Remark

Kiss and Make Up

“If it isn’t my lil sister. So, are you preggydandy now?”

I looked at Johnny, brows arching up. “I came to find Mark and no, I’m not preggydandy.”

“I’m just checking. Boys sometimes can’t control their hormones.”

I glared at him in disgust. “You’re seriously telling me that? Are you serious?”

“Why, of course! To prepare yourself if ever Mark suddenly feels itchy!”

I scratched my head in disbelief. “And you call yourself his friend? That’s great work, brother.” I can’t believe I’m even hearing all these right now. I shouldn’t even be listening because then I’d feel cautious remembering everything my good step-brother just said and I won’t be able to handle the situation. “You’re gross. I don’t understand why we’re suddenly related to each other. It’s embarrassing, is my point.”

“Looking for Mark, huh?” He repeated and turns to his friends. They were all together – Johnny, Tyler, and Jeffrey except Mark. I don’t see a single hint of Mark’s presence in this room where his friends are. I’m starting to feel worried about him. I just want to know if he’s okay – I need to know that he’s okay. That’s the only way for me to actually assure myself that he’s not in any harm or danger. “He’s not here,”

“I was just texting him a while ago. He said to meet up with him later at five.” Tyler said which makes me frown Why is he not replying to me yet he’s replying to his friends? What is going on with him? “Do you want to come?”

I sighed and shook my head. “He’ll come to me himself. Thanks anyway,”

“Aw, how cute that my sister’s so bothered by her boyfriend.”

I slapped Johnny’s hand away from me before they touch my face. “Shut it,”

“Someone’s PMSing.”

I sent him a glare for the nth time. “Seriously, Johnny. If you don’t stop annoying me right now, I’m going to chop your head like massacre.” At that, everyone fell silent.

“You mean like deep dark web m******e?”

“I’ll do worse than that.”

“Deep dark— what the f**k?” I turned to Tyler with a sigh. The fact that my brother mentions this dark web videos of massacres that have been going around the internet is not surprising. Johnny was the type that would know every single trend there is on planet. How did we even arrive in a topic like that? How disturbing.

“I think he’s busy with the preparation for the school festival.” Thank God for Jeffrey. “I heard they even had their overnight here in the campus last Saturday.” He added which made me feel a little at ease now that I know that he’s been busy with his department. I guess that’s better than finding out something worse.

“I’ll see you guys around then,” Johnny steps closer to me, waving his hands but I stopped his head from leaning in closer by the forehead. “By you guys, I meant Jeffrey and Tyler only. Not you.” I flick his forehead and his smile turns into a frown.

“Good bye still, my grumpy beautiful sister!”

I rolled my eyes and walked away from the room.

“Hey! You’re supposed to say it back! The compliments!”

I shook my head. “In your dream!” I yelled back and never looked back. Remind me why I said Johnny wasn’t that bad again. He’s the worse sibling you could possibly have. And maybe it would be boring if he wasn’t like this. Am I thankful now that he’s like this? Yes. Am I thankful that he’s my step brother? Not really.

We were given this whole week to finish our booths. Last Saturday, Jonah assigned posts each committee will be taking part of. I was assigned to the painting committee out of request since I was more into the painting side and not the construction side which Jonah, fortunately, grants me. In the committee I was taking part in, we were currently painting the details around the S-Tower area. It’s really fun doing these miniature buildings. I feel like it’s the best for us to showcase our capabilities in our department. Not just in Architecture but Art in general.

“Let’s call it a day everyone,” Jonah announced which relieves everyone. “But we’re over working inside the school on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Don’t forget to tell your parents about this. I’ll be giving the consents tomorrow so you can let them sign.”

Everyone agrees as we start cleaning up our workspace. It was a good thing that we had the entire extra room for ourselves inside the department so we won’t be pushing ourselves in the crowded gym where other departments will be working.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Nam,” Yelena waved. It was stranger when she first called me Nam but it wasn’t new to Yelena now. She calls everyone by the syllable of their names. Like how she calls Terry, T, and Serena, Rene.

“See you, girl,” Terry waved as well and the two of them walks away.

I sighed picking up my bag which felt so much heavier today. Or maybe it was just my head thinking how heavy they are after going through heavy loads this day. We’ve done a lot and there’s still so much to do despite all our efforts. Everyone was putting in their all for this museum and I’m partly guilty because the idea was mine in the first place. We won’t be going through all these if we chose a less complicated concept for fund raising. If we don’t sell our tickets, it would be my fault for giving such extravagant and hard-to-sell booth.

