“happy birthday once again!” the members all bid her goodbye, letting taeyong follow her out as they cleaned up the mess they made after giving her a surprise party (they knew that she knew though, but it’s the thought that counts after all).
“you have everything with you already?” taeyong asks taehee, handing her another paper bag filled with small trinkets and gifts from the members.
“yeah, i think i do,” she replies with a dimpled smile pulling on her lips, “thank you again.”
“did you enjoy today?”
taeyong notices how she sucks in a breath at the question, as subtle as she tried to be. even if he knows her answer was ‘yes’ mostly, it couldn’t have been ‘yes’ truly.
“this’ll pass,” the leader gives her a comforting smile as he leads her to their front door, though his heart aches for the two of his members. taehee sends him an acknowledging nod on her part and he puts his hand on the handle, not pulling on it just yet. he knows who she’s waiting for.
“it’s different this time though, hyung,” her tone was soft, laced with guilt as she rocked back and forth on her feet. she misses him.
just as she opens her mouth to bid her last goodbye for the night, a certain blonde haired boy clad in a dark sweatshirt emerges from behind the wall separating the living room and the hallway to the entrance.
taehee unknowingly holds her breath in when she makes eye contact with mark, his tired eyes staring back at her own exhausted ones.
the hand that was carding through his hair, as if he just came out of the shower, slowly returns to his side after stopping in his tracks. despite the hurt weighing down on his chest since their last exchange, he wants nothing more than to wrap his arms around her in a loving embrace on her special day.
but like taehee, mark has learned to disguise his emotions with a built facade. to taehee, his unmoving expression tells her he still hates her as much as he did that night.
a heavy beat passes, then another, before mark retraces his steps back from behind the wall and disappears from her view.
a hopeless sigh escapes her lips once she turns her head back to taeyong, and he could only give her a few gentle pats on her head in hopes of consoling her.
after forcing another smile on her lips, she raises both of her arms for a hug, one that taeyong pulls her into as they bid each other goodnight, “bye hyung.” she steps out of their dorm, holding all the paper bags in one hand as she walks to the elevator.
the door clicks behind her and she doesn’t look back.
“i’m the one on the phone as you whisper,” her footsteps were light on the carpeted hallway while she murmured the lyrics of the song in its tune, “do you know how much i miss you?”
the elevator dings open and she steps inside, pressing the button that’ll bring her to the ground floor. she leans on the wall on her right and her eyes train in on her beat up converse, still singing softly to the same song.
the doors were a little more than halfway closed until she heard heavy footsteps rushing to the elevator. thinking it was one of the tenants there, she quickly pushed on one of the buttons to stop the doors from closing completely.
a loud bang resounds within the elevator as the person slams their hand on the side of the entrance to prevent the doors from moving, startling taehee.
on one of their fingers was a friendship ring taehee recognized all too well, and she doesn’t hide the shock in her eyes when she makes eye contact with the man in front of her.
his name slips easily from her tongue, yet it also felt foreign after not saying it for so long, “mark?”
the said boy finally sets foot into the elevator, not caring that its doors were closing shut behind him. a breathy sigh escapes from him, causing taehee’s brows to furrow in the realization that he ran.
“what—” she doesn’t get to continue because mark had pulled her into a tight embrace, knocking the wind out of her and causing the paper bags to drop from her hand.
surprised. confused. overwhelmed. taehee didn’t know what to feel when mark presses his cheek to her shoulder and wraps his arms tighter around her.
“i’m sorry,” he whispers finally, even if they were the only ones inside the small elevator.
“i’m so sorry for everything,” he says again, now leaning his head on her temple so he could pull her closer to him. “i miss you so much, joanie.”
taehee hadn’t known that she was crying until she tasted the salty tear that cascaded down her bottom lip. to finally be able to hear his voice, to smell the cologne they bought together months ago so close to her, and to be in his arms once again made her heart burst in ecstasy.
she snakes her arms around his waist and clasps her hands behind his back, feeling him relax as she ultimately leaned into his touch.
