Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Ba-dum

Ba-dum

The sound of our heartbeats combined into one. Both my hands were holding against what was both soft and rough.

Ah, to be fair, her hands seem to be the same size as mine...

Hm? Her..?

Her hands I'm holding right now...?

I used all my strength to look up, look up to her directly. But... but...

Just like a passing wind, it disappears as instantly as it can.

Waking up to a familiar ceiling, Mark Borja reached out to it with his hand, only to grab air itself.

Ruffling his hair, he lowered his hand down to the mattress, feeling everywhere to grab his phone.

"What time is it..?" He muttered. Instead of the time, his eyes turned to the notifications first——it was a string of messages from his Dad.

._______________. Son, where are you??

._______________. You're an hour late!

._______________. Hold tight, I'm coming over!

Realizing what time it is, he immediately sat up from the bed.

"Bwiset!!" He screamed in my mind, and as time allowed it, a knock sounded from the door.

As he stood up, he found myself snorting. Well, considering it's December in 2017 right now, it shouldn't be surprising that anyone would be prone to having colds.

He straightened himself before making his way to the door and pulling it open. His Dad stood there, already looking at his eyes disappointedly.

"Were you asleep?" He said in his about-to-scold Dad tone. "Yes.." Mark could only mutter. He sighed disappointedly before making his way inside.

Mark instinctively went to the side, surprised that he wasn't scolded. "Get yourself dressed," He said as he began taking off his shoes and stepping on the floor. "Haven't forgot that we're visiting your new school today, right?"

"No-no, of course not," Mark immediately whipped his hand in the air to reassure him. He snorted before approaching the living room, barely catching a glimpse of a smile in his mouth.

That's right, today was the first day he'd be able to explore his new school. Particularly, the University of Bonifacio, nicknamed Ubon.

Although, in comparison, it wasn't as good as something like the National Academy. After finishing 9th Grade with his friends in his Junior High named Liamson Integrated School, he moved to a new highschool that was quite far away, finishing 10th Grade there without his friends.

When applying for Senior High School, he applied for a spot in the National Academy. But as fate would call it a misfortune, he wasn't accepted at all.

When he had gotten the rejection letter years ago, he could only curse in his mind, "Sending me a rejection like this politely makes me more madder..!"

And so, he had to pick between Ubon, where some of the people he knew were at, or another faraway university——he picked the latter.

He already realized it now that it was a stupid decision, but it was for only two years anyway, cause just before the end of the second quarter of his 12th Grade in the faraway university, he transferred to Ubon. Transfer-outs were allowed during the first and second quarters.

Going back to his reality, Mark made his way to the bathroom first. Couldn't forget to atleast take a shower as to not disturb any potential girls in Ubon.

From what he could guess, today would be the final day of the second quarter for the universities, including Ubon. In this way, he'd be able to explore a little bit of the university that some of the people he knew stayed on, unlike him..

After brushing his teeth, he got out of the shower and made his way back to his room. Ignoring the shivering cold in his shoulders, he put on some clothes. Particularly some shirt, pants, and completing it with an orange jacket.

He looked up in the mirror after finishing, then instinctively, he put up a rock-on sign in his hand. "Goddamnit, that was about four years ago," He laughed at himself before putting his hand down and exiting the room.

Just in time as he saw his Dad opening up a bag of plastic. "Let's eat up first," His Dad said as Mark entered the kitchen to sit on the dining table that coincidentally only had two chairs. "Yup, thanks for the food," He said, reaching inside and grabbing a pandesal. He took a bite and tasted some honey in it. "Freshly-baked?" asked Mark, with his Dad responding in a nod.

When he consulted his Dad about transferring out, he was surprised to find that his Dad wasn't against the idea.

In fact, he had only asked him one question; "Why?" and Mark couldn't seem to respond. His Dad nodded about it, stood up, and immediately began to go to the school to sign the paperworks, as if he understood Mark without words needed.

Well, he had no time to regret it now, since his name and records are already registered in Ubon. Now, all he had to do was wonder what the others are doing.

* * *

Everything was loud again. In this classroom, everyone had just finished the last exam, and now there are mixed feelings about it.

Did they pass? Did they fail? or those who were just happy that the exams finally ended.

Especially in a cold weather like this, everyone just wants to go home and get cuddled up in blankets already.

Nicole Lacsamana sighed in relief after she just finished reviewing some questions, checking to see if she was right or wrong in some of them.

She couldn't afford to waste a single question so as to prepare herself for college atleast. After all, 12th Grade was about to end in months from now.

After she stretched herself, she could only look to the side and found a familiar figure that was staring down at her reviewer from beside the table.

"..Hmm, can't read anything from the side," Her friend, Kate Corpuz, spoke to make herself known. "That's because English looks hieroglyphs from any sides except down," Nicole responded back to her as she couldn't help but grin.

Kate, the only friend that she had back from her hometown. Although they had some troubles in one point, they both eventually made up and became friends again.

Even though her hometown was far away from Ubon, it was ultimately destroyed because of the Ruling, an incident that happened years ago that had all the disasters all strike the country at once.

Because of that, she decided to transfer to a new highschool in 10th Grade, which was Liamson Integrated School.

However, Kate would also transfer since that was also her hometown that got destroyed, and also that she wanted to continue being by Nicole's side. And so, they both continued to be friends ever since.

"You free after this?" Nicole asked Kate. "Nope, I have band practice today," But Kate responded. Evidently by the electric guitar case backpack that she was carrying.

Since today was exam day, she used the bag to store her electric guitar... and a pen for the exams. "That's nice," Nicole stood up after packing up her stuff, ready to exit the classroom with her.

On the same classroom, a guy with glasses continued to sit on his chair, looking through some pictures in his digital camera.

"Ridelll!" However, he suddenly found his name called out as he looked at where it was; the classroom entrance. Standing on the doorframe were two other guys.

"Hold on, just reviewing some pictures for a bit, I'll be right with you!" Ridel Gonzales, the glasses guy, responded as he went back to his work.

"Seriously, this guy.." One of the guys muttered. "Hey, I won't blame him; isn't the Filmmaking Club quite famous already?" said the other guy. "I knoww, but can't he atleast spare some time with us?"

"Oi," Just right after he said that, Kate faced them. "Out of the way,"

The two guys immediately moved to the side as Kate exited the classroom, with Nicole following behind her.

"Sorry," She bowed her head to them to apologize before she continued following behind Kate.

Outside the school, Mark and his father finally stood infront of the gates of Ubon. "What do you think?" His Dad asked. Mark continued to look around, seeing the buildings of the school and such.

"..Much more bigger than my previous one," Mark responded. "I get that," His Dad laughed about it before casually making his way inside the gates, even with the guards seeing them.

Although, he's pretty sure they were already informed that there was a transfer student and his parent that would enter the school, and so, he followed behind his Dad.

Once inside, he could see that some students were finally making their way to the gate. Looks like exams finally ended for them.

Mark only pulled out his phone, not wanting to deal with the realization that some students were probably looking at him.

"Are you sure you won't really come back to play with the band again, Nic?" Kate asked as they walked down the hallway. "I told you already, entrance exams for college are a hell to deal with," Nicole responded as she slightly scratched her cheek.

"Mmm, good on you for getting a recommendation already," A hint of pout was visible on Kate's face as Nicole awkwardly laughed. As they went down the stairs, the two stopped on a certain floor.

"Now then, see you later?" said Nicole. "Oh, wait," Before she could say a word, Kate suddenly remembered something as she grabbed her bag and began rummaging through it.

Then, she pulled out some sunglasses and held it up to Nicole. "Don't forget to go to our show next year!" said Kate with a smile. "That's two months from now, you idiot!" Nicole bantered back, causing them both to burst out in laughter.

Nicole accepted the sunglasses before waving to Kate as the band girl continued going down the stairs. Nicole sighed before putting the glasses into her pocket.

Dribble-dribble

The sound of the basketball dribbling sounded as Ryan Soriano looked up to the hoop.

Then, with a flash, he stopped dribbling to grab onto the ball with his hands, then jumped up to shoot the ball. As he landed, so did the ball on the hoop.

"Yes!" He muttered. After exams, he found himself wanting to do anything other than using his brains for hours, and that was to use his body to practice some basketball instead.

As he went to pick up the ball, a few distances from behind him, a girl sat leaning against the railing of the stairs that led to the school's basement, with an opened sketchbook resting onto her knees.

She watched as Ryan began to dribble again, even playing some tricks here and there before shooting the ball again.

Jessica Bautista, the art girl, began illustrating Ryan in a pose that looked as if he was playing basketball. Ever since she entered Senior High, she picked out art classes for anatomy, using anyone as a reference.

Including Ryan, even if it was hard to do so since basketball required moving all the time. She'd grown used to it anyway after a couple of times she has watched Ryan play.

Ryan went to the center of the court before shooting the ball from this distance; and sure enough, it went through the hoop.

Thunk!

