31. the third hour

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*author's pov*

at this point yukhei had fallen asleep, his head resting on minji's head. and jeno had fallen asleep too. he was stressed out enough. and the rain combined with the stillness of the car had put them right out.

the only two awake were mark and hyerin in the front row.

"i just don't understand why he would do it." mark said, his eyes still fixated on the row of cars in front of him. hyerin just shrugged. she didn't know jeno well enough to make any kind of accusations or point any fingers. 

"what if he did love her first, mark?" she asked, watching the windshield wipers move from left, to right, to left, to right.

"even if he did, he's being selfish. even if you love someone, sometimes, you just can't be with them." he almost whispered. he thought about hyerin and nothing else. 

the two of them stayed quiet. 

"i understand that. like if your friends don't want you to be with someone because that person deserves to be with someone else."

mark looked over at her. 

he thought she was absolutely breathtaking. 

her elbow was perched on the arm rest of the car door. her chin was in her hand, and her other hand was tracing along the raindrops on the window. she was wrapped in minji's oversized grey hoodie, which wasn't so oversized on hyerin's chest, but somehow she made it look good. her legs were crossed, the right over the left. and she had taken her shoes off and showed off her light pink socks with little milk cartons on them. her long brown hair had been tied in a braid, resting on her shoulder. 

"hyerin. have you ever fallen in love?" mark asked. "i've known you forever and you've never told me about any crushes or boys or even girls you've liked. you can't be almost 18 and have never had a crush before."

she stood quiet and mark mentally bullied himself for asking something so personal. deep down, he prayed that she would say it was him, though he knew he was clinging onto false hopes and minji's judgement.

"yeah, me either." mark lied. the car came to a stop. the traffic was at a complete standstill. 

hyerin stopped tracing her fingers along the window. 

"mark."

"yes?"

"is the car going to be moving anytime soon?" she asked.

"i don't think so. why?"

hyerin turned her head. "look at me."

mark turned his head as told and couldn't prepare himself for what happened next.

"what's wrong?" he questioned, with the utmost concern. hyerin seemed off ever since he mentioned anything about falling in love.

she looked down and shrugged. "is it really wrong to be selfish sometimes?" 

he widened his eyes at her. "what do you mean?"

but before he could even finish that question, she leaned in to peck his lips softly. her lips were soft and plump and she had this pinkish red lip gloss on that stained his lips the same color. 

mark had been waiting for that moment since he realized he was in love with her 7 years ago.

and so had hyerin. she was surprised that she had worked up the courage to kiss him, 5 years after she realized she fell for her best friend.

mark didn't want her to pull away, and hyerin didn't want to pull away either, but the car in front of them had moved up so mark had to pull up the car. 

that gave them a moment to digest what just occurred and take in fully that their feelings were finally known by the other.

they hadn't said anything to each other, but mark was jumping for joy internally, now that he knew how she felt. but of course, he ruined the moment with his awkward speech.

"so what does this mean?" he said, not looking at her, but grinning like an idiot.

"it means i've liked you forever and i wanted to kiss you." she responded.

mark, although he was happy to hear it out loud, he was puzzled. "what do you mean, you've liked me forever? why didn't you just tell me?"

"cause everyone says you deserve to be with donghyuck. and i didn't want to impose on your friendship or relationship with him. but ever since minji came around, i've been questioning if you and donghyuck even belong together that way. he seems so in love with her." she turned her head to face minji and she smiled.

mark stared at her and started to laugh. "hyerin." he laughed even harder. 

she contorted her face at him. "what? what's so funny?" 

"hyerin... i'm straight." he said between laughs.

hyerin mocked him. "well how am i supposed to know? have you seen how you act with him." 

"hyerin. i've been in love with you since i was twelve years old."

she widened her eyes. "you're joking."

he shook his head and continued to giggle. she shoved him. "why didn't you tell me?"

mark got shy all of a sudden. 

"well... cause you're perfect." 

she nearly started to bawl after hearing that. "shut up you loser. just kiss me."

and he leaned in to kiss her once again before the traffic started to move.

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hey guys. I've been getting my heart broken a lot lately, sorry for not updating.

-mina

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