"I'm sorry," Yerim cried out, the tears dripping continuously from her face. Mark stared at her with wide eyes. What was he supposed to do? Whilst they were dating, Yerim never revealed her vulnerable side and neither did Mark. This was all new to him. "I'm sorry, Mark. I should've never told Jisung about you and Donghyuck and I should've never jumped to conclusions. I'm sorry for telling everyone about it and then throwing you under the bus."

Mark cleared his throat as the burden on his chest felt heavier than ever before. "Why are you apologising now?" He asked, his voice wavering as his eyes began to sting. This could be a trick, a sort of prank. Was Jisung going to appear from the door behind Mark and laugh at how quick he was to accept Yerim's apology? Was she apologising for calling Mark a cheater, for being unfaithful herself or for the hell she had created for Mark at school? There was no way this was real. Nearly two years had passed since that incident and only now Yerim seemed to realise her mistake?

"I wanted to apologise to you before," she mumbled, rubbing her face with the sleeves of her shirt. Grimacing, Mark reached out and passed her a tissue. "Thanks," she quietly wiped her face clean and turned back to Mark. "I know I'm late and that this is long due, but I really am sorry."

This couldn't be true, right? There was no way Yerim would go out of her way just to apologise to Mark. She had Jisung and everyone else, his absence must've not felt like anything. So how did she even realise what her mistake was? What if Donghyuck had spoken to her? What if— Mark shook her head. This was not the time to be accusing people who were no longer in his life.

He took a deep breath and ran his hand down his face. Mark could be considered naive or gullible after doing this, but he couldn't refuse a crying Yerim. Even if he no longer had feelings for her, she was still someone he held quite close to his heart, despite the false accusations she had thrown upon him. "Yerim," he said softly, lightly brushing his hand against hers, halting her movements. "I'm sorry as well, I should've told you clearly what my relationship with Donghyuck was, even if it wasn't one I wanted."

Yerim choked on a sob and wrapped her arms around Mark. "No, no! Don't apologise! I'm the one who twisted the story. If I hadn't told Jisung about it and he hadn't convinced me to get revenge on you, none of this would've happened."

Mark pat the back of Yerim's head awkwardly as he felt his shoulder become increasingly damp. This was strange. Their sudden intimacy felt weird. Even when they dated, the only time they were this close was when the two of them weren't in their right minds, either drunk or high. Thinking back on it, Mark wondered if they really liked each other. If they did, Yerim wouldn't have ever left him that quickly and neither would Mark have felt more offended by Jisung's betrayal than Yerim's. 

"No," Mark muttered to himself, curling his arms around Yerim's waist and pulled her close. "I really did like you."

"Same," Yerim replied, having heard the words Mark had said into her hair. "I really did like you, Mark. It's just, come on, I easily wavered, shit was going on at home and my grades were falling. The chances of me getting a scholarship were close to none. Everything was piling up and Jisung was constantly breathing down my neck, telling me to break up with you and date him instead. Then when I heard that you were engaged, I thought that maybe you were just using me, you know, to pretend you were straight."

"You thought that's what I was doing?" Mark asked, pulling away from the hug to look at her with surprise.

"I mean could you blame me for that? I come over to your house and your parents tell me you had gone over to your fiance's house to drop off some food," Yerim sniffled, leaning back in her seat, her cheeks flushed and her eyes bright red. Mark stared down at her before falling down onto the chair opposite her. 

"Haa," Mark sighed, lightly chuckling into his hands. So it all came back to the engagement. If Yerim had never found out— if Mark was forced into a false engagement in the first place, none of this would've happened. "What the hell? I went through hell over this?"

"I know, I'm sorry. If I could go back in time, I'd definitely change everything I did," Yerim quickly apologised again bowing her head down in shame. "I understand if you can't forgive me, but please know that I'm willing to wait until you can accept it."

Mark glanced up at her before sighing again. "Yeah," he said quietly, turning his gaze away from her. "I can't forgive you for what you did this easily. Do you even know how I felt when everyone in school just suddenly isolated me and treated me like I was an alien. And then on the other hand, all of you looked so happy without me. It made me feel so insignificant."

The corners of Yerim's lips tugged downwards and Mark could see how hard she was trying to keep her tears in. Closing his eyes for a moment, Mark thought deepy. He couldn't just blame her for it all, could he? Neither could he simply say that the engagement caused all this trouble, even if it did. Maybe Donghyuck was right, Mark thought, pinching the bridge of his nose. He couldn't just blame one person. 

"Yerim," Mark said softly, glancing up to see her staring at him with a scared look. "Give me some time, yeah? It'll take a while for me to get over it all."

"I'm willing to wait," she replied, smiling sadly at Mark before reaching out to place her hand over his.

Just two years ago, that small amount of contact would've made Mark's stomach burst into butterflies, his cheeks would've reddened and his heart would skip a beat. But now, in the staff room of a cafe that was half empty, Mark simply smiled and pulled his hand away. 

