"It's by someone who has been there for you more than I have ever been... someone who has been keeping what he feels for you because he's trying to save our friendship more than anything."

"Chelsie, are you alright?" Someone snaps her fingers infront of Chelsie and when she looks up, she sees Elexa squinting at her. "Are you thinking about Jeno?"

"Uh... no," she mumbles, shaking her head. She just can't really take Jeno's words out of her mind. Who was he referring to? Someone who has been there for me? And he's keeping it because he's trying to save their friendship? The only bestfriends of Jeno whom she know are Renjun and Jaemin, and those two are obviously into Elexa and not her.

Elexa raises her index finger up to draw incoherent lines infront of her face. "But it's written all over your face."

Chelsie waves her friend off, sighing. "It's not." She's early to school today because she hasn't really slept well last night so she figured she might as well just walk to class early.

"So if it's not Jeno then what is it about?" Elexa continues to question her. She suddenly wishes she didn't go there early. Elexa is her friend, but right now she just doesn't want to share her thoughts to anyone.

Shrugging, she opens her Chemistry book and shows this to Elexa, hoping she will take the hint that she doesn't want to talk right now. She sees Elexa mouth, "Fine," as she crosses her arms over her chest and turns her back at her.

Chelsie sighs, finally getting the tranquility that she needs. Reading the book though isn't quite helping her at all because her mind keeps on going back to Jeno's words. "Good morning!" A familiar voice suddenly interrupts her trance again, only this time, when she looks up, she sees Mark walk in with the usual wide smile that he has, causing her heart to race so fast that she can almost hear it. "Elexa! Chels! You're both early," he comments, but she's still unable to speak.

"I'm always early," she hears Elexa counter at Mark and the guy just chuckles.

She just watches Mark stare back at her in confusion, but everything is just in slow motion that she can finally notice every detail - how Mark dusts his bag before propping it down, how he takes out his notebook to start scribbling, how he subtly taps his pen on the table whenever he's thinking. Those details suddenly mean something to her, realizing what Jeno said again. "Someone who has been there for you more than I have ever been..."

There's no other guy who has been there for her more than Jeno, with the exception of Haechan and Jisung - only Mark. Is it really him? "Mark?" She mumbles, forgetting that they're the only ones in the room right now so the silence makes it easy for anyone to hear her.

Mark looks over his shoulder to turn to her. "Chels, did you need anything?"

She bats an eye, quivering in shame. "Uh... no. It's nothing."

But he doesn't seem convinced. "You sure?"

Nodding, she flashes him an awkward smile and buries her face on her book. She suddenly feels her face burning. She convinces herself that it's not him. It's probably someone else. Mark will never like her like that. If so, he could've told her already. They're just really close friends. Or is it?

****

When lunch period came, Chelsie quickly took her back and almost runs towards the cafeteria, just so she can avoid Elexa and most importantly, Mark. She doesn't even know why she's suddenly anxious. She can just confront him, but just imagining herself asking Mark about it makes her even more distressed. Also, if it's not him then it will be really embarrassing on her part.

After getting a sandwich and an apple juice, she sits on the only empty two-seater table near the exit door. The cafeteria is already crowded enough so no one else will even notice her presence there. She munches on her sandwich and decides to distract herself by reading her presentation for her next class.

Her few minutes of solitude gets disturbed when someone pokes her shoulder from behind. She's about to look over her shoulder, but she suddenly freezes when she hears Mark's voice say, "Chels, can I sit with you?"

She clenches on her jaw shut, nodding.

Mark moves towards the seat across her, then he glances at her in surmise. "Are you alright? You seem a bit..." he pauses, looking for the right word to say. "...weird today."

"Huh?" She blinks, shaking her head. "I'm just... I'm nervous for the oral presentation later in History class."

"Oh," Mark says, seemingly convinced. "Is it a group presentation?"

"Uh, no. Individual," she answers in a hurried tone as she tries to finish her sandwich and juice all at once.

Mark stares at her in amusement. "You must be really hungry."

"Oh I just remembered..." she starts to speak again, standing up. "I need to go to the library to return something. I'll uh... see you later, Mark."

"Oh, alright. See you, Chels," Mark just says, evidently weirded out.

She flashes him an awkward smile and finally walks out of the cafeteria. Panting hard, she reaches the hallway in no time. She realizes that she's still holding her leftover sandwich and the empty bottle of juice. She sighs as she finds a bin nearby to throw her rubbish away.

She's not really supposed to go to the library, but she has to go now because Mark might see her somewhere and he might get suspicious. Well, she's acting suspicious, but of course she doesn't want to explain to him. What will she even tell him? That she thinks he likes her and that she actually likes him back?

Shaking her head, she proceeds to the library and unexpectedly sees a friend of Mark at the entrance. The guy notices her as soon as she does so she waves a hand at him. "Chelsie, hi," he greets, approaching her.

"Hi Jungwoo," she greets back, stepping to the side to avoid blocking the entrance.

"I'm glad to see you here," he suddenly says, making her confused. "I actually want to tell you something."

She stares back at him with furrowed brows. She's not really close to him and the only times she has ever talked to him was when Mark was around. "Uh, sure. What is it?"

"I like you Chelsie," he blurts out, looking away.

She doesn't know what to feel about that. She feels flattered that someone is confessing to her yet again and it almost feels like when Jeno first admitted his feelings for her. "Jungwoo... I..." she attempts to speak, but she doesn't really know what to respond.

Jungwoo smiles shyly. "It's alright, Chelsie. You're not obligated to accept it." He suddenly frowns, pausing. "I just don't know why he hasn't told you yet. It actually feels nice to let it out."

"Who?"

Jungwoo wavers, chuckling nervously. "Oh, I meant me. I was using the third person. I do that sometimes."

But Chelsie doesn't buy it. If she wants to sleep well tonight, she has to find out who he is once and for all. "Is it Mark?"

Jungwoo's eyes widen in surprise. "You knew?"

"I didn't," she wants to say. But right now, instead of feeling all the butterflies in her stomach, she feels annoyance more than anything. It seems like everyone knew about it except for her. If Mark really likes her, he should've told her sooner because as uncanny as it may seem, a part of her wished that Mark would like her from the very first time they met.