Baek Yerin, you’re a clever girl… but to not realize that I’ve had to hold on to this painful one-sided love of nearly ten years…” you trailed off before catching your sentence again, “… You’re either in denial, or you’re completely stupid.”

            The strong word “stupid” isn’t something you normally call someone, so it caught me off guard more than your slurred confession. But you were right, and I’m sorry to say it out loud. I was stupid to be in denial about your feelings. Because I think that somewhere in the back of my head, I always knew how you felt. But I told myself that I was wrong, and that you were just a friend.

            “So, please,” you repeated for a last time, and you sounded more sorrowful than determined this time, “I want you to reject me. Baek Yerin, I like you.”

            I hesitated. I would have hesitated sober, too; what kind of a person are you to ask me to do that? But I did do it, in the end. “I can’t say I’m ready to accept your feelings.”

And around 4:20, when Ayeon Unnie picked us up… (from what I remember)

I did say I wanted to tend your wounds, when Ayeon Unnie was desperately trying to fit Bambam and Jimin in her car. I don’t exactly know what was going on in my head. But I saw that wound on your lip, and I cupped your face to take a better look at it. Jimin is good at tending wounds, and I remembered her jokingly kissing my knee when I scraped it. So I… did the same. To tend the wound on your lip.

JYP Building: January 1^st, 2016, 6:51 p.m. (Present day)

The word “lip” dangles in Yerin’s own lips, leaving a dry taste in .

            Yugyeom doesn’t take his eyes off Yerin for as long as she speaks, even though she had began staring at the floor instead of at him. That answers all the questions they had at the beginning of  the day. Yerin can’t seem to find any more words, so she just stares at the floor in hopes that he’ll say the next sentence. Fortunately for her, he does. Unfortunately for her, she does not want to hear the next question.

            “So, was it a joke for you as well?” Yugyeom asks. Straightforward and sudden, it isn’t like him.

            Yerin looks up to look Yugyeom in the eyes. He doesn’t look as shy as she thought he would. He looks frustrated. Red in the ears from embarrassment, but wrinkles in his temples from annoyance. Yerin stammers.

            “Um… what?”

            Yugyeom doesn’t blink. “Jimin had once jokingly kissed you to tend your wounds… were you joking around when you kissed me?”

            The way he speaks, it slowly becomes evident to Yerin that Yugyeom was well aware of what had happened last night. But something in him just wanted to hear the story from Yerin’s mouth. Yerin shakes her head immediately, suddenly feeling that this situation was going to be messy.

            “No, what—how could I be joking—” she’s cut off by Yugyeom.

            “So what was it to you?”

            Yerin’s pupils dilate. “What?”

            “Did it mean anything? You rejected my confession earlier that night, and Drunk Me was so ready to be over you. Maybe Sober Me would have woken up and immediately fallen back in love with you, but Drunk Me was so ready to move on. Why would you play with me by kissing me? Do you have little to any idea what you do to me every day just by existing, let alone what you do to me by kissing me?” Yugyeom doesn’t even care that he’s revealing that he knew it all. He lets it all out.

            Yerin can’t find the proper words. “Gyeom, I don’t know what came over me. Even you were acting like a wreck. Do you think I like hearing you bring up the past about how I rejected you the first time? Do you think I liked rejecting you again? Hell, I don’t know what that kiss meant to me!”

            Her feelings are so jumbled, and she doesn’t have time to untangle them. Yugyeom sighs loudly after getting so worked up. He walks to the door to leave the studio.

            “Yugyeom, where are you going?”

            Yugyeom turns around again, and while he keeps the same strong expression, Yerin swears she can see his eyes weaken. “I just can’t believe I came all the way here to hear a story with no ending.”

            With that, he leaves the room. Yerin stands alone, though she knew she’d be standing alone like this at some point.

