EPISODE 12.2 → MARK
SYNOPSIS
Mark becomes a true
teenage dirtbag.
____________________
"So, what's the plan?"
Mark's question is met with silence at first as he watches Hyungwon dig around in the trunk of his Honda Civic. The entire car ride had been spent with Mark declining the other boy's offers of every candy in existence (Mark had to make note to ask Hyungwon who exactly his dentist was since he practically lived off candy alone and yet his teeth didn't reflect that fact at all) all the while listening to Hyungwon sing along (rather poorly) to his extensive Britney Spears album collection. Mark really regrets declining the offer to ride with Changkyun, Wonho, and Taehyung instead. But despite all of this, he liked Hyungwon because he reminded him of Minhyuk in a way and there was the fact that he was afraid of the secret between he and Emira slipping out so he wanted to avoid being around Taehyung and the other's as much as possible.
"It's really simple." Hyungwon answers finally, slamming his trunk closed and turning to the other boy, "We're going to kill the guy."
When Mark continues to stare at him silently, he rolls his eyes before clarifying.
"Or rather, Taehyung is. We're just going to help him find the asshole. Shouldn't be that hard though, the guy is shaped like Larry the Lobster from SpongeBob." When Mark snickers, Hyungwon adds seriously, "The guy takes steroids for breakfast like vitamins and reads on a third grade reading level. I actually won't be surprised if he tosses Tae like a rag doll to be honest. That would be cool though too. Changkyun could record it and then I'd have blackmail on Tae in return for that video he has of me making out with that hot dog-"
When Hyungwon realizes he's said too much, he narrows his eyes at Mark.
"You didn't hear that." He tells Mark who raises his arms in surrender and shakes his head. Hyungwon grins at this before toying with the megaphone in his hand.
"Why do you have a pink megaphone?" Mark asks finally.
"The real question here is why don't you have a pink megaphone, Mark?" Hyungwon counters before replying seriously, "I was too cheap to buy one for myself and my girlfriend was generous enough to go behind her cheer captain's back and lend me this beauty. Anyway, we're going to use it to lure the jock asshole out faster. Rule number one of being a dirtbag Mark, always be creative. We could just go ahead and kill the guy but you and I are going to make this fun."
Hyungwon seems satisfied with his lengthy explanation but Mark is still stuck on something in particular.
"You have a girlfriend?" He blurts out making Hyungwon roll his eyes.
"Who has a girlfriend?" Both boys look over to find Wonho, Changkyun, and Taehyung approaching. Changkyun is pretending to play baseball with Taehyung's bat, Taehyung's eyes are roaming around in search of the guy, and Wonho is looking back and forth between Mark and Hyungwon expectantly.
"Hyungwon has a girlfriend." Mark says finally with a small smile.
"Hyungwon has a girlfriend?" Changkyun speaks up with a frown.
"You have a girlfriend?" Wonho asks Hyungwon with an amused grin.
"Who the fuck would date Che Hyungwon?" Taehyung wonders aloud.
"Who the fuck wouldn't date Che Hyungwon?" Some random girl butts in, winking at Hyungwon before continuing walking with her group of friends who giggle at their friend's boldness.
"Anyone with a brain and working eyes, sweetheart." Taehyung calls after her, sticking his tongue out at her when she turns around to flip him off, "We can tell you don't have either!"
"Aren't you going to go get that girl's number or something?" Changkyun asks, nodding at the girl who'd just interfered in their conversation before turning to Hyungwon who's grinning at the turn of events.
"He has a girlfriend." Wonho says as if he still couldn't quite believe the fact, "Is there a reason you haven't told me, your best friend, that you have a girlfriend?"
"Well-" Hyungwon hesitates, fumbling with the megaphone in his hands before answering, "She's on the cheer squad."
"This is gold." Taehyung says with a grin while Changkyun snickers.
"Marie is going to kill you." Wonho informs his best friend despite his amused smile.
"Why would she do that?" Mark asks, the only clueless one in the conversation.
