𝐇𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐒𝐢𝐝𝐞 | 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘬

07: A Good Listener.

Mark was able to somehow get out of going back home but Johnny had already been suspecting that something was going on. Earlier Mark was on his phone, giggling while texting someone and now he wanted to go for "a walk" instead of home to work on his music. The older decided to wait for a better moment to ask him to spill the tea.

Mark stared at his phone as he turned on GPS to get to the place Nabi had sent him. He furrowed his eyebrows as he reached a playground and glanced back on his phone - it said that he had arrived. He chuckled to himself and looked around when he heard a soft voice call his name. He squinted and saw a girl waving to him from on top of one of the things kids liked to hang from.

Nabi watched Mark walk over with the biggest smile on his face. She thought that he might've been confused at what the hell they were doing at a playground, but she thought he might've liked the idea after all. The girl scanned him up and down, liking the outfit choice as per usual - it fit him so well.

"What are you doing up there?"

"Chillin. Come join me." she suggested so Mark pulled himself up and eventually sat down in front of her.

"It's higher than it looks from the ground."

"Are you afraid of heights?"

"I don't know, I don't think so?"

Nabi chuckled and looked up at the stars.

"Have you been waiting for long?" he asked softly.

"Nope. Even if I did, I don't mind. I like looking at the stars in silence." Mark nodded, understanding perfectly as he looked up at the sky as well. "How was your night with your friend? Was he mad you ditched him?"

"Nah, he's fine. He'll probably want to drink some more when I get back home after this."

Nabi chuckled. "Is it fun having a roommate?"

Mark laughed a little. "It has its pros and cons. You don't live with your friend from the store?"

"Shit, I completely forgot you met her!" Nabi laughed, hitting Mark's arm playfully. "No, we don't live together. I kind of like living alone."

"I could probably get used to it too, but me and Johnny had been in each others lives since I can remember so it could be a little weird at first."

"You know, some day you'll probably have to." she wiggled her eyebrows to which the boy burst out laughing.

"Yeah, I mean, I'd hope so."

The two chitchatted a bit, getting to know each other more. After half an hour of simple and fun conversations, Mark had remembered why Nabi wanted to meet up at this hour in the first place. He fixed his beanie and spoke up. "Um, so, there was something you wanted to talk about, wasn't there?"

Nabi let out a deep sigh as she looked up at the sky for the nth time. "I do and I don't at the same time, you know?"

"You don't have to if you don't want to. It's not like it's our only time meeting, right?"

She smiled and glanced at him for a quick second. "I hope not." he smiled back at her words. After taking a deep breath, she began to tell Mark the whole story about her and Xiaojun. Telling him everything was so easy that she surprised herself with how quickly she was able to open up to him - something that was rather hard for her to do in general.

"So, that's where we are now." she let out a deep breath and glanced at Mark who only widened his eyes. She laughed and said "I know."

"That's a lot of information at once." he fixed his beanie as his eyes stayed big for a little longer, trying to process everything she just told him in details.

"You don't have to say anything, it felt good enough to just let it all out."

"Haven't you talked with your friend about all of this?"

"I did, of course, but she'd always take my side. You on the other hand can tell me honestly if I'm at fault since you're probably not sided with neither of us."

Mark scrunched his nose and said "I don't know about that. I mean, I did meet him, kind of? And he didn't make a good first impression to be honest, so.."

Nabi chuckled and waved her hand. "Forget it then."

"No, but seriously. All that aside." a more serious yet still soft face expression appeared on his face as he continued "I think you both still care about each other a lot. Those feelings don't fade away as fast as you'd think. I just think that you two should get away on a romantic trip or something and see how it goes, I don't know." he shrugged.

The girl furrowed her eyebrows as she kept thinking about his idea. "I haven't thought of that."

Mark smiled and looked ahead, a woman with a cute dog caught his attention when Nabi turned to look at him. "Thanks, Mark. You're a really great listener and you give good advice on top of that."

"I hear that a lot, thanks."

"If you need anyone to listen," she pointed at herself "I'm all ears too."

Mark's lips curled up. He liked the idea and nodded, agreeing. It seemed like a good start of a new friendship.

🥺 Mabi besties ?