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9:57 pm “jisung-ah! let’s do this one,” the maknae on the other side of the practice room looks up at the call of his name, seeing his noona walk towards him with her eyes glued to her phone.
he’s about to stand up from his place on the floor but then sees mark pull taehee by the elbow ‘til she’s fully seated on his lap. “you’re distracted!” jisung shouts, quickly shifting his focus back to the game he was playing on his phone.
taehee clicks her tongue as she fell on on top of mark, feeling him press his cheek lovingly against her spine while he squeezes his arms around her waist, trapping her. he places his chin on her shoulder and asks, “what are you and jisung going to do?”
“this one,” she shows him one of those tiktok dances that had caught her attention, the video of two best friends dancing along to a steelix remix of lloyd’s ‘lay it down’ playing on her phone. mark knows he’s heard that song somewhere.
he pulls away from taehee’s shoulder to meet her eyes and blinks, “why can’t you do one with me?”
mark doesn’t miss the way she brings her eyes down to his parted lips, feeling his heart beat erratically in response to the subtle action. maybe he was just imagining it, he tells himself. it’s all fuzzy even when she answers his question, saying, “because i want to do it with jisung. we’re cute.”
“i am cute too.”
“i am very aware,” taehee nods teasingly, tapping her finger on his bottom lip.
and mark was content with that, or maybe he just wasn’t mentally ready for what else his best friend could do after she looked at him with such eyes.
everything in him was in such a haze, yet the scene of her glancing to his own pair of lips even just for a split second was just so vivid in his cluttered mind, he kept playing it over and over and over again as she slipped away from his grasp.
“weak,” mark hears someone cough from beside him, the voice he immediately recognizes to be renjun’s. seeing as taehee’s out of earshot, he turns his head towards him with an airy chuckle, “what?”
“you and jisung keep acting jealous, but then you just let her go like that,” at his words, mark pretends to act as if he were absurd, furrowing his brows in confusion before releasing a laugh.
“you all are so weird,” he shakes his head, putting his arm around the younger’s shoulder before ruffling his hair. “argh, hyung!” renjun groans, freeing himself from the elder’s grasp.
“but you’re wrong.”
“hm?”
“who said i’m letting her go just like that?” renjun lets an amused grin grow on his lips upon hearing mark’s confident words, his hand coming up to hit his shoulder playfully. “ohoho, mark hyung,” he teases, seeing the smugness radiate off mark as he gives him a casual shrug.
“but you know,” he tells him, “she’s her own person.”
renjun throws his head back as he laughed, “why are we suddenly getting serious? do you really like her?”
mark swears he felt his heart stop at that exact moment, but he doesn’t let it show, choosing to reply with, “oh i was just playing along.”
renjun gives him one last chuckle before returning to his phone, a video of two cats jumping an invisible wall playing on the screen.
mark releases a breath he didn’t know he was holding before shifting his eyes to the other side of the room, watching as taehee and jisung start to record their dance. “they’re so cute,” he smiles to himself.
9:14 pm mark tries not to move a muscle when he notices taehee still fast asleep on his shoulder after a long day of practice and performing, deciding to rest his cheek on the top of her head instead as they continue the drive home.
“why are you upside down?” taehee’s eyes crinkle into cute crescents as she giggles at mark’s reply, the smile he was trying to contain completely contrasting his questioning brow. he likes the way her dimples pop up with every smile she makes.
he goes to give a soft flick to her forehead, her nose scrunching at the playful gesture. taehee pulls herself up from her position and smoothly slides off her bed and onto the floor across mark, his back against his bed and hers against her own one.
“give me that,” taehee gestures to the guitar in mark’s arms, the narrow space in between them allowing him to easily hand it to her. she could play well, but she promises she can never be as great as mark when it came down to guitar.
the dark haired boy watches as she plucks a few chords, her fingers moving smoothly along the neck of the instrument. he notices how her bottom lip juts out into a subtle pout, her gaze gentle but focused. his heartbeat quickens as he feels another smile grow on his lips.
some loose strands begin to fall out of her ponytail the more she plays, and without a word, he moves forward and tucks them behind her ear.
“what song is that?” mark asks, opting to place his chin on his propped up knee instead of leaning back to his previous position.
“the more that you say, the less i know. wherever you stray, i follow. i’m begging for you to take my hand, wreck my plans,” taehee raises her head and makes eye contact with the boy in front of her, “that’s my man.”
she pays no attention to the way mark inhales deeply as he leans back, their close proximity causing him to gulp. she expected him to know the song, and running a nervous hand through his hair, he says, “i have no idea.”
taehee’s anticipating stare suddenly shifts to a disappointed one. “you should listen to taylor swift,” she hands him back the guitar and mark’s features furrow slightly.