The can fell down as Nicole crouched down to pull it out of the vending machine. Unlike in Liamson, where there was only this one unpopular vending machine, Ubon had multiple. Scattered from all over the school.

From what she learned, the founder apparently studied places where people looked like they needed something to drink in the school, and on those places, he put up nearby vending machines that are still maintained to this day.

"How thoughtful," Nicole could only mutter before opening the can and taking a sip off of it. Then, she began making her way to a certain room. Specifically, a clubroom. She stood infront of the door and looked up to see the PIANO CLUB nameplate.

As she went inside, she got greeted with a yelp, looking up to see her fellow clubmate, Sam Garcia.

"O-Oh, Nicole!" Sam finally calmed down after seeing that it was someone she knew. "The others aren't here yet?" Nicole asked as she looked around.

"Mhm, looks like some of them are busy," Sam nodded as she fiddled with her headband. Just like in Junior High, the room looked like a normal classroom, just with the exception of only a few chairs here and there. Only one grand piano sat on the board of the room, waiting to be played anytime.

"..May I play for a bit?" Nicole asked. "C-Certainly! I just finished cleaning it," Sam nodded, evident by the wet rag that she was carrying.

"Thanks," Nicole only said before making her way to the piano, sitting on the chair and letting her hands feel the keys for a bit. She only had a limited time with this piano after all, since third and fourth quarter would probably be full of preparations for college.

She then began playing a few keys, seeing that they were still well-tuned, as if the piano itself was saying hi to her. She grinned before starting to play.

After greeting the vice principal, Mark and his Dad went inside to discuss about anything he should know about Ubon.

"As I've heard, you took your second quarter exams early before anyone else in your previous university, right?" He asked. "Yes, I did," Mark responded.

Since he was transferring out, he was tasked to do the second quarter exams early first before he could actually transfer out to Ubon, so that the only thing Mark had to do was to attend the third and fourth quarter in Ubon, and now he's all on his own.

"If you'd excuse me, I will go over the rules and regulations that Mark might need to know," The vice principal said as he tapped a paper on the table.

"That's fine, thank you," This time, his Dad responded for him. This is gonna take a while..

Knock-knock

"Come in," After taking a sip of the coffee, a girl with a lab coat under her uniform said. The door opened as a guy carrying a guitar case backpack, same with Kate's, entered inside.

"Hey Lou," The guy called. "Oh, Mike, what brings you here?" Louise Ordunia, the lab girl, put down her mug and turned to him.

"Nothingg, just wanted to see how you're doing," Mike Aguilar, the band guy, said as he approached Louise and wrapped his arms around her in a tight hug.

"Mhm-mhm, I really missed you too, even though we meet each other everyday here," said Louise as she hugged him back.

"You know it, because Senior High will end in a few months, I found myself wanting to spend the most-est time with you," Mike said as he looked down to her head, prompting Louise to look up to him from hiding her face onto his chest.

"You hopeless guy," Louise said with a grin before they both separated from each other.

"Mmhm, alright, I'm charged up for the rest of the day now," said Mike as he stretched himself, then looked at the chemistry tools that was on the table.

"Still experimenting?" He asked. "Yup, I need some ideas for my essay, after all," Louise responded as she continued looking down at her tools.

She had been experimenting with different kinds of stuff to be able to write something for her research paper that needed to be submitted in fourth quarter.

"You're way too dedicated," said Mike. "Oh shush, your love to me is way more dedicated than this,"

"Can't deny that," The two laughed together as Mike looked up to the board, all with different types of equations that he couldn't comprehend.

He knew Louise was smart, but dang, smart to this extent is something he couldn't imagine he would ever reach on his own.

"Oh and by the way," Mike suddenly remembered as he took out his guitar case backpack and pulled out a sunglasses from it. "It's a special accessory for any diehard fans for our band, you should wear it on our show next year!" He explained as Louise accepted the sunglasses.

"I thought you had t-shirts?"

"That's for band members only, and the shades are for our diehard fans," Louise grinned as she looked down at the glasses, then she only attached it onto her chest pocket. "I'll think about it," She said with a smile before going back to her tools.

"Heh, alright, I better go to practice, see you later," said Mike as he looked at the time, but as he turned around, he felt his wrist getting grabbed.

He turned his head only to find Louise leaning in close to him...

and a soft feeling of her lips right onto his cheek.

"Don't cause too much trouble now." Louise whispered to him in such a tone.

"M-Mhm, I won't." Mike found himself dizzy as he exited the CHEMISTRY CLUB room.

"..And that's all you need to know for the attendance for third and fourth quarter, any questions?" After a while, the vice principal finally finished with the explanation.

"Nothing, sir." Mark responded. "Well then, feel free to explore the school if you'd like, I'll be excusing myself now." The vice principal said as he stood up.

"Thank you for your time, sir." Mark's Dad stood up as well and bowed as they watched the vice principal exit the room. "Your friends are in this school, right?" Dad asked.

"I guess so," Mark responded as he looked around. "Well then, I'll be going home now; you know the way back to your apartment?"

"I've been riding trains since 9th Grade, Dad." Mark responded with a smug, causing his Dad to laugh. "Alright-alright, see you later, son." Mark then waved to his Dad as he made his way to the exit.

Sighing in relief, he pulled out his phone and took a picture of the hallway that he was in. "Might as well get familiarized to the place,"

Mark began exploring the place, seeing how much different it was from Liamson and his previous university. When there were students passing by on the hallway, he only looked down to his phone, trying his best to not make eye contact with them.

Continuing to explore, he went to another floor, only to be greeted by...

a piano playing?

He approached the origin of where the sounds were playing.

He could recognize this particular piece, but he didn't even know that there was a piano here.

Finally, he stood in the window of a certain classroom. Although it was covered by blinds, he tried peeking through the gaps of the blinds.

All he could see however, was a sneak peek of the grand piano being played by someone that he could only see by their hands. He could also barely make out their uniform, but he sighed and gave up.

But that did made him wonder... were there any other music clubs around here? He began walking again, trying to find them all.

After she finished, Nicole sighed in relief, then looked up to find a crowd of her fellow clubmates already looking at her. "Amazing as always, Nicole!" The club president, Elise Manahan, spoke as she clapped.

"Just go to a gala concert at this point, Nicole!" A boy, Justin Valencia, spoke up as well. "Y-Yeah, you're skilled!" And so did Sam. "Mhm, not bad," said Carlos Tan, a taller boy.

The fact that his criticism was light to only her, but so much harsh criticism with the others, worried Nicole for a bit as she stood up from her chair.

"Sorry, just felt like loosing up a little bit," said Nicole. "It's fine, you're welcome here anytime to play it, right?" Elise responded as Nicole only scratched her cheek. "Mhm, I gotta go now though, see y'all later!" said Nicole as she waved to the others and exited the clubroom.

Man, it just felt so great to relax herself by playing the piano. The way the keys obediently played the majestic sounding of the notes, all of it combined was enough to take out her stress for today.

She looked up and suddenly found someone running on the opposite direction that she was going. She could've sworn that she has seen her several times in the school before, but oh well, Nicole doubted that they would ever meet personally.

That someone, wearing a red hoodie under her uniform, only ran past Nicole, being careful not to bump into her.

Back in the CHEMISTRY CLUB room, another knock sounded, but from how her rhythm sounded, Louise already knew who it was. "Guess whoo?" The girl said as she entered inside.

"Little Miss Fairy Tale herself," Louise responded as she turned to look at her. "That's righttt!" Sofia Rubio responded. Sofia is Louise's childhood friend, and as fate would call it its namesake, Sofia also decided to be in Ubon for her 11th Grade.

"Still busy with your sorcery stuff again?" Sofia asked as she also looked down at what Louise was doing. "You're not the first one to ask that... and no, this is not sorcery, you Fairy Tale girl," Louise responded as Sofia only laughed.

"You're so hardworking, unlike mee," said Sofia as she put a finger onto her cheek and looked up.

"Oh please, you're one of the Top 50s in our school,"

"Only in the Top 50!! Unlike you whose in the Top 10!!" Sofia only rested her head against the table as Louise tried to hide her giggle.

"Well, I've got nothing else to do so, what have you been working on?" said Sofia. "How are you and Cath doing?" Louise teased.

"E-Eh! Don't just attack me out like that!"

"I'm kidding-I'm kidding," Louise only laughed at her overreaction. She always was like this, fitting to be some sort of class clown and all.

"Fine-fine, I'll show you,"

As Louise explained everything to Sofia, all the latter girl could do was put a finger on her cheek and look up to try and comprehend what Louise just said.

Nonetheless though, Louise is glad that she's willing to listen, and so, she decided to brew another mug of coffee and give it to Sofia as she exited the room to attend to her stuff.

On the way of his explorings, Mark managed to pass by a few people playing the trumpet and flute. They all were playing a similar piece, were they practicing for something?

If so, then Mark really needed some catching-up to do to know what they were gonna play for.

