Sohinki knocks on Mari's office door early on Tuesday, simply to say good morning. When she doesn't answer, he just walks in. The reason she didn't answer is clear, as she's across the room, turned away from the door with ear-buds in and she's looking at something. Sohinki curiously walks closer, and now notices she's sniffling, like she was crying before. His hands curl into fists. If somebody hurt her, he's going to at least attempt to pound their faces in. He cautiously walks up, and sees she's looking at a picture of herself and Peter. Although he gets angrier, he knows that for now, he doesn't have a reason to pound Peter's face in. He just taps her shoulder gently, but she whips around.
"Sohinki, I-" She stops when she realizes he's not angry with her.
"Do you want to talk, or do you want to be alone?" He asks. She grabs him by the shirt and kisses him hard, and he's taken by surprise. Nonetheless, he kisses her back. When she pulls away, she's smiling.
"I always feel better with you." She murmurs softly, hugging him. He hugs her back closer, and she speaks again; "I can't believe it took until Peter broke my heart to realize that you were the other half of it."
It takes Sohinki's common sense a second to return, because he almost breaks the hug at that comment. He tries to find something to say to cover up his internal panicking, but Mari breaks the hug.
"You're perfect." She says. "Now c'mon, I just saw Wes walk in with Anthony. They probably want to talk to everyone."
"A-Anthony?" Sohinki nervously says. His last talk with Anthony wasn't so smooth.
"Yeah." Mari says. "What? You think he's gonna bite?" Sohinki shakes his head. Although he may drop-kick me. The two walk over to Wes and Anthony, to find Wes is still mad at Ian.
"I told you, he texted me and said he's coming in." Anthony assures him. Lasercorn walks over.
"Yeah, but he's not gonna be in a friendly mood." He says.
"Why do you think that?" Mari asks.
"I just know." Lasercorn says, then looks closer at her. "Hey Mari, have you been crying?"
"No, why?" She lies, and does it well. Sohinki moves a little closer to her.
"Your eyes are red." Lasercorn says. "Mari, if something is wrong," He cuts off as Ian walks in, gaze pointed to the ground.
"Wes," Anthony starts, but the editor walks over to Ian and grabs him by the shirt.
"Ian, where have you been!" He shouts.
"Dude, what's your problem?" Ian asks.
"You stormed out of the office during the filming of a Game Bang!" Wes snaps.
"Why the fuck do you care?" Ian asks. "It's part of Cliff's job to edit Game Bangs, not yours."
"Alright, calm down," Lasercorn walks over, grabs Wes's hands, and pulls him off Ian. Wes grunts and walks away to work.
"Thanks." Ian murmurs.
"Um, Ian, can I talk to you in private?" Lasercorn asks.
Ian sighs. "No."
"No?" Joven says. "What do you mean he said 'no'!?"
"Relax, Jovie, it's fine." Mari says. Sohinki tenses at her statement, and thinks about her earlier one. until Peter broke my heart...
"It is the opposite of fine!" Joven yells. Lasercorn scoffs from his place on the office couch. The three guys and Mari are retelling what happened that morning. "Lasercorn, Ian loves you like a brother! Brothers don't fight!"
"All brothers do is fight." Sohinki points out. "You know that when you spend an entire night in the summer between fifth and sixth grade with your older brother sleeping on top of you." Lasercorn laughs at that. "On taco night."
"You shouldn't be laughing Lasercorn, you should be crying because Ian is mad at you!" Joven snaps. Lasercorn stands up furiously.
"Trust me, he and I are cool." Lasercorn says through gritted teeth. Sohinki notices his eyes are faintly turning red, like any moment he'll cry. Before he can say anything, Lasercorn walks out.
"We are not done young man!" Joven yells, going after him. Mari grabs Sohinki's wrist and the two fall on the couch.
"What will we do with those two.." She shakes her head, laughing. Sohinki forces a light laugh, still distraught at her earlier comment and the fact that she never would have loved him, had Peter not cheated.
"I don't know what I'll do..." He murmurs.
"Huh?" Mari asks.
"Uh," Sohinki fumbles. "With those two, Joshua and Lasercorn." He nods uncomfortably. Dang it I gotta stop thinking out loud.
"Oh." Mari nods delicately. Everything about her is perfect. Sohinki sighs to himself, smiling. "Why so smiley?"
Sohinki glances around to make sure no one is watching before saying; "You're just so beautiful." Mari smiles back at him.
Yep. Everything.
"What movie do you want to watch?" Sohinki asks, grabbing the remote as Mari walks in with popcorn.
"Star Wars." She says, sitting next to him and curling under his arm. "Any of them." Sohinki plays the movie, and tosses a piece of popped corn into his mouth.
"It tastes...weird." He says, surprised at the flavor.
"It's kettle corn, you like it?" She asks.
"It's sweet, like you." He says. She rolls her eyes.
"That was corny." She says. He opens his mouth, and she laughs; "Don't you dare."
"Wake up, sleepy." Sohinki hits an unconscious Mari in the face with a pillow, and she groans. "It's midnight, the movie's over." She realizes she fell asleep with her head in his lap, and sits up.
"Listen, Matt." She says. "I think we should tell everyone at the office, about, well, us. It's been a few days, I don't see anything going wrong. What do you think?" Sohinki takes a deep breath. If they say anything, then what he's done, how he's used her, would be known to their closest friends.
Your last chance to make things right, Matt.
"Okay."
