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12 - Change Of Heart

He immediately sat down on the edge of my bed and I turned my vanity chair towards him.

"What's up?" I tried to play it cool and not like my nerves were dancing because Mark looked seriously distressed.

He avoided eye contact with me as his leg started to bounce up and down rapidly. "Uhm."

This time I raised both eyebrows. Something is definitely wrong.

"What's wrong, Mark? Is Maya okay? Mike? They're both fine in their rooms with their snacks right?" My eyes were wide and I was breathing heavily.

Except for Mary and I, Mark was the only other adult in this house but he rarely acted like one, so it was quite valid for me to get worried.

Mark's eyes widened too and he quickly shook his hands in front of me. "They're fine Meli it's nothing to do with them! Gosh, the way you reacted made it seem like they got kidnapped or some shit."

A sigh of relief left me. "Oh thank god," Then I registered the last part of his sentence and rolled my eyes. "I don't know. Maybe because I actually care for my siblings, hm?"

A guilty look flashed across Mark's face but it was gone in a second. I probably imagined that. My delusions are getting the worst of me.

"So what did you need, Mark?" I glanced at the clock and realized that I had an hour and a half more before I was going over to Arthur's house.

Mark took a deep breath in front of me and cracked his neck to the side. "So there is this girl—"

"Please don't tell me you got her pregnant." I rubbed at my forehead and even though I knew I was joking, I wouldn't be surprised if it actually happened.

"What?! No! Meli let me completely speak for goodness's sake!" Mark's ears were red by the time he was finished.

I let out a small giggle and straightened up. "Fine. Tell me everything then."

"Thank you. Now there is this girl. Her name's Kaylee and she's in chemistry class with me. Uhm...we're kinda close because she has like no friends and she's my bench mate and all and yeah..."

He trailed off nodding and he once again avoided eye contact with me.

Also. Was he blushing?

I'm never gonna let him live this down.

Just as I opened my mouth to tease him, he blurted out something that made it stay there hanging.

"I was wondering if she could come to stay over for a few days."

Uhm.

What.

My mouth opened and closed like a gaping fish before I finally let out a word.

"But why?!" My bad. That came out more exaggerated than I wanted to.

Mark winced and ran a hand through his black hair. "See. She lives with her cousin and now this cousin is flying out to meet their family, and Kaylee's damn scared to live alone. And I promise you she's as quiet as a mouse that you won't even notice she's there. Also. She's an amazing cook, so half of your cooking duties would be gone and—"

"I'm sorry Mark but if you want this Kaylee girl to stay just because you think it will help me out from my chores then that's very wrong. She's a girl, not a maid." I frowned slightly.

Mark blinked. "Oh."

"Yeah oh."

A beat of silence passed as I mulled over what he said in my head.

"How many days?" I asked.

"Just 4 days that's it. After that her aunt's coming so she'll go to stay with her."

I know I shouldn't pry, but I couldn't help but ask my next question. "Doesn't she have any siblings? Or you know her parents?"

Mark snorted. "Same case as us. Maybe that's why we bonded quickly. Only, her siblings abandoned her too so she's practically all alone. Her cousin — the one she lives with — gives her a lot of crap too."

There was a sad glint in his eye, and just by the look of it, I knew I could tell that he cared a lot for her.

Giving a small smile, I nodded. "Fine. She can come over. But no more than 4 days though. Also, you'll be the one in charge of taking care of her, not me. You'll just come to me for the big things."

Mark nodded and a genuine dimpled smile broke out on his face. "Thanks a lot, Meli."

"Yeah yeah whatever." I waved him off, not being used to this kind of affection from my siblings.

Mark laughed and got up and just as he was about to leave, he turned back around. "Oh and Meli?"

"Yeah?"

A small smile etched on his face again. "I'm going to be working at the bar 9-12 every night. So there's that."

My eyes widened for the second time this afternoon.

"What why? How will you eat dinner?"

"They serve complimentary dinner for the bartenders. Can you believe that?"

I raised an eyebrow.

"And Why because I—" He took a deep breath and the guilty look was back on his face, only this time I knew I was t imagining it because it was so clear.

"I realized that as adults, you and Mary are doing a shit load for us just so we have our needs provided, while I on the other hand am the useless adult. After hearing Kaylee's story and how trash her siblings treat her, I realized that I have been taking you all, especially you, for granted. And I'm genuinely sorry for that." His voice broke near the end and I could see his eyes turn glassy.

"Oh, Mark..." My own emotions were betraying me as I got up and went over to hug him, wrapping my arms around his middle. Gosh dang, when did he get so tall?

"It's fine. I'm glad you realized it because it's never too late. And no matter what, no matter how you guys treat me, I will forever love you all more than I love myself"

Mark sniffled and we pulled away.

He wiped at the corner of his eyes and so did I.

"That got emotional." He mumbled and I laughed.

"It did," I said and looked at the clock again. Oh great I have only an hour left now.

"You keep looking at the clock," Mark said with a slight teasing tone.

"Uhm," I widened my eyes. "Yeah, I have to get somewhere."

A smirk came on his face. "Is that somewhere a certain Arthur's place?"

I narrowed my eyes at him. "How'd you know?"

He shrugged and started to walk away backwards. "Let's just say, Mary has a really big mouth."

Of course she does. Won't be surprising if she decides to tell the whole world about it.

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WORD COUNT : 1572

Next chapter is gonna be fun 👀

I'm sorry i feel like I keep teasing you all because i post such short chapters but oh well 😭

Also a new character has been introduced, do you think she's good or bad?

Vote and Comment if you love sleeping

Buh bye hooman