DAY 12 - CASUALTIES

Standing in front of one of the finest condominium in the city, Jinyoung heaved a deep breath before stepping a foot inside the lobby. A key card was handed to him at the reception area in exchange for his identification card, probably a security card meant for visitors. He strolled around the ground level first, and was fascinated to see several fine dining restaurants and boutique shops, which were all interconnected inside the building. As soon as he reached the elevator, he was startled to hear an automated voice, telling him to secure his magnetic card first, before pressing his desired floor number.

The place was certainly on a whole lot different from the world that he grew up with, and he wasn't exaggerating. The extravagant atmosphere of the place, its luxurious fragrance, and even the appeal and fashion of the people living in the place were totally on a different level. Having the knowledge about the classes of society from books and medias, the reality hasn't hit him yet of how the world was cruelly divided and defined based on someone's status, not until he had experienced to mix himself with the elites for the very first time. Not wanting to pull himself down, but he knew that he couldn't fit himself from such extravagance.

Setting these ugly realizations aside, Jinyoung carried himself decently, knowing that he's also a privileged citizen with such an outstanding moral character apart from the rest, he smirked to admit, and because of that, he brought himself to believe that there's nothing to be ashamed of whatever status he has.

Verifying the unit number for the third time, just to be sure that he's not going to knock at the wrong door, he stood straight to fix his long sleeves and pants first before ringing the door bell. After receiving Mark's message, telling him to come at his unit, he had no choice but to come immediately after his deliveries. Besides, it was stated in their first rule that they cannot say no to a responsibility. The clock ticked for five minutes and there was still no response, making him lose his patience. He was about to ring the bell again when it was finally opened with a sight of wet haired Mark in white robe.

"Oh, you're early," Mark muttered, quite surprised.

"Um. Did I interrupt anything?" he hesitatingly inquired. Seeing the latter's dripping hair and slightly wet bare chest, he probably interrupted someone's bath.

"No. Come in," Mark stepped back, making a way for him to come inside. Jinyoung slowly pushed himself in, tiptoeing lightly as if his life was in danger. He wandered his eyes around the place and felt his mouth that fell ajar from seeing how a single unit could be three times bigger than his apartment.

"Help yourself in. Don't remove your shoes. It's fine," he was reminded when he was about to remove his sneakers. "Gom-ah, Park Jinyoung is here," Mark announced as his deep voice echoed throughout the place. He messily dried his hair with a towel, before proceeding to a connecting room adjacent from the kitchen.

Not that any longer, Jinyoung heard a familiar tiny voice that adorably screamed his name from a far, which soon revealed a running child with mini dinosaur and car in between his palms. "Daddy Nyounggggg," the kid sweetly chanted, jumping on his toes while tightly hugging his waist. It was as if they both haven't seen each other in a week, but it's actually just a night when they parted away. "Come inside, daddy Nyoung!" Gom grabbed him from the wrist, using all of his strength just to pull him at the living room. "Look! Look! I have a mini playground, daddy! Heehee!"

"Woah. Did you build it by yourself?" Jinyoung blinked in amusement from seeing the numerous amount of toys, which were scattered on the floor.

"No! No! Dada Mark helped me! Sit here, daddy Nyoung," Gom invited the elder to sit at the couch, more like a command. Then he flipped his toys, ran around, and even crawled down just to find the missing remote control for him to switch the channels and entertain Jinyoung. "What do you want to watch, daddy Nyoung?"

"Oh! I'm fine with anything, sweetie..."

"We have tigers, spaceships, this too, and this," the kid actively introduced each and every channel, grinning widely, and making it sure that Jinyoung was enjoying his stay. "Ah! I want to show you something. Come here, daddy Nyoung!!!" he brought his itchy feet on the ground again, pulling Jinyoung to somewhere out of the living room.

"Omo... Omo... Omo! Where are you bringing me? Is this okay? Mark might not allow-" Jinyoung protested in panic when the kid had lead him along the dark hallway, next to the kitchen. But to his utmost surprise, his jaw dropped from seeing a very huge aquarium, which was about as tall as him and as wide as four standing doors. "Woah, is this real?" he gasped in astonishment and leaned to tick the glass to verify that it's not just a visual representation.

"Ta-dah! It is beautiful!!!" Gom clapped his hands when he successfully the blinking lights attached at the edge of the aquarium. Seeing how Jinyoung was delighted to see it, the kid felt extremely happy in return. "These fishes just keep on swimming even at night! I wonder if they get tired and sleep sometimes too," the kid mumbled with pouty lips.

"They rest and sleep for a while but they don't close their eyes," Jinyoung confidently informed the kid with a smile.