JYP Building: January 5^th, 2016, 9:54 p.m. (Present day)

It had been a few days, and Jimin hadn’t spoken to Jackson since they had breakfast together on the first. Things are awkward, and whenever Jimin sees Jackson come around the corner, she finds something—be it a plant, wall or person—to hide behind. If she’s lucky, Jackson hasn’t physically seen her at all this week.

            Things are alright with her and Bambam. Nothing has changed, and they still meet up regularly, much to the confusion of outsiders (who would assume the kiss would make things complicated). But the BamMin duo prefers no complications, and Jimin has her own worries to take care of. Eric questions Jimin’s casual attitude with Bambam, and teases that they’re like an old married couple who feels nothing around each other. Jimin tends to laugh at those jokes, but Bambam stays silent.

            Ayeon has calmed down since then. She comes over here and there to treat the 97-liners to some food, as an apology for being so angry the other day. Who are they to reject her offer? They never say no.

            The observers of GOT7’s team, being Youngjae, Jaebum and Jinyoung, follow their days normally, not knowing there’s so much tension between their labelmates and teammates. They’d rather stay out of this and be oblivious for the holidays.

            Yugyeom and Yerin haven’t spoken since their argument on the first of January. They haven’t been desperately hiding from the other, unlike Jimin, rather they just prefer to stay out of each others’ schedules. Yugyeom knows well that Yerin spends her days practicing, so Yugyeom goes to the other dance room for his own training.

            Taecyeon doesn’t know how wasted Yerin got. Considering that Yugyeom is avoiding the topic of Yerin, he probably will never know. Nobody really wants to tell him either, since Taec is her most protective brother in the company. He might explode if he finds out how drunk Yerin had gotten.

            As for Mark and Yerin, they haven’t seen each other since the breakfast at GOT7’s dorm. Yerin would prefer it that way, out of her own embarrassment. For now, Yerin just wants to forget everything and just sing.

However, as she is singing in the practice room, someone enters. Who should it be, other than her worst nightmare (next to Yugyeom)—Mark. It’s not common for him to come in to this practice room; this one is normally used for singing rather than his flying-boy martial arts and dancing.

            Yerin quickly hides her face with her hair as she hurries over to her boom-box to change the song she was practicing (or something like that, truthfully she just wants to pretend to be distracted). She's not a convincing actress. Mark calls her bluff and walks closer to her.

            “Yerin,” Mark calls her name with his usual quiet, full-stop accent.

            No avoiding it now, so Yerin stands up properly and wipes her hair out of her face. She bows slightly to Mark. Time to make up an excuse to leave. “Ah, Oppa. Were you going to practice here? I was just packing up, so it’s all yours.”

            Mark sighs and holds Yerin’s wrist when she prepares to leave the room. Yerin cringes slightly, but puts on her bluffing happy face again. “Ah, Oppa. What do you need?”

            “Yerin, we should talk,” Mark says, his face not flinching nearly as much as Yerin’s is.

            Yerin’s natural instinct tells her to ask, What about?, but playing dumb will only get her so far. So she gives up to act, and tries her best to be as real as she can. “Yes… we should talk.”

            Mark nods slightly before beginning his part. Before saying anything, he bows ninety degrees. It’s odd to do this to your minor, but Mark seems to know what he’s doing. “I’m sorry for handling your call in such a bad way.”

            His sudden apology is unexpected, so Yerin instinctively reciprocates the action and bows herself, suddenly switching to formal language. “No, Oppa, I’m sorry. I was irresponsibly drunk and sent out mindless calls…”

            Mark stands up straight, and pulls Yerin to go back to her original stance as well. “But drunk mistakes are always part of a hidden truth.”

           The way Foreigner Mark words himself is weird, but Yerin understands what he means. Though she did weird things under the influence of alcohol, it was of course triggered by something her sober mind had thought of first. She clears and switches on the blunt, truthful Yerin everyone at school knows her to be.