I go back to my locker to get my binder which I purposely left so I have more space to store food in case I get dehydrated and hungry a while ago. I opened the locker and saw another note. I haven’t received one last Saturday despite staying inside the campus for the whole day but I figured the sender was only giving them on weekdays.

Thank you for being the reason why I look up to waking up tomorrow.

-CM

I find myself smiling as I reread the note. I wouldn’t really know how to react when the time comes for me to actually meet the person behind all these but I felt genuine, sincerely happy for these kind words. They’re one of the reason why I look up to opening my locker now too and it never fails to make me feel special in some way.

The moment I closed the locker, I see Jonah standing, hiding behind it so it scared the heck out of me when he popped out. “Next time you’re scaring me, might as well go all in and switch lights on and off.” I calmed my pacing heart, putting my things inside my bag. “Better yet, disguise yourself as The Nun so it becomes a huge success.”

I hear him chuckle as he hands me a can of something to drink. “Here. You worked hard. You deserve at least a coffee to finish your repetition design plate tonight. Don’t even wonder why I know.”

I snorted and started walking in which he follows.

“Mr. Brown has a thing for fast deadlines. Been there, done that.”

“I know right,” I said under my breath and gripped the can he gave me. They weren’t warm like how I want them to be and I don’t blame him because he was being nice and there’s no way I’m acting choosy right now. I needed the coffee after all. Sooner or later, I’m having ten more of these just so I can finish my plate and focus on the booth afterwards. Last Friday, Mr. Kim gave us a freaking plate to work on for less than a week before we enjoy the school festival and the near break. He’s just ruining a perfect vacation we were all hoping for a long six month midterm. “Was he always like that? Acting so annoying and brutal to his students?” I opened the can’s lid, unsure if I was ready to get hyper again from being so dull the whole weekend.

“Always.” He nodded. “About the bigger things, Gail said we’re going to do three sections of it as a safe deadline. She thinks we won’t be able to finish if we do too much considering the amount of work we need to finish and our estimated time to create everything in time.”

“Yeah, that’s fine.”

“We agreed to do a simple garden, desk and the kitchen where I can have my giant donut.”

I laughed. “Sounds good to me,”

“Nami,”

I froze when I heard that voice – that particular voice I’ve been longing to hear since Friday. I was hearing that voice now and I wasn’t sure if seeing each other like this after not being able to for a while was a good thing. “Mark,” I mumbled and looked at his face. It felt like months of not seeing him. I missed him and seeing his face again made me feel mixed emotions. I wanted to run to him and hug him tight, but I can’t deny the anger I was feeling towards him when he decided to stop talking to me without telling the reason why.

Right now, I just wanted to hear him tell me his reasons but his eyes weren’t even looking at mine. They were creased over the person that was standing next to me. The person I almost forgot I was standing next to. Mark marched his way towards me and suddenly wraps his arms around my shoulders. “I’ve been waiting for you for two hours. You didn’t tell me you were going home later than normal.” He said and I immediately turned to Jonah who was caught in a very awkward situation.

“Mark, this is the president of our department,”

“You must be Marcus. I’m Jonah. Jonah Fedler.” Jonah, being the nice guy he was, offers his hands over Mark but he just stared at it until I nudged him to shake his hand back.

“And I’m Marcus Lee Dyer. Nami’s boyrfriend.”

Jonah smiled and nodded. “I see. I’m sure you’re very proud of her. Even I’m proud of her for being a part of the board.”

“Of course, I am and you shouldn’t be telling me that you’re proud of my girlfriend when I’m literally standing next to you.” Mark pulls away from the handshake and just strongly glared at him for three seconds straight. I counted it right. It was three seconds without anything to say from any of us. “I’m sure you take care of your members dearly and not just my girlfriend.”

Jonah chuckled. “I always make sure they’re safe.” He replied calmly before turning to me. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Nami. And don’t forget the files I want you to send me. You can have your consent signed by your landlady. Just make sure you don’t let a stranger sign for you because I won’t accept that.”

I smiled lightly before bobbing my head.

“Take care, okay?” He takes a step backward. “It was nice meeting you Mark. See you two, around.”

When Jonah left, I still can’t get him to look at me. It was like he was still staring at an invisible person in front of him. “Hey,” I slowly stepped down from the stairs and hoped he’d finally look at me which he didn’t. He just stood like a stone even when I reached him. “You didn’t have to act like that – trying to emphasize that I’m your girlfriend. He clearly understands already. You were so rude to him when he was being nice to you.”