Walking down another hallway, he looked up from his phone, only to find someone with a guitar backpack running down the hallway before stopping on a certain room and opening the door.

"Mike! You're late!" Kate's voice sounded inside the room. "Sorry, I'm here now!" Mike said whilst catching his breath before entering inside the room and closing the door.

Curiously, Mark went beside the door and listened in on what they were doing. "Too busy flirting with your girl again, Mike?" A guy's voice sounded.

"Oh shut up and just set up my guitar for me," Mike responded as I could hear shuffling. Then, a string of instruments began to play. Drums, electric guitar, bass, and a piano. They were all testing the notes at the same time.

"Alright I'm ready!" Mike gave the cue, and so, the drums person began tapping its sticks on a countdown...

Tap-tap-tap

And so yelled the band instruments.

There was a band here too, huh? Mark scoffed in bewilderment. Yeah, Ubon was definitely way too different from his previous school.

He only snorted before continuing to walk down the hallway, letting the band continue its practice.

Ka-chik!

Ridel's camera flickered. He was standing beside the hoop of the small court that was right on the school grounds for basketball players in Ubon.

He had just asked Ryan to take some sample pictures and he agreed. And so, Ryan began doing tricks here and there, dribbling like a basketball star and shooting hoops like it was nothing.

"Just make sure I look handsome!" Ryan's only condition for him to take the pictures was ridiculous, but Ridel agreed to do so anyway.

Unbeknownst to both of them though, that there was another person who was photographing him in a different way, albeit drawing.

Jessica only fiddled with her hairpin for a bit before going back to drawing on her sketchbook.

Mark finally managed to exit the building, but not before he eyed the small court where someone was practicing basketball, and another someone taking some pictures.

Mark also saw this court earlier for a bit when he entered the school; the small court just right outside the far other entrance of the main school building.

However, he narrowed his eyes to look closer, specifically to the one with the camera. Wait a minute... he recognized this back... Making sure, Mark slowly walked to the camera guy.

Ka-chik!

As Ridel took another photo, he began reviewing the pictures, seeing as how some of them differed in angle, some were bright, some were blurry.

As he reviewed the next photo, he then felt the presence of someone beside him. Ridel looked beside him, finding someone standing there as he looked at Ryan.

Ridel stared at him directly, did he know him from somewhere? This caused Mark to turn to him, causing Ridel to finally get a good look at his face.

"...Mark?"

"Ahh, found you!!" Suddenly, someone shouted a few distances from behind both of them. Only Ridel turned around as Mark only looked away.

"Jeez, where have you been all this time, Ridell??" A somewhat rough girl voice sounded as the red-hoodie girl began approaching behind them.

"I'm just trying to record Ryan here, err.." Ridel responded before looking beside him to Mark. "Seriously, you.." She stopped right behind them, then, her eyes caught the attention of another guy beside Ridel.

"Who 'dis?" She asked, but she didn't have to wonder for long as Mark gathered all his courage to turn to her. Their eyes met. For a few seconds. Then, her eyes sparkled.

"MARK!?" Cathy Portillo, the red-hoodie girl, yelled. "..Mhm, hey, Cath, and Ridel," Mark managed to finally speak out a word. For the first time in about three years, the MCR trio were standing together again.

* * *

"Uwaaagh," Mark muttered as he found his cheeks being played with, causing him to have octopus lips as he could only mutter. "It's really you..!" Cathy spoke.

"You can tell that's Mark just by his cheeks..?" Ridel spoke behind her, before she immediately pulled Mark in for a hug. Mark found himself hesitating, his hands freezing in the air.

It had been three years since they last saw each other, after all, and they both stopped being able to contact each other after years of being apart.

Despite that, Cathy hugged him. Why..? Mark asked himself. But, considering what happened three years ago, that day... After a while, Mark finally enclosed his arms around her, hugging her back.

Ryan stopped playing as he looked at the others, then finally made eye contact with Mark.

"Mark... MARK?!" He couldn't help but yell as he came over to them. "Mhm, that's me," Mark responded as Cathy finally let go of him.

"W-What are you doing here??" Cathy couldn't help but ask questions about his state first. "Didn't you.. weren't you-"

"I know-I know, Cath," His hand then found itself behind his head as Mark scratched his head before being able to continue his words, "..but I'm back now." Then, he couldn't help but grin at the sight of both of his best friends... well, Ryan's a friend too obviously.

"Seriously, where have you been.." Ridel gave Cathy his camera a bit before he approached Mark and hugged him as well, with Mark also hugging him back.

"I missed you guys too," said Mark as he patted Ridel's back whilst hugging him. "A-Are you hurt anywhere? How's your-" Cathy found herself asking.

"Mhm, I'm okay now actually," As he separated away from Ridel, Mark moved his arms and stretched them to show that he was doing well as he found Cathy take a deep, long sigh.

"Since you're good now, wanna play with me for a bit, Mark?" Ryan said as he picked up the ball. "Uh, I don't really play basketball," Mark tried to refuse. "Don't worry I'll go easy on you, and besides, I'm sure your body needs some exercising too," But Ryan insisted.

Damn dude, you didn't have to flex your muscles, Mark said in his mind as he noticed that Ryan got a bit bulkied up after Junior High. He must've been really working hard for his basketball dream.

"Alright-alright," Mark only removed his orange jacket, cracking his neck as he made his way over to Ryan. "Go get 'im, Mark!" Cathy found herself cheering from the side with Ridel.

"You play first, since I'm very kind," Ryan said as he passed the ball to Mark. "Very funny, man," And Mark couldn't help but to respond like this as well. He began dribbling as Ryan guarded him.

The two started to play together...

if you could even call it a play since Mark was basically fighting an experienced basketball player here, so really, he had no choice of making him fall.

Despite that, both Ridel and Cathy continued to cheer for him, and so, he tried his best, getting used to the movements of how basketball players play.

In the midst of all this, Ridel took this opportunity as he began to take several photos of them playing together with his camera.

When he finally got an opportunity, Mark jumped and shot the ball. It went through the hoop. Cathy only cheered from the side as Ridel clapped. "Nice game, you did great," Ryan said as he approached Mark with a fist-bump offer.

"Our score is 1-6, dude," said Mark as he bumped his fist with him.

From a few distances away from them, Jessica couldn't do anything but stare at the scene unfolding infront of her. She also recognized Mark, from what she knew, is her classmate from 9th Grade, nothing else.

She then sneakily took out her phone, taking a photo of Mark talking with his best friends. Not before she got a message notification from NICOLE.

._______________. Yaho~ you free?

._______________. Not really, why?

._______________. Nothingg, just wanted to know how you did in the tests?

._______________. Terrible.

._______________. Same here HAHAHAHA

She met Nicole in her art classes, which surprised Jessica to know since even though they were both students in Liamson, she didn't knew Nicole liked to draw.

But Nicole showed her the art projects she did back in Liamson, and was impressed overall. Right now, Jessica's impression of her was...

the extroverted girl that everyone probably likes to talk to. For her atleast, she still liked to talk to Nicole.

._______________. Oh yeah, I found the mysterious transfer student in our school.

._______________. Seriouslyy?

._______________. Seriously.

Just for good measures, Jessica took another photo again, this time, only including Mark's face as he faced away from the camera talking with the others.

In another part of school, Nicole waited until her phone finally rang. Jessica had just sent her a picture of the transfer student maybe.

Although, that's when Nicole realized that she didn't have data at all and couldn't see the picture.

._______________. Ah, I don't have data, sorry ^^"

._______________. I can tell you what he looks like.

._______________. Ohh, he?

._______________. He.

._______________. Handsome?

._______________. Hardly.

._______________. That's rough HAHAHA

Despite what she sounds like in their texts, Nicole knew that Jessica likes talking to her. If she didn't, she's sure Jessica would've ghosted her by now.

Dribble-dribble

Jessica looked up to the sound of the ball as he found Mark and Ryan playing again, this time with Mark on the defensive.

Using this opportunity, she hid her phone with her sketchbook, and took a photo of the two boys playing together.

Mark only rested to the side on the steps that lead to the entrance of the school building. It had been a while since he had done something this physically-exhausting.

Meanwhile, even if Ryan was covered in sweat, he was still standing straight. "Good work," Suddenly, Cathy appeared behind him with a bottle of iced tea held up to him.

"Thanks," Mark could only mutter as he accepted the bottle and immediately chugged down a portion of it.

"Can't believe it's been like... what, two years since you moved?" said Cathy as she sat beside him. "Three," Mark immediately corrected.

"Seriously you, you could've messaged me about how you were doing!" Cathy said, looking like she had wanted to say this to him for a very long time now.

"I know, I'm sorry for ghosting you," pleaded Mark as he's definitely sure that she won't forgive him for this.

"Treat me to a meal in Angryme's, then!" And sure enough, Cathy finished thinking up of ways for his repenting.

"You little..!" Mark could only voice his frustrations as Cathy looked at him with a smug grin. But then again, he was glad to see that she was doing okay overall.