He knew Marie as the captain of Crestwood's cheerleading team. While she was had always been nice to him, Marie was best known for her short temper and typical rich girl attitude. But that was pretty much it.
"I'm surprised you don't know." Wonho says, "Marie has had it out for Hyungwon since freshman year. She had a crush on him then, and invited him to her birthday party. Needless to say Marie got fucking wasted and tried to give Hyungwon a blow job. And by tried, I mean she ending up vomiting all over his crotch right in the middle of the party. Ever since then she's had it out for him for some reason. And now that Hyungwon is supposedly dating a girl from her cheer squad, well, you do the math."
"Fuck, I've got to make more space on my phone so I can capture just how many times she's going to kill you." Taehyung tells Hyungwon who rolls his eyes.
"Marie just can't get over the fact that I rejected her."
"Was this before or after she threw up on little Hyungwon?" Wonho teases making both Changkyun and Taehyung snicker.
"I hope Emira throws up on little Wonho, you dick." Hyungwon retorts, "But we all know it's gonna be fifty years before she even sees it, and another fifty before she even touches it. Wow Wonho, at this rate you're gonna be almost a hundred and fifty years old when you guys finally do fuck. You're probably going to have a heart attack and die as soon as Emira takes off her shirt and presents the Sanchez twins to you-"
"I don't want to fuck Em." Wonho interrupts, rolling his eyes at his best friend but Hyungwon simply continues.
"Oh no, I forget you want to bake cookies and hold hands with her because Emira Sanchez is an actual angel which is complete bullshit because who the fuck accidentally does cocaine twice."
"You like Emira?" Mark asks, forcing a smile on his lips as he turns to Wonho, who actually hesitates, smiling shyly while Hyungwon continues his mini rant in the background.
"-that girl knew what she was doing when she forced that unholy white powder up her nostrils. Angel my ass-"
"Wonho here is in love ." Taehyung tells Mark with a grin when Wonho hesitates.
"Yeah" Wonho murmurs quietly with a dazed smile.
"He used to be on the same caliber as Taehyung with 'let's see how many one night stands I can fit into one week' but look at him now." Hyungwon comments while Taehyung grins and Changkyun shakes his head.
"That's what we like to call The Emira Sanchez Effect." Changkyun speaks up, "It makes you really fucking soft."
"He's going to be picking petals off flowers doing the whole she loves me, she loves me not thing soon." Hyungwon says, crinkling his nose as he stares at his best friend who's staring off into the distance with a dazed smile.
"God help him." Changkyun murmurs dramatically as he shakes his head.
A loud ringing sound catches their attention making Hyungwon smile before he starts to climb onto the back of his car.
"It's action time." He states and Changkyun, Wonho, and Taehyung don't hesitate in moving in different directions into the oncoming crowd.
They were currently in the student parking lot of Bellwood Academy. Bellwood was Crestwood's biggest rival in terms of everything from football to basketball. But that didn't stop Bellwood's jocks from showing up to Crestwood parties in search of Crestwood girl's. And that was exactly what happened between Lisa and Bellwood's star quarterback, Evan Colwit. Evan wouldn't take no for an answer and Lisa was actually frightened of the guy in the end. Luckily Jungkook was there to save her, but that didn't stop him from informing Taehyung, who didn't take the news too well.
And so it was decided that Evan needed to be taught a little lesson.
"I've got a job for you too Mark. Don't worry." Mark turns just in time to catch the red iPhone Hyungwon tosses at him, "Careful with Cherry, she's my baby. But also congrats, you are now the designated camera man. Camera man Mark, how cute. Anyways, make sure you get some good angles because Taehyung's gonna break this guy's spine or something and I need the video to be clear for when I post it to Twitter."
Mark nods silently, pulling the camera up on the iPhone as Hyungwon raises the megaphone to his mouth. The last bell of the day had just rang in Bellwood and the students we're currently flooding out of the school, including into the student parking lot where they now currently stood.
