#( post.queue )

          Just as he was about to play the title track of Dream’s upcoming comeback, the lights in the room he was in suddenly switched off, startling him. “Huh--?”

         “I can’t do that, noona...” Despite Mark trying to pull Ara away from the oncoming biker, he was too late. The puddle of water on the street went flying as tires went through it and soon enough, his older friend was soaked from head to toe. Seoul was still experiencing a rather harsh winter too so the idol was quick to remove his coat to help his friend warm up. “He probably didn’t mean it; maybe he was in a hurry?”, he suggested in English once they were seated on a nearby bench. As always, Mark was far too nice--if he had any bit of toughness in him, he’d be cursing the biker out for what they did. That wasn’t the case for him, though. He always preferred to look at people in a good, positive light. Hands finding comfort in the pockets of his jeans, he tried his best to hide just how cold he was beginning to feel; he didn’t want to worry her when she was the one having a bad day.

         Eyes glued onto the elevator doors, Mark slumped onto the cold steel floor that held the two. It was probably due to the extreme cold that their company building was experiencing a little power outage. The generators had been churned on but for some odd reason, the cramped elevator that had the two idols wasn’t budging an inch despite them pressing every button possible. Awkwardness had filled the claustrophobic space at first but the younger idol was glad that the elder was one for lively conversation--it made Mark open up a little bit more than his usual. “Me? Of course not,” he replied as they spoke of the hilarious moments of their respective groups, “I’m pretty boring compared to the other guys...Donghyuckie’s usually the culprit behind every prank so we’re pretty sure he did it--even if he hasn’t confessed to it yet.”

         His hand was merely hovering over her meal when he heard her voice echo from behind him. “Ah--!” He quickly retracted his pair of chopsticks from picking at her food and went back to minding his own tray of bibimbap. “Yerim...”, he nervously let out once she had taken her seat opposite him, “that was a quick visit to the bathroom, wasn’t it?”

         “What about that one then?” Mark’s finger pointed from the band-aid that covered the cut to a bruise that he could easily spot. Injuries were nothing foreign during comeback promotions but he couldn’t help but worry for the younger girl. Their recent track release seemed like a lot of work to perfect and perform so he felt like he could understand what she was going through more than any other idol that was also currently promoting at music shows alongside them. “Does it hurt?”

          “I...I can’t!” Youngbin’s little dare was far too much for Mark to handle. Knock on a girl group’s door and ask for their autograph and a photo? He could never bring himself to do it. Plus, his manager would give him a scolding if he probably even tried to do it on his own--this task was meant for groups as a whole to do it together. Mark was extremely awkward and Youngbin probably knew that, hence the dare her gave him. “Give me another dare. Please.”

          Mark had never exactly had much of a chance to speak to Victoria. With how busy her schedule was--which usually happened in China--he had rarely seen her ever since he debuted last year. He found it a big shock when he suddenly received a video call from her but he was quick to answer it, nonetheless. The conversation started out a bit awkward on his part. He was stiff, extremely polite with his answers while she was more relaxed with hers--which was natural since she was the senior between them. “Thank you for the word of encouragement and advice, sunbaenim!”, he replied with a smile, “I’ll be sure to remember all that you’ve said with Dream’s comeback coming up.”

          Seated cross-legged on the floor of one of SM’s many practice rooms, the two both had their own pieces of paper in hand. Yeri had a script she was practicing while Mark had his lyrics for High School Rapper. The two were busy, in their own worlds, as they stayed well past midnight at the company. Being born into the same year led them to be naturally close to one another which he was thankful for--he needed more friends outside of his own group. Placing his lyrics down beside him, he looked at Yeri, eyes squinting slightly at her recitation of lines. “I’m not great at acting but you sound a bit too monotone. Maybe exaggerate your tone a bit more?”