"Man, where are you? We've been waiting for hours here," Mark hears the voice of his friend, Lucas on the other end of the line. He knows they have a practice session for the Debate Tournament they've been preparing for weeks now. They've been winning the national tournaments since he joined the club in his Year 11. He's been considered the "leader," though he doesn't really want to be.

"I'm almost there," he says, as he struggles to hold the 6 iced coffees and 4 boxes of pizza in his hands. It's already 9 pm, but he gathered his team to prepare for the topics given to them. And they just asked him to pick up their online order so he volunteered to go down being the good leader that he is.

As he walks past the lobby of the Boys' Halls, he doesn't fail to miss the presence of a familiar person sitting on the corner of the lounge area. He stops on his tracks to confirm if he really saw Chelsie and he's right. She's sitting alone on the couch, her eyes casually wandering around. When he meets her gaze, he sees her face light up, making him anxious for a moment. But he manages to lift his chin up to acknowledge that he saw her.

"Mark, I'm so glad to see you here," Chelsie says, as soon as she reaches him.

"Chels, what are you doing here?" He asks her.

"I actually was hoping to see any of the princes here," she explains. "I don't know where else to look for them."

Mark tries to process what she just said. He wonders if she meant to say she's waiting for any of the princes or just Jeno, in particular. But either way, she won't have any luck with that because the Royals are not staying at the Halls, unless they choose to. "I'm afraid you won't see any of them here, Chels. Maybe tomorrow?"

Chelsie sighs, her shoulders slumping down. "I guess so." She looks at the coffees he's holding and wonders how he's managing to hold it. "You need help with that?"

"Yeah, all good," he answers, then he suddenly realizes how late it is already, but Chelsie is still there. He doesn't really know the timetable of the buses around there, but he's certain that she will miss the last bus if she doesn't start running at that instant. "Will you be alright going home though? It's pretty late."

She blinks at him, realizing what he said. But she suddenly smiles at him. "Oh, I'm already staying at the Halls. It's my first night here."

"Really? That's... that's great!" He exclaims, trying not to sound too delighted.

Before Chelsie can answer him again, a loud voice startles the two of them. "THERE YOU ARE!"

Mark groans inwardly, realizing who that voice is from. He doesn't need to turn around to see who he is. "Sorry, man. I just-" he gets cut off, when Lucas turns to Chelsie with a wide smile, which he finds confusing.

"Chelsie! Hey, how are you? Did you pass Social Studies?" Lucas asks her casually, as if they've known each other for a while.

Mark looks at Lucas, then stops at Chelsie, who smiles at his friend. "Yeah, I actually did," she answers him.

Lucas nods, still smiling. "I knew you would!"

Mark clears his throat, catching both their attention. "I... didn't know you have a class together."

"Oh, really? I'm pretty sure I mentioned it to you, man," Lucas tells him, finally taking the coffees from Mark's hands. "Cheers!"

"I better head back to my room now," Chelsie says, excusing herself from them.

Mark wants to stop her, but he can't just tell her to come up to his room. She's not a part of the Debate Team anyway and it would be weird if he invites her with a room full of guys. But, he remembered that Elexa is there so it won't be all that weird.

Just then, Lucas turns to Chelsie. "What? Are you not coming to see our debate discussion?" He waits for her response, but she just looks at the both of them. "Come on! It would be fun!"

Chelsie hesitates, glancing at Mark and waiting for his remark. "Uh... I don't know."

"Elexa's there," Mark says, hoping this will convince her.

When she finally nods in agreement, Mark smiles, as he and Lucas lead the way up to his flat. They usually like to gather around there because Taeyong is mostly outside and he doesn't really mind when people crowd their place.

"So what are the pros and cons of both?"

Mark hears one of his teammates asking, as they step inside the flat. They all stop arguing when they see him and quickly snatch the food from Lucas, as if they haven't eaten for days.