She didn't have any band-aids anymore and it seems like she's comfortable showing the little scars in her face now. "Y'know..."

"Ay Mark, lemme have some," Before she could say anything else, Ryan suddenly approached Mark. "Spare me a portion atleast," Mark then gave the bottle of iced tea to him.

"Thanks," He then chugged down the bottle, leaving a portion for Mark as promised as Ryan went back to practicing.

"Something you wanted to say?" Mark went back to Cathy as he wiped the tip of the bottle with his clothes. "Mm-mm, maybe another time."

Later on, both Ridel and Ryan left to attend their other stuff, (And Jessica too, but Mark doesn't know about it) leaving only Mark and Cathy as they decided to play basketball together.

"Eurgh, I'm surprised you boys's sweats doesn't collect on the ball," said Cathy as she tried to dribble the ball with an unusual stance.

"Are you sure playing this sport won't remind you of someone?" Mark said as he stood under the hoop. "SHUT IT!!" She then threw the ball at him, with Mark effortlessly catching it like it was a pass.

"I'm kidding!" Mark laughed whilst saying that as he passed the ball over to Cathy, which she successfully didn't catch, causing her to immediately run to it.

"Don't get confident now, boy, you've missed about three years worth of information!" She said as she picked up the ball and began trying to dribble again.

Then, copying what Mark did earlier, she jumped up and shot the ball over to the hoop; it bounced off the rim. "DAMN!!" Cathy cursed.

"Don't sweat yourself to it; reminder that I couldn't also shoot earlier!" reassured Mark as he picked up the ball.

"That's because I'm not as tall as you!"

"You outgrew your 9th Grade self atleast!" They continued bantering back with each other, as if years of separation didn't do anything to weaken their relationship. "Idiot!!"

After a good while, Cathy continued to try shooting the ball several times. Still failing.

One time, Mark blocked Cathy's failing shot, and this earned him a good pulling on his cheek. Cathy focused herself as she got on a stance, looking up to the hoop.

She took a deep breath before jumping up again, and after Mark advised her about it, she gripped the ball with one hand on the side, and the other hand in the front side of the ball.

Then, she shot the ball with all her might using this position of shooting. It flew to the ring with an arch, and went through the hoop.

As Cathy landed on the ground, she only stared at the hoop for a good minute, then erupted in a victory yell. "I'm the best!!"

"Good work," After a while, Cathy rested as Mark bought a can of hot coffee for her; debt now repaid.

"Man, that burned some calories out of me," She sighed out after drinking the coffee. As Mark sat beside her again, Cathy looked at him with a small smile.

"..How's your other university like?" She asked. "Terrible," responded Mark as he scratched his head. "How so?"

"I mean, the school's built inside of a mall, that might seem like positive at first, but when you fail to do something, say a project in school, the crowd noises of the mall will not help you at all." He explained as Cathy took another sip of her coffee.

"..and you and the others weren't there too." He added as he looked away.

"Flattery won't get you any more ladies, you dimwit," Cathy said as she laughed whilst playfully punching his shoulder. "I missed you too." Mark could only grin as she said that before looking up.

"It'd be really fitting if it was snowing right now," He looked up to the skies. "I get what you mean," Cathy then stood up as she looked up in the skies as well. "Too bad you won't see any snow out here, only this weather girl," said Cathy as she pointed to herself.

"I wouldn't wish for more," Mark could only smile at this sight. Right, how could he forgot? Cathy was as bright as the sun even in the harsh cold weather of December. He was glad to see that she was still the pluviophile that he could remember.

"If I can, I'd wished for it to rain right now!" She then put up her hands in the air, as if reciting a magic in the skies for it to cry——it didn't obviously.

"Don't cause too much trouble for others, Cath," He sighed before standing up and giving her the can of coffee. "Wuhehe," Her same mischievous laugh was still there as she accepted the coffee and drank out of it.

"Well then, I might have to go now, see you later?" After finishing the coffee, Cathy searched for a nearby trashcan, then attempted to shoot the can over to it——it went through.

"Where you goin'?" asked Mark.

"Gonna hang out with someone!" This left Mark wondering for a bit, before calling out to Cathy again. "Oh and, how's Sofia?" After he said this, Cathy immediately froze as she turned around.

"Err... who knows, heheh.." She really couldn't do better to hide her nervous voice. "Just go already, you dimwit,"

"Okay!!" And Cathy escaped out of there. He grinned before pulling out his phone. As Cathy was running, she felt her phone vibrating and immediately turned it on to see a message from MARK, after years of ghosting.

._______________. Good luck!!

"..Idiot, this is what you say after years of silence?" She muttered with a grin before replying.

._______________. Shut it! Hmph >:(

After seeing her run off and disappear, he sighed before looking up in the skies again. If only it would snow right now... that would probably bother him now that he thought about it.

Damn it, this girl's really manipulating his mind into liking rain more. Today was quite eventful, even though all he had to do today was meet up with the vice principal, know about his attendances, and that's it.

Instead, all he got in return was a sore body, but atleast he was able to meet up with his best friends first——as he really had no idea what he would say to the other people that he knew.

Wearing his orange jacket again, he started making his way over to the gate. He would really need the nice feeling of his bed again after that. Eh, but he realized that today wasn't moving day.

Tomorrow, he would move back to his childhood home that his Dad was currently staying on in Bonifacio. I'm really glad that I won't do any heavy lifting today, my body hurts!! He screamed in his mind as even right now, he continued to feel the sore pain of his muscles.

That's what exercising after years of abstaining from doing so does to you.

As he got to the other entrance of the building, he suddenly heard voices coming from inside the building, approaching the entrance.

"..ou didn't have to be so considerate," Kate's familiar voice sounded. "Ah, it's fine," Then, two girls finally became visible. Mark couldn't help but look up to them. Kate, the band girl, was carrying her guitar case backpack.

Then, his eyes moved over to... the girl with sunglasses, then her head slowly turned to him as well.

PANG!

Both Mark and Nicole's eyes met, causing a bit of shiver, like a goosebump to spread all over Mark's body. He immediately grabbed his shoulders, wondering if it was cold...

Both Nicole and Kate continued to make their way to the gate. Then, Nicole slid her hand up to her shoulder, wondering what happened just now and why she just felt a pang of pain...

Mark rubbed his shoulders to try and ease himself down.

Nicole only grabbed her shoulder tightly, processing the unexplanable pain that she experienced earlier just now.

When they both saw each other, why did they...

* * *

His alarm sounded. Mark found himself waking up, but his entire body continued to ache. Damn... this is what I should've expected.. He cursed himself as he struggled to even stand up.

But, his aching body wasn't the only reason he had a bad sleep. Specifically, it's because of that one girl he saw back in Ubon. The one who was wearing sunglasses...

For some reason, he found himself thinking about that person more than he should. I see one random girl in my school and I become like this..? He wondered to himself as he put his face on the pillow and groaned.

Thinking about that girl whilst having a physically-exhausted body is torture. He could feel his muscles that had gotten torn apart because of that basketball practice yesterday.

Her alarm sounded. After opening her eyes, Nicole slowly sat up from her bed, pushing her disheveled bangs out of the way.

For some reason however, she felt her heart pumping in her ears. She put a hand to her forehead, groaning a bit. For no reason in particular, she couldn't stop thinking about yesterday.

Literally, she didn't know why. All she could remember yesterday was that a pang of pain washed over her body after she just looked that.. guy's eyes.

She had never seen that guy before in this school, and so she wondered if that was the transfer student that everyone else was talking about.

Because of just that one small event, she somehow found herself thinking more and more about it.

Wanting to distract herself, she stood up and opened the blinds of the only window that was in her room, seeing how cloudy it was.

..Right, there's no snow in this land, said Nicole as she took some time to look outside for a bit. After that, she exited her room to go to the bathroom, looking at herself in the mirror.

Then, she lifted both of her hands... and slapped herself in the face with both hands.

Calm yourself down, Nicole G. Lacsamana! She spoke in her mind.

It's almost the end of your Senior High, no time to be thinking about some random guy who you don't even know about! With that in mind, she had some newfound determination before aggressively opening her toothbrush, pasted some toothpaste on it, and brushed her teeth.

After doing his morning routine, Mark stretched himself as he began to wear a new fit for today. Particularly, a blue sweater for winter that he saw online and ordered.

No time to be thinking about a girl, Mark, He told himself. Today's moving day.. keep yourself busy with that, Mark then got out of his bedroom after putting some of his important stuff in his backpack.

As he expected, he got greeted with some people who were moving the boxes of his stuff and putting them into the moving-estates truck, as Mark likes to call them.

He excused himself outside as he pulled out his phone, seeing a message from his Dad from 3 hours ago.

._______________. Carry your important stuff before you go

._______________. Let the workers do their job of carrying the other stuff and moving it, ok?

