✓ coworker - mark lee

14

The soulmates had been together for about a week, almost no progress happening. Everything seemed to be going in a cycle. They would go to work together, talk about random things and get to know more about each other, pick up Kara and spend the evening with each other at home.

Of course, there was still hand holding and a plethora of flirting, but the two were too scared to do anything further than that, no matter how bad they felt like it and that evidently made Kara annoyed and restless, constantly complaining that her parents were the slowest people on earth.

Over the course of the past week, the two had gotten to know each other quite well, even spilling small secrets and catching onto each other's habits, just like Mark's habit of hitting the people next to him when he laughs so she learned to slightly scoot away from his side everytime something funny happened.

Currently, the two soulmates sat in bed, not knowing what to do as Kara slept soundly in the middle after the long night she gave them after throwing a fit over them not doing anything.

The two finally got a day off of work and they really had no clue what to do. This was also possibly the only time they had to relax now that Kara slept.

They hadn't been doing much over the past week other than working and because of that, they couldn't even get the chance to talk to their friends. They only really ever spoke to Jaemin and Jiyeon since the two had offered to babysit Kara when they worked.

"Do you want breakfast?" Nara finally asked, breaking the silence.

"I could eat."

With that, the two made their way downstairs, making sure to leave the baby monitor facing Kara's direction as she slept, hoping she wouldn't fall off the bed.

"How was your first week of work?" Mark asked as he followed Nara around the kitchen like a puppy, watching as she cooked them food.

"Very boring other than the times when you were there." Nara replied, attempting to subtly flirt which Mark caught onto.

"I'm just that amazing arent I?" He asked with a proud grin on his face and she laughed a bit at it before nodding.

"Definitely are."

As Nara spoke, she grabbed some eggs to prepare to make fried eggs and Mark's eyes widened as he saw his sworn enemy.

"You okay?" Nara asked, confused by his staring contest with the fresh eggs that sat on the counter.

"Can you.. teach me?" He shyly asked and Nara's jaw opened slightly, finding it a bit difficult to believe.

"You want me to teach you how to make fried eggs?" She asked again for clarification and Mark nodded which Nara had to suppress a small giggle at. The way he asked was adorable, his eyes shining at the thought of finally learning.

Nara nodded and called him over to look at how she made hers.

It was really simple. First, heat up the pan. Next, put oil in the pan. Crack the egg and let it go on the pan. Let it cook and use a spatula to transfer the readied fried egg onto a plate.

It looked so simple but when Mark tried, it did not go as smoothly as Nara's did and all that landed on his plate was a yolk and the cooked egg whites separated from it.

"Uh... not exactly how it's supposed to look." Nara said, an unsure smile on her face which Mark pouted at.

Determined to help him get it right, Nara assisted Mark over and over again.

After many failed attempts (and an egg that managed to land on the floor), Mark finally succeeded and gently placed his fried egg onto his plate.

Once he did, he erupted into cheers with Nara and hugged her, jumping up and down as he did so from the excitement he felt.

"Thank you thank you thank you!" He exclaimed happily before going to kiss her cheek.

Once he did so, Nara froze, her heart rapidly beating at the feeling.

After a week of only small hand holding and subtle flirting, they hugged and he kissed her cheek.

Mark was quick to notice his action too and stopped jumping, staring at Nara with wide eyes.

"I'm so sorry! I don't know what got over me!" He exclaimed but all Nara did was smile and cup his face in her hands, tilting his head to the side and kissing his cheek in return.

"Don't be. I liked it." She said, suppressing a laugh as she realized that Marks cheeks were now flushed red from the shyness he was feeling.

"Really?" He asked, his eyes bright with happiness as Nara nodded.

Mark grinned, biting his lower lip as he hugged her tightly.

"You have no clue how long I've been holding in the urge to do that." He said, resting his chin on her shoulder.

"You've been having the urge, too?" Nara asked, pretty shocked at his confession.

"Too?"

"Yeah! All this week, I've just been getting the random urge to just do something affectionate with you, whether it be a kiss on the cheek or a simple hug. I was just too cared to go through with it."Nara admitted and Mark widened his eyes as he separated from the hug.

"I've been feeling the same exact thing!" Mark said and Nara's expression brightened, glad to know she wasn't the only one until a realization hit her.

"But, why are we suddenly feeling that? I mean, it's only been a week." She asked and before the two could even start to think, an excited scream was heard from upstairs and the baby monitor.

The two looked at the food and mess that was made and quickly shoved their accomplished eggs into their mouths before running upstairs to greet the overly-excited Kara.

───── ⋆⋅♡ ⋅⋆ ─────
"You would think that their friends would've told them about the Soulmate Effect by now." One of them commented as he watched the duo talk with Kara, happiness in their faces.

"Well, they haven't really talked to them this week."

"And it's kind of funny seeing them two try to figure out the urges so I'm glad they didn't." Another one said, laughing a bit at how serious the two had gotten before Kara woke up.

"And you guys are literally failing to remember the fact that they kissed!"

"It was a cheek kiss, old man."

"That's still so much better than nothing."

"We were faster."

"You're gonna have to shut up for the rest of this story."

"Story?"

"There goes your privileges too."