"Attention students and staff of Bellwood. Evan Colwit-" The megaphone is surprisingly loud and helps them garner the crowds attention almost instantly. Hyungwon is grinning as he stands on top of his car and announces, "- we have an ass whooping over here with your name written all over it. Please come collect it. Thank you."
People are staring at them, some whispering "Who are those Crestwood fucks?", other's recognizing Mark and wondering who was stupid enough to cross him. Little did they know.
"Times ticking Evan." Hyungwon says into the megaphone before mimicking the Jeopardy timer music.
"Who the fuck are you?" A voice speaks up before a guy almost twice Mark's size comes pushing his way to the front of the crowd.
"Are you Evan Colwit?" Mark asks and the guy turns to him with a glare.
"Yeah, who the fuck wants to know-"
"That would be me."
Evan turns just in time to see Taehyung approaching him. Taehyung grins and even Mark winces when the boy doesn't waste any time in swinging his bat and hitting Evan right in the knees, making him fall over in pain. And because the bat is made out of pure steel, Mark can't help but think that Evan won't be playing football anytime soon after this. But considering Evan liked to force himself on girl's for fun, Mark found that he couldn't really feel bad for the boy.
He deserved it.
And some part of Mark feels great about being apart of all this. He always wanted to be a superhero when he was a kid. This would put an end to Evan's idea of "fun" and save so many girls in the process. People liked to talk bad about Taehyung and his friends, because they liked to do crazy shit. But despite their wild tendencies, Mark felt that Taehyung and his friends were often wrongly misjudged. They may have done crazy shit, but they always seemed to have each other's back at the end of the day and they also seemed to have no problem sticking up for what was right.
"Did you get that? Please tell me you got that."
Mark gives Hyungwon a thumbs up, grinning when the boy cheers loudly.
"I wouldn't try that if I were you." Wonho tells Evan's friends when they make move to attack Taehyung. Changkyun waves at them from his position beside Wonho with a small smile as if daring them as well. And Evan's friends hesitate, before deciding against it. But that doesn't stop them from glaring at the two boys.
"Evan, it's nice to finally meet you! The names Taehyung, Kim Taehyung. You probably don't know me but I'm sure you're very familiar with my girlfriend, Lisa. You know the one who told you no the other night before you decided to be a complete dick and ignore that fact." Taehyung says rather calmly with a smile as he crouches in front of Evan who's holding his knees with a pained expression, "I hope you like to learn because I have a very important lesson I want to teach you. Today's lesson is on consent. Do you know what consent is Evan?"
Evan's only reply is pained gasps as he rubs at his knees in attempt to soothe the pain. But this doesn't work for Taehyung who tuts and shakes his head before bringing his bat down on the boy's shoulder.
"Evan, participation is key in learning. So I'm going to need you to actually participate. Okay?" Evan nods quickly, biting back his pained whimpers as he stares at Taehyung with wide eyes, "Good. Do you know what consent is Evan? Consent is permission. If you don't have permission then the answer is no. And no means no, as in absolutely fucking not - don't fucking do it, no. You still with me Evan?"
Evan nods shakily making Taehyung smile in satisfaction.
"He's gonna piss himself any minute." Hyungwon snickers before calling out to Mark, "Make sure you get that on camera, Mr. Camera man."
"Gotcha" Mark calls back with a small smile as if he weren't recording someone getting the shit beat out of them.
"And what did Lisa tell you that night? No, right?" Taehyung asks, dragging his bat along the street before he glances at Evan who nods shakily once more, "And what does no mean?"
It seems Evan's pride catches up with him then and he tries to resist, ducks his head and doesn't answer. That is before Taehyung's raises his bat threateningly and demands-
"What does no mean, Evan?"
"No means no-" Evan practically squeaks out making the crowd erupt in laughing and teasing at how their school quarterback looked at the moment. This seems to be enough to piss Evan's friends off enough to do something. They were tired of their friend being embarrassed and made it known by finally defending him. The one closest to Changkyun is the first to attack, he reaches out and punches Changkyun hard enough to cause the other boy to stagger back but luckily Wonho is quick to come to his friend's defense and shoves the guy back causing fighting to break out amongst the group of boys.
