*Flashback*

"Liv, please..." I was on my knees on the hotel bed, hands clasped together in prayer with my phone in between my palms. I'm still feeling woozy after the 13-hour flight from Sydney to Los Angeles, and my body hasn't fully recovered from the constant partying. Frankly, arguing with Olivia was the last thing I wanted to do that morning.

The LA trip wasn't actually a part of my vacation plans. All I ever planned to do was stay in bed and hang out with my friends in Australia. But the parties and the festivals happened and I had way too much fun learning how to spin with Tyde and my brother (who apparently just approached the 16-year-old in his drunken stupor after a successful rave the night before I came back).

Liv was just downright mad when she found out I was back after seeing my face on the dailies. Apparently, the Sydney society pages were abuzz with my sudden appearance at major parties playing alongside Tyde Levi. They found it amusing that the jewelry empire heiress who suddenly disappeared after graduating from the ANU School of Arts with honors has turned into a major party girl, turning tables (literally). Liv turned up at one of the parties we attended and gave me an earful for not telling her I've been in town for a few days already. To appease her, I offered to accompany her to an LA business trip so we could catch up.

"Liv, please, he's probably really busy." I explained yet again that I couldn't possibly just call Mark and tell him I'm in town. I mean, I could... But I just don't want to. I would very much like to stay away from giving Jackson, BamBam, and JB the benefit of teasing me and Mark for 'kissing' during the New Year's Day party.

"Oh for godssake, Love. We are NOT going to Disneyland until you talk to him. Do it. FaceTime him now." Olivia grabbed my iPhone, dialed the number, and held the phone in front of my face.

I saw my newly woken, puffy face on the screen, my messy mop of brown hair haphazardly tied in a loose bun. The sleeve of my white shirt was hanging loose off my left shoulder and my bangs were prickling my eyes. "Can't I at least take a sh—"

"Hey, oh, good morning!" Mark Tuan was already up and about in his workout clothes, panting and sweaty while putting his earphones back on. There I was, still in my pajamas, yawning as the phone was thrust back into my palms. "Where are you?" He said, probably surprised that I'm in the same timezone as him.

"Good morning! Oh my god, I'm so sorry I look like this..." I muttered under my breath, rubbing my eyes. "I'm in LA, actually!"

"Are you really? Oh my goodness," He said, eyes wide.

"Yeah, surprise!" I feigned a tiny laugh. God, that was so awkward. "I just got here last night, I'm here for four days and then I'm going back to Korea." I adjusted my bangs and fixed my shirt sleeves. I couldn't look directly at Mark's makeup-free face (which frankly isn't very different from his made up face anyway) because I felt like I was going to self-combust for no reason.

"So what are you doing today then?" He sat on a black couch and dried his face with a small towel. The bed dips when Liv sat on the bed in front of me, mouthing 'Oh my god' with eyes bulging. I gave her a warning look. Let's not get ahead of ourselves, okay?

"Uhm, were actually going to Disneyland today and that's about the only plan I have coming here. I have no idea what I'm going to do in the next couple of days," I lobbied for a minute and watched Mark fix his newly dyed brown hair, trying my best not to stare at Mark's developing biceps. He's been working out a lot for the comeback and the results are a bit intimidating—in a good way.

"Oh, so you're not busy tomorrow? I'm hanging out with my friends, do you want to come? It's your turn to visit MY house." He was smiling. It was as if he knew exactly why I called so he said it out loud for me. I stopped for a moment to decide, which was a bit unnecessary considering how I felt like melting just seeing his smiling face on my screen.

"Yeah... Uh, that sounds like a good plan," I stuttered, making him grin. Somehow, it was comforting to know that I have a friend in LA other than Liv, who's about to get busy because she's meeting with the KCon 2016 coverage team for Spark Magazine. That was why she forced me to call Mark up. She just didn't want me to be alone. I told her I'd be fine because I've always been comfortable being alone, but Liv's the total opposite of my introvert self.

