( ⛅ )

❛ don't lie to yourself,
you know you loved it. ❜

—

walking into the school's atrium cafeteria, miyong felt an uncomfortable aura envelop her, as the sound of gossiping whispers flew around the room.

the glares, finger-pointing, and eye-rolling made her feel highly self-conscious and left an unsettling feeling in the pit of her stomach.

her chest became tight and her breathing accelerated.

she needed to get out of there.

afraid of stepping further into the cafeteria, she quickly spun around to leave, only to crash straight into someone's chest— sending her out of balance.

stumbling backwards, she closed her eyes and clenched her teeth, ready for the impact she would receive when she hit the floor.

but she never did.

slowly opening her eyes, she felt a strong hand wrapped around her wrist, pulling her in close.

a familiar hand.

"you should really be more careful, mi."

miyong raised her chin in surprise, only to meet the eyes of her one and only best friend — or fake boyfriend — mark lee, bearing a bright smirk on his perfectly chiselled face. his hands were gripped onto her arms, keeping her positioned firmly in front of him

"i didn't— i just— you—"

"what about a thank you?" mark interrupted, the corners of his mouth lifting into a smile as he stared at the stuttering girl.

a small crowd had gathered around them, as the student body was quite curious about the news of the newly formed couple.

the butterflies in miyong's stomach erupted. she didn't like how everyone was looking at them, yet at the same time, she loved the feeling of being known as his.

"thanks mark, i guess." miyong whispered softly, her shiny cocoa orbs glossing over as they focused on his mocha ones.

mark frowned slightly at her response and leaned in closer to the shorter girl's face. "i wasn't talking about that kind of 'thank you', mimi," he remarked, blinking innocently.

"what do you mean?" miyong quietly asked, confused as to what he meant.

"what about... let's say... a thank-you kiss?" he replied, raising an eyebrow as if asking for permission.

'too late to back out now,' miyong thought to herself, mentally cursing and rolling her eyes.

whispers began to travel across the room yet again. those in the crowd who weren't there in the morning still didn't believe what they had heard about mark and miyong.

"a kiss?"

"they're not going to actually do that are they?"

"already?"

"i mean it's mark lee, what do you expect?"

"i don't know..."

"i've never seen park miyong kiss anyone before, i bet she's no good."

"huh. i wonder why her chose her... she's so irrelevant."

miyong knew that she had to play along if they wanted to keep up their fake relationship status. she couldn't believe she had actually agreed to it earlier this morning.

maybe it was because she hadn't had her morning coffee yet, or maybe it was because everyone was watching them, or maybe — just maybe — it was because of the fact he was mark lee — that she hadn't thought about it clearly enough before giving in.

swallowing harshly, miyong closed her eyes and switched on her actress mindset. the second her eyes flared open, it was like she was another person— she was park miyong, the version of herself she wanted to be.

"do you really deserve a kiss though?" she asked teasingly as mark's grin only grew.

"yes." he said frowning into a pout when she teased him. "you probably would've died if i didn't catch you." he whispered, but loud enough for everyone to hear.

mark raised his hand and tilted her chin slightly so that their lips faced each other, staring longingly into her bright wonder-filled eyes. eyes that shone with determination from within, yet were gentle and loving, sending him to a perfect utopian world— a world he thought he could only dream of.

"fine. i guess you do deserve a kiss." miyong replied, shrugging slightly, penetrating through his train of thought.

a smile immediately rose on mark's face, and before either of them knew what was happening, miyong had placed her hands around the nape of his neck and planted a short sweet kiss on his lips. something she had always wanted to do.

she could feel mark smiling through the kiss, while the two slowly pulled away.

"ready to go get lunch, my lady?" mark asked, extending his hand out for miyong to hold.

ignoring all the stares around her, miyong reluctantly took his hand, interlocking their fingers. "let's go then, good sir."

it was all a show.

and miyong was the star.

pushing through the gaping crowd, the 'couple' walked hand in hand to their usual table. they lightly swung their arms, as their faces bore smiles of sincerity.

miyong formed a small charming grin on her face as the pair sat down, only to meet six dropped jaws, and the face of one worried chenle.

"what?!"

"when?!"

"i called it!"

"no you didn't, you imbecile, i called it!"

"shut up renjun, no one asked!"

"hashtag miark? sailed?"

mark laughed, and shook his head at the yelling teens in front of them. he squeezed miyong's hand tighter as the group quieted down, seeing as they were getting no response from either mark or miyong.

"so," seyeon began slowly, "who's going to give us the details?" she asked waving her arms in front of her face, her eyes ablaze in excitement.

"c'mon we all already saw this coming— we need to know what happened." jisung exclaimed happily clapping his hands.

"i..." miyong tucked a loose strand of her dark glossy hair behind her ear before looking back up at the group, "we're... we're not actually dating," she whispered bluntly so only the ennead could hear.

miyong bit her lip and lowered her chin, blinking away the bubbling sensation inside of her as renjun, jaemin, jisung, seyeon, haechan, and jeno all gasped in unison.

chenle just nodded, a concerned frown resonating lightly on his lips.

"what do you mean 'not actully dating'?" haechan asked, as his eyes widened in shock.

jeno continued, "yeah... what— what is this then?" he asked gesturing between mark and miyong.

"well..." mark began slowly lowering the volume of his voice, "i sort of asked miyong to fake date me." he shrugged awkwardly, "to you know, try and win hyejin back."

seyeon groaned in disappointment, while jaemin rubbed her shoulder comfortingly. she was upset at the fact that mark seemed like he was using miyong, and that she had willingly let him do so. but she was even more dishearted at the fact that their relationship wasn't real.

jeno sighed loudly, while haechan and jisung gave chenle a look, confused as to why he hadn't been surprised at the news.

holding up his hands in defense, chenle shrugged. "i already knew this was coming. sorry, i didn't tell you guys, i wanted to leave that up to them to decide, you know."

"yeah, thanks man. that was really considerate of you." mark smiled, playfully punching the younger boy's shoulder, receiving a nod in return.

"wait, so how is this going to work?" renjun asked the couple, looking back and forth between mark and miyong, still wearing a surprised expression on his face.

"i'm not sure, honestly," miyong shrugged nonchalantly, "mark kind of made a show this morning and i had to agree, though i had no idea what i was agreeing to."

"don't lie to yourself, you know you loved it." mark looked to the girl beside him, "you made it seem so convincing— were you really acting? you can't be that good of an actress, right?" mark asked, smirking childishly in triumph.

"no! why would you even say that? i'm just that good at putting on a show." miyong quickly defended herself, tossing her hair behind her shoulders. her eyes averted to the side where three cheerleader-clique-girls began to approach their table.

"well regardless of all that," jaemin began, glancing over to where miyong had looked, pursing his lips together, "it's showtime."

"guess it's time to put your acting skills to the test, park miyong." mark said raising an eyebrow at the noirette sitting beside him.

"game on mark lee," miyong replied, batting her eyelashes jokingly. "...or should i say, dearest boyfriend of mine?"

( ⛅ )

a/n !

WASN'T GOING TO PUBLISH A NEW CHAPTER BUT IT'S MY BIRTHDAY SO WHO CARES
<3! <3! <3! <3! <3! <3! <3!