—

mark woke up to the sound of shuffling boxes.

before looking out his window, he checked on his beloved nintendo 3ds to see if it had fully charged.

"four blue bars.. yes!"

he then put it down hastily and drew the curtains.

a new family was moving in next door.

mark observed the family, and his eyes twinkled when he saw a boy that looked his age.

a buddy!

—

his parents were quick to notify him at breakfast, telling him that they were inviting them over later for dinner.

"sounds good to me!" mark giggled.

mark was an only child, and he lived in a neighborhood full of senior citizens. kids barely came around, and when they did, they were either about four to seven years old in age. mark labeled them as the annoying grandchildren.

he had always been very lonely because he didn't have any relatives in south korea. mark's family moved when he was four. they took his age for granted because they knew he wouldn't protest against their decision at the time.

all of mark's cousins, aunts, uncles, grandmas, and grandpas were in canada, eating pancakes with delicious maple syrup and going on yearly trips to niagara falls without him.

he waited impatiently for five pm to come around.

an hour had passed since breakfast, and he walked over to where his mom sat on the couch quietly.

"mom. are they coming soon?" mark asked sweetly.

"no, minhyungie. they're coming in seven hours."

"oh. okay."

two hours passed.

mark went to the desk where his dad was working on his computer.

"daaad. are they coming soon?"

"no, mark. you still have four hours to play that pokemon game."

"oh. mkay."

two more hours passed, and mark was annoying his parents to much to the point where they were close to exploding.

"mom, dad! are they coming yet?"

"NO!" mark's dad groaned.

"jesus christ." mark's mom muttered under her breath.

"mark, you sound just like the annoying grandchildren right now. stop acting like a four year old when you're twelve years well past that age."

"hmph. fine." mark pouted.

he walked back to his room and lied down on his bed, drifting off to sleep.

—

the family finally came over, and mark was still asleep.

"nice to meet you guys. you're all lees as well?" mark's mom said in her usual pleasant-sounding voice.

"yes! we are." mrs. lee, the other lee mother, said, smiling.

the canadian family sat down with the new family in the living room, discussing things like where to eat and the best locations around the area.

the topic of family came up, and mrs. lee introduced her son.

"this is donghyuck."

"hello!" mark's dad greeted.

donghyuck waved.

mr. lee chuckled. "he may seem quiet, but that's only because he's new here. he'll get louder once you get to know him, and i'm not sure if that's particularly a good thing."

"how old is he?" mark's mom asked.

"fifteen."

"ah! our son is sixteen. that means they should get along swell."

donghyuck's mom gave her son the side eye, smirking a little.

donghyuck wore a look of embarrassment and walked away.

"i'll call mark down here. he was super excited to meet you guys, and now that you're here, he's asleep!" mark's mom laughed.

she went upstairs and woke him up. "mark. they're here."

"really? oh no- i slept too much!"

"it's okay, haha. we haven't even eaten dinner yet."

"whew! good."

"now come downstairs and introduce yourself."

"aye aye, captain."

mark grabbed his ds and followed his mom down the stairs. he grinned from ear to ear at the sight of the boy he saw earlier.

"hi, i'm mark." he introduced, holding his hand out for mrs. lee to shake.

"hello, mark! nice to meet you! say hi, donghyuck."

mark held his hand out in front of donghyuck next, happy to see that the younger shook it in return.

something he noticed about the new boy was that they didn't make eye contact during the handshake. donghyuck's eyes were too busy staring at the gadget sitting in mark's left hand.

mark slowly retracted his ds away from donghyuck's sight.

he felt uneasy now.

what's with him and my ds?

—