"Cool, I'll pick you up at your hotel tomorrow, okay? Enjoy Disneyland!" We both said our goodbyes and I promptly hung up before letting out a huge sigh and throwing a pillow at Liv's face.

"I am so getting back at you for this," I announced before marching to the bathroom.

"You are so thanking me for this, trust me," She guaranteed.

*Flashforward*

Maybe I should message her and let her know that I am thankful for her annoying act yesterday. Right now he's grinning from ear to ear while flipping through our Polaroid photos at Disneyland. It's a beautiful Saturday afternoon and we're resting in their spacious porch with his high school friends, drinking beer after the early dinner Raymond, his dad, prepared for us. The man can make really, REALLY good barbecued ribs.

Early that day, Mark and his friends took me to the village park and taught me how to skateboard. They also toured me around the neighborhood they grew up in and even showed me the high school they went to together. His friends told me was always the shy kid in class, which is why they didn't immediately believe him when he said he's going to train in Korea.

"Oh, can I have this one?" Mark holds up a photo that got mixed up with the ones from yesterday. It's a group shot of GOT7 with me, Mina, and Jenny from the New Year's Day party. I nod and watch him carefully slip the photo in between the folds of his thick wallet. Andrew and Jessica, two of Mark's closest friends, are also looking at the photos on Mark's lap.

"I really love the dress you wore to Disneyland yesterday!" Jessica says. Her sweet smile is way too pretty to be true. How can Mark be friends with her and NOT like her? Then again, I really have no idea what their friendship's like. What if she's Mark's secret girlfriend?! "Where did you get it?" She asks.

This is the part where I try not to stutter because I always feel awkward talking about the things I'm wearing. "Oh... That..." I look at the photo in her hand, the one where I'm standing in front of Sleeping Beauty's castle wearing a blush pink slip dress and white chunky sandals. "I-It's from an Australian brand called We Are Kindred," I tell her that I bought the dress on a whim because of the beautiful gold lace details. It went beautifully with the mini tiara I bought as a souvenir.

"You've got to send me the link to this, it's so pretty!" Jessica says. The idea of her wearing the same dress sickens me, but I nod enthusiastically and even promise to follow her on Twitter. Andrew then grabs the Polaroid photo from Jessica and sits on the empty chair between us.

"If you're done talking dresses, can I ask for this photo? Mark has your photo in his wallet, I want one too," Andrew waves the photo at me with a naughty smile. A part of me wants to ask why he wants my photo, the other parts of my psyche just wants to flat out refuse because I actually really like the photo he's holding.

"Why do you want her photo?" Mark is quick to ask. I swear to God, he can hear my thoughts.

"Because she's hot," Andrew answers, winking at me. I hear the rest of Mark's friends start screaming and whistling conspiratorially. Mark is laughing and shaking his head at the same time. "I want something to remember you by, if that's okay,"

"We can take a selfie on your phone," I say, trying to dissuade him from taking the photo by telling him it's the only photo I have in front of the castle. He agrees and hands the photo back to Mark before dragging his chair close to mine. I concede to taking as many photos as he wants and before I know it, the guy's giving me a big, fat kiss on my cheek, making me blush (and curse inwardly).

Andrew proudly parades the photo for everyone to see. I steal a glance at Mark and find him gathering my photos and putting them back in the ziplock bag it came with.

"Okay, that's it, I'm taking her away. You creeps better start leaving now." He stands up, grabs me by the wrist, and doesn't let go until the rest of his friends are gone. I wave at them despite the humiliating events and hold my other hand out to Jessica to say goodbye. She squeezes it gently, her eyes filled with unspoken apologies. Why do I get the feeling that this isn't the first time she saw someone being disrespected by her own friends?

"Mom, we're leaving."

"Where are you going?" His mom seems slightly disappointed that I'm not staying for long. His Dad comes out of the kitchen with a plate of French Fries, asking me to stay and help myself to midnight snack. Mark starts speaking in Chinese with an explanation I cannot, for the life of me, understand. He kisses them on the cheek and places a hand on the small of my back. I take it as a cue to come forward to thank them and say goodbye.