._______________. Okayy

Mark then reacted his message with a heart emoji before exiting the app and sighing as he began going down the stairs of the apartment building.

Today was the day that he would leave this faraway city, and its university that he used to go to. He will miss it, but it wasn't as fun as back in his Junior High days.

And as it seems like it, everybody he knew had probably changed too. Evident by Cathy, Ridel, and Ryan yesterday.

He would definitely miss this apartment though, even if it was small, it was like back in 9th Grade where he had the house all to himself... and he wasn't so busy that he could play games as well-

Suddenly, as he got outside of the apartment building, his phone rang. He turned it on again to find a message notification from CATHY??

._______________. Gumonin'!! Rise and shine!!!

._______________. My eyes are very much closed right now

._______________. Very funny

He could only laugh at her words, as if they didn't talked with each other for the past three years.

._______________. Anywho, are you busy?

._______________. About to go back to Bonifacio

._______________. I thought you were already here?

._______________. Nope, had to move out of my apartment first

._______________. Ohh

Back in Bonifacio, Cathy only sighed as she sat against her bike that was leaning against the wall.

Back in 11th Grade, her habit of wanting to try new things hasn't changed, and so, she managed to snag the bike that had a discount in a garage sale... and she had been with it ever since.

._______________. Anyway, just wanted to let you know that we'll be having a post-exam hangout, wanna come?

._______________. Post-exam?

._______________. Yeah! So to celebrate our hardworks in answering this damn test!

._______________. Did you do your best then?

._______________. Hopefully I did!

._______________. You definitely didn't

._______________. Nopeee, I did!

Mark then continued to make his way to the station... which he didn't want to take a jeep for so as to not waste any single peso in his wallet.

The more you grew up, the more you start to worry about the money in your pockets- which is why he's determined to walk all the way.. even if it takes almost fifty minutes to get there.

Seriously, even he himself couldn't believe how much of an unbelievable fool he is.

._______________. 'Kay then, what time?

._______________. About 4:00, don't be late!

._______________. Not my fault I live far away!

._______________. Then run with all your might!

He could only laugh as he read what she said. "Idiot, the last time I ran with all my might for you, look what happened," He muttered.

Even though what happened three years ago was traumatic, he could only laugh about it now.

._______________. I'll be there, pramis

._______________. Better keep that premis!!

After putting his phone back in his pocket, Mark sighed and continued to look up in the sky as he walked.

The fact that he wasn't even a student in Ubon, but he was still invited to hang out with her made him happy. But hopefully it's not because she pitied him or the sort like that.

Opening the fridge, Nicole looked around before reaching out to grab the container that was full of white bread, and some margarine before closing the fridge.

She put all the stuff in the counter as she began to spread the margarine on a single piece of white bread, before she sprinkled the margarine spread with a bit of sugar.

With that, her breakfast is complete. As she bit onto the bread, Nicole only opened her phone to see what was happening, and immediately got greeted with a message notification from KATE.

._______________. Psst, wanna hang out somewhere?

Her eyes widened after seeing that Kate sent this in 6:00 in the morning. Nonetheless, Nicole continued to munch on her breakfast before tapping her fingers on the screen.

._______________. Still awake?

._______________. Yes I am

._______________. Knew it

._______________. Sooo, will you?

._______________. Where we goin', karaoke?

._______________. That's an idea then!

._______________. Anddd?

._______________. I'll treat you to a siopao

._______________. Deal, what time?

._______________. 3:40 maybe, I'll wait for you at the Alpha Mart near the school

After she finished munching on her bread, Nicole sighed as she ruffled her bed hair. Winter break started today, why was she still busyy? She thought to herself before groaning.

A few hours later, Cathy was riding her bike as fast as she could, wearing a puffer jacket and a helmet on her head obviously. But even without a helmet on, she won't hesitate to riskly ride her bike and pedal on it as fast as she could.

As she turned to a corner, the sight of his house was finally visible. Her eyes sparkled, then she slowed down and stopped just right infront of his gate. She took out her helmet and noticed that there was a truck that was on the side of his house.

Oh right, he moved to an apartment from what he told me. thought Cathy as she leaned her bike against the wall and sat on it before pulling out her phone.

._______________. Yo come outside, I promise I won't jump you

She then took a selfie of herself down on her chin, looking down at the camera and sent it to Mark. After a bit, she heard the gate ring open as Mark went outside. "Yo!"

"Heya," They greeted each other as she moved to the side, letting Mark lean against the wall next to her.

"Wouldn't it be more badass if you had a motorcycle instead of a bike?"

"I'm not rich unlike you, you spoiled kid," She then went and grabbed a few things from the box that was in the front of her bike. Particularly, a plastic bag as she pulled out two cans of coffee.

"..You're seriously gonna make me debtful of you?" He jokingly said, but she giggled mischievously in response. "How'd you know?" They both laughed about it as Mark accepted the can of coffee from her.

They opened it at the same time, then took a sip, and sighed in relief. "Good thing you don't complain about coffee being bitter anymore like back then,"

"I didn't know there were different kinds of coffee!" Cathy then took another sip before continuing, "..until Sofia gave me this same can of coffee." But, she then covered her mouth.

She just said something that she shouldn't have supposed to say, huh?

"Heh, I'm not that mean to pry into your life... but not today,"

"Noooo!!" Cathy only yelled in defeat, causing a few eyes to lay on her. She immediately lowered her head down in apology.

"Just messing with you," Mark said with a smug grin before taking another sip of his coffee. "D-Don't forget you're still indebted to me with that coffee!"

"Oh, you mean the same coffee brand that Sofia gave you?"

"Ack!!" She then proceeded to punch his shoulder many times. It didn't hurt obviously, but Mark only whined like he was getting hurt.

"Nevermind what I said earlier, I'm gonna jump you!" She said whilst in the middle of barraging her fists at me.

"So, is there anyone else we should wait for?" After a bit, Mark asked.

"Yup, obviously I invited Ridel too!"

"Did he read it?"

"He's not like back then, you dimwit," She then put her phone up to his face to show that Ridel did reply to her message.

._______________. Ridelll!!!

._______________. Speak

._______________. Wanna hangout laterrr?

A few minutes after she said that, Ridel replied.

._______________. Sure thing, but is it fine I bring some friends?

._______________. Oh it's fine, I also invited Mark anyway!

"He's more responsive now, hm?" Mark muttered. "Mhm, and don't worry, I also made sure to tell him to not bring anyone that I didn't knew!" She only huffed proudly after saying that.

"I mean, where are we even going anyways?" He asked as Cathy stood up infront of him with hands on her hips. "Good question!" She said before huffing pridely again.

"..We're going to the Global City!" My eyes only widened. Global City, huh? The rich part of Bonifacio?

Bonifacio had two types of cities, the normal one where most houses resided, then the Global City where most of the riches of the city came from.

Office buildings, the Global City malls, and many, many more. Back then in 9th Grade, Mark only explored a part of it once, but he got lost from all the bright stuff inside the Global City.

He eventually managed to go home after that, but still going back to a place like that after three years... he's pumped.

"They're gonna light up a big snowman that they built on the outside of the mall, I wanna see it!" Mark then remembered that it was Christmas in a few days now. Right, he did come back in an important time of the year.

"Haven't had a break from being drowned in school for a while so, thanks for inviting me too, I guess," He said as he looked up in the sky, it was still as cloudy as ever.

"Aww, don't mention it," She said before roughly slapping his back. "Ouch," Now that truly hurt.

Breathing into her hands, Nicole only wore a parkas jacket that went all the way to her knees. It was way too damn cold for some reason.

Especially since this country always had hot weather, it was expected for December to also have an little-bit-cold-but-more-hot weather, but somehow, it was so cold as if there was snow everywhere, where there even isn't!

She looked up to the cloudy skies, wondering if they were the cause of this. After turning to a corner, the Alpha Mart store was finally visible. The signature logo being mostly red and green was barely hard to miss.

And so was Kate, with her signature purple headband. Her eyes was so strict that it looked like she was ready to beat up someone at any moment.

But when she spotted Nicole, her eyes softened and immediately waved her hand, causing Nicole to wave back.

"Yaho~" Nicole did her usual greet. "Took you long enough," said Kate as Nicole got to her. She looked down and found Kate holding up a siopao for her already.

"Thank youu," said Nicole as she opened up the siopao, sauced up the insides and took a bite out of it, her face looking like a hamster when she bit on it.

"I admwire you vewy much ftor sftanding in fthe middle ob a cold wevah," Nicole said as she munched on her food. "Swallow first before you talk!" As Kate said that, Nicole immediately gulped down her meal.

"It's cuz I'm way too hot,"

"I'd beg to differ," After she finished gulping down the portion of the siopao, Nicole immediately retorted, causing Kate to laugh.

"Well? Where we goin'?" Nicole then finally asked. "Oh right, some friend invited me to hangout at the Global City today," Kate responded as she pulled out her phone.

