"Ya, Kim Yugyeom! Throw me the ball!" Jr shouted at him. Not listening again, the mischievous boy went solo, leaving his partner behind and made two points.
Yugyeom suddenly caught eye-contact with Jr and started running away from him while laughing like a happy child.
The other team, Jackson and Bambam watched them with an annoyed face; even though Jackson was good in basketball, his partner Bambam wasn't. Adding to that, Yugyeom was a giant compared to them, and Jr was also very good in basketball.
Melanie chuckled on the side, looking at the both of them running around the court like two little children. Yugyeom almost fell on the slippery ground, filled with autumn leaves with Jr showing a smile of satisfaction. They were like Tom and Jerry, seriously.
JB was supposed to come soon with his cousin from South Korea. And Mark, Melanie had no news of him since she talked to him this morning, only 10 seconds. You call that talking ? He only responded with a "see you later!" She kept questionning herself cause...he was too excited and too much in a hurry.
She called him two other times, but no response. They used to spend the weekend together cause Mark was busy during the week with school and Melanie could only see him during the late hours of the day.
If not, she would go cheer up Jackson at his fencing practice, or annoy the two youngsters and Jr at the convenience store, or watch JB at the dance practice since she couldn't fully dance yet.
She had too much free time and she wanted to spend it with him as he was now her priority.
While the two teams continued to play, well it was more like Jackson running around the court, screaming "AAAHHHH!!!", afraid of the giant baby Yugyeom trying to grab him for doing a foul. These boys sure gave her life. She smiled sweetly watching them.
JB and his cousin could be seen from afar. The guys saw them and stopped their game. Melanie stood up from her seat to join them.
"What's up guys! That's my cousin Youngjae."
"Oh hi!" Youngjae exclaimed in a loud confident english.
Jackson and Bambam greeted him with a "What's up man!", while Jr and Yugyeom went more with a calm and relax attitude, saying "Annyeonghaseyo." to make Youngjae feel more comfortable and started conversing in their native language.
Jackson and Bambam looked at each other. Jackson spoke to him, "Now you know how I feel everytime these koreans speak in their language. That's when I need Mark the most..." and ended with a funny face, faking a cry.
JB heard him and chuckled while patting his shoulder and his eyes then met with Melanie's.
"Uh Youngjae, that's Melanie. Melanie, that's my cousin Youngjae."
"Hi!" she waved sweetly with her friendly smile.
"H-H-Hi." Youngjae stammered and suddenly blushed, becoming shy. He felt a little intimidated.
JB gazed around, "Mark didn't come yet..."
Melanie shook her head, deceived. JB had an idea of why he wasn't there; he surely was with Emma. Talking about him...
"Oh Mark!" Bambam said while pointing to his direction, making everyone turn their head.
"He came with Gui Gui?" Jr asked as he already saw her when she came by to his store with Mark.
Who's that Gui Gui? Melanie thought tilting her head while looking at the pretty blind girl coming with...her man. Her heartbeat started pacing faster...
Is she the reason why you were all happy?
JB slightly peeped at Melanie to see her expressionless, clenching her teeth. Finally she could feel what he felt; seeing the one you like around the opposite gender.
"What's up Mark!" Jackson said and then went, "Wow Gui Gui, it's really you?"
"You are...?"
"Jackson! It's me Jackson!"
"Oh Jackson?? Wow, your voice!"
"I know right? I'm a man now!" he shouted proudly before laughing.
"Happy to hear that your laugh is still the same." she giggled quietly, pleased to hear it once again in a longtime.
The guys came closer to greet her properly, giving friendly hugs. Melanie became more perplexed as the girl was just coming out of nowhere, but the guys seemed to know her very well. How come she has not heard about her before, even from Mark?
"Mark...?" she finally spoke up, wanting to grab some attention from him.
Gui Gui turned her head to the sound of Melanie's voice...a girl calling for Mark.
"Yeah, uh Emma I present to you Melanie."
Melanie came further to shake her hand, "Hi, nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too." Emma softly responded and turned her head to Mark, "...Girlfriend?" she suddenly asked.
Melanie gulped noisily and only let out a "Hm?" even though she heard clearly. Mark was also late to say anything, as he seemed flustered. The two haven't talked about that yet, even if they clearly liked each other a lot.
Emma spoke up in her bright personnality, "Well it doesn't seem so. It's just that this morning when I was with Mark, he received two missing calls from you. Knowing it was from a girl, I thought that you two must be close. However, we were such in a hurry to go eat together that he hasn't took them, saying it wasn't important. So, I didn't know what to think..."
He thought my calls weren't important? Melanie thought as she frowned. She only let out a "Ah..."
"Y-Yeah. S-She's not my girlfriend...just, a friend." Mark hesitated a little while stuttering.
JB squinted his eyes, not believing him. Why would he lie, they were obviously more than that, no? Jackson looked both at Melanie and Mark, trying to decipher their expressions. Jr only looked at Melanie, but discreetly.
The little ones were just doing like they haven't heard anything. And Youngjae, just listened to the conversation normally.
"Oh then that's a relief, if not I wouldn't be able to spend time with Mark uh? And when I think about it, you haven't really told me about a girlfriend..." Emma concluded while nudging Mark on the side.
It felt like Melanie just received a big slap on her face; she was just a friend.
They would hug, they would say affectionate words to each other, they would protect each other, they would kiss. In the end, she was just a friend? Something didn't feel right.
Her body started heating up quite quickly as she would glare at the both of them with angry eyes. Her heart hurt, and not just a little.