Taehyung is just as quick, tossing his bat and heading into the crowd to help his friends. But Evan quickly disregards his pain and jumps on the boy's back. And since Evan is bigger, Taehyung goes down rather quickly. But he gains the advantage just as quickly and Mark watches through Hyungwon's iPhone camera as Taehyung punches the guy in the face repeatedly.
"Mark!" He hears someone call and he looks back to find Hyungwon trying to keep a few of Evan's friends from pulling him down from on top of his car, using his pink megaphone as a weapon, "Protect Cherry!"
Mark isn't sure why Hyungwon is telling him something like this at a time like this until he turns back around to find one of Evan's friends rushing towards him. He just barely has time to put Cherry into the safety of his pocket before the boy's fist comes flying at his face. And since it's much too late to dodge it, Mark finds himself falling to his back from the sheer force of the boy's punch. His head hits the ground harshly making him wince.
"Rule number two of being a dirtbag Mark! Sometimes it's okay to get your ass beat!" He hears Hyungwon call out amongst the chaos and Mark spares a glance in his direction to find the Che boy being dragged from the top of his car by a group of boys, "Don't touch me you steroid infused cunts-"
And for the first time that day, Mark Tuan wonders why he agreed to spend the day being a teenage dirtbag.
✖✖✖
"-But yeah, we kicked those guys asses in the end. I'm pretty sure Tae broke that guy's face." Hyungwon concludes later that day, sitting back in his booth with a grin. He had just finished retelling the details their exciting trip to Bellwood to Lisa. The gang were now at a diner not too far from Crestwood. After their fight, they had gotten kicked off and banned from Bellwood property, but they didn't really care because they were still on a high from their fight.
"We?" Wonho repeats in confusion, "Weren't you the one getting dragged across the parking lot by your leg until Tae saved you."
"Excuse me-" Is Hyungwon's reply as he places his hand over his chest in mock offense, "Did you or did you not see me kick that one guy in the face while getting dragged myself."
"You kicked another guy in the face while getting dragged." Wonho restates blandly.
"Legends only" Changkyun mutters as he steals Lisa's fries. And surpassingly, she lets him.
"Anyway-" Hyungwon starts, cutting his eyes at his best friends before continuing, "I'm pretty sure Tae broke the guy's knees. But that's okay because don't we grow new knees like every two years or some shit."
The Che boy is met with a series of weird looks then. Even Mark tilts his head in confusion at Hyungwon's words.
"I'm concerned about you." Wonho tells Hyungwon seriously who rolls his eyes in response.
"Well, I'm proud of you guys." Lisa speaks up, a small smile on her face, "My heroes."
And then she leans over and kisses the nearest boy on the cheek who just so happens to be Changkyun, who simply looks up in surprise in the midst of drowning his fries in ketchup. This garners an immediate response from Taehyung who sits up in the booth across from them.
"Hey, what about me?" He asks with a pout, "Don't I get a kiss on the cheek too?"
Lisa rolls her eyes but wave him over anyway. And Taehyung doesn't hesitate, jumping from his seat and hurriedly presenting her his cheek. Lisa actually smiles before giving him a quick peck on the cheek and Taehyung sighs dramatically before returning to his seat and staring at her with an exaggerated adoring look.
"Excuse me waitress-" Hyungwon calls out, "Could I get a glass of fresh bleach to put in my eyes to unsee the shit I just saw."
"Sounds like someone else wants a kiss too." Lisa says making Hyungwon's eyes widen.
"Wait no-"
Mark shakes his head as he watches Hyungwon attempt to dodge Lisa's many attempts at a kiss. The entirety of the diner is staring at them, but none of the others seemed to care. Wonho was too busy trying to talk Changkyun out of eating his ketchup soaked fries because "The fucking sodium, Changkyun", Taehyung is too busy napping in his own booth, and Emira- Mark jumps slightly when he feels a gentle tap on his shoulder.