"Heard that they were setting up some sort of gigantic snowman, kinda curious to see it,"

"Don't try to kick it down obviously," Nicole could already read her mind about what Kate thought about the snowman.

"That's our only semblance of any relation to snow in this dang country!"

"Damn it, you leakin' my plan now,"

Afterwards, Nicole only breathed into her hands again, keeping them warm.

"I'm fine with anywhere, just as long as there's anything heatful," She said after warming up her hands more.

"Just shower in hot water then!"

"That's what I tried earlier... despite that, it's still totally cold," Nicole's voice began to waver as she began to put her hood up to her head, and also put on the sunglasses that Kate gave her.

"..You brought that?" And Kate seemed to have noticed this as well.

"Just feeling much more comfy when I'm wearing something on my face——I'm way too lazy to wear makeup, so this'll be my accessory instead," She said that last word playfully valley-girl style as Kate only laughed about it.

"Who even says accessory in real life??" Kate remarked, but nonetheless, Nicole is now completely incognito with a hood and sunglasses on.

From a distance, the two girls suddenly heard someone call them out from behind.

When they turned around behind them, they found Ridel suddenly snapping a pic of them with his camera.

"Gotchu two," He said, but he then looked up to them and suddenly felt how menacing both their eyes were laid onto him.

"E-Eh, don't worry, you both are incredibly photogenic," Ridel said to try and repent for forgiveness. Nicole calmed down, but Kate was still feral.

As a result, she jumped across the railing and began to choke Ridel by wrapping an arm around his neck. "I give up! I give up!!" Nicole took a bit to finally recognize that it was Ridel, one of her classmates.

Seeing them both close together, it was way obvious that they had some history... even if Kate's attempting to murder him-

"A-Anywho, let's go and meet up with the others that invited me now," After a while, Kate managed to calm down after Ridel had to sustain a beating. "Lead the way," said Kate with a pout.

What a grade-schooler, Nicole thought to herself before she started walking with the others.

Everything was always so loud here. Anywhere Mark looked, it was bright all over the Global City. Is this what the peak of a modern-era city looks like?

But anyway... Mark found himself on the backseat of Cathy's bike as she rode through the city. Isn't this usually the other way around??

But then again, Mark doubted that Cathy would just leave her bike, and so, he hung tightly onto her waist. She probably wasn't bothered by this, but if it was someone like Sofia...

Cathy shook off her thoughts as she began to speed up, ignoring Mark's cries.

After they finally managed to find a parking spot for bikes, Mark's legs kept shivering as he got off the bike. "You really need to exercise more, you dimwit," said Cathy as she locked up her bike.

"Getting cocky now just because you shot that damn ball yesterday?" Mark said as he slowly stood up. "Hell ye' I am!"

After a while, Mark finally managed to calm down as he sighed in relief.

"Never thought bike-riding can tire someone that much," Cathy only gritted her teeth in pity of his state. "Let's just get to Ridel," He spoke before looking up again.

Even if he was more taller than he was back in 9th Grade, the Global City seemed to have aged like fine wine and was still taller and towering over him.

From what he can see from all around, the Global City had turned into something that you'd likely see in the crowded cities of a country that's on the upper right side of this country.

"..Is this seriously what I've been missing for the past three years?" Mark muttered.

"Yeah actually, most students have gone here multiple times by now, even back in 10th Grade," Somehow, Cathy heard his words and responded beside him.

"Didn't have to make me feel jealous now," He sighed before putting his hands in his pockets. "Either way, isn't it cold lately?"

"Didn't have to mention it," said Cathy as she tried breathing out to produce a breath smoke out of the cold air; which didn't came to fruition. She then pulled out her phone, trying to see where Ridel's at now.

"Looks like they got here before us," said Cathy. "Did Ridel say how many did he invite?" Mark then looked at her phone to see.

"Just someone he knew and that someone's friend," They turned to a corner into a parking lot, more specifically, they had somehow reached the parking spot of the mall now.

"We're gonna go through here?" Mark asked as he looked around. "It's finee, this parking lot's an entrance too, and detouring around the side of the mall would probably take longer than just taking the shortcut through here," She looked around as well before crouching down on the parking lot checkpoint, prompting Mark to do so as well.

"You're the Global City connoisseur, so lead the way," Mark said as he only followed behind her.

"Syempreee, ako pa! (Of course, it's me!)" She responded. Once we got to the end of the parking lot, Mark could see that there was an alleyway that lead to a sidewalk of a street that was maybe just right behind the mall.

Once they got out of the alleyway, Mark only narrowed his eyes a bit from the bright lights... then he looked up to see that they were just right under the overpass that connected the other building of the mall to the larger part of the mall.

"Oye Marksman, take your time sightseeing when we get inside!" Before he could continue to look up, Cathy called out to him. "Coming!!" He yelled back as he caught up to her.

They detoured to the side of the main building this time, and when they turned to a corner, Mark was greeted with a gigantic fountain that was loud enough to drown out any other ambience sounds.

He kept following behind Cathy, making sure not to look anywhere else just like she had instructed. "Ridel!!" Cathy shamelessly yelled, causing the Ridel and his friends and some bystanders's attentions to be laid on her. Mark only looked down full of shame.

Did Sofia taught you to be shameless or something-? He thought to himself. "Oh, there they are," Ridel called to the other two.

Kate followed behind him as Nicole looked up... and immediately recognized Cathy's friend.

When Mark finally looked up, his eyes locked in on making eye contact with Nicole, staring into each other's eyes for a good few seconds.

The wind passed over them, causing Nicole's hood to fall off her head and reveal her hair...

PANG!

And both of them suddenly had a msssive headache. As soon as they turned away from each other's eyes, the headache had faded away, but the aftereffects still hit them hard.

What did..

Wha.. The two thought to themselves.

What just happened..?

What just happened..?

"Nic? You good?" Kate immediately asked her. "Ah, sorry, almost had a sneeze," Nicole said as she looked up to her, but immediately tried her best not to look into that guy's eyes again.

Mark did as well, his eyes turning to Ridel and Cathy instead.

I don't know what's happening but...

I don't know what's happening but...

Nicole then followed Kate as Mark went to greet Ridel.

..I shouldn't look into her eyes.

..I shouldn't look into his eyes.

The two concluded to themselves. Whatever was happening, they both didn't want to get immensely hurt.

As they got inside the mall of the Global City, it was a whole different world from the outside. Anywhere you could see was bright orangish lights, and the different stores had different lightings too, mostly white.

The others seemed to had no reaction to this, but Mark was looking around all over that he wondered if he would go blind by staring at these bright lights all the time.

Nicole then only looked at the corner of her eye, seeing Mark look around with wonders. She sighed before looking straightforward again.

"Something wrong?" asked Kate beside her. "..Just don't know what to do with three people I don't recognize," Nicole responded quietly so as her words wouldn't be heard by the others.

Although, a part of herself said that this was only a mere excuse as to the real one.

"'Sup with Mark?" Ridel asked as he turned to look at Mark. "That's what being gone for three years does to you!" Cathy responded as she put her hands behind her head.

"Well, we got a few hours before the snowman lights up, where do you guys wanna go?" said Ridel as he looked at his watch. "Said it earlier to you; karaoke," Kate responded behind him.

"Wait, if we're going to a karaoke, then let's go to the arcade!" Cathy immediately suggested. Usually in this country, arcades often have karaoke stands in them.

"Um, if it's fine, I'd like to eat some food," Realizing that she hadn't ate lunch earlier, Nicole suggested as well.

"Oh, then, let's go to an Angryme's! Mark, you know what to do!"

"Huh?" Cathy immediately dragged Mark out of his trance. "The Angryme meal, you promised!" She continued.

"Ye- yeah, whatever," Mark could only respond like this as he scratched his head. Nicole continued to look at him secretly with her brows furrowed before she looked forward again.

"Alright then, let's eat something first," Ridel finally decided their order of destinations.

"Didn't you just ate a siopao earlier..?" Kate whispered to Nicole. "Not enough," and said girl whispered back.

Mark could only look at their backs as he was on the very back of this interesting pair of group. Sure, Ridel and Cathy were there, but two strangers, girls at that, were making him not be himself today.

Maybe he was still starstruck by the Global City, but there was maybe another reason... and it's this girl with the sunglasses.

Just a maybe, he thought to himself. Something about this girl, somehow, was making him have weird effects.

The not-in-a-good-way ones obviously, as he literally just sustained a massive two-seconds headache after looking into her eyes.

What Mark didn't knew however, was that his pain was much more tamer compared to Nicole.

No idea how she could describe it, but she would've passed out right there if the headache hadn't gone away, with Mark only experiencing a mild headache that didn't make him pass out, but would be enough to annoy him.

As they went to an escalator that led to the lower floors, Mark held against the moving railing as he looked around again. More and more shops that he did and didn't recognized.

Suddenly, he felt footsteps behind him, as a stranger got on the other side of where he was standing, and more strangers continued to crowd the escalator. Maybe it was Christmas break now that the mall was so crowded, or maybe they were also waiting for the big snowman.