Is Mark throwing her away because of that Emma?
Okay, it was true that they didn't made official their relationship, but he could had said something like a "dear" friend or "an important" friend, a "lovable" friend or "precious" friend. Whatever the adjective in the front, just stating friend only was a pure shame.
She started feeling dizzy and would grasped for air as her respiration increased faster and deeper.
"It was nice seeing you all. Mark and I will go downtown since it's been a while." she expressed in a hurry. "See you guys! You come Mark?" she shouted while walking away, sensing the good direction.
Melanie turned around quietly, he wants to hangout with her? Only the two of them? She tried to compose herself while repeating in her head that Emma was only a friend and they just wanted to spend time together...that's it.
That's it...right?
Mark was still on the same spot, not moving just yet.
"...Melanie?" he called softly.
She turned around at his voice, "...yes?"
With unsecurity, he asked "You're okay with that?"
All of a sudden, she snorted bitterly with an irritated smile. She felt the need to respond in a cold tone, "Why would need to ask me? I'm just a friend, remember?" That was the first time she spoke to him like that, and with an audience around.
She was obviously hurt as she turned around once again to hide her watery eyes from everyone. She went to the bench to pick up her bag.
Mark found himself in a dilemma, but went to Emma without saying anymore words. He'll make time to explain himself to Melanie another time as Emma needed him for now. They haven't seen each other for almost eight years. Melanie will understand.
Footsteps could be heard coming from behind Melanie, making subtle noise as it flattened the wet autumn leaves on the ground. One hand touched her shoulder slightly...
"What do you want Mark?" she asked still showing her back.
"Um, Mark already left."
Melanie turned around to see a Jr with a concern expression.
"Obviously, you're far from okay." he stated as he saw her wet eyes.
She felt destroyed; she thought it would be Mark. He had not even greet her when he came and barely talked to her, as if she wasn't even there.
It was true that they weren't use to show affection in front of their friends yet, but just a little "hi, how are you?" or just holding hands for few seconds would have been enough. Instead, she felt like a total nobody to him...and in front of that Emma so called Gui Gui.
"Don't worry, she's his childhood friend. She had to leave for Taiwan with her parents. They haven't seen each other for a good seven years I think. They just have a lot to say to each other you know."
"Probably..." she forced herself to say as tears threatened to fall. Still, Mark said she was just a friend and completely ingnored her presence, smiling each time Emma would talk in her adorable bubbly voice. After that, out of nowhere asked Melanie if she was okay with hanging out with Emma like nothing happened...what?
It was official, she hated that girl. She didn't know what kind of sorcery she had done on Mark, but she didn't like it. She changed him. Melanie had enough and was getting ready to leave; she needed to be alone.
"You're leaving?" Jr asked curious watching her getting ready with her stuffs.
"Hm, I need to be alone now." and started walking away without even saying bye.
However, Jr stopped her with a "You're jealous?"
Melanie let fall the bag from her shoulder in demoralization and faced Jr again.
"I don't know." she struggled to say as it felt like she had a lump in the throat. She had the feeling that that girl would be stealing Mark from her and that it already started. Why she had to comeback?
Melanie looked down, hit with such emotion. It felt like she was overreacting but that's how her body wanted to react.
She continued while sobbing "I just discovered that i'm just a friend to someone who I thought I mean more than just that."
With her eyes tightly shut, she wanted to cry harder, but tried not to.
"I feel like trash in front of that girl; he knows her for years, while me, only few months. Yeah, maybe i'm jealous, but right now I don't know if I have the right to be. We weren't official anyways..."
Jr came closer to her, "Please stop crying, i'm sure he'll have a good explanation to give you."
"You're sure about that?"
"Hm." he responded confidently while nodding gently.
Melanie tilted her head while looking at him with wonder. She was grateful to him.
"How come you're always the one to come to me when i'm crying?" she giggled a little.
Two hands in his pockets, Jr also tilted his head in wonder and smiled slightly at her. He coolly shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know it myself...it's just like that I guess."
Um Um!
They both heard someone clearing his throat behind them. It was JB and when he saw Melanie's face he didn't feel good at all inside; her sad mood affected him as he didn't like to see her like that.
"You're crying?" JB approached her slowly.
"Um, i'm leaving the both of you alone." Jr said.
"Ah, can you keep an eye on my cousin for me please?"
Jr nodded and left to the guys to play another round of basketball.
"You're leaving?" JB asked Melanie seeing she didn't feel comfortable being there.
"Yes, I need to be alone."
"Let me take you somewhere to make you feel better then."
She shook her head, "No Jaebeom. And, your cousin, you can't leave him by himself..."
"Then...come home."
"...Eh?"
"At my house, with the guys. We'll play games, order food and we can watch a movie. If you're alone, you'll eat your mind all day long wondering what these two are possibly doing now."
She hesitated because she needed her loneliness sometimes.
"Listen. I don't understand why Mark said you were just a friend. As I know, friends don't kiss...lovers do."
Melanie lifted her head at the word lovers. She carefully listened to JB now. This last one seemed to have some difficulty to continue his words, thinking about the two loving each other. He still wasn't use to it even though he knew they liked each other a lot. He had to accept it.
"I think Mark needs...his time with Emma since it's been a longtime they haven't seen each other. But, that shouldn't be an excuse to act the way he did earlier. If your man can't be with you right now, me as your friend i'll take care of you. I have to see that beautiful smile of yours again on that face."