"Chelsie?" Elexa notices her classmate right away. She moves closer to her and pulls her inside. "Are you in the Debate Team now?"

"Are we recruiting new team members?" someone whispers to Mark, who just shrugs next to him.

Chelsie shakes her head, upon hearing his. "Oh, uh no. I just happened to see Mark downstairs. I didn't know you're a member here," she says, pertaining to her friend.

Elexa laughs. "I'm not. I'm just here to chill with them." She points at the guys, who are all strangers to Chelsie.

"Truth is, she's here because she can't stand a minute not seeing me," Renjun says on the side.

"More like the other way around," Elexa counters at her bestfriend, causing the others to tease them again.

"Mark, why don't you introduce her formally to the other guys?" Lucas wiggles his brows, turning to Mark, who is still confused as to how the two have become close.

He heaves a sigh. "Guys, this is Chelsie. She just officially became a student here." Then, he looks at her and points at each of the lads in the room. "Chelsie, that's Jungwoo, Xiaojun, Hendery, Yangyang and you already know Elexa and Renjun, as well as Lucas."

"Hi nice to meet you, Chelsie," one of them says, the others follow suit, smiling and waving at her.

"Nice to meet you as well," she just says in a low voice. "I hope you don't mind me being here."

"Oh we rarely get any spectators. Well, except for El here." Renjun winks at Elexa, causing the latter to make a face at him.

After eating, they continue to discuss their topic again. They have practiced a lot of topics already, but the topic about marriage seems to be a difficult one for them especially because they can't really relate to the topic yet due to the age factor.

"Love marriage is better, for sure," Lucas says with no hesitation. "You can't marry someone you don't love. It won't work in the long run. That is why most arranged marriages just end up in divorce, which in turn affect their children."

The guy with a prominent jaw, Xiaojun raises his hand up. "I disagree. Some countries do arranged marriages like India, China, Japan among others. I mean, the Royal Family do arranged marriage. Also, more than 50% of marriages are arranged worldwide and statistics show that most of them are successful and happy marriages."

"Why do we even have to deal with this topic? There's like 80% chance that this topic won't come out," the eldest but looks youngest in the room, Jungwoo whines on the corner.

"And 20% chance that it would," Hendery, the one with doe-like eyes points out.

"Genau (Exactly)," Yangyang, another team member who is actually a Prince from Germany, agrees with the latter.

Mark stands up from his seat and finally speaks. "I know it's a bit of a controversial topic, but we can't just overlook this and not come up with arguments. Otherwise, we'll get roasted if this ever comes out."

Renjun suddenly taps his bestfriend. "El, what do you think? What if we get arranged in the future?"

Elexa shakes her head vigorously. "No. Not happening. I'll just have to be a runaway bride."

Renjun dramatically places his hands over his chest, as if he's aching. "You're going to regret you ever said that, El."

Elexa scrunches her nose up at him. Just then, she turns to Chelsie and asks her the same question. "How about you Chelsie? What's your idea about this whole love and arranged marriage?"

"I... actually think love marriage is still better, of course. Most people only do arranged marriage for practical reasons... to maintain financial stability in the family and to protect their status in the society..." Chelsie answers in hesitation, gauging their reaction. "B-But, I don't mean that in a bad way... I know you're all-"

"No, we get what you mean, Chelsie. And you're not wrong about that," Mark quickly cuts her off to defend her side. "You actually have a point."

"See! We need someone like Chelsie in the team!" Lucas exclaims, standing up.

After another hour of discussion, they finally decide to wrap up and continue again next time. The other guys proceed to their room, Renjun drives Elexa home and Mark offers to walk Chelsie back to their halls.

When they step out of the lobby, Mark is still curious about the reason why Chelsie wants to see the princes, but he tries to brush this thought away. Instead, he asks her this, "So you've passed all your exams, Chels?"

"Uh, yes I did. Barely passed them," she says, heaving a sigh of relief. "I almost failed."

