author's note;
i'm continuing this story now that Sex You series is done.. although updates will still be slow. i'll take my time in writing this.

p.s. watch out for major MCR feels in this chapter. i'm reminiscing my emo days and i've been listening to a lot of MCR songs lately. Their songs are still golden until today. They satisfy my inner emo. 😌

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I grabbed Mark's sleeved between my index finger and my thumb, dragging him out of the kitchen I said, "You and I need to talk."

"Oh so now you're talking to me." He said with a smile. He annoys me on a whole different level.

I rolled my eyes at him, "I'll get straight to the point. There's a couple things you need to be careful not to mention around my Dad. One is baseball." I started, looking over Mark's shoulder and checking if we were out of Dad's earshot, "He doesn't know I play for the school. Two is us.."

"He has no idea that we're not.. talking. He doesn't even know that we have a thing going on before." I diverted my gaze elsewhere as I tell him this. "So just for tonight, only for tonight! I'm going to talk to you. Just so my dad won't catch something weird from us. DON'T. Mess things up for me. This is the least you could do."

"Wait, Vee." He caught my arm in a gentle hold, "Why didn't you tell him about us?"

He stared right at me. I feel my heart racing as I jumpstart my brain to function normally again, "Because it's not a big deal anymore. I'm over it and you should do the same." I managed to say calmly. "We were done the minute you left."

"I still have something to say." Mark didn't let go of my arm. We were outside the balcony, hidden from my Dad's sight, "I should've told you we were moving away. If only you knew.. I regretted everything.

"Oh really? But I didn't know because you didn't fucking say anything." I ran my mouth again, my eyeballs rolling up again. "Saying that you regret it won't change anything now though."

Mark stared at my face for a moment before he began to talk again, "I know you still feel something for me. It's just buried under all the hate you have for me."

"No shit sherlock." I answered impatiently. "Bravo for figuring that out on your own. Is that all?"

"No, I'm nowhere near done. There's a lot of things I need to say but since you're being uncooperative. I'll summarize with this," Mark leaned down to put his lips on mine, pushing me back away from the window so we were perfectly hidden from my Dad.

My eyes went wide but when his lips started to move, my defenses crumbled down. I closed my eyes as I melted into a puddle in his hold. My lips unknowingly kissed him back, releasing the long suppressed feelings in my chest. Fear, anger, longing, everything. I let it all go at the moment. His lips are so gentle and his breath tasted like fresh mint. Mark lifted my chin up carefully, tilting his head to one side before he broke the kiss and I opened my eyes.

He held my face close and connected our foreheads, "I missed you so much, Venus Yoo."

"Venus? Mark?" I heard my Dad calling us from the livingroom, his footsteps headed upstairs to my room. "Now where did those two gone to?"

I pushed Mark away, "You're wrong. I don't feel anything for you, Mark. Get over yourself." I said, my chest hurts, as if my heart was being squeezed. I clenched my fists to calm myself down. I'm not affected. I won't let myself be affected by him.

"Get away from me while I'm still being nice. Go back to your world of fame. That's all you care about anyway. Your image, your fans." I sent him a revolting look, "You traded us for your fame. You disgust me."

"You have a right to hate me but don't speak like you know my reasons." Mark retorted.

I was amused at his attempt to turn this on me, "Well, you can take your reasons and get lost." I said sarcastically, "Speak a word about this to my Dad and you'll be out of the door within seconds."

I slipped past him easily and opened the glass door but before I came in he spoke again, "I only came back to tell you what I couldn't tell you before.." Mark had his back to me, his head down. "I love you."

His words wiped my mind blank. I never thought he'd say it, not when we're in this situation. I glanced back at him over my shoulder. He looked pathetic, standing there with his shoulders down, he can't even face me. His confession seemed like an apology.

"I don't love you." I said. I don't know what I'm doing. I turned my back to him. "When you left, you didn't even turn back to say goodbye. I was waiting.. for something, just anything from you. I was even okay if you told me you don't love me but there was nothing. Do you know how painful that was? I didn't even know what I did wrong. I asked myself, over and over again, where I went wrong for you to leave like that.. Do you know how hard that was for me? Now you tell me you love me." I felt nothing as I said these words. I felt like I was soaked in ice. "No thanks. I'm done with your heartbreak."

We returned inside and ate dinner like nothing happened. We smiled at each other, laughed together, reminisced memories from our childhood and nothing was more painful than what I felt that moment. My Dad was totally fooled. He didn't suspect a thing. The night went on and it dragged on painfully slow. When Mark finally left, I retreated to my room, switched the lights off and buried myself under the covers. I cried for the first time in a long time. There were only a few significant moments where I cried my heart out; one was when my mom passed away, and two was when Mark left and broke my heart.

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I woke up to my noisy alarm the next day and the first thing I did was go to the bathroom to pee. I was still dozing off as I peed and only woke up when I splashed some cold water against my face. I saw my face on the mirror's reflection. "Holy f-"

My eyes were unbelievably swollen. I cursed under my breath, thinking about the practice we have today. How the hell do I hide this? I cursed some more, mainly towards myself. Why did I have to be so emo last night? I'm such an idiot. I ruffled my hair as I mentally fought with myself.

Then I called Sydney. She picked up immediately, good thing she woke up early on a Sunday. "Hel-"

"I need help! Come over."

Sydney was over at my place in less than 20 minutes. She dumped her vanity box on my bed and started to assess how bad my eyes were. "What happened?"

"Is it really that bad?" I asked her.

"It's so bad. What did you do?" Syd replied.

"I kinda had a little confrontation with Mark last night.." I began to play with my fingers, avoiding her gaze. "And I cried like an emotional preteen while listening to I don't love you by MCR."

"Way to go, Vee." She replied sarcastically, "You'll get far with that."

Sydney heaved out a deep sigh and didn't ask anymore questions as she opened her make up box. She also liked playing with make up and is really good with it. She could be a make up artist but her desire to be a professional photographer is greater.

"Anyway, I'll do the best I can." She said, bringing out some brushes and her waterproof concealers.

She started to mix some of the concealer shades to match my skin tone before applying it with a small brush in delicate strokes around my eyes. I opened my mouth to make a request, "Hey, try to make it look as natural as possible. I don't want to give Jungkook reasons to pick on me today."