“i do!”
“you don’t,” she states as if it were the obvious, grabbing her phone and climbing back up on her bed.
“you like her, so i listen to her too!”
no questioning brow. no teasing remark. mark’s sure as hell taehee doesn’t have the faintest clue of his previous statement’s context, nor his behavior for the past few months.
sure, mark tries so hard not to blush, not to be flustered or shy like he was before when he didn’t realize his feelings for his best friend. but if present-mark was the mark he thought he knew years ago at this moment, he’d be blaming the racing of his heart solely on embarrassment; not on his flaming crush on the girl sitting across him seconds ago, knees brushing against his leg as she played.
taehee’s observant, attentive, considerate, kind — mark loved that about her (both as a caring human being himself and a uhh potential ... lover, right?), but he’s also starting to love the fact that she’s completely oblivious to the brightly colored led sign on his forehead that says, ‘I LIKE YOU MORE THAN A BEST FRIEND SHOULD AND YOUR WIT AND CHARMS AND BEAUTY ARE NOT HELPING!’
mark knows he’s slipping — hell, he’s a teensy bit worried some of the members are growing suspicious — but when taehee hits him with one of her stupid flirt tactics again, laughs from the other side of the room, or much less looks in his direction, there isn’t at least a bit of worry that lingers in his chest with the chance that taehee notices the light blush that fans the expanse of his cheeks whenever their fingers brush against each other.
from that moment forward, he decides that it wouldn’t hurt dropping little hints here and there.
“you should listen to justin bieber then,” he mentions next.
mark smiles at the way taehee’s eyes roll as she held her phone, “i don’t need to. you and the others are like, a living jukebox of his songs or something.”
“i got my peaches out in georgia!”
“oh yeah shit.”
“i get my weed from california.”
“that’s that shit... SHIT!” taehee peels her eyes off her phone in shock and amusement; she didn’t realize she was singing along until familiar laughter rings throughout the room, “mark!”
the latter clicks his tongue as he stood up from the floor, guitar in his right hand. “it’s the peaches effect, baby,” he boops his finger on the tip of taehee’s nose, and she pretends to be annoyed by swatting his hand away.
“so annoying,” she mumbles, but mark doesn’t see the amused smile she has on her face as he walks out of their room, humming the song that he just sang.
it’s the way she could so easily smile in his presence that interests taehee, even as he played a song on repeat that it’d make her go crazy, tell her a bad joke that wasn’t supposed to be said in the case of embarrassment, or just be with her in any way while doing the bare minimum — what a cheesy way to describe the mark lee effect.
apparently, it also comes with having to deal with 22 other men who also listen to the same damn fruit song. taehee could already hear their boisterous laughs from the other room as justin bieber’s voice pierces through the walls, “MARK LEE! KIM JUNGWOO!”
8:34 am a few people on the street turned heads when they caught sight of a sleek black porsche 911 turbo s pulling up to the sidewalk, looking dashing as it is brand new.
they all watch with curious eyes as the tinted windows slowly rolled down, their eyebrows raising in anticipation as the owner reveals themselves inch by inch.
a woman with a white mask and aviator sunglasses, donned in a simple light blue button up sat on the driver’s seat with one hand on the wheel. it’s no doubt she looked elegantly classic.
“she looks familiar,” one of them says. “how could you know when she has her face completely covered?” her friend loudly inquires, and out of panic, she immediately shushes her as they decided to look away and continue with their walk.
“i swear i saw that jawline somewhere…”
“what the hell—”
taehee tries to come off as flirty as she kept her hand on top of the wheel, using her free one to pull down her sunglasses slightly as she eyed her manager standing outside.
“hello jiyeon-ssi,” she starts off formally, “are you perhaps…single?”
“i knew getting a car was a bad idea,” the older girl responded, sucking air through her teeth and feigning disappointment.
“mm, i was starting to think of the same too when we got the house.”
“please tell me you’re joking.”