            “Yes, you’re right,” Yerin finally admits, “I did… like you at one point. I promise I don’t anymore, but the fact that I never told you, even when I did like you, always bothered me. So I did something stupid to finally get over how bothered I was about you. I’m sorry.”

            She bows again, and Mark laughs a little. “I’m glad you can talk about it in a mature way. Don’t look so down! I’ve made drunk mistakes myself.”

            Yerin looks up at him. “Really?”

            “Of course. During my training days. I called up my ex from America and told her I found a new Korean hottie—but I told her in Korean, so she didn’t understand a word I said,” Mark confesses, and he laughs at the memory. He sits down by the wall of the room.

            “That’s rough,” Yerin says, still feeling tense, but looser now that Mark has shown himself to be so nice. She sits by him.

            “Yeah, it’s rough. But you know what you do in a situation like that? You apologize.”

            Yerin can’t help but feel like she’s being lectured. She also can’t help but be reminded of Yugyeom. So she asks her elder. “Um… what if you’ve already apologized? But… the other party is mad at you, for what you did that night, and for how you handled it?”

            Her question is so specific, so Mark knows she’s talking about someone in particular. He won’t dig too deep and just gives her advice. “In cases like that… you always have to be the bigger person. Initiate, and initiate, don’t give up. Have you—I mean, would you initiate often?”

            “I haven’t… I mean, with my personality, I wouldn’t try very often,” Yerin admits. Mark pokes Yerin’s shoulder.

            “That’s your flaw. You give up. You’ll lose someone special to you if you give up too soon.”

            Mark may not know exactly who Yerin was talking about, but he’s right. She feels at ease, and the two continue to chat. It's nice to feel like someone is looking out for you.

GOT7 Dorm: January 5^th, 2016, 9:54 p.m. (Present day)

As usual, the maknae line of GOT7 lies in their respective beds, playing around on their gadgets. Yugyeom glances over to Bambam, who is in the middle of some iPhone game. The thing is, unlike the shaken Yerin, Yugyeom told his best friend about what had happened between him and her. Bambam only listened, but didn’t say anything in response at the time. How could he? Yerin and Yugyeom have never really fought like that before.

            So when Bambam sees Yugyeom constantly glancing at him from the corner of his eye, he can’t help but give in and inquire about what the hell he’s staring for. Bambam rips his earphones from his ears.

            “What?” Bam asks.

            “What?” Yugyeom repeats.

            Kunpimook rolls his eyes. “You were staring at me! Gosh, what the hell are you looking at me for?”

            “What a short fuse…” Yugyeom mutters to himself, then speaks up to his roommate more audibly. “Can we… can we talk?”

            As irritable as Bambam can be, he wouldn’t leave his brother to rot if he wanted to talk seriously. Bam pauses his game, locks his phone, and sits upright on his bed. “I’m all ears.”

            Just then, Bambam’s phone rings. “Actually, I’m not all ears yet. One second.”

            Yugyeom shakes his head, chuckling to himself as Bambam answers his phone. Not in the mood for privacy, Bambam casually puts the phone on loudspeaker so Yugyeom can hear the call as well. Bambam lies back down on his bed.

            “Yo, Jimin,” Bambam says, revealing the caller's name.

            “Yo!” Jimin says on the other line, chipper as usual. “Did you watch After School Club today?”

            “Of course, you told me to.”

            “Yay, thanks so much. So you checked, right? Nothing’s like…” Jimin trails off. The more Yugyeom listens to their conversation, the less he understands.

            “Jimin-ah, stop worrying, okay?” Bambam insists.

            “Really?”

            “Would I ever lie to you?”

            “Well…” Jimin hesitates mockingly.

            “Oh shut up,” Bambam laughs.

            “Okay… just checking. I know the show was hours ago but I forgot to call you and ask.”

            “Jimin, it was stupid of you to ask me to watch the show for something like that. You look great! I couldn’t even tell you gained weight.”

            “What about my pimple? I had a lot of close up shots today.”

