WHO IS IT?

Maria's POV-

I blinked at him, half a second away from waving a hand in front of his face. His eyes were wide, pupils slightly dilated, like a deer caught in headlights.

"What the...?" I muttered under my breath.

'What is up with this reaction? Did he seriously never think about it before? Or wait. Was there some deep, dark secret behind this? Did I just accidentally stumbled upon national classified information?'

The later option sounded way more likely, and way more entertaining. A slow, almost villainous smirk crept onto my lips. 'Well, well, well… what do we have here?' I thought to myself.

A smirk had already crept onto my lips as I tilted my head. "Oh-ho? What's this? Why do you look like I just asked for your credit card details?" I teased, nudging his arm.

Mark tried to backpedal so fast he might as well have left skid marks on the ground. "W-Wait, no—nothing! It's nothing!" he blurted out, his hands flailing wildly in the air. His voice cracking just enough to betray him. And then he threw in a frantic stop gesture both palms out, shaking his head furiously. His action now caused enough suspicion to raise one's eyebrows.

'Oh, this was gold.' I squinted at him, clearly not believing his words.

I took a step forward, stopping just in front of him and clasped my arms at the back. Tilting my head slightly to the side, I looked up at him with my wide, innocent eyes- or at least tried my best to look innocent. "Mark," I said, my smile growing wider, "at least try to lie a little better."

He let out the most unconvincing chuckle I had ever heard, taking a sudden, deep interest in the sky, the ground, the existence of air itself—basically anywhere but my very intrigued, very amused gaze.

"What? No way, I wasn't—why would I be acting weird? Pfft. You're imagining things."- still, without meeting my gaze.

"Oh, I was imagining things?" I replied in a sarcastic tone, enjoying his reaction while taking another bite from my ice cream.

'This dude looked like I had caught him red-handed sneaking cookies at 3 AM.'

He tried to take a bite of his ice cream, only for his spoon to miss his mouth entirely and bop him on the cheek instead. I finally lost it, laughing crazily.

"Hahahahaha, Mark, oh gosh," I wheezed, holding my stomach with my free arm. "You're caught in 4K... hahaha. Bro, just spill it!"

Mark groaned dramatically, rubbing his face with a tissue like he could physically erase his own embarrassment. Looking quite shy, slightly flushed and somewhat amused. He suddenly checked out the surroundings with a paranoid glance, making sure no one was nearby. After hesitating a little, he leaned towards me slightly.

'Yeah. Whatever he was about to say was definitely not meant for public ears'.

"Well....Actually, I have someone I like. Its been a while to be honest." He spoke slowly in a low voice.

"WHAATTTTT???!" I nearly screamed out, my heartbeat getting faster now. My eyeballs nearly popped out of my eye sockets My grip on my ice cream faltered, and before I could react, it slipped right through my fingers, littering the ground with a pathetic splat, along with a part of my sneakers.

'He likes someone!? He had those feelings for some time now? Wa!!! WHO IS TH-'

"Hush!! "

Mark practically jumped, looking at me like I had just set off a fire alarm in the middle of a silent exam hall. His whole body moved in frantic gestures, signaling me to calm down before we attracted unwanted attention. He threw another quick glance around, scanning the area like some kind of secret agent on a classified mission. Once he was sure no one was lurking around, he let out a breath and finally spoke again, while handing me a tissue or two to clean the mess.

"Was it that surprising that you even sacrificed your ice cream along with your shoe?"

I swallowed before murmuring "Obviously!", almost forgetting about the state my brand new sneaker was in. Feeling slightly saddened, I lifted my left leg and rested it against a nearby tree to wipe the cream off, all without breaking eye contract from Mark.

His right eyebrow raised before falling again. He spoke with a soft smile "Wondering who it is, right?" 

"Why do you keep stating the obvious?" My voice was now a tiny bit impatient.

He chuckled, clearly enjoying the way I was hanging onto his every word. Then, with a smirk that I could only describe as infuriatingly smug, he said, "Umm... Okay.. I'll give you some hints, try guessing"

My jaw dropped. "Hints? Are you serious?!"

He just grinned.

I exhaled sharply, trying to suppress the urge to shake the answer out of him. 'Was this a crush revelation or a damn quiz show?' My heart was beating fast. Mark is always surrounded with so many pretty and sexy girls all the time, so I guessed I may not (or never) have a chance, but still, it felt nerve wrecking. I forced myself to take a long, deep breath. Retracted my leg to stand up straighter, while mentally bracing myself for whatever mind games he was about to play.

"Fine," I muttered, narrowing my eyes. "Hit me with it."