Chapter 3: Seeing The Light
The small white puppy emerges from the dark part of the garden, tiny barks ringing in my ears as she runs cautiously towards me.
Kneeling on the ground, Coco sniffs the back of my hand which I gladly held out for her. She bops her wet nose against my knuckle, licks my skin tentatively, and then lets me pet and carry her. I stand up with Coco wiggling slightly in my arms. "Joesonghamnida..." I look up to find Mark bowing slightly at me and staring fearfully at Coco.
I hand the cute dog back to him, and he takes her carefully from me. I suddenly feel conscious about the fact that I'm still wet from my late night swim so I start backing off slowly towards the house while watching Mark play with Coco, my arms wrapped around my torso.
"Oh shillejiman..." [Oh excuse me but...] I stop, eyes-wide as I look back at Mark. "Can you please get me paper towels from the house? I need to clean up Coco's poop right there," Mark says, his Korean honorifics still intact. He points to the mini-park in the middle of the garden and all I nod weakly before walking swiftly towards the house. I maybe older than him by a few years but being a newbie in the company somehow puts me at a disadvantage.
Thankfully the kitchen's right next to the back door so it didn't take long for me to find a roll of paper towels. I take handfuls of it to dry myself with, desperately hoping that Mark wouldn't notice the wet state I'm in. Once satisfied, I take the whole roll with me as I walk back outside.
He's not there.
"Mark?" I call out, my heart still drumming in my chest. I may have memorized all their faces because of all the clips I have watched and edited but I still feel flustered by seeing them in real life. Maybe I really am better off behind the computer. "Mark?"
"Yeogiyo!" [I'm here!] He responds from a distance. I walk through the dark parts of the garden and towards the mini-park where he stands, a single light illuminating him and Coco. I can barely make out his words but I'm pretty sure he's scolding Coco for being mischievous again. I hand him the roll and he smiles at me, ultimately shattering my wits. He hands me the dog and proceeds to clean Coco's nasty remnants on the ground. "Noona, are you new?"
"N-ne" I answer, trying hard not to lose my composure after hearing him call me noona.
"Araseoyo. Mwo haseyo?" [I see. What do you do?]
"N-naneun saeloun video PD yeyo." [I'm the new video producer.] I answer politely while hugging Coco, partly because she's cute, and also because she's warm and fuzzy—and Lord knows I'm in dire need of heat right now.
"Ahhh, so that's why I haven't seen you around." His sudden switch to English startles me that I almost drop Coco. He stands up with a thick wad of paper towels in his left hand, a soft smirk playing on his lips. "Geureom, jeoneun Mark imnida." [Well then, I'm Mark.]
"Ne, ara..." I start trembling as I watch him bow to me politely even if I'm definitely physically shorter than him. "S-Sarang imnida..." I mumble, bowing hastily. I look up to him only to find an inexplicable horrified look on his face. Is it my pronounciation? My grammar?! Oh my god, what did I say?!
"Sorry, did you just say 'I love you' to me?" He's almost laughing now, and I'm almost in tears upon hearing him talk in English again.
"What?! No! Oh my god!" I answer back, glad we're finally making sense to each other. "I said I'm Love... Like, my name is LITERALLY Love." I stress my last two words, trying to hold my laughter in. He seems to find it hilarious too. "Everyone here calls me Sarang so I figured I might as well introduce myself like that. I guess it's not a good idea after all..." We both burst out laughing.
I shake my head and hand Coco back to him. "Sorry, I'm really anxious about speaking in Korean because I grew up in Australia. But I know how to say it properly, I just—this is the first time I'm speaking to anyone of you after weeks of seeing your faces on my computer screen at work so I'm not at all prepared for this," I ramble on and on as we start walking towards the trash bins near the back door.
"It's fine, don't worry about it," Mark says before dumping Coco's poop into one of the bins. "I'm sure you'll get used it soon."
"Sarang-ah?" We both turn to the direction of the swimming pool where we see Mina loitering, desperately whispering my name in the vast darkness.
"Oh, Mina-yah! Yeogi!" I say, waving at her. She starts running towards me, then stops on her heels when she realizes who I'm with. "Sorry I worried you, I got caught up in... Uhm... Coco's business,"
"O-Okay..." Mina seems aghast by the fact that I'm not even attempting to speak in Korean now, and probably all the more surprised that I'm talking to GOT7's most unsociable member. "Annyeong haseyo, j-jeoneun Mina imnida."
"Annyeong haseyo," Mark says, returning her greeting. I suddenly feel chills running down my spine and remember that I'm still soaking wet. As if on cue, Mark turns his eyes to me and I instinctively wrap my arms around my torso. There's something about the way he looks at me that I can't seem to shake or understand completely. Is curiosity? Intrigue? Interest? Fascination?
"Sorry to interrupt you but Sarang-ah, there's something really important we need to talk about. Maybe we should go ahead?" Mina interjects. She bids Mark goodbye before pushing me through the back door. I look back to steal one last look at Mark and our eyes meet again. The image of his sweet smile is burning a hole at the back of my skull as we move out of his sight.
Mina locks the door to our room and closes the curtains before violently throwing a towel to my face. "What was that?! I turn my back on you for a few minutes and you end up chatting with Mark?!" Somehow, my brain isn't having problems translating words.
"Believe me, I have no idea how that happened too. I was just walking back to the house and he came out of nowhere and asked me to fetch paper towels for Coco's poop!"
"Jinjja?!" Mina's giving me her crazy eyes again. "But why was he out with Coco at this hour?!"
"How would I know! Maybe Coco really needed to go..."
"But think about it... If Coco really needed to go she'd poop inside the house. She's a dog!" I watch Mina pace back and forth while I dry myself. "And if Mark knew Coco really had to go, why did he forget the paper towels?! Why did he have to ask you? He didn't know you. And if all you did was fetch the paper towels for him, what took you so long?! I was very worried, I thought you drowned or something!" I laugh at her as I head to the bathroom.
"Mina-yah, I told you I was part of the swim team, right? Besides, I'm sure running into Mark is just an accident. Don't think about it too much." I say, stepping into the shower to drown out the rest of Mina's theories. I let the warm water run down my cold skin while replaying everything in my head.
It's just an accident.