"Ah, I hope you come back soon and stay with us," Raymond says, pulling me into a tight hug. Mark's mom comes forward too and mumbles a goodbye before hugging me too. Okay, well, now I know why Mark's a hugger.

"I definitely will, thank you again," I answer with a slight bow. Mark leads me out of the house and into his car. I sit in the passenger side soundlessly, careful not to step on his obviously curling toes. "Gwaenchana?" [Are you okay?] I stupidly ask. He cackles and looks at me sideways as he starts the engine.

"I should be asking you that,"

"I'm fine," I say, busying myself by putting the photos and my phone back into my purse. "You really didn't have to make them leave." I add, anxiously looking at the road ahead. We seem to be heading towards Santa Monica Beach. I check my watch, it's half past 6PM. What the heck is he planning?

"They were rude," He answers briefly, checking his rearview mirror. I watch in fascination as he drives smoothly across the freeway. Mark and JB are the only ones allowed behind the wheel in music videos. I learned that it's not just because they're the only members with a driver's license, it's also because they look really cool while driving. JB's angsty features and Mark's chill vibe make them perfect subjects for shots like that. My job is to make sure those shots are properly highlighted and if my eyes are camera lenses, this would've been an awesome scene to edit. "Are you surprised I actually know how to drive?" He asks, finally breaking the silence.

"No, I know you drive," I answer. Jackson once showed me the contents of Mark's wallet while he's in the bathroom on one of the random nights they visited my apartment. We laughed at his driver's license photo all evening. "It's just that I'm not used to seeing you like this,"

"Like what?"

"Like... I don't know..." I fumble for the right words to describe my thoughts. "Like a normal person, I guess?"

"Why, am I not normal? You're the one who said we're human too," He says. Apparently, JYP spoke to them about me and gave them his express permission to escape to my 'resthouse' along with a list of rules.

"You know what I mean, Mark, you're a celebrity..." There's a look of pride in his eyes that I notice instantly. He is proud about being famous, he just doesn't like showing it off. Fame comes with a high price to pay and he knows that well enough not to brag about it. "It's just weird watching you do stuff that normal people do. I mean, you don't drive like this in Korea, you have drivers to take you around for your schedules. You probably won't be seen in drive-thru places and you sure as heck can't just go to the beach at 7PM. Trust me, with this comeback, you're not gonna be able to do any of those anytime soon either." I know he has been writing songs for their next two albums, and I'm bursting with excitement but I've sworn not to tell anyone about it.

"Well then let's do it now!" He says, beaming at me. We stop at an In N' Out drive-thru and order burgers and milkshakes. Then he parks the car at Santa Monica State Beach, takes a blanket from the trunk, and leads me to a secluded part of the beach so we can eat our take-out in peace.

"This is cool," I say, taking a huge bite off my Angus burger. "Thanks for planning this day,"

"How do you know I planned this out?" He asks, surprised that I'm catching up on his pretend date so easily.

"I'm good at spotting clues," From the way he looked at me that morning when he picked me up at the hotel, to the way his friends acted around me all throughout the day, I could tell he wanted this day to be memorable for the both of us. "I mean, surely not everyone in LA keeps a blanket in their trunks for emergency hang outs at the beach." My remark elicits a high pitched laughter from Mark.

Maybe Andrew kissing me wasn't a part of the plan, which was why he reacted so hastily. Maybe it's just me being at the right time and the right place, saying the right things in perfect timing. Even so, he seemed to have thought about what we were going to do on his last night in Los Angeles and his plans led us here, sitting on the sand, hearing the waves crashing to the shore, and looking up at the stars in the sky.

"Okay, let's say I did plan everything out. How does that make you feel?" He asks. I look at him in the eye just to see how serious he is with his borderline-existential question. He looks back at me with a challenging look, like he's once again telling me he's choosing 'dare' over 'truth'.

"I kinda like it that way, to be honest." I say, avoiding his gaze and from my peripheral vision, I can tell that my answer made him smile.