mark entered alice's apartment, spotting chenle engaged in conversation with jisung. he opted for a spot across the room, not wanting to interrupt their discussion, whatever they were talking about.
usually not one for petty behavior, mark found himself feeling a tad more petty than haechan at that moment, which was saying something.
without any delay, alice sprang into action, beckoning mark towards her room before he could even settle down. meanwhile, jisung casually engaged chenle in conversation, subtly ensuring his attention was diverted, allowing alice to smoothly lead mark into the adjoining room.
"what am i doing in here?" mark asked, slightly curious but also excited. he knew that when a pretty girl leads you into her bedroom, you should always go along with it.
"i have a surprise for you," alice simply stated, taking his hand into his and leading the clueless man to her closet. "wait here."
right away, she ran to where chenle was and grabbed his arm.
"where are you taking me?" he asked, going along with her.
alice smiled to herself, looking slightly creepy. "i have a surprise for you," she repeated in the same tone she told mark.
she took his hand in the same way she took mark's and led him to the closet.
here was the tricky part. she had to be quick with pushing chenle in and locking the door before he could get a chance to come back out. and pushing a dude who was five foot ten as a girl who was only five foot two was difficult.
so she enlisted the help of her good friend jisung.
"oh shit, wassup man," chenle said as he saw jisung pop up behind alice.
"yeah, you're gonna hate me so much afterward," jisung replied.
"because of what?" chenle innocently asked, not noticing how alice's hand was tightly gripped onto the doorknob.
"this."
as soon as alice opened the door, jisung pushed chenle inside with no effort and alice quickly slammed the door back shut, successfully locking it.
"hell yeah!" jisung yelled, high-fiving alice.
"you two are not coming back out until you figure shit out!" alice shouted through the door.
mark and chenle whined from inside, earning them a giggle from alice. "you have an hour. good luck!"
chenle was dying to know why mark had been avoiding him like the plague and so he demanded, "why have you been avoiding me like the plague?"
mark huffed and crossed his arms. "i think you know."
"dude, if you keep this attitude up with alice when you guys start dating, she's not gonna have it," the younger boy lectured. "everyone knows that the key to a good relationship is communication. and we've had a great relationship since we were twelve. so spill."
"fine!" mark exclaimed, throwing his arms in the air. "you know i like alice and you've been trying to become close to her! even though you know! you're one of my best friends and i'm hurt! i see you sitting weirdly close to her whenever we get together and i see how you look at her!"
chenle rarely got furious, and never towards mark. he viewed mark like he looked at an older brother and right now, mark was acting like a selfish little brother.
"what, like a friend?" chenle spat back. "i'm trying to become close to her because we're majoring in the same field! we have nearly all of the same classes! she's my age! you introduced us to her and we instantly clicked. it's obvious she's not just here to waste our time. she's a special friend. and i thought you were too. before you blame me for some stuff like this. i can't believe that you don't trust me!"