"Why?"

"Because their eyes are big enough," he responded in an enchanting deep voice, which was accompanied by his big rounded eyes.

The kid blinked in surprise, he looked at the fishes again and was amazed that they sleep with their eyes wide open.

"Look at Nemo there, it's not moving but its eyes were wide open. It's probably sleeping. How did I know?" Jinyoung continued to enchant the kid with his mesmerizing voice, abruptly flicking his fingers in a sudden. "See?" he smirked with pride when the fish didn't move out of fright, which only proved the kid that it was really sleeping.

Overhearing the mystery of sleeping fishes, Mark, who just came out of his room, confusingly furrowed his eyebrows. He was already at the verge of bringing out his biology book to confirm if Jinyoung was only telling random bluffs to the kid because honestly, he cannot also tolerate the fact that the latter just called his precious fishes as Nemo. No wonder every kids from this generation call all these innocent fishes as Nemo, and it's because of those wrong information that adults tell them.

"It's not a clownfish. Those are clearly goldfishes, Jinyoung," he corrected, scooting towards the fridge to get some drinks.

"I am not saying it's a clownfish," Jinyoung calmly rebutted.

"You called it Nemo. Nemo is a clownfish."

"But Nemo is a fish. And these are fishes."

"Yeah, but Nemo was known as a clownfish from the movie, Finding Nemo," Mark heaved a sigh, clueless as to why he was suddenly arguing with someone about fishes.

"Doesn't mean I cannot call the other fishes as Nemo? I'm pretty sure some pet owners call their fishes, birds, and even their dogs as Mark," the latter defended his thoughts seriously this time, causing Mark to almost choke from his drink upon hearing his name.

"M-Mark?" he wiped his mouth in disbelief. Did he just used and compared my name to a pet? As much as how he wanted to bring justice to his name, he also thought that it was nonsense and totally childish to fight back. "Whatever. Soda or cold mocha?"

"Soda, I guess," Jinyoung pursed his lips. And without a warning, Mark casually threw a can of soda towards him, which almost hit the aquarium glass if he hadn't caught it perfectly.

Feeling his heart that almost skipped a beat, calculating the amount of money that it would cost him to pay the huge aquarium if he hadn't caught the can properly, but thank the heavens, he did, he roughly gulped and simply followed Mark at the living room before he could even come to the point of destroying other expensive things around the place.

The three of them gathered at the living room. Gom immediately settled in front of the television, not too close and just beside the line, where Mark literally marked as a reminder for the child to maintain a proper distance when watching cartoons.

"So what brings here you here?" Mark flipped his slightly wet and messy bangs, as he sat over the couch with crossed legs.

"You invited me first, and now you're asking me?"

"I am Peppa Pig... This is my little brother George. This is Mommy Pig and this is Daddy Pig!" Gom adorably chanted with a snort similar to pigs, which caught the attention of his two daddies, who were both fascinated with how the child immediately picked up the main character's line.

"Ah, shopping," Mark muttered under his breath upon confirming today's schedule using his tablet. He subconsciously his lips, running his slim fingers along the smooth strands of his hair, causing it to bounce back.

Jinyoung would be lying if he didn't find it attractive at all and finding it attractive didn't mean anything way beyond from its meaning, he mentally defended for it's already given that Mark was undeniably handsome.

Mark's just attractive, nothing more nothing less.

"But you came earlier than what I expected. Have you eaten?... Oh, well. Doesn't matter, I haven't yet," he was then snapped out from his thoughts when Mark stood up from the couch, leaving him quite dumbfounded. He was hoping his silence driven from his unecessary thoughts wasn't that obvious to be entitled as a total creep. "Get yourself comfortable. I'll cook something at the kitchen," Mark added, dragging his feet way out of the living room.

Jinyoung rose from his knees as well, following the latter at the kitchen to throw his empty can of soda. "You cook?" he asked out of curiosity.

Mark simply shrugged as soon as he had opened the fridge. "I don't have a choice but to cook since I live alone. But I'm not the best in town. Do not expect anything," he smirked, placing the ingredients above the dining table.

"I kinda thought you're the type that'll burn the kitchen," Jinyoung admitted but with the tone of sarcasm. He looked around and noticed that everything was well organized. "You live alone in this huge place? Don't you feel lonely?"

"Sometimes? I'd like to be alone and to think of it, I've gotten used to this."

"Oh, you shop for groceries too?" he gasped in astonishment upon seeing the grocery items that Mark has laid on the table.

Whereas, the latter only curved his brows in return, uncertain as to how he should react from Jinyoung's quite exaggerated realization that he shop groceries as well.

"Sorry, I thoug