He nods slowly, as a smile forms on his lips. "You owe me lunch then."

"Oh, r-right." She blinks, her eyes falling to the ground.

"You actually forgot, didn't you?" He asks her teasingly.

She shakes her head, lifting her chin to look at him. "No, not really. I just really didn't think I would pass."

"But you did." He shrugs, as he sees the Girls' Halls from a distance.

There's silence between them after that, not until something falls from Chelsie's coat. He stops, as she picks up the envelope from the ground. "Is that-" He gets cut off, when she finally waves her hands at him, walking inside the halls.

"Thank you for walking me here, Mark. I'll see you tomorrow," she says.

He waves back at her, while still wondering about the letter he just saw. Is she going to give that to Jeno?

Taking a breath, he tries to keep his mind off of Chelsie. If she likes Jeno as well, then he'll be happy for them. Jeno is one of the nicest people he knows and he's sure he'll never hurt her. And if ever he does, he'll be the first one to rescue her from him.

As he turns to the direction of his residence, he suddenly hears soft sobs from the dimly-lit park nearby. He's not really scared of supernatural things so his curiosity leads him to the person crying on the bench. Slowly, he makes his way towards the girl whose hands are partly covering her face. "H-Hey," he says in a low voice, catching her attention.

"Mark?"

He gets stunned when he realizes who she is. "Kiera? What's wrong?" He asks, moving closer to her.

"Nothing," she says, trying to wipe away the tears from her eyes.

"Kiera, I know we're not as close as before, but you can tell me anything. I'm here to listen." He has to admit, he fell for Kiera once before. He doesn't really know why. She's petty and arrogant, qualities that can throw off any guy. But she's also smart, loyal and assertive, and maybe because she's the only girl who didn't show any interest in him. He knows that Kiera has always liked Jeno from the start. But he still chose to confess to her, even though he knew he had no chance.

"Please don't pretend that you care, Mark because I know you don't," she answers.

He nods. "Maybe I don't. But I'll do the same thing even if it's not you who's sitting here right now, Kiera."

She takes a deep breath. "Dad passed away yesterday. I know I should be happy because mum won't have to deal with my dad's excuses anymore for always going home late or not being at home at all. But realizing that my family won't ever be the same again... I just..."

Mark watches as she starts to cry again. He honestly can relate so much to what she's going through. He grew up without a mum to begin with. Their dad is not perfect but he chooses to see the good side of him. He's just grateful that he still has a dad, even though Taeyong always tells him that their dad is not a good father.

"Maybe this is my karma for all the bad things I've done," she speaks again.

He reaches for her hand. "Don't say that, Kiera. No one deserves such bad karma, not even you."

She finally looks at him. "Why are you still nice to me even after what I did to you?"

He shrugs. "I've moved on, Kiera. It's all in the past."

"It's Chelsie now, isn't it?" she asks, catching him off guard. "I know it is because you're giving her the same look you're giving me before."

"I... don't know what you're talking about." He scratches the back of his neck, looking away.

"Look! You're being shy right now just even thinking about her," she points out. "Why don't you confess to her?"

"Can we... not talk about that, Kiera?"

"Fine. Thanks for hearing me out. Though I wish Jeno is here with me right now, instead of you.

He shakes his head at her. "I can't believe you're saying that after sitting with you here out in the cold."

She stifles a laugh. "I'm kidding. But, seriously I look forward to the day you confess to her."

He stands up from his seat and walks away from her, thinking about what Kiera said. Maybe he already likes Chelsie, maybe he doesn't. He's not entirely sure. But that's what happened again before. He allowed himself to fall for Kiera, as they gradually became close, even though he knew she liked Jeno. Is it going to happen all over again?

A/N: Just wanna put it out there that in this house, we stan ot21 (and counting)...

Okay? Okay.

And while you're here I'mma promote NCT Dream's Ridin' and NCT 127's Punch coming really soon!

Cheers! <3

~neozone