I see him gulp before turning away from me. “Do you really have to be that close to your president? I don’t think it’s normal. Isn’t he a fourth year or something? Affiliates should just be affiliates. They can’t have a relationship outside the office.”

“Jonah is a second year.”

“How can a second year be president? That’s absurd.”

I shrugged and finally had the courage to actually hug him despite this messy situation we’re at. “Besides, he’s sweeter to other members than me. He knows my relationship with you. You didn’t have to rub it in his face like he didn’t understand what we are. Like you’re so proud of something that shouldn’t be worth prouding for.”

“You love it when I introduce myself like that though,” He teasingly looked at me and a smug smile is finally written all over his face. “And I am proud of you – always. How can you say you’re not something worth prouding for? Nonsense.”

I smiled and felt him hug me back. “I really missed you. Where have you been? You don’t reply to me.” I frowned and tried to look at his face.

He looks at me. “Things got pretty busy in the department. I’m being a slave to all the higher levels there. I hate it so much. I’m sorry. I should have told you but they confiscated our phones and we were working Friday to Sunday. I couldn’t get in touch with you even if I tried. Their eyes are on everyone – especially me who they see as officer-by-name.”

I pressed my lips together and see how tired his eyes looked. At least his reasons match up with what his friends told me and that’s what matter to me the most. If he lied to my face right now I would have punched him all over again. “You must be tired then.”

He sighed and leans his forehead against mine. “Not anymore.”

I smiled.

“And I bought five packs of gummies in case you won’t believe me. I’m surprised you believed me without even trying too hard to defend myself. I guess you’re not so grumpy today like I expected.”

I chuckled. “I’m still having them though.”

He laughs and pulls away from me, picking up something from his cross over bag, and shows me the gummies he said he bought. “Sometimes I wonder if you actually love gummies more than me. I’m thinking gummies.”

“You guessed that right, player.”

“Save your Sunday for me. Let’s go out.”

I squinted my eyes at him. “Are you trying to make up for your absences?”

He squished my cheeks with one hand and leans closer to my face. “Depends on what you think, princess. If you think it’s a make-up or a date, any of which will be fine to me for as long as I spend that day with you.”

“Hearing a fictional character say that sounds so romantic but it becomes cheesy when you do it. I wonder why it feels different when it’s you. Like bad different.” I teased and it makes him laugh. “If a more handsome guy actually told me that, it won’t be cheesy I think. I swear. Face affects impact you know.”

“Who would tell you all that but me, princess? Name me one person.”

“Hikaru told me romantic things when we dated for a while. It wasn’t cheesy when it was him. It was romantic now that I’m looking back.” I crossed my arms at him and he rolls his eyes as if he was disagreeing with me. “What? It’s true! And Hikaru is good looking. I would have really dated him. My loss for choosing a douchebag like you.”

“You won’t date a four-eyed loser over me,” He smirked and I quickly slapped him. “That’s just completely blind.”

I slapped him. “Don’t you dare say those things about him in front of me again! He’s, at least, a more sweet guy than you when it comes to taking care of me.”

“No one takes care of you better than I do,”

I raised my brows at him in disbelief. I cannot believe he was saying all these things to me right now and so confidently. “Said the person who couldn’t even find a way for him to reach out to his so-called girlfriend.”

“That’s why you and I are going on a date on Sunday remember?” I laughed with him and he gives me a tight hug. I could feel how much he missed me even if that sounded so subjective but I felt it. The tenderness and warm it felt nothing like a good make up for his mistake.

“You look like a panda, Nami-chan.” Hikaru laughed hard making me roll my eyes. If that was a compliment, I was taking it as an insult because clearly, the laughs aren’t supposed to be even there if it was a compliment.

I secured my plates over my tube and sighed. “I stayed up until three in the morning for this. I better get an A or I’m really dropping from this course. I can’t take more all-nighter plates. I don’t think my body can handle more of that.” I cried not whining about the requirement but my less than three hour sleep.

“I thought people were exaggerating when they said architecture students rarely sleeps at night but clearly, it’s not exaggerating.” He chuckled and continued eating his chips. “When are you passing that? Is it this afternoon? I saw students still working on theirs. I think you’re doing an amazing job at your course, Nami! I’m proud!” he cheered but I turned to him.

“Am I really doing well? I feel like I’m gonna die anytime soon.” My shoulders sagged in frustration. I just want to sleep right now. “How’s business accounting though? I heard you guys are more stressed than we are.”

He tries looking for an answer by looking elsewhere. “It’s not that hard. I guess things come off easy when you’re into it. Maybe you’re not really into your course, Nami-chan. It should be easy for you if you love what you’re doing.”

