This time, however, his features weren't covered with a black mask, and Chaerin almost choked on her coffee. This guy was more attractive than she thought. Another thing she wasn't expecting was his age, he looked only a year or two older than her.
Shrugging off the thought, she focused on the situation at hand, trying her hardest not the run her eyes all over his features.
Damn.
He scratched the back of his neck as he approached her table.
"Hi again, thanks for meeting me,"
"Hi," Chaerin said, still doubtful about the current situation.
He sat across her, giving her a small smile, "I'm Mark by the way,"
"Chaerin," She squinted her eyes at him slightly, still uncertain about his intentions, "But I'm guessing you already know that, considering you have my number,"
"Sorry about that, I had to talk to you,"
He quickly scanned the room, thankfully the closest person was on the other side of the room.
"I'm about to tell you classified information and I want you to hear me out first, and of course, don't freak out," He starts.
"Depends on what it is first," Chaerin raised her eyebrows.
"I'm in a gang," He starts carefully so she won't panic.
"I know," He raised his eyebrow at her response while she just continued to sip on her drink.
Chaerin shrugged. What else would explain the events for the past two weeks? A book club went wrong? I don't think so.
"It's called NCT," From the lack of her response, he took that as a sign to continue, "And you Chaerin are now all caught up in the middle of it, meaning, rival gangs might or are definitely targeting you," He then paused looking at her reaction.
"Because you are now associated with me,"
I can never stay out of trouble, can I? She sighed.
"They recently found out that you were the one who helped me at the convenience store and of course, because of what happened yesterday,"
Honestly speaking, Chaerin was surprised he was warning her and telling her these things. Most gangs do not care about collateral or at least the gangs she has met.
"I want you to take extra caution about everything, don't walk alone, especially at night. Also, the police can't help you if you go to them,"
It's not like I can go to the police anyway, I do illegal street racing for crying out loud. I break like 15 traffic rules every time I drive.
"You definitely don't have to worry about that last part," she muttered.
"You can ask questions, I know this is a lot to take in," Mark said.
"Why are you telling me this?" She asked.
Judging from his reaction, that wasn't the question he was expecting.
"Think of it as me repaying my debt, you saved me once, let me at least do this," He stated, and by the looks of it, it seems like he wants to say more yet he stopped himself.
She pondered on the situation for a minute or two before Mark spoke up.
"Why aren't you freaked out about this?"
"What?"
"I mean I just told you I was in a gang and your life is in danger, and you look like I don't know? Like very calm?" He asked, completely perplexed.
Chaerin chuckled at his reaction, "Do you want me to look surprised then?" He scowled at her sarcastic remark.
"You're cute Mark," she commented at his reaction. His eyes widened at her statement, a blush threatening to creep up on his cheeks.
"I'm being serious," He frowned.
All he could do was glare at her amused state.
"I know, I'm sorry, I am taking this seriously," she responded, "I'm not freaking out because this isn't the first time," Probably won't be the last either.
Mark looked at her with an unreadable expression.
"I'm not in a gang though, If that's what you're thinking," She clarified.
She waved her hands, "It's a long story, I'll tell you another time,"
Mark sighed, "Call me if you think something's wrong or you're in danger," He passed on a small note with his number scribbled on. "You can't tell anybody about this, or they will be in danger as well. Take this seriously," He said getting up from his seat.
"Burn the paper after," He finished, eying the small note.
"Okay,"
• • •
The next week was pretty peaceful compared to the last two weeks. Everything was normal or as normal as it can get.
One thing did change though.
Chaerin felt more eyes watch her every move at school, and this wasn't just the normal student passing by kind of look.
She felt it once more as she took things out of her locker, this time, she whipped her head in the direction it was coming from.
His eyes widened slightly, before quickly putting on a smile and giving her a wave.
Fourth time this week.
Jaemin, Renjun, Haechan, and now Jeno.
Chaerin hasn't even spoken to Haechan once.
She tried piecing it together, this perhaps was the reason Mark found her fast when he only knew what she looked like.
Only one way to find out I guess.
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