-

"So you do have friends." Jungwoo clapped from behind the counter. Mark looked away from Yerim and glared at him. The cafe had calmed down and Mark’s shift had ended. Yerim suggested they caught up on everything that had happened in the time they spent apart, and the cafe was the perfect place to talk.

“Shut up,” Mark mumbled, playing with his fingers as Yerim turned to him with concerned eyes.

“You haven’t spoken to Renjun or Lucas since you came here?” She sounded worried and slightly upset at the thought of him not having any friends left. It sort of made Mark happy to know that she felt the slightest bit of guilt. Or perhaps he felt the giddiness because he knew there was someone out there worried for him.

He shook his head and took a sip of his coffee, the taste far too sweet for him and he hurriedly placed it back down. “We stopped speaking after the incident at Lucas’ party,” Mark said, offering a small smile when Yerim’s shoulders dropped. “That wasn’t your fault, they chose to stay by Donghyuck’s side and never asked whether I was fine or not.”

“Still,” Yerim's head dropped alongside her shoulders. “If I hadn’t done that-”

“Alright, alright,” Mark waved his hand between them as if trying to wipe away the awkwardness. “I’ve heard enough of your apologises,” he paused and shot her a warm look. “It’s fine, I understand.”

“Look at you two,” Jungwoo suddenly appeared from behind Yerim with a plate full of cookies. “One day you guys are avoiding eye contact and the next you’re smiling like idiots. Are the two of you dating?”

“Of course not." Both of them blurted out, strangely sounding offended by the assumption. Mark glanced over at Yerim who did the same and began to laugh. This whole situation was crazy. Mark had denied the idea of him dating Yerim? If only his past self could see this, he would be mortified.

“We know each other from high school,” Yerim explained as Jungwoo nodded along. “It was just slightly awkward when we saw each other after so long so it took a while to warm up to him again.”

Jungwoo snorted and punched Mark’s arm. “I know right, it’s so difficult just to get this guy to speak to you.”

“Anyways!” Mark interrupted them before they could go on about how horrible he was with social interactions. “Yerim, you should get going, right?”

Yerim checked the time and then stood up, lightly brushing her hand against Mark’s. “You’re right. Let’s meet again, yeah? Is your number still the same?”

“No,” Mark answered and Yerim frowned, but decided not to comment on it. “Here, let me give it to you.”

Once they exchanged numbers, Yerim quickly disappeared into the crowd outside the cafe. Mark heard Jungwoo throw a few teasing jokes at him, but they flew over his head. All he could think about was whether it was alright for him to meet Yerim again. Did she really change? Were all these apologises fake or did she really mean it? Mark didn't know when he would be sure of it all, but till then he'd enjoy some attention from it. It felt nice talking to her after so long.

-

“This is Chan,” Wonwoo said, pointing over at the boy sitting on one of the seats. Chan looked up in surprise and stared at Mark with wide eyes. “This is Mark, the newest member of our club.”

“Hey,” Chan waved, laughing softly when Wonwoo suddenly left their side and the two of them were alone. “Hyung just randomly introduced us, huh?”

“Yeah,” Mark slowly sat down a few seats away from him. A silence followed and the two of them kept stealing glances. How was Mark supposed to talk to him? Apparently, he was the same age as him, but when was the last time Mark spoke to someone the same age as him, other than Yerim?

“You’re the same age as me, right?” Chan asked, leaning closer so that he could speak clearly over the sound of the other members yelling at each other. When Mark nodded Chan brightened up. “Ah, I’m so glad. I thought I would be the only one who joined from this year's first years.”

Mark smiled at him and then nodded his head at Jungwoo. “I actually got dragged here.”

“Same!” Chan exclaimed. “I was going to join the dance club, but since I’ve known Wonwoo hyung since we were younger, he dragged me over here and forced me to join.”

“You’ve known him since you were younger?”

Wow, Mark thought, grinning as Chan began to explain how he knew everyone in the room, this was easier than I thought. The conversation lasted longer than Mark had expected and by the end of it, he had learnt almost everything about Chan’s childhood leading up to then.

Most of the members had already left when Chan paused to read a message on his phone. "Oh, my friend just told me she's coming to check out the club room."

The moment Chan finished his sentence, a few of the guys sitting by the computers jumped up. "A girl? We're finally going to have a female member?"

"You sound creepy, don't scare her away," Wonwoo said from his seat, shooting them a dirty look.

"Yeah, back off," Chan huffed, standing up and walking over the door. "And don't try making any moves on her, okay? I'm really trying my hardest with her."

"Trying your hardest with who?"

Mark froze midway through eating the chocolate Wonwoo had passed him and almost snapped his neck in the process of turning to see the voice.

"Huh?" Mark looked at Yerim with his jaw wide open. "What're you doing here?"