            “Chill, you’re fine.”

            The short back-and-forth between BamMin continues for a while, but Yugyeom blanks out by the time their conversation ends. All he can gather is that Bambam was apparently supposed to monitor if anyone could tell that Jimin gained a bit of weight during her show today. From the looks of it, Bambam couldn't care less if she gained ten pounds or had a face full of acne. He looks so at ease just talking to her.

“Okay, bye girl,” Bambam concludes and locks his phone again. He turns to Yugyeom. “Sorry about that. You know how Jamie is when she gains that invisible weight. Sorry! I’ll listen to you now.”

            Yugyeom an eyebrow and leans forward to Bambam. “I actually wanted to talk about you two. How did you and Jimin, like… do that?”

            “Do what?”

            “Be casual! You guys kissed. And that was that. You were okay with it. Now look at you, just chatting like nothing's up.” Yugyeom’s frustration is visible through his hand motions.

            Bambam feels a little flustered at the mention of the infamous kiss. “I mean… you’re referring to that because of that whole drama with Yerin, right?”

            “Yeah,” Yugyeom admits. It’s been about a week, and nothing is resolved with Yerin. “I just wanna know how you guys mutually agreed to just… be okay. It's so weird.”

            “Well, the difference is that Jimin and I have less emotional baggage than you guys, and less of a history,” Bambam lists it out by counting his fingers, “And the fact that both of your are more soft-spoken, so it all comes down to who you are. And I know Jimin likes Jackson, so there’s that.”

            Yugyeom nods and listens as Bambam lists all of it out, but he pauses at the last point. In fact, the last point gets Yugyeom suddenly thinking about some other points nobody’s ever really brought up. Yugyeom considers this point a realization, and Bambam tilts his head at his brother.

            “Yo, what are you zoning out for?” Bambam asks.

            “Jimin likes Jackson, so it’s okay for you that you kissed,” Yugyeom repeats.

            “Um… pretty much,” Bambam says, turning a little pink behind the ears. “And can you stop saying kiss, it makes me sick.”

            “But… are you okay with her liking Jackson? Do you like Jimin?” Yugyeom asks suddenly, and the question isn’t one Bambam expected. But Bambam remains calm.

            He sighs. “Do I like Jimin?” Bambam asks to himself and Yugyeom. “I don’t know. Maybe.”

            “And you’re okay with having kissed her, even if you maybe like her?”

            “Yugyeom, the difference between you and I is that you overthink things,” Bambam says, “Sure, maybe I like Jimin. In fact, maybe I’ve liked her for a long time. I wouldn't know myself. But it’s not always on my mind—unlike the three of you guys, who can’t think of anything other than love. If I like her, then I’m happy if she’s happy.”

            “And if she rejected you?”

            “Then I would respect that decision and stop chasing her tail.”

            Yugyeom pauses, then refers to Yerin. “But what if after rejecting you, she chases your tail and kisses you?”

            Bambam groans and falls back on his bed. “Ah, I don’t know! Yugyeom, your deal with Yerin is so complicated and overrated by the both of you. How hard is it to schedule a meeting and just apologize? Chances are, with her guilty nature, she wants to apologize too.”

            With that, Bambam grabs his phone and goes back to playing his game. Yugyeom knows he’s right. He takes his phone and clicks on his messages. Scroll, scroll, and he finds Yerin’s name. "Hey..." he begins the type, but ultimately deletes it and throws his phone on the bed.

Ah, seriously, what should I do... Yugyeom thinks to himself. He has no idea, but Yerin is thinking the exact same thing.

A/N: It is three a.m and I really need to figure out how to get motivated to write before 11 p.m at night. I hope to write a lot soon, because I'm going on vacation and I don't know how much time I'll have to write when I'm out of the country! But I'll try ^^ (P.S: Have you seen this adorable BamMin video????) Since this chapter had some Mark in it, have some Mark x 97-line!