Either way, it was way too crowded. Mark tried to lean a bit to not make contact with some strangers, but then someone behind pushed him, causing him to instinctively catch himself onto something. He sighed, then looked down...

to see that his hands were on Nicole's shoulders. He looked up and found her eyes staring menacingly at him.

He immediately looked away, sustaining a bite of pain before it went away as he pulled his arms back from her shoulders. Nicole promptly turned back to look forwards, her brows still furrowing.

Seriously... what is this guy doing to me..!? She cursed in her mind after also sustaining a bite of pain. His eyes seemed to do something painful to her, and she didn't liked it at all.

"Pervert.." Nicole muttered in a way that Mark could only hear. He just touched her shoulders, and because of that, she's mad?? Mark only continued to look away, suppressing his frustration.

As they finally got to the lower floor, the sight of the Angryme's was already visible.

"Damn, I'm trying not to make my stomach yell when I smell the aroma of an Angryme's restaurant..!" Cathy only clutched her stomach as an overreaction. "Hang in there!" Ridel said beside her. Kate only sighed as she watched these two idiots.

Both Mark and Nicole only continued to look away from each other, completely frustrated at one another.

As the others went to find a table that suited them five, the trio only stood up and asked for the two ladies's orders, with Mark coming to order with them as to not be left alone with that girl with the sunglasses.

Which he learned from when Cathy asked, was named Nicole.

"Hey Nic?" Meanwhile, Kate called Nicole out of her angry trance. "Hm?"

"Dunno if I'm wrong... but why were you so pissed when we were at the escalator..?" She finally asked as she saw Nicole's frustrated face, and also her silent whisper that Mark was only supposed to hear.

To be fair, since the escalator was crowded, both Nicole and Kate were forced to be attached together. "Ohh... just some lights were blinding me, that's all," Once again, Nicole made up an excuse. "..But you're wearing sunglasses," And Kate immediately contradicted.

"It doesn't matter... just have a runny nose," She said as she put a hand to her nose to try and prove her point. Kate was suspicious, but nonetheless, she let her go since whatever was the truth didn't interest her at all.

Mark only had a goosebump after he definitely felt Nicole's menacing gaze at him. Seriously, what's her problem.. And he couldn't look at her either due to the weird effect.

When they finished ordering, Mark then tried to look into his wallet, to pay for Cathy's meal as promised, but she saw this and promptly grabbed his wrist.

"Hey-hey, don't tell me you're actually taking me seriously," said her.

"But you said-"

"C'mon Mark, you think I'd be too cruel to ask money for someone who couldn't do anything to disappear for three years?" Cathy then only sighed deeply.

"If anything, we should just celebrate that you finally came back, right Ridel?" She said, nudging Ridel who was right next to her. "I mean, yeah, that sounds right; we both missed you after all, Mark," With Ridel backing her up.

Both of them looked at Mark with care, which made Mark only speechless before he couldn't help but grin himself at them.

Seriously, Mark would feel bad about getting free food by his dearest friends, but he only accepted it for now since today's a special occasion.

It had been years since they had last hung out together, after all.

"That being said, you should ask Cathy for a cola float," Ridel wrapped his arms around Mark before whispering that mischievously.

"Don't be the devil in his shoulder, Ridel," But Cathy heard it and immediately shut him down. "Soo, Mark, your order?"

"Oh, just some burger, small fries, and a cola," Luckily, Mark didn't gave in to the temptation and just ordered something normal. "Roger,"

After that, the trio went back to their table with their orders, with Mark making sure he wouldn't sit right beside Nicole.

Before anyone else could eat, Cathy then clapped both her hands together, closed her eyes, and said, "Thank you for the food today!" The others couldn't help but look at each other, but then Ridel did the same thing as well, causing Kate to follow right after him.

Mark continued to look at the others, until he realized it was only Nicole left that had their eyes open. When his eyes averted over to hers, he saw for a split-second that Nicole was still staring at him with her brows furrowed.

He immediately looked away, then looked back to see that Nicole had clasped her hands together and closed her eyes as well.

Mark had to stop himself from getting frustrated as he gripped both of his hands together, and closed his eyes whilst his brows were furrowed as well.

Thank you for the food today.. He said in his mind.

They all ate their food after that.

In the middle of it though, suddenly, a cat went inside the restaurant and went for their table.

"Awh, whose a good kitty," Cathy immediately pinched a piece of her chicken and secretly gave it to the cat to make sure no workers saw the cat.

Both Ridel and Kate followed up as well, with Mark and Nicole hesitantly doing so as well.

A few minutes later though, Cathy, Ridel, and Kate continued to feed the cat like a baby. "..A good-for-nothing beggar whose only here for free food.." Mark then heard Nicole say as she continued to look away from him.

"..Does the cat come here often?" He was a bit confused about her rudeness even to the cat and asked..

"..I was talking about you." But Nicole immediately made it clear.

You... this goddamn woman..! Mark had to restrain himself once again as he took a hard bite of his fries.

Even when they visited the arcade, Nicole was still as rude as ever to Mark. He could still feel her staring at him from the side, and he couldn't do anything to look at her at all to avoid that weird phenomenon.

Just when he thought nothing else worse could happen... Cathy, Ridel, and Kate all went into the only karaoke stand of the arcade that only stored three people, leaving them both for themselves.

As usual, Nicole ignored him as she went to pass her time to a two-player zombie shooting game. He could only watch from behind and watched as she... struggled to shoot the zombies somehow.

She tried looking into the toy gun that she was holding for the game, but immediately got jumped on by zombies.

Mark sighed, before going to the Player Two stand, grabbing the other toy gun and shooting the zombies in the head that were jumping on her. Nicole only looked at him from the side with furrowed brows once more, but also focused on how he fired his gun.

"I was handling that," She spoke. "Looks to me like you were struggling, this is easy," Mark retorted back. "Like how you found it easy to stare at my body from behind me?" As she said that, Nicole aimed the toy gun at the screen and somehow shot a zombie without looking.

This shocked both him, and her, but they continued arguing. "Even if I was doing that, I wouldn't have went to grab the toy gun then," Mark defended himself.

"That's how perverts think to justify their actions,"

"You little..!" As things got heated, they both got annoyed by the sound of the zombies and immediately resorted to shooting all of them.

Mark aiming headshots at each and every zombie whilst Nicole fired her gun like a machine gun and spread it all over to the zombies.

After all of them were back dead, the screen showed "STAGE 1 COMPLETE" and from below that showed to input another coin to continue.

Nicole put the toy gun back down and moved on to another machine, probably to stay away from Mark. He sighed before putting the toy gun back down as well.

Fine then, go wherever you want, He said before moving onto another machine himself. Stumbling upon a claw machine, Mark put in some coins before trying one himself.

Aiming the claw right in the center of mass of a plushie, Mark pushed the button and waited for the claw to come down and grab tightly onto the plushie.

When it did... the plushie just smoothly slipped right out of the claw. Damn, Mark cursed, but he moved onto another claw machine, which was smaller than the one he played just now, and had plush keychains.

He put in some coins again before crouching down to try it out himself. Aiming the little claw at the center of mass of a keychain, he pushed the button and let the claw grab onto the keychain... only for it to also smoothly slip out of the claw.

Goddamnit..! He cursed in his mind. Right behind him, Nicole sighed whilst her arms were crossed. "You look pitiful," Nicole said before she had an idea.

Mark invaded her playing of that zombie shooting game earlier, so it was only fair that she gets to invade his machine, and so, she casually crouched down beside him, forcing him to move away as she inserted some coins into the machine and took over the controls.

"Like you're any better," Mark said beside her, but she ignored it and only continued to analyze the claw. Time was ticking down to its last few seconds as Nicole was still readjusting the claw.

"Oi, you.." Once it reached to the last second, Nicole pushed the button and let the claw take the control. It hung onto the keychain... and it somehow held on.

Both of them watched as the claw moved to the exit box, and dropped the keychain there. Mark only reached to take out the keychain, which was a cat one that looked similar to the cat earlier.

"Now you can compare on whose the biggest beggar," Nicole said beside her. "No way, you have this one," But Mark immediately held it up to her, without looking at her eyes of course.

"No, I insist you have it," But Nicole pushed his hand back, not looking into his eyes as well.

"Weren't you the one who insisted on having this?"

"I was only showing you how it works, not that I wanted the prize??"

"Then you should have it,"

"No, it's all yours,"

"I don't think I wanna compare the biggest beggar with this,"

"Then compare, I dunno, who has the biggest fangs?"

"Like I have any??" The two continued to argue back-and-forth on who should have the keychain, with Mark continuing to hold it up to her whilst Nicole pushed his hand back. This could go on and on and on...

until they both suddenly heard the karaoke stand door open. "Mmmhm! Damn, my throat's hella cracked now," said Cathy as she stretched herself.

