Mentions of anxiety disorders. Please, Be kind.

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"Mark please, just this once! Pretty please!"

"Mae you'll be late for practice if we go there now. I'll take you after you're done." Mark tired his best to avoid eye contact with his little sister. Her watery puppy eyes were activated and he knew he'd never be able to resist.

"But what if they're all gone by the time I'm done!? I'd kill myself, Mark. Kill myself!" Mark could only sigh. Who the hell did she get her dramatic side from?

"You won't die, It's just a manga."

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear you say that, now can you please take the left round the corner?"

"How long do you plan on taking?" Mark asked hesitantly, he regrettably made the mistake of glancing towards the girl.

"I'll be a sec, nothing longer. Thanks Markie, you're the best!"

Mae hadn't even waited for the Mark to pull the car around the curb fully, before she was hopping out and racing for the store doors. Racing who? Mark would never know.

Where was all that energy when she had to do the dishes?

---

Mark fidgeted with the binding of the steering wheel. His knee tapped against the floor of the car as his eyes refused to leave the store doors.

Fifteen minutes.

It had been fifteen minutes since Mae had promised she'd be gone for only a 'sec'.

Mark should have known better. How could he have expected her to take anything less than three hours in what she repeatedly called 'Paradise'?

Their father will be furious when he finds out that Mae was late for her practice. Especially since he's been training her to get into National's this year.

Mark should have gone after her sooner. Now they were already ten minutes late.

He pulled his keys out the ignition and speed walked to the door of the store, mentally preparing himself for what was to come.

His eyes scanned the store, as he walked past various sale shelves and comic walls. How fucking huge was this place? He walked further and further, the bookshelves contorting itself into an unescapable labyrinth in his mind.

God, how he hated closed-off spaces.

Just as he started getting frantic and desperate, he miraculously spotted that familiar pastel pink hair at the far end of the corridor.

"We're late." Mark said as he grabbed onto Mae's arm, completely disregarding the other beautiful woman she was talking to.

"Oh, shit! I'm so sorry Mark! And you came all the way inside too!" Mae suddenly seemed to realise that she had indeed taken more time than she should have. She immediately turned to the other woman and said something. Mark wished he could hear but damn his stupid heart for beating so loud in his eardrums like that.

From what his eyes could tell though, the other woman was not pleased with what Mae had just told her. Just before Mae could turn around, a book snugly tucked in her folded arms, the other woman reached out to grab her.

Mark really didn't think his hand would move on its own, but it did. He caught the woman's hand before she could make any contact with his sister. He should have been able to hear the woman's alarmed cries, but alas, his heart was still beating in his ears.

In a matter of seconds his body was slammed against the bookshelf, the hard binds ebbing into his spine.

He felt more than saw, a hand gripping his collar almost threatening to rip it out. But his eyes were fixated on the pair of furious brown ones that glared at him. He saw the man's mouth move, before he noticed his sister try to pull the man off him.

He grabbed the hand that was attached to his shirt and shoved it back. The surprise in the other man's eyes lasted for a faction of a second before Mark heard him yell at his face. Finally, his hearing was back.

"Are you fucking mute? Answer me!"

"I told you he was only trying to protect me!" Mae jumped in front of him as she yelled back at the man.

"By trying to crush my fiancé's wrist? I'm-"

"Excuse me, Sir. Is everything alright?" A staff member hesitantly asked when she approached them.

---

"I'm sorry, I apologise for hurting you. I didn't mean to use that much force."

"Wow, he can speak- Ouch!" Jackson rubbed his arm to sooth the sting that Irene's pinch left.

"It's okay, I'm fine now, I was just a little startled back there. I didn't know you had a little sister, Mark." Irene said before she took a sip of her ice tea.

Mark blinked a couple times before looking at the woman confused.

"Don't be so shocked that I know your name, we're in the same International Law elective." Irene laughed out when she saw the look on Mark's face.

Mark was even more confused now. She was in his International Law elective?

But should Mark really be shocked when his social skills are literally non-existent? He was never the type to talk or make friends, let alone know the people he studied or worked with. Don't get him wrong, it's not for the lack of trying, he just indefinitely sucked at communicating with anyone other than Mae (which wasn't really communication there either, it's just that Mae was really good at understanding and reading her brother.)

"Wow, you really don't recognise me? I knew you were shy and quiet but I didn't think to this extent." Irene frowned slightly before she dusted off the cookie crumbs off her hand and held it out.

"I'm Irene Kim, it's nice to finally meet you. Let's be friends!" The woman smiled warmly as she waited for Mark to shake her hand.

Mark looked at her extended hand before he hesitantly shook it. This was the first time anyone had ever willingly talked to him, let alone asked to be his friend. What more could this troublesome day hold?

"And I'm Jackson Wang, her fiancé. Please take care of my baby!" Jackson said just as enthusiastically as Irene before he slid the remaining portion of his cheesecake into his fiancé's plate

Wow, weren't these a match made in heaven.

Mark hadn't expected his mind to delve into a sarcastic channel, but the moment he saw them smiling and giggling with each other he could swear he felt extremely uncomfortable. Probably was the feeling of his lunch crawling back up his throat when Jackson tried to pull Irene into his lap as he kissed her hand.

Did they not care about how everyone was staring at them?

Evidently not, but people looking at them meant they were also looking at Mark and that only made his lunch raise faster. Why did he even agree to coming with them without Mae?

Mark tried not to look disgusted, he really did. But when he accidently made eye contact with one of the waiters and the only thing he saw in the young girl's eyes was pity, he knew it was for him. He sighed and decided ignoring everyone should be fine. So, he sipped on his iced coffee in silence, and if the waiter walked past him again looking even more commiserated, he'd never know because he was busy trying to follow the designs of the floor tiles.

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(* Agoraphobia: is an anxiety disorder that often develops after one or more panic attacks. Symptoms include fear and avoidance of places and situations that might cause feelings of panic, entrapment, helplessness or embarrassment. Treatments include talk therapy and medication.)