"Sorry" She says with a sheepish smile when she realizes she's startled him, "Can we talk outside for a minute?"
Mark nods silently and her smile widens even more before he gets up to follow her. No one even notices them leaving. When they make it outside, Emira spends a good five minutes just quietly scuffing her shoe along the concrete. But Mark is patient and waits it out until she finally turns to him with an awkward smile.
"So, have fun to today?" She asks, crossing her arms casually over her chest.
"If you call fun getting punched in the face and watching Hyungwon eat an entire convenience store's aisle worth of candy, sing along to Britney Spears 'Toxic' for the fifteenth time while simultaneously endangering our lives because he's driving twenty miles over the speed limit-" Mark says in one breath before turning to her with a sarcastic smile, "-then I've had a fucking fantastic day."
"That's great!" Emira exclaims with a bright smile making Mark raise a brow in question. The Sanchez girl quickly backtracks, "Uh, sorry. I know I'm acting a little awkward right now. I just - I figured something out earlier and I can't stop thinking about it."
"Want to talk about it?" Mark asks quietly.
"Nah, it's stupid." Emira tells him as she waves it off.
"Okay" Mark says with a casual shrug before turning back to head inside the diner when Emira blurts out-
"I think Wonho likes me."
"You think?" Mark tells her, rolling his eyes before adding, "The guy stares at you like Hyungwon stares at candy. And he treats you like Hyungwon treats Cherry."
"So he really does like me." Emira mutters in realization, running a hand through her hair shakily.
"Yeah, he really fucking does." Mark says because he hadn't known them all for that long but he isn't oblivious. Wonho looked like someone had shown him the stars every time Emira was even mentioned. And now he wanted to know, "Are you going to do anything about it?"
"No" Emira replies quickly, shaking her head and making Mark frown. When she sees this, she tries to elaborate, "I can't because-"
Whatever she's about to say is cut off when the diner door comes flying open and Taehyung and the others come hurrying out.
"What the hell are you guys doing?" Emira asks with a frown.
"No time to talk princess, we've got an angry Italian midget on our hands-" Hyungwon tells her as he hurries past her followed by Changkyun and Taehyung who's holding tightly to Lisa's hand while she laughs loudly. It's Wonho who grabs Emira's hand and pulls her along as well. And Mark spares a glance back to find Vinny, the diner owner's son, hurrying outside with two butcher knives in his hands. Mark decides to haul ass then too, hurrying to catch up with the others.
And if was different from a typical day with Minhyuk. Mark would have never imagined himself running through the city with Kim Taehyung and his friends. But it felt amazing, throwing his head back in laughter and smiling widely as he watched Taehyung just barely avoid running into a street vendor before Mark himself almost trips over a fire hydrant. It's different, so very different.
But for Mark, it's exhilarating. For once, he was doing something he wanted to remember. Mark wanted to remember Changkyun snatching a hat from a local church woman's head and shoving onto his own. He wanted to remember Hyungwon being the one to get hit by the woman's heavy purse for his friend's actions. He wanted to remember this.
He's not sure for how long they run, but when they finally do stop Mark collapses against the wall of the brick alleyway they stop in, breathing heavily.
"Okay, I've just done enough exercise to last me the year." Hyungwon claims dramatically as he drops to the floor.
"Britney wouldn't give up like that." Wonho tells him, snickering when Emira smacks his shoulder for egging the boy on.
"You're right." Hyungwon says quickly then, jumping to his feet just as a woman comes jogging by the alleyway. He takes the headphones from her head and places them on his as he starts to jog beside her, calling out to his friends, "I'm about to get fit bitches! Britney this ones for you!"
"Hyungwon wait!" Changkyun calls out as he hurries after his friend, "She has pepper spray on her keychain!"
Taehyung grins at his friends before he feels a slight tugging on his hand. He looks down to find Lisa smiling up at him hesitantly.
"Can we talk for a second?" She asks and Taehyung doesn't hesitate in nodding. She seemed nervous and it made him curious. He can only let her pull him out of the alleyway and hope that the bad feeling stirring within him was just that, a feeling.