“I do like what I’m doing,” I answered. “It’s just that—”

“You feel happier dancing,”

I looked at him in guilt. “Well, it sounds bad when you’re saying it but really—”

“I understand, Nami. I know how much you loved dancing before the incident happened. You were really popular then because of it too. I’m just surprised now that you’re still doing an amazing job at something you’re not whole-heartedly into despite your different passion.”

I leaned my head over his shoulder and cried. “What do I do, Karu-kun? I do want to become an architect so bad. I just think my body might end up giving up after my first year. We’re going through this much for the first year, how much more in the next years?”

“You just have to find it in your heart. You have to remember why you took up the course in the first place. You promised your mom you’d become a successful architect before she died right? You should keep that in mind.” I did promise my mom I’d be a successful architect but seeing how situations change and how much the heart changes, I think I’m having self-doubts. “No matter how hard it is to give up that dream you always had.”

“I want to achieve that but my body just keeps screaming for dancing. It seeks for it all the time. It’s slowly eating my pride and ego.”

“Then do what you got to do.” I lift my head back up to look at Hikaru. “Do what your heart wants, Nami-chan. You’ll keep blaming yourself for the things you didn’t fight for in the future so before that happens, you have to do what’s best for you.”

I am so conflicted. It’s been my longtime dream to become an architect and it’s not like I hate it now because of all the work they’re giving and I’m not trying to say that I don’t want the course. I definitely enjoy what I’m doing in my department. I just want to feel the beat running through my blood again. I just want to see myself dancing again. I just want to do it again.

I entered the office exhausted from just handing out my plate to Mr. Kim. I should feel relieved that I’m finally done with it but I felt so tired. I feel stones all over my body – the way I had them while doing it. I feel like I’m about to collapse anytime soon. I’ve been drinking coffee since the morning I got up from bed to the time I stepped inside the campus but it wasn’t waking my adrenaline – not even a percent.

“Look alive, Nami Lee! We have so much to do.” Terry slapped me a little which I prayed he would have done harder so I might have felt more alive than now. Nami Lee? My mind reacts but my body was just not feeling it.

I stretched my lids open hoping it would stay wide and slapped my face side to side. “Okay! Wake up, Nami! Wake up!” I tell myself before I start helping out with the painting again which I, thankfully, managed to do despite feeling weak like this.

When Jonah gathered everyone up in the table, he started handing out the consents like he said yesterday. He wasn’t as lively as he was for the past few days but we all were getting tired from everything and he’s carrying all the burden, if anything. “Tomorrow, let’s try our best and finish as many as possible so we can start setting things up by Saturday and have our rest on Sunday.”

Cheers filled the room and a lot of people were encouraging one another. After Jonah dismissed the team, I walked towards him for a talk. I figured he might have needed an encouragement himself which the others failed to notice as they – we – were all just too eager to go home and rest for the last time before we work harder than we ever did.

“Nami. Hey. Is there any problem? Can I help you with something?” He instantly asked which made me pity him more because he thinks of everyone at the same time he’s taking charge of everything for the department.

I pressed my lips together before starting to talk. “I just wanted to tell you that we can do this together. You don’t have to feel alone and all that. It may sound so cringey right now and well, cliché but I want you to know that if you ever need help with something, you can always ask me for help. You don’t have to deal with everything by yourself.”

He flashes a smile. His eyes were the most tired ones I’ve ever seen and I felt so bad that he’s having all these loads in his shoulder without telling us. “Thank you,” He mumbled but he was looking down. “I’ll remember that,”

“Oh and,” I bring out the plushy I bought to give him. “Look! It’s a donut.” I showed him the cute donut the vendor seller sold outside the school. It was weird because when I saw it, I immediately remembered Jonah. I thought of giving it to him when I saw it so I did and it was the right time, I think. “You can look at it when you feel at a point when you’re in the peak of your pressure level. It’s like a stress ball or something, I don’t know but it’s squishy so, just don’t eat it. Don’t it look cute?” I squished the plushy and it was just so cute. The donut was pink creamed on top and sprinkled with different colors. The donut also had big eyes so it made them look cuter.

“You didn’t have to but thank you, really,” he said and grabbed it from me. I watched him play with it and smiled. “Quite tempting, honestly. The donut looks delicious.” He jokes and I laughed. I felt better now that I’m seeing him smile at least once today.

“Wabbles.”

“Wabbles?”

I nodded and crossed my arms. “I’m calling it Wabbles and it’s her name starting today. You can’t change it.”

He chuckled and looked back at the plushy. “Wabbles then.”