Mark almost stumbled, causing him to drop the keychain. Nicole instinctively caught it, and they both immediately sauntered themselves back up.

"Mark! Got anything?" Cathy immediately spotted Mark near the claw machine and went over to him. "Err, no, that's why I'm pretty much pissed at this," Mark responded as he forced himself to pretend that he didn't interact with her at all.

Nicole only caught her breath, then looked down to realize that she had the cat keychain. Her brows only furrowed again, seeing that Mark had won their argument and that she had the keychain instead. Damn you..

Hours passed once more, and it was now 8:40. The big snowman would light up at exactly 9:00, and because of that, the very entrance and exit that led to area was very crowded.

"Holy.." From the second floor, the group looked down as they saw the crowd moving like ants on the ground floor, trying to make their way to the exit.

"At this rate, we won't be able to go to there in time," said Kate as she continued to look down.

The stark difference of the population of people here in the second floor had a very big gap with the population of the ground floor.

People were practically screaming, and the security guards were trying to guide them. Ridel contemplated for a second, then he had an idea.

"Follow me," said Ridel before he went to a direction. "Hold on- wait!!" Cathy said as she ran after him. Both Kate and Nicole followed, and Mark did as well.

Based on the tone that Ridel said earlier, he definitely had something up his sleeve. Mark knew it, he could trust his best friend after all.

Whilst they were running, Nicole hadn't realized that she wasn't holding her small bag tightly, and as she continued to run, it slowly slipped off of her jacket until it finally flew off of her.

Nicole stopped and looked back, only to find Mark instinctively catching it. She tried to mouth him off, but she couldn't afford to stay behind, and so she continued running.

Don't make me your servant, you..! Mark cursed in his mind before deciding to continue running, with Nicole's bag in his hand.

They went to another escalator, this time as hurriedly as they could. The group eventually exited to the other exit, which was luckily only filled with the few people who wanted to enter the mall to go to the other exit.

Too bad they will find out later the mess that's happening there.

"Cathy? Can you get your bike?" Ridel asked as they got outside. "I can, but it'll take me a while to get back to you guys!" After she said that, Ridel only contemplated for a bit before finally deciding.

"Then, do you know your way to the snowman?" He asked.

"I'll try detouring to see if I can,"

"Alright then, we'll meet you at the snowman!" As soon as he said that, Cathy began running to get her bike, temporarily leaving the group. "Got it! See you there!" She said before continuing to run.

"Where we goin', Ridel?" Kate asked as Ridel turned to a street. As Mark got there, he finally saw that there was some sort of machinery there that stored bikes.

Back when he was far away, he already had learned what these machines are for.

"Rental bikes??"

"Yeah, it costs fifty for one bike, so I'm thinking we should only get two," Ridel looked at us all and counted. "Kate, you're with me. Mark, you're with-"

"WHAT?!" Before he could even say it, Nicole already protested. "Look, unless you wanna spend another fifty just for a bike, you'll be riding with Mark, got it?" But Ridel stood his ground.

Nicole couldn't say anything as she only gritted her teeth. Then, both her and Mark looked at each other before immediately looking away again.

Mark gritted his teeth as well before wearing Nicole's bag strap around his shoulder, which only earned a good menacing stare form behind him. "Fine, let's do it," Mark decided, and so, before Nicole could complain, the guys went ahead and paid for the two bikes.

Ridel got on one bike, with Kate riding behind him. She looked over to Nicole, who was still very hesitant on riding on Mark's bike.

"Nic, come on!" She called out to her. Nicole sneered before finally riding on the back of Mark's bike.

Whatever, it's better than him holding onto my waist anyway! Nicole made up an excuse. "Ready? Let's go!" said Ridel before he started to bike away.

"Come on, pedal up, servant!" Nicole yelled behind him as she hesitantly grabbed onto his waist. "Don't you... order me around!!" Mark yelled back before he started to pedal, following behind Ridel's bike.

The night lights of the city passed through them as Mark continued to ride the bike. He was fairly pissed, because of what the woman right behind him had been acting like towards him.

Calling him a pervert and everything. It was like she never sees him as a human-being. More like someone that could be equal to trash. And now, he's being a servant to her, carrying her bag whilst riding the bike just for her.

Who would've known that the first time that he would ride a bike with a girl was something he didn't wanted to be in at all?

You goddamn woman..!! He screamed in his mind as he continued pedalling.

Nicole looked around, determined to distract herself from what she was doing right now. Heresy! She thought.

I'm holding a random guy's waist, one that I hate at that!! She restrained herself from stabbing her nails into his waist right then and there.

She looked up to him, seeing as he pedalled the bike despite hating to be here.

You idiot... if you didn't want to ride here, then I would've ridden this bike and left you alone! She couldn't believe his persistence. Did he really want to see the snowman that much?

Or was he just an idiot? Nicole thought to herself, but thinking about it more caused her head to hurt, and so, she only continued to sulk and look away.

When they finally turned to a corner, avoiding the cars along the way, the big snowman was finally visible. The back of the snowman was blocked by a fence and a gate, probably to prevent other cars from getting in for a bit.

Ridel rid his bike to go to an open gate, where it was opened to let in probably the city officials. Because of this, the security guards immediately tried to call out Ridel. Mark sped up and evaded the police guard that was trying the block the gate.

When the guard looked at them, Nicole only stared at them back whilst waving her hand, and with that, the group disappeared into the overwhelming crowd.

The group finally stopped near the entrance of the mall, putting their bikes in a nearby bike parking, with Cathy already waiting there with her bike. "Guys!!" She said, waving both her hands.

The two bikers stopped, with Nicole immediately hopping off the bike. Mark grabbed her bag and held it up to her, with Nicole only taking it back as they looked away from each other.

"What's their problem?" Ridel asked the other two. "Lovers quarrel," Kate immediately responded. "Quarrel," And Cathy supported her. "I heard you, Katie!!" Nicole yelled from behind Mark as they finally turned their attention to the snowman.

Ridel looked at the time, and it was 8:58.

"It took that long just for us to get here-?" Ridel muttered. "I mean, yeah, we detoured the whole mall just to get here, and we started from the second floor of the mall too." said Kate as she also looked at his watch.

"Oh well, we should sit back and enjoy, I guess," said Ridel as he sighed and looked up to the snowman. Mark parked his bike as Nicole passed through him, making sure that she was right next to Kate.

But then, she found out that Cathy had already taken that spot. And so, she forced herself to be right beside Cathy, which means one thing; right beside Mark as well.

She stared at him with narrowed eyes again, causing Mark to sigh before he moved away from the spot next to her.

Once it hit 8:59, everyone anticipatedly waited. Mark looked up to the snowman, seeing how it was still dim, and yet, was prepared to brighten all of us.

When the timer was finally approaching the last few seconds, everyone in the crowd suddenly started counting down.

Even though it isn't New Years yet? Mark wondered to himself, but despite that, everyone treated this random December day like it was special.

Maybe everyone felt the same as Cathy. This was the only relation of a snow in this country after all. Instead of snow, you'd instead only get cloudy weathers, and maybe even rain. What a gift bestowed upon us.

"3!!" Mark sighed to himself.

"2!!" Nicole continued to look up.

"1!!" And thus, it hit 9:00.

As the snowman finally lit up, some fireworks suddenly set off into the sky, firing up the sky so bright and beautiful like a bloom of a flower.

Everyone cheered with all the strength in their voices. Mark continued to look up, the bright lights of both the snowman and the fireworks all combined into one beautiful night even at this late.

It all served to make itself known as the Global City. As if it was saying to Mark, "Welcome back to Bonifacio!" even if this was his hometown that he grew up in.

Mark grinned, then he looked at the others to see their reaction...

only to suddenly make eye contact with Nicole again.

PANG!

Both of their heads recoiled from the pain again, before it went away after their eyes pulled away from each other as usual.

"Will you stop looking at me??" Nicole immediately said to him as she clutched her head. "You're the one who should stop looking at me!" And Mark retorted back.

"Seriously.." Nicole muttered to herself before raising her middle finger up to the side of her face, making it face Mark as she continued to look away.

You goddamn..! Mark cursed in his mind. Nicole then put a hand over to her sunglasses, making sure her eyes weren't seen. Then in this way, he faced Mark and stuck out her tongue at him, whilst still giving him the middle finger.

Watching all of this unfold, Mark was only confused on why she would childishly stuck her tongue out like that.

"..So childish," He found himself muttering. "Hauh?! What'd you say?!" Nicole heard it and mouthed him off again.

"I said you're childish!"

"You little..!" And so, as the fireworks continued to set off loud and bright, the two people who were technically blind for each other continued to mouth each other off.

Not caring if they were seen by the others or not. A really interesting pairing of both of them have been formed that day.

A day that Mark will probably never ever forget, whether frustratingly or hilariously, who knows.

All Mark could know right now, was that the snowman, fireworks, and her were the ones that will make him remember this day now and ever...

"On that particular day in winter, I saw you."