“just kidding!” taehee cheers, showing off her pretty eye smile as she pushed her sunglasses up on her head.
jiyeon, besides from being taehee’s manager for three years, had been the closest to acting as her older sister when she came to korea a few years back.
taehee still remembers the day she was introduced to her — soft yet determined and leader-like. she was kind to everyone there yet she wasn’t afraid to speak her mind despite being new. it was one of their many similarities together, so even if she was five years older than taehee, it didn’t take long before they eventually got close and started joking around one another like friends.
taehee sends her a cheeky grin through her mask before her bottom lip juts into a playful pout, “don’t frown! what if dispatch is here and thinks we’re dating. you have to smile for the headlines!”
“don’t worry,” jiyeon casually speaks, walking to the passenger’s side and getting the car door open, “i barely even recognized you.”
“then what if you thought i was some creep!”
“i think that’s for you to reflect on, taehee-ssi.”
they both share a laugh over this as taehee begins to drive, casually tapping her fingers on the wheel while humming to one direction on the radio.
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2:06 pm “haechan-ah, happy birthday! i might not show it to you all the time but i’m grateful for your presence and .... affection.”
“you always know how to light up a room and make the people around you happy, but at the same time you’re very sincere and thoughtful; that’s what i really like about you.”
“you did very well while we were promoting ‘hot sauce’ and that made me very... proud?” taehee laughs, “you make me very proud. always.”
“twenty-two — i hope you spend this year happily, healthily, and safely. i’ve got your back so just lean on me, open up to me, and i’ll be there for you.”
“happy birthday, haechanie!”
a bit shuffling is heard until taehee’s voicemail ends, and haechan feels his smile grow all the more when he receives a notification from the female member.
chubs’ pretty mom
[14:09] i made you your favorite ... 🙄
haechan giggles inwardly when he sees a picture of 김치찌개 next. well, it looks edible.
[14:09] i don’t really make this though so if it’s bad just keep it to yourself T____T
the birthday boy lets out another laugh, a louder one this time (oh how he found taehee’s antics adorable).
fullsun
[14:10] cute
[14:10] thank you, noona ~~
later, when they see each other before the fansign, haechan engulfs taehee into a bone-crushing hug, knocking the air out of her lungs.
“why does she get a hug like that?” renjun sulks, “we all said happy birthday to you!”
still keeping his hold on taehee, he faces the chinese boy, “unlike you, noona actually supports my love for 김치찌개,” and sticks his tongue out playfully. hearing his reply, another huff escapes renjun, causing mark and jeno to laugh at his situation.
as they make their way to the waiting room, haechan separates himself from taehee and takes the plastic bag of his known favorite from her hands. “if it suits your taste, there’s still more in the dorms. just come over,” taehee tells him softly, her hand coming up to pat the fluff of hair that sits atop haechan’s head.
“even if it didn’t, i’ll still come over and eat all the 김치찌개 you’ve made, noona.”
6:54 pm mark and taehee share matching grins as they finished a smooth run of the choreography they had just learned, doing their own handshake before checking out the video their trainer took of them.
“i’m going to post this on instagram,” mark told her, quickly typing a caption on his phone.
“tag me!” taehee happily shouted from the other side of the room as she twisted the cap of her bottle open, “do it quickly so we can learn another one.”
06:11 am taehee’s thumb hovered over the screen as she gazed upon a picture taken so many years back.
the skies were a vibrant blue and the sand was white on apollo bay. the sun beat down on them quite harshly but that didn’t stop the brightest of smiles from appearing on their faces. taehee suddenly remembers the waves they surfed on and the laughs they shared over the water. those were her favorite moments with her dad.
taehee zooms in on the man that stood beside her younger self, his pearly whites showing as his arm was thrown around his red-aqua surfboard. meanwhile, little taehee had her hands on her hips as she posed with a sassy grin. she snorts; she got that from him too.
taehee also notices the wrinkles in her dad’s smile, that’s how she knew he was really happy. how she missed seeing that smile.
her screen blurs as she gets a call from her manager, and she clears her throat before answering. “i got the car ready. you ready to go?” she hears.
“yeah, can i drive?” taehee asks, and her kind manager quickly agrees. “of course~,” she chuckles.
as taehee made her way to the elevator, she can’t help but think of one of the promises she made with her dad almost a decade ago.
“promise me you’ll teach me how to drive when i’m older?” he was the only one who she trusted before. her dad flashes one of his dimpled smiles as a wholehearted chuckle sounded out of him, “don’t worry, buddy. i’ll be with you every step of the way.”
