ɪ'ʟʟ ʙᴇ ʏᴏᴜʀ ʜᴏᴍᴇ ➻〚𝙣𝙘𝙩 𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙢 𝙤𝙩7〛

Flashback: Mark's Got A Girl

Haechan's POV-Age: 14

"What do you have there for lunch, Haechannie?" Jisung asks through a mouth full of food, his words muffled, though I've come to understand his little language of sounds while he's talking with his mouth stuffed.

"First of all, you gotta stop talking with your mouth open. Literally, no one wants to see the chewed-up food in your mouth, Sungie. And second of all, I've got kimbap, so suck it, losers," I chuckle, tempted to give them the finger, but I don't want to corrupt Jisung and Chenle anymore.

The sun is shining out on the picnic tables outside, the cool breeze gently sweeping through my tousled locks of hair. Closing my eyes for a second, I feel the delicate warmth of the sun beat down on my tanned face and I take a pure, deep breath before a certain someone yanks my hair.

"What the fuck?!" I shout, surging forward on the creaky, mahogany picnic bench with years of wear on it. Turning around, I make a distinctly unamused face at Renjun and stick out my tongue. "You think you're so, so funny, do you, Renjun?"

"Yeah, I actually do. I just saw you in one of your peaceful, little states, and I figured that I couldn't miss that open opportunity there. I learned from the best," Renjun shrugs, the 'best' referring to me and my diabolical ways and pranks.

"Touche," I mutter back, my mood lifting back up as I look at my scrumptious-looking kimbap patiently waiting to be eaten up.

Renjun's uncalled-for hair yank just a few moments ago did trigger some new memories back in me, though. It's true, I did teach all of the other boys except Mark my tricks to creating the ultimate pranks. And the only reason I didn't teach Mark is that he's usually the subject of my pranks.

But unfortunately, he's at a whole different school from us now because he's in high school. It'd be a lie if I said that I don't miss seeing that dork as often anymore.

Of course, we all meet up a couple of times a week, but there's something different about only seeing him during infrequent (for our standards) meetings with all of us. Even though we're very much still in touch, there's still some unspoken disconnect between the six of us and him. It feels like we know what's going on in his life, but we don't really know everything about what's happening with him like we used to.

Speaking of Mark though, he's supposed to come over to my house today to hang out. And yes, I'm hella excited. As much as I love hanging out with all of the boys, spending quality time with Mark is always so precious to me. It's almost weird how we complement each other; everything about us and our personalities screams that we shouldn't be best friends, but somehow we manage to get along well.

It's quite strange, I must say, but my friendship with Mark means everything to me. Even though we contrast each other so much, Mark and I will always be inseparable. We'll always be a duo; just the two of us. We just have that strong of a bond, and we'll never replace each other. Honestly, I'm just convinced that when we grow up, neither of us will get married and start families, but instead, we'll just be living together until the time we die. That is, of course, counting on the fact that Mark will be able to put up with me for that long.

Sometimes I wonder how Mark hasn't beaten me up yet. Yeah, I know, that's a weird thought, but if you have someone like me for a best friend, that thought crosses your mind often. And if my best friends were any people other than Mark or the boys, I swear that I would probably have six broken ribs by now.

But Mark loves me, and I love him, even if he always rejects my hugs and kisses and refuses to admit that he loves me. It's the little things that makes me remember that we're best friends; waiting by the bus stop for the other, buying each other's favorite snacks for get-togethers, giving fashion advice to each other, reading each other's thoughts, having a cuddle on a bad day, or finally giving in and accepting the affection I give him.