✖✖✖
"I just wanted to thank you again, for sticking up for me."
"What's this? Is Lisa Luong turning into a softie?" Taehyung teases as he watches Lisa play with the stray ends of her skirt nervously. Lisa rolls her eyes at this. They're standing by the edge of an abandoned road not too far from the alleyway.
"Seriously, thank you Tae." Lisa says with a genuine smile then. But Taehyung simply wave him off.
"I'm always going to protect you." Taehyung tells her with a small small smile of his own and a casual shrug, "I care about you too much not too."
Lisa really wishes Taehyung's smile didn't affect her so much. It shouldn't be that bright and it definitely shouldn't have made her blurt out -
"I'm in love with you."
"Lisa-" Taehyung starts but she cuts him off.
"I'm in love with you and I'm not sorry about it." She repeats just as firmly watching the various conflicted expressions cross Taehyung's face. He hesitates and that's how she knows.
It wasn't enough. She wasn't enough. He doesn't say it, but Lisa just knows.
"Why can't that be enough?" She asks quietly then and this is the most vulnerable Taehyung has ever seen her, or anyone for that matter. Her voice shakes as she asks, "Why can't me loving you just be enough?"
And Taehyung swallows thickly and hates himself before he even replies.
"Because I love Grace."
Now Taehyung doesn't have to wonder what heartbreak looks like because it's written all over Lisa's face when she looks at him. And it's exactly what he feels because he knows he can't love her how he thinks she deserves it. But Taehyung isn't good with words and he thinks it's better for her to hate him than to be stuck loving someone as undeserving of her heart as him.
"I guess it really is too much to ask for, for someone to love me." Lisa mutters then, eyes downcast before she laughs bitterly, "Jaewon used to force me to do coke as soon as I woke up. And he didn't stop until I couldn't remember just who the fuck I was. I can barely remember the days I spent with him because I was always so gone. So fucking far away but still stuck with him. He told me I was beautiful like that and that he loved me that way. And I thought that was love. But it was stupid - it was awful and it hurt, and it wasn't love."
Taehyung listens quietly but intently to Lisa's words. It was rare for her to open up about her time with Jaewon. And that's how Taehyung knows just how vulnerable she was feeling. Or maybe it was how she turned to him with tears brimming her eyes and a sad smile that Taehyung wishes he could erase from his memory forever.
"But things are different with you, aren't they?" She says quietly, "You piss me off to no end sometimes Tae. But you also make me laugh and smile and feel a lot of shit I've never felt before. You make me happy."
In any other situation, Taehyung would have smiled at Lisa's words, but he's too busy trying to swallow the heartbreak threatening to consume him.
"And I wish I could make you that happy too."
Taehyung hates how pathetic he is, how he can't even look at Lisa as he breaks her heart.
"I'm sorry." It comes out as barely above a whisper but Lisa hears it anyway and smiles bitterly at him.
"It's okay." She tells him, "Who would love me anyway, right?"
And it hurts, that Lisa thought that way of herself, but he's too afraid to call out to her. So he watches her walk away, and holds himself back from chasing her. It was better that way, he told himself. But he didn't really believe it.
"You fucking idiot, why didn't you go after her?"
Taehyung looks over to find Wonho approaching him with a frown.
"It's better this way." He says simply but Wonho simply scoffs.
"Is it?" He retorts but Taehyung doesn't offer a reply. Instead he simply looks in the direction of the sun that's preparing itself to set.
"Have you ever been in love?" He wonders aloud, taking in the way the way the orange, pink, and yellow hues are beginning to mix.
"Yeah" Wonho breathes out, seemingly caught off guard by the question.
"How did it end?" Taehyung asks, looking over at his friend to find him staring at something in particular. He follows his friend's line of vision to see Mark and Emira talking not too far away. There's a smile on Emira's face that Wonho mimics when he finally replies -
"It hasn't."
✖✖✖
"I hope we didn't scare you off too bad to where you'll pretend you don't know us at school like Somi does with Jungkook." Emira tells Mark as they head back through the alleyway to the crowded street.
"I'd actually like to stick around." Mark tells her with an amused grin before he bumps her shoulder gently and teases, "Besides, I want to be there when you confess your feelings for a certain someone."
And he's expecting her to be stubborn and say that she won't. But surprisingly, she doesn't.
"I'll think about it." She mumbles with a shy smile.
"You're actually considering confessing?" Is Mark's surprised response that makes her roll her eyes.
" I said I'd think about it, as in maybe."
"I'll accept that answer for now." Mark says with a small smile because it was better than nothing. Emira smiles brightly at this, slowing down her pace slightly.
"You know-" She starts quietly, looking over at him, "-despite the circumstances, I'm really glad I met you, Mark."
"Yeah" He mumbles quietly as he watches the bustling city life around them, "After today, I don't really regret that night so much, because I think it actually led me to the start of something really fucking great."
It was the start of a friendship that Mark felt he had really been missing. For Mark, now everything just felt complete. And he had Emira Sanchez and a drunken mistake to thank for that oddly enough.
"There you are!" A loud voice exclaims and Mark barely has time to blink before someone pinches his ear pulls him down to their level.
It's Minhyuk in a cheetah print robe with rollers in the longest part of his hair, but even that is short and they sit awkwardly in the midst of falling out. He has a cigarette in his free hand and here we go again, Mark thinks.
"Mark Tuan, where the hell have you been? Do you know what time it is?" He nags.
"It's six in the afternoon." Mark tells him but Minhyuk doesn't want to hear it.
"I've been worried sick about you. I had to interrupt my evening bubble bath to come find your ass. You're grounded young man. Don't even think about rolling up that weed this afternoon mister, that's over-"
Mark mouths a "Catch you later" to Emira who's hiding her laughter behind her hand. She mouths back an "Okay" and he allows Minhyuk to drag him away then. Emira shakes her head as she watches them go, an amused smile on her lips.
"Was that Lee Minhyuk?"
Emira nods, looking over to find Changkyun rubbing a very lifeless looking Hyungwon's back.
"Bad run buddy?" Emira asks as she places a hand on his shoulder gently.
"I just wanted to run for Britney." Hyungwon says quietly before grumbling, "Not get fucking pepper sprayed twice."
"I know what'll make you feel better." Emira tells him with a small smile, "How about a little karaoke."
Hyungwon rolls his eyes at this at first before she adds -
"Britney style."
This is what makes Hyungwon perk up.
"Changkyun, my mic." He says, snapping his fingers and Emira really has to resist to question why Changkyun has a pink microphone inside his jacket. Instead she can only watch as he places it in Hyungwon's hands before the Che boy pretends to flip his hair and claims, "The girl's aren't ready for this."
He then walks off in a very exaggerated manner before he notices they're not following and turns back to them.
"Well, are you guys coming or not?"
And Changkyun and Emira share smiles before shrugging and hurrying to catch up with him. The three friends smile and link shoulders as they head to the nearest karaoke spot, the hues of the setting sun bathing the teens and illuminating their youth as they disappeared down the crowded city streets.
✖✖✖
AUTHOR'S NOTE
sooooo my original plan was for mark to not want to continue to be friends with the other dirtbags but that just didn't seem to fit his character at all. like wonho, he has a very relaxed/chill/laid back personality so it didn't seem right that the other dirtbags shenanigans would upset him like that? if that makes sense. he's a part of the group now, but he's more sensible than the others so he's probably only going to be around when they're just chilling tbh.
also hyungwon has a gf 👀. i love new ships lol.
anyway, i hope you guys liked this. thank u for reading!! u guys motivate me to write this 💘 always giving me so much feedback and love - i really appreciate y'all 💘💘💘
this book has 3 more episodes left bc there is still 1 more dirtbag to introduce and changkyun's chapter. and then the final one. so